Epistemographer

As the flood of new posts might indicate, I’m back in the blog saddle. No time to post much in the way of details right now, but an update will be forthcoming later tonight to catch you up on my past few months. In the meantime, I figured I’d post my notes (at least, the ones I took on my computer) from the 4S/EASST meeting I attended last week…

Session Organisers : SACK, Warren; JEREMIJENKO, Natalie; EGLASH, Ron

SACK, Warren :
Aesthetics of Information Visualization – Previous work: conversation map, translation map, visualization of large, public open-source collaborations, streets stories – motivation: how should we evaluate these systems? (Traditional mode: do they make a task faster?) – information visualization initially an outgrowth of volumes of data of modern technoscientific practice – Examples: – smartmoney.com’s Market Map – Nancy Patterson’s “stock market skirt” – lynn hershman’s “synthia” – Information Visualization as a discipline: conferences (InfoViz, by IEEE), journal, edited volume of papers, etc. – Info visualization judged at root on its relationship to the body, different from other science/engineering practice (which is judged in analytic, detached terms – Data Visualization could be considered “anti-sublime” (the intent is to make something easier to use, or understand) – Another way to judge d.v.: sort of an “anti-anti-sublime” – john Simson’s “every icon” – Alex Galloway’s “Carnivore” – Client for “Carnvore” information system (also, Scott Snibe, Jonah Brucker-Cohen) – If main influences on the modern computer system are office/work, how might we reframe the aesthetics of information visualization away from the bureaucratic – main argument: shift attention from visual aesthetics to an aesthetics of government; what sort of governance does the visualization in question foster/support? – aiming at “collective” body rather than individual body

EGLASH, Ron :
Visualizing Translation; Visualization as Translation: Two Levels of Visual Analysis in STS – Callon’s“translation” – 2 meanings: movement or displacement, and communication – Why do scientists produce visualizations: – to translate in both senses – to translate in public and private domains – Why do STSers produce visualizations? – to translate as scientists do – to produce reflexive engagements that can do things most scientists can’t – wants to replace “reflexive” with “recursive” – Fractals – use of fractals in African culture – “Cornrow curves” software, modeling cornrow hair braids as products of fractal algorithms – making the bridge between hardware and users (across digital divide) two-way, rather than one-way

ROGERS, Richard :
The Departure of Science from the RFID Issue Space: Mapping the State of an Issue with the Web – Increasing alignment of the web with the “official” and the highly-mediated (anecdote r.e. google resutls for “terrorism”) – interest in “backend politics” and “frontend politics” – RFID (radio frequency id) tags on Google: – absence of government in google results – a few business links, wikipedia, underground conspiracy theory sites – indication of preregulatory, contested status of RFID – wicked cool stuff

GILLESPIE, Tarleton :
Imposing Law through Technological Design: A Consideration of the FCC “Broadcast Flag”

- What happens to technology when they are desined to function like law, constraining user actions? – In this case, the technology must be built not only to constrain action, but to limit user innovation – Broadcast Flag case… – US gvmt gave away spectrum to broadcasters in 1990’s for use for digital transmission, with condition that when switchover to digital happened broadcasters would give back analog spectrum – Content industries threatened to withhold their product, slowing the digital switchover, unless copyright protection was built into the system – Broadcast flag: two parts, one marking the content and the other a set of rules that govern what’s done once the flag is read – Why can’t you hack your TV, disable broadcast flag, and do what you want? – 2 sets of rules: compliance rules (what you can and can’t do with content) and robustness rules (what users can and can’t do w/r/t the technology; opening up the box, etc.) – Theoretical issue at stake is user agency – ideology of ownership – societal measures: user manuals, etc. – possible commercial gain through user agency (getting hired by the company, starting one’s own company) – Building a hood on a car (as opposed to just sealing the engine in a box) subtly postulates a world in which a user could (if inclined) open it

