If you happen to be vaguely near Oxford and interested in digital-type things, then Paul Dourish’s lecture at the OII may be of interest. I’m guessing it’s related to his latest book… It’d be interesting to see if he cites any geographers.
Bellwether Lecture: Exploring the Materialities of Digital Information
Speakers: Paul Dourish
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- 26 October 2017 17:15 – 18:45
Location: Faculty of Classics, Ioannou Centre for Classical & Byzantine Studies, 66 St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LY
- Please register on Eventbrite
- OII Bellwether Lectures
The Oxford Internet Institute is excited to welcome Paul Dourish from the University of California, Irvine for the Bellwether talk ‘Exploring the Materialities of Digital Information’.
The talk will be followed by a short drinks reception.
Abstract
Social theorists of various stripes have countered the rhetoric of immateriality in the domain of the digital by pointing to the material foundations of digital systems, including their infrastructures and the material resources necessary to produce them. I will present a materialist account of digital forms and representations themselves, and show how practices around digital information are shaped and constrained by representational considerations. These digital materialities interpose themselves into processes of encoding and acting with information. I will illustrate the approach using examples from organizational decision-making and internet protocols.