Ars Electronica Workshop

Posted on September 17, 2024 by astrid

This year, Doris Allhutter and I conducted a future scenario workshop at the Ars Electronica Festival focusing on datafication & future cities – as part of the Auto-Welf project we’re currently working on. One case study is focusing on practices & politics of open/ing government data for creating public value (including a digital twin project from Vienna). Stay tuned!

Central questions of the workshop were:

How do we envision future urban living? What data should be made available to serve all citizens equally? How should data support urban life and promote the well-being and opportunities of different people and communities? Designing postcards from the future, workshop participants created visions of the urban life we dream of – corresponding to the theme of the festival: HOPE – who will turn the tide.

event & panel discussion: google, governance, & possible interventions

Posted on March 24, 2022 by astrid

On the 12th of April we’ll host a big event at the newly renovated Austrian Academy of Sciences. I’ll first present the results of my long-standing habilitation project “Algorithmic Imaginaries” (funded by the Austrian Science Fund; Elise Richter Program), followed by a panel discussion with leading search engine scholars from all over Europe. Together with Elizabeth Van Couvering, Rosie Graham, and Bernhard Rieder we’ll discuss Google, surveillance capitalism, and discrimination; moderated by Ov Cristian Norocel and Richard Rogers. All infos and registration on-site can be found here; there’ll be a stream too!

Before the public event we’ll be holding a writing workshop at the Institute of Technology Assessment to discuss the manuscripts for our special issue “From Google Critique to Intervention” to be published by Big Data & Society. I’m already looking forward to this get-together!! The video of the event can be found here.

If you’d like to learn more about my project “Algorithmic Imaginaries” you might watch this video of the lecture I gave in Feburary as part of the ÖAW’s gender & diversity lecture series (in German). This lecture sparked quite some media attention including a cover in Der Standard’s “Forschung Spezial”

Ars Electronica event 2020

Posted on May 17, 2021 by astrid

Here’s the link to the video documentary of past year’s Ars Electronica event “How to become a high-tech anti-discrimination activist collective” that was co-organized with the Johannes Kepler University in Linz (A). Both my colleague Doris Allhutter and me organized a workshop as part of this bigger event. My workshop was concerned with AI technology and open source alternatives: “How to create your own AI device with SUSI.AI – An Open Source Platform for Conversational Web”. It was a great opportunity to catch up with my co-workshop leader Hong Phuc Dang from SUSI.AI (one of my case studies of my current search engine project; see research). Many thanks to the organizers!! It was fun!

ARS electronica workshop

Posted on September 7, 2020 by astrid

This year I have the pleasure to give a workshop together with Hong Phuc Dang as part of the ARS Electronica Festival 2020. The title is How to create your own AI device with SUSI.AI – An Open Source Platform for Conversational Web and its part of an overall event Waltraud Ernst and colleagues from the University of Linz have organized. The whole event is dealing with bias and discrimination in algorithmic systems: “How to become a high-tech anti-discrimination activist collective” with awesome keynotes by Lisa Nakamura and Safiya Noble; more infos can be found on the ARS/ Uni Linz website. There you can also register if you’re interested in participating! I’m already looking forward to this event!!!

Where is SUSI in the AI?

Posted on February 25, 2019 by astrid

Thanks for your interest and great response to the FOSSASIA 2019 workshop I advertised in my previous blog post! Are you a SUSI.AI developer/ contributor? Are you up for an experiment? Would you be willing to write a short piece of text on how the social appears in the technical development of SUSI.AI/ your daily work practices? This text should only be half a page or a page and you should’t think about it too hard; rather: you just find a nice spot (like I did last spring in Berlin, where the picture above was taken) and quickly write down what comes to your mind when you hear the following question:

When and how did you encounter SUSI (standing for the social in terms of social biases, user imaginations, gender relations, your own desires and expectations, or something else that comes to your mind..) when developing/ contributing to SUSI.AI and how did you handle SUSI back then?

Please send your memories to me (astrid.mager(at)oeaw.ac.at) so that we can discuss/ work with them during the workshop. Based on these texts we’ll be able to draw out how to (better) handle SUSI in the future, but also how SUSI can be made productive in terms of creating more “open”, “transparent” or “fairer” (AI) technology more generally.

If you don’t find the time to write such a memory, don’t worry! I’d still be happy to see you at the workshop and learn about your ideas on the way SUSI figures in your work and how you usually deal with it!

Remember: The workshop titled “Where is SUSI in the AI?” will take place on Saturday, 16th March, 18-18.55, at the Event Hall 2-1. I’m already looking forward to seeing you there!!! Please use this link to sign up for the workshop! Thank you!

If you’re interested in learning more about working with memories in software design, I’d be happy to give you further insights in the method “mind scripting” I’ve been toying around with just recently. It’s a method developed by my colleague Doris Allhutter, who particularly created this method to investigate (and potentially also to intervene in) software practices.