SIMON, Bart :
Geek Chic: Machine Aesthetics, The Materiality of Information and the “Hardcore” Gamer – Donald Norman quote, r.e. the goal of making the computer “fade away out of sight” – IBM ethic along the lines of the hacker tendency to work in the guts of the machine, Mac invites users to stay on the surface (Turkle?) – Eco’s thesis that the PC is Protestant, while the Mac is Catholic – To what extent is the box/operating system open to users, or closed? – Ultimately all software is based in material hardware – Conditions that make user alienation from the hardware possible: miniaturization (of processors), design, and LCD screens – User’s engagement with technology is “imagineered” as an amusing ride (slide of refrigerator-front computer) – Immersion is ultimate goal of game designers and gaming culture – “Dumb systems” like console games (playstation, etc) serve to diminish visibility of material technology in the household – In so-called “twitch games” like Quake etc., the processing speed/video refresh, etc. can actually help or constrain gameplay – materiality of machine affects immersive gameplay (*structurally similar to Nascar racing?*) – Case modding: case windows to allow view into the box and display components – Spectacle of the hardware becomes a component of the experience of the game itself – “We cannot all be hackers (neither the time nor the inclination), but we are increasingly all gamers” – Q&A: Case modders who build machines into radios, etc. are maybe drawing attention to the alienation of the technology by ironically packing it into an “invisible” yet incongruous package

TJONG TJIN TAI, Sue-Yen :
User representations of Philips professionals for the “intelligent” house – “A critical-realist model of user configuration for technology” – content analysis of publicity images of an intelligent house – people generally staring at screens – General notion that an intelligent house should be like a human being in some way; “…must know when to keep quiet and when to speak up, what to say and not to say…”, “recogniz[e] what sort of mood we are in” – Began with question of how Philips engineers configure users – User configuration: Akritch; Production of Consumption: Schot, Albert de la Bruheze; Values: Pacey (virtuosity, economic, user) – Content analysis of images shows that they depict a far higher percentage of males 18-45 than the rest of the Netherlands population, and a far lower percentage of females over 45 (4% compared with 20% in the general population)

SILTALA, Juha; FREEMAN, Stephanie :
Freedom and Profit: How Hackers and Suits Are Working It Out on the Desktop

- OpenOffice (associated with Sun) vs. GNOME (associated with hacker community) – What sort of contradictions emerge when a hybrid culture brings together two cultures with competing motives? – Desktop Integration Bounty Hunt – sponsored by Novell, announcement: “Complete the hack, enter the contest, collect the prize” – Hijacking of the “glow code”

ITO, Kenji :
User Creativity in Digital Content: The Case of Freeware Role-Playing Games Production in Japan – Case study of “RPG Tkool 2000”, commercial game authoring tool – Manufactured by Enterbrain Inc. – Demo of a simple game – Code for game very simple, generated by using drop-down menus – Users can create additional tools – Community: competition drew over 790 entrys – Diversity of narratives, fostered in part by limited graphical capability

COLEMAN, Gabriella, GRUBB, Alex:
Realizing Freedom: The Culture of Liberalism and Hacker Ethical Practice – Karl Fogel (Free Software) and Kevin Mitnick (“Social Engineer”) both self-identify as “Hackers”, but Fogel doesn’t consider Mitnick one… – Problem with literature on Hackers – Backlash against naive media reports in 1990’s – Very sophisticated moral views don’t show up – Three tentendies: – Borsook’s description of hackers as antisocial, “cyberselfish” (psychological essentialism) – “Hacker Ethic” of good hackers vs. bad crackers (utopian sanitation) – Douglas’ sense of “there were bad hackers, but now there are good ones (generational simplicity) – Alternative (content, form, history) – Content = Liberalism – basic values of limited government, right to property, contractarian – 4 distinctions – individual freedom vs. social good – public vs. private sphere – role of government intervention (New Deal vs. Libertatian) – tolerance – Form – Moral Genres of Action (Bakhtin’s speech genres)

BORG, Kevin :
Tightening the Screws on Tinkering: The Shifting Epistemology of Automobile Enthusiasts in an Environmental Age

