I will be engaging in a debate on social networks on 26 February 2008 at LSE with Ofer Engel, Wifak Houij-Gueddana and Patrick Kärrberg. My plan is to reflect upon the idea of social network as an extremely powerful metaphor for seeing the world and how this aspect has been elevated on a new level by internet-based tools. 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I recently organized with a group of friends an event on unpublished manuscript “Prince of Networks: Bruno Latour and Metaphysics” by Graham Harman.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 »
My research group is organizing a major workshop on the consequences of accelerating informatization of organizational life on 25 April 2008. The workshop is titled “The Habitat of Information: Social and Organizational Consequences of Information Growth” and its takes place as the 8th Social Study of ICT workshop (SSIT8) at LSE. Read more »
I am organizing with Ofer Engel, Peter Erdélyi and Wifak Houij-Gueddana the Information Systems Research Forum (ISRF) 2007–2008 at the Information Systems and Innovation Group (ISIG) of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). ISRF is a seminar series on recent advances in social research broadly relating to information and communication systems. The events are open and free. 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 »
Have you ever wondered why some people post thousands of pictures lacking any captioning into Flickr (or any other photo sharing service)? I have. For the sake of argument, I divide the users of Flickr roughly into three categories. Read more »
My presentation on 13 November 2007 at the London School of Economics and Political Science discussed the empirical case research design for analysing the corporate adoption of Skype from the perspective of organizational control. Read more »
The recently published The Mobile Life European Report 2007 describes social functions of mobile phone in five European countries (the UK, Spain, France, Germany, Sweden). According to the report, unsurprisingly, the age is often the most important differentiator in the use of mobile phone whereas the role of gender may contribute less than is typically believed. More importantly, there are firm national differences in the usage patterns and perceptions of mobile phone. The report is an output from an ongoing research effort by pan-European mobile phone retailer The Carphone Warehouse in a partnership with the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Read more »