Call for workshop participants @ open tech summit singapore

Posted on February 21, 2019 by astrid

If you’re a SUSI.AI developer I’d love to get in touch with you to learn about your work practices, your ideas about SUSI.AI and open source more generally, and to discuss what role the social – in terms of social biases, user imaginations, gender relations, your own desires, or something else that is important for you as a coder – plays in the technical development of SUSI.AI/ your own work. I’ve organized a workshop to provide a space for mutual learning experiences and to initiate a dialogue between informatics and social sciences; an interface I find tremendously important in times of growing social biases, discrimination and surveillance corporate tech triggers. Please let me know if you’d like to participate in the workshop and what you’re interested in to better prepare it in advance! Also, please spread the word and motivate other SUSI.AI developers to show up! The more participants, the better! 😉 If you don’t have time to participate in the workshop – I’m sure you guys will be busy over there – I’d still be happy to hear from you and find some other opportunity to chat at the summit. It’s going to be my first Asian Tech Summit so I’m really looking forward to be there and learn more about your great work!! Thanks also to Michael Christen and Mario Behling for supporting my work so far! I’m of coures looking forward to meeting you guys in Singapore too!!! YAY!

This ethnographic study on SUSI.AI is part of my ongoing research project “Algorithmic Imaginaries. Visions and values in the shaping of search engines”; funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). A short – bit outdated – description of my project can be found at the ITA website. I’m happy to explain it further once we meet, of course!

Here’s the abstract for the workshop titled “Where is SUSI in the AI” (Saturday 16th March, 18-18.55, Event Hall 2-1). Please use this link to sign up for the workshop.

There is a long research tradition in the field of science and technology studies (STS) showing the importance of the social in technical design processes. The notion sociotechnical design practices, for example, stands for tight entanglements and co-shaping processes of technical and social elements. Following this basic assumption critical algorithm studies, infrastructure studies, and software studies have started to investigate how social biases in big data, preferences of designers and coders, or imaginations of future users shape digital tools, software, or artificial intelligence. Moreover, innovative methods have been developed to not only analyze, but also problematize and intervene in software practices. “De-biasing” has become an issue of concern bringing together computer scientists and social scientists to learn from each other in the attempt to bring fairness, accountability and transparency to the table of software design.

Following this research tradition the proposed workshop tries to bring together developers, coders, researchers and other contributors working on SUSI.AI to address the following question: “Where is SUSI in the AI”? During the workshop the participants are invited to show and share how SUSI (standing for the social in terms of social biases, user imaginations, gender relations, developers’ own desires, or something else that is important for the SUSI.AI team) actually figures in the design process and how they deal with SUSI/ or hope to deal with SUSI in the future. While the workshop mainly invites contributors working on SUSI.AI, it is open to developers working on similar AI projects as well.

If you’re up for experimenting with a method using memory work before and during the workshop, please check out my next blog post! To be continued.. 😉

spring in Berlin

Posted on April 9, 2018 by astrid

We are in Berlin! And the sun has come out!
I’ll be based at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society. I’m excited to be working with Christian Katzenbach and all the other great HIIG people. There are a couple of things I’ll be doing here – besides hanging out with the family and doing fancy Berlin stuff 😉

Christian and I are organizing the workshop “We are on a mission”. Exploring the role of future imaginaries in the making and governing of digital technology. We are happy about the awesome line-up and that Sally Wyatt will deliver a keynote. Given the great number and variety of submissions we’re also thinking about putting together a special issue on the matter. So stay tuned!
I’ll be doing fieldwork! Two out of my three case studies on alternative search engines – the open web index and the peer-to-peer search engine YaCy – are based in Germany. I’ll take the opportunity to do interviews and, most probably, mind-scripting workshops with the developer teams (in cooperation with my ITA colleague Doris Allhutter). In addition, I’ll go to the Open Tech Summit to enjoy some more of the free software spirit. It always feels good to go right “into the field”.
I’ll be talking about my habilitation project “Algorithmic Imaginaries. Visions and values in the shaping of search engines” (FWF) on various occasions. At the Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society as part of their brown bag lunch series. At the Freie Universität Berlin, Human-Centered Computing, where Claudia Müller-Birn kindly invited me. Maybe – most probably not – at the Re:Publica where I got a rejection at the last minute (they call it “long list” since there is the option to drop in if someone else drops out; I’d call it waiting list..)
Some other things are still to be explored.. It’s only week two.
But the kids are alright..

“we are on a mission”

Posted on February 20, 2018 by astrid

This is great news! I’ll be based in Berlin at the Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) in April and May 2018!!! yay!

As part of this research stay Christian Katzenbach and I are organizing a workshop on the role of future imaginaries in the making and governing of digital technology. It will take place on 27 April 2018 at the HIIG in Berlin. We are really happy that Sally Wyatt (Maastricht University) will hold a keynote!!

See further details of the workshop here. If you’d like to participate in the workshop, please send an english language abstract (300-500 words) until 2 March 2018 (beware of the tight deadline!!!). We encourage you to also submit work-in-progress.

Please contact me if you have further questions! We’re looking forward to your contributions!

