Emerging Tech, Media & Algorithms Conf. - Dublin

Register here.

Dublin, Ireland - Oct. 18-19, 2019

For non-computer-scientists, the computation behind today's evolving technology is something of a black box: lack of understanding of how software has evolved is a weakness even in sophisticated social-science and media-studies research. Interdisciplinary encounters are vital also for computer scientists: the evolution of software has brought them into new terrain where they too urgently need to discuss fundamental changes in their own paradigm with other people – researchers whose work demands that they analyse complex and dynamic systems, social and otherwise.

What are the implications of technological change for the people who use systems for communication and social media? What do these complex systems of computation mean, in particular, for those who have been using social media to organise networks and disseminate information? Our interdisciplinary approach puts human equality, inclusion and social change – rather than commercially driven techno-enthusiasm or, conversely, dystopian fears of popular engagement – at the centre of the discussion. As Vaidhyanathan quips, there are just two things wrong with social media, ‘how it works and how people use it’. The conference offers challenging, unpatronising and non-reductive explorations of both these ‘hows’.