- History of automobile mechanics in the 20th century – Photo of “blys under the hood” – contemporary enthusiasts call themselves “tuners” – What’s the diff. b/w tuners and “hot-rodders”? – Ralph Nader and others lead push toward pollution/safety conditions; opens up political ability to set new boundary conditions within which engineers must operate – Happens at same time as introduction of microelectronics – Earlier enthusiast knowledge cultivated in workshops; it’s a “visceral see/touch/taste/feel knowledge”. Tools are simple extensions of physicality, even electrical system thought of in terms of “how far does the spark jump, how blue is it” kinds of terms – “Automobile electrics” isolated as a specialty shop for analytic electrical work – “Smokey Unick” – nationally famous mechanic, recruited by Popular Science to write a Q&A column – Photo of him listening to an engine using a screwdriver as a sounding rod – Development of analytic instruments to detach mechanic’s knowledge from their ethnic/class identity – Contemporary community “as adept at gameboy/playstation 2 as they are at “real” stuff”…

VERAART, Frank :
Broadcasting Software. Amateurs as coproducers of software exchange in the Netherlands (1978-1986)

- Why did people want a computer, and how did they learn to use it? – Looking at intermediary actors, who mediate between users and producers – Looking at hobbyist culture’s role as a mediator, relationship to professionals… – 1st computer club in Netherlands (1977): based around KIM computer – Hobby Computer Club also founded in 1977 – not a users club so much as a general advocacy group – Major uses of computers by HCC members in May, 1979: Games, Studying Programming, development of compilers… – Software played a large role in software communities – Development – Posession (collecting and cracking) – Distribution (listings of software, tapes of code) – Software broadcasting (via radio) – First experimental broadcasts by Hans Jansssen in 1978 – Software for 4 most popular computers broadcast on weekly radio show – Development of BASICODE: scheme for broadcasting of BASIC programming – Audio signal, translation program, ripped format – BASICODE v.2: moved all computer-specific commands to subroutines, meaning that any computer had off-the-radio use of BASICODE programs – Broadcast programs also examples of proper programming technique – National broadcasting corporation gets into copyright/other disputes, hobbyists break off on their own in late 1980’s and develop BASICODE v.3 – BASICODE returns to a subculture – hobbyists adopt PC to BASICODE – Officially for “hobby and study” purposes, not “professional programs” – Conclusions: – Hobbyists innovated – Hobbyists expected same norms from users as they did of themselves – Issues b/w hobbyists and professionals centered on ownership, copyrights, development (hobbyists more strict and rigid)

KAYE, Joseph ‘Jofish’ :
Irreverance, Individuals and Institutions: Amateur Attitudes to Technology – Radio hams as prototypical 20th century hackers – In-depth look at one man, William Broughton – Henry Broughton (dad) radio ham himself – Close reading of Broughton’s (the younger) logbooks – Formal structure, but used in flexible ways – Detailed listings of radio contacts – Also listing of weather, household chores, purchases (electric razor), general health and wellbeing – Literature on forms – Joanne Yates, “Control through Communication”: Emphasis on top-down beaurocracy, management perspective – Foucault, “Discipline and Punish”: transgressive behavior as a tool of dissent – Broughton’s use of the logbook represents his identity as a ham not just when he’s using the radio, but 24 hours a day – Story of Henry Broughton’s illness and death (“went Silent Key”), as told through lines in logbook

SAARIKOSKI, Petri :
Meetings of pioneers and enthusiasts? Computer clubs in Finland in the 1970s and 1980s

- Telmac microcomputer kits first popular ones (1970’s) – Company clubs – drew members from company employees and users – club activities: assembly and use of ktit computers; program exchange, equipment supply – almost all members of a given club came from same city – strong local identity – “Play”: miniature, computer-controlled railways; computer games – Many hobbyists came from technical background, many came from radio community – Popularity of kit computers decreased with succes of commercial-produced microcomputers (what happened to original clubs when kit computers began to decline?) – “Hacker” didn’t show up in Finland until 1980’s, used mainly to describe criminal activity (!)

TANG, Jeffrey :
The Endless Quest for Fidelity: A portrait of the early audiophile community

- all-consuming nature of audiophilia, orientation not toward practice per se, but toward quality of product – nature of component stereo as “self-made”, in comparison with “furniture” systems – (Did audiophiles discover component systems because they had the expertise, or were they introduced to them by dealers?) – “penchant for turning knobs” made fun of by professionals – “sound freaks” seen as technically-minded enthusiasts who didnt’ care about music, only sound, and who liked to listen to test records for properties of sound alone – all about testing one’s system, not the output of that system – ultimate extreme: turning off speakers entirely, and “watching” the sound on an oscilloscope