Here’s the full CfP:

“We are on a mission”. Exploring the role of future imaginaries in the making and governing of digital technology

Call for Abstracts
Deadline: 02.03.2018

Workshop

Friday, 27 April 2018

Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society

Französische Straße 9,

10117 Berlin, Germany

Keynote: Sally Wyatt (Maastricht University)

“We are on a mission to build a more open, accessible, and fair financial future, one piece of software at a time” promises the software platform Blockchain. “Imagine if everyone could get around easily and safely, without tired, drunk or distracted driving” envisions the self-driving car company Waymo (a subsidiary of Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc.). “The Regulation is an essential step to strengthen citizens’ fundamental rights in the digital age and facilitate business by simplifying rules for companies in the Digital Single Market” claims the European Commission with regard to the General Data Protection Regulation.

These examples show how imaginaries of future societies are enacted to promote digital innovations or legitimate certain modes of internet governance. They illustrate how software providers, tech companies and legislators dig into the rich pool of cultural norms, visions and values to support (or question) digital tools, rules and regulations. Future prospects seem to be central for making decisions in the present.

What role do future imaginaries perform in the making and governing of present digital technology? How are they mobilised to push or oppose digital innovations such as artificial intelligence, the internet of things, blockchain technology or open source/open data projects? How are prospective imaginaries shaped in policy discourses and governance practices regarding networked technology and global data flows? What significance do European specificities have in global technology imaginations? Can different mechanisms be identified in mainstream discourses and counter-narratives? What happens if future scenarios are contested and digital promises become contradictory?

Themes of the Workshop

These are central questions to be discussed in our workshop. We welcome theoretical, methodological and empirical contributions that help us understand how the future is mobilized to make and govern digital technology in the present.

The workshop is organized around three central themes:

Theories and concepts to analytically grasp future visions and their roles in the making and governance of digital technology
Methods and tools to analyze the nexus between future imaginations and their functions in and impact on policy-making and technology development
Empirical research and case studies on future imaginaries and their roles in the making and governing of present digital technology

Submission

We welcome theoretical, methodological and empirical contributions from various disciplines that speak to the themes of the workshop. Please send an english language 300–500 word abstract including title that describes your contribution to the workshop. We encourage you to submit work-in-progress.

Abstracts are submitted via e-mail to astrid.mager@oeaw.ac.at before 2 March 2018. We will send out notifications on 13 March 2018.

Organisers

Astrid Mager

Institute of Technology Assessment (ITA), Austrian Academy of Sciences
Elise Richter Fellow, Austrian Science Fund (FWF), project no. V511-G29
astrid.mager@oeaw.ac.at

Christian Katzenbach
Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society
katzenbach@hiig.de

#ITAwien @ knappenhof

Posted on June 15, 2012 by astrid

I spent the first days of the week in a wonderful hotel in the middle of Austrian nowhere; or more specifically: in the hotel Knappenhof, close to Reichenau half-way on the Rax. A picture describes the place the best, I guess.

The reason for this trip to the countryside was my first “ITA Klausur”, which annually takes place in June. The major task of our intense three-day meeting was a kind of self-discovery in times of budget cuts and precarious futures. The SOS ÖAW initiative speaks for itself. Despite these challenges – or maybe even because of them – we had very productive discussions on mission statements, PR work, academic work flows and policy advice, evaluation criteria of scientific and consulting achievements, discrepancy between long-term measures and short-term goals, integration of different employment contracts, perspectives and needs, and – last but not least – the very nature of technology assessment and its role in academia, society and the policy realm. We finally made a list of different tasks and identified measures how to reach them in due time.

Even though a lot of work lies ahead of us the atmosphere and general “vibes” were really positive and motivating. The ITA culture of communication seems to be pretty inclusive, democratic and well balanced. Having just started my job in March, and hence still being an ITA “novice”, I felt very welcome and integrated. The Klausur was a really good opportunity to gain insights in both ITA dynamics and the nitty-gritty of technology assessment! (Hopefully the weather will be better next time!)

issue mapping online / london

Posted on May 25, 2012 by astrid

That’s how issue mapping looks like when new media scholars from Goldsmiths, Sociology/ London and the Digital Methods Initiative/ Amsterdam meet. Rather than lectures and passive entertainment the workshop consisted of hands-on projects carried out on site and actual work. As always, a highly enjoyable exercise! Compared to the Digital Methods Summer School annually taking place in Amsterdam more “issue experts” – from the Open Society Foundations, for example – were involved this time. Their practical knowledge and expertise in certain issue areas clearly stimulated the discussions since issue mapping requires both software tools/ visualization techniques AND background knowledge on the object of study – be it climate change, ageing or privacy. Only the combination of “digital methods” and “issue expertise” produces new insights and findings in my opinion (even though we didn’t carry out the Turing test to proof this hypothesis 😉 )

The workshop was organized by Noortje Marres & Carolin Gerlitz – both from Goldsmiths. It is well documented on the website issuemapping.net (including the workshop agenda, readings and a box of tools and tactics for “Issue Mapping Online”). A second workshop is planned for the fall; not least to think about future projects and further software developments; since issue mapping means constant experimentation with and refinements of the methods at hand.

notes from vienna

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