I attended 5–6 June the Triangular Post-Graduate Conference 2008 organized jointly by University College Dublin, Lancaster University and Cambridge University. If you are doing a Ph.D. in information systems and looking for constructive critique on your project try to sneak in next year. Why? Read more »
The 4th Social Study if ICT Open Research Forum (SSIT-ORF) took place 23-24 April 2008 at LSE. The idea of the event is to provide an informal forum for Ph.D. students to discuss their work with senior academics. Here is one, totally miscellaneous, idea that crystallized in the discussion about the relationship between local and global. Read more »
The first Social Innovation Camp took place on 4–6 April 2008 at the Young Foundation offices in London. Thanks to Paul Miller and Anna Maybank I was able to do participant observation throughout the event (I also ended up being interviewed by David Wilcox). In return I promised to write a summary of my findings. This post contains a summary of materials relating to the event available in the internet. Read more »
I recently organized with a group of friends an event on unpublished manuscript “Prince of Networks: Bruno Latour and Metaphysics” by Graham Harman. In the symposium Professor Bruno Latour engaged with the author of the manuscript and other participants in an illuminating discussion about the relationship between empirical investigation and philosophical analysis. Here are some miscellaneous picks from the discussion. The full audio recording of the event is also available (we are currently exploring possibilities to have it transcribed). Read more »
This annotated reading list is an attempt to map various texts discussing different aspects of information growth and the habitat of information. A brief glance at the list reveals that the topic is scattered into a number of research domains and discussion. The aim of the summary is to provide pointers to illuminating texts from various perspectives - not to build an exhaustive index. Read more »
Noortje Marres from Goldsmiths, University of London, discussed how domestic appliances from the recycle bin to a real-time electricity consumption meter can build material engagement in public issues. In her presentation Marres demonstrated how the combination of mass media, material and virtual (e.g. blogging) practices can build civic engagement in common issues that political institutions are not able to solve by themselves. Read more »
Graham Harman from the American University of Cairo discussed Bruno Latour as a philosopher of science on 29 November 2007 at Information Systems Research Forum (ISRF). In his talk Harman built a skillful juxtaposition of Latourian Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and Heidegger’s concept of fourfold. This could overcome major shortcomings in both traditions argues Harman. Read more »
Professor Giovan-Francesco Lanzara from the University of Bologna gave an interesting talk “Switching medium: medium specificity, sensemaking, and the re-design of practice” in the Information Systems Research Forum (ISRF) seminar series on 25 October I am organizing with my friends during the academic year 2007–08 at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Read more »