GREENBERG, Josh :
Going broke on long distance phone calls and blank tape: Videophiles and Betamania

- Me

On the recent exodus of academic bloggers:

Something’s happening in the blogosphere, a shift, a reorientation, a great loss…In the past two or three days, several pillars of academic blogging have posted notice that they’re leaving not only the academic blogosphere, but academia, itself. This includes the stalwart Invisible Adjunct, the gentle Household Opera, the hilariously bitter Academic Game, and perhaps even the sharply pointed Critical Mass. Their leaving follows an earlier exit by the insightful Frogs and Ravens, although she still blogs (and knits). Does it mean anything that they’re all women, given the already horrific shortage of women in tenured positions? I grieve.

What am I to say about this? All these bloggers made an indelible mark on the world with their posts, and, after moving out of my office at the university, I can honestly say that they eased my way through the adjustment period. What’s difficult about their leaving, from my perspective, is that they all seem so incredibly talented. Why is there no room for them in academia? Why can’t they find space? If you read their blogs, you’ll see why, I suppose, and I support what they are saying. However, this kind of wholesale exit must leave an intellectual gap in the academic universe somehow, somewhere. When the best and the brightest decide to give up on the system, what does that say about the state of that system today?

I don’t have much to add, except “Yeah. What (s)he said”…

I’m surprised by how much this post saddens me:

A few months ago, I made a vow to myself that this would be my last semester as an invisible adjunct. Since I’ve failed to secure a full-time position in my final attempt at the academic job market, what this means, of course, is that I made a vow to leave the academy. Six more weeks of teaching, and I head for the nearest exit.

Though I must inevitably feel a sense of loss and sadness, it’s thanks to this blog and its readers that I don’t feel the kind of life-twisting bitterness that I might otherwise have experienced. I’ll take with me, among other things, a knowledge of XHTML (which I never thought I could learn!), an undiminished passion for the Scottish Enlightenment, and a heightened sense of life’s possibilities.

In the meantime, I’ve decided to give up the blog.

If you’re not familiar with her site, Invisible Adjunct has created the single best resource for graduate students and young scholars concerned with the pragmatics of the academic job market, and a remarkable community has taken shape in her comments. Hers was one of the first blogs that I read regularly, and while I’m glad that she’s moving on from the limbo of the adjunct-track, hers is a voice that wil be missed.

In the comments of the post, Jeremy Hunsinger asks:

are you going to archive invisibleadjunct somewhere orther than archive.org? it would be a shame to lose this bit of history to netrot.

I’d actually go a step further, and encourage IA to pass the torch to another anonymous blogger, in essence transforming the “Invisible Adjunct” brand into something larger than one person. I don’t mean to say that IA herself is replaceable, but that someone else in the academic trenches might be able to pick up her themes and run with them in his or her own way. If it’s good enough for Gizmodo or Gawker, it might be worthwhile for this far more important site…

Via the Chronicle of Higher Ed:

Chronicle Careers: Assistant Professor, History of Science and Technology/Modern France (3/5/2004)

Mississippi State University’s Department of History invites applications for a tenure-track appointment at the assistant professor level in the History of Science and Technology. The successful candidate must also have a field in modern French history and be prepared to teach Quantitative Methods.

It’s the last one that really throws me…

The abstract for a session I’m putting together with Jofish Kaye for the 2004 Society for Social Studies of Science meeting (in Paris):

Hackers and Tinkerers: Amateur ways of doing technology

From computer hackers to ham radio operators, from audio and videophiles to hot rodders, enthusiast cultures have often proved integral to the lives of technologies. Such cultures tend to exist at the fringes of mainstream technological practices, and their members explicitly define their activities in opposition to traditional understandings of productive work. This panel aims to explore the issues at play for this unique (and crucial) category of users. What is at stake for amateurs who claim technological expertise outside the norms of a traditional professional identity, and what does this mean for our notion of expertise? Who are these amateurs; how and why do they cohere as distinct communities, and how do they maintain this group identity in the face of more popular understandings of their chosen technology? What role do these amateurs play in the broader technological landscape?

Looks like a fun bunch thus far, and we’re still waiting for a few others…if you happen to be interested and are doing relevant work, drop me a line…