Author: sam

Sam is owner of this blog and works as a senior lecturer in digital geographies.
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Reblog> Everyday Code

An interesting post by Mark Purcell on his paper at the AAG:

Everyday Code

Here is the text from my talk at the AAG conference last week. It was for a really great session organized by Joe Shaw and Mark Graham (who are at the Oxford Internet Institute) on “An Informational Right to the City”.

Everyday Code: The Right to Information and Our Struggle for Democracy

Introduction

Henri Lefebvre proposed a right to information, and he thought that right must be associated with a right to the city. I want to urge us to understand both those rights in the context of Lefebvre’s wider political project. That wider project was the struggle for self-management, what Lefebvre often called “autogestion,” and what I prefer to call democracy.

Lefebvre articulates his wider political vision in terms of what he called a “new contract of citizenship between State and citizen.”

Read the full post.

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VR… ‘das opium des volkes’? Adam Greenfield on Oculus

Nice blogpost by Adam a short-while ago reflecting on VR as a means of keeping the precariat/proletariat sated with simulation:

As VR’s leading developers straight-up admit in the piece, its function is to camouflage the inequities and insults of an unjust world, by offering the masses high-fidelity simulations of the things their betters get to experience for real. Here’s the money quote, no pun intended: “[S]ome fraction of the desirable experiences of the wealthy can be synthesized and replicated for a much broader range of people.” (That’s John Carmack speaking, for future reference.)

[…]

The idea that all we can do is accede to a world of permanent, vertiginous inequity – inequity so entrenched and so unchallengeable that the best thing we can do with our technology is use it as a palliative and a pacifier

All reminiscent of William Gibson’s rendering of the “Sim/Stim” industry in the Neuromancer trilogy… for example, this passage from the 23rd chapter of Count Zero (the 2nd book):

The interior of the JAL shuttle vanished in a burst of Aegean blue, and she watched the words TALLY ISHAM’S TOP PEOPLE expand across the cloudless sky in elegant sans-serif capitals.

Tally Isham had been a constant in the stim industry for as long as Marly remembered, an ageless Golden Girl who’d
come in on the first wave of the new medium. Now Marly
found herself locked into Tally’s tanned, lithe, tremendously comfortable sensorium. Tally Isham glowed, breathed deeply
and easily, her elegant bones riding in the embrace of a musculature that seemed never to have known tension. Ac- cessing her stim recordings was like falling into a bath of
perfect health, feeling the spring in the star’s high arches and
the jut of her breasts against the silky white Egyptian cotton
of her simple blouse. She was leaning against a pocked white balustrade above the tiny harbor of a Greek island town, a cascade of flowering trees falling away below her down a
hillside built from whitewashed stone and narrow, twisting
stairs A boat sounded in the harbor

“The tourists are hurrying back to their cruise ship now,” Tally said, and smiled; when she smiled, Marly could feel the smoothness of the star’s white teeth, taste the freshness of her mouth, and the stone of the balustrade was pleasantly rough against her bare forearms.

I continue to be surprised by the return to and rehabilitation of the Modernist vision of VR… perhaps I’m not cynical enough?!

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Mr Jan Eliasson

Attention: Beneficiary,

This is to official inform you that we have been having meetings for the past Four Weeks now which ended Five days ago with Mr.Jim Yong Kim the World Bank president and other seven continent presidents on the Congress we treated on solution to Scam victim problems.

Note: we have decided to contact you following the reports we received from Anti-Fraud International Monitoring Group your name and email has been submitted to us therefore the United Nations have agreed to compensate you with the sum of USD$1,000,000.00 this compensation is also including international business that failed due to Government problems etc.

We have arranged your payment through ATM Visa Card which is the latest instruction from the World Bank president Mr.Jim Yong Kim therefore be advice to contact our Representative Agent. Pastor John Godwin who is in position to release your ATM Visa card contact him by replying this mail and make sure you forwards your full details to him. Your full name, your country/city, your delivery address, your telephone number, your age, your occupation and your identity card or passport copy.

Once again for the collection of your Visa card reply to contact our representative Pastor John Godwin to enable you confirm your payment without further delay and note that any other contact you made out side his office is at your own risk.

Thanks.

Best Regards,
Mr Jan Eliasson,

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INVESTIGATION!! by Gordon Chang

This investigation involves a client who shares the same surname with you and also the circumstances surrounding investments made by this client at the Private Banking Services. This private Banking Services client died intestate and nominated no successor in title over the investments made with the bank. The essence of this communication with you is to request you provide us information/comments on any or all of the four issues below;

1-Are you aware of any relative/relation who shares your same surname?
2-Are you aware of any investment of considerable value made by such a person at the Private Banking Service?
3-Who was born on the 21st of October, 1941?
4-Can you establish beyond reasonable doubt your eligibility to assume status of successor in title to the deceased?

It is pertinent that you inform me ASAP whether or not you are familiar with this personality.

You must appreciate that I am constrained from providing you with more detailed information at this point. Please respond to this mail as soon as possible to afford us the opportunity to close this investigation. This portfolio could be of mutual benefits to both of us if you could share your light on the above questions as correct as possible.

Thank you for accommodating our enquiry.

Gordon Chang.

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Inspector Rory Gillard

Dear Sir,

“ENOUGH IS ENOUGH..”

Its now crystal clear to you in the time past that you have been dealing with fraudsters because our investigation report have shown that you have an outstanding payment.Nevertheless the deed has been done and the only way to remedy the situation is to proceed to pay you an approved compensation fund of $6.5million only as approved for listed certified scam victims by the United Nations Debts Reconciliation Committee United Kingdom). Thus the payment will come via ATM VISA CARD and sine our paying bank is duly inter switched,you will be permitted to make a maximum withdrawal of $5000 on daily basis in any ATM VISA CENTER that is nearest to you any where in the world.The original copy of your ATM VISA CARD shall be delivered by Diplomatic COURIER service within 5 working days from the date of your response email. Please to avoid wrong delivery of your ATM VISA CARD you are kindly expected to reply immediately and re-confirm, Your preferred home or office delivery address Thank You Inspector Rory Gillard Scotland Yard Police UK.

Thank You

Inspector Rory Gillard
Scotland Yard Police UK.

Found in my junk folder…

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Reblog> Programme for Streams of Consciousness, Warwick, 21-22 April

Via Tony Sampson. All the names you’d expect/want to see and a few more… (can’t help finding it amusing that Thrift is opening the event).

It’d be interesting to hear what Rouvroy has to say…

Streams of Consciousness: Data, Cognition and Intelligent Devices

Download here short and full draft pdf versions of the programme

Register for the conference here 

Thursday 21st April

9.00 to 9.45: REGISTRATION AND COFFEE
9.45 to 10.00: OPENING ADDRESS
Nathaniel Tkacz, Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies, University of Warwick
10.00 TO 10.45: KEYNOTE SPEAKER 
Professor Nigel Thrift
10.45 to 13.00: PLENARY SESSION
Tony Sampson, University of East London 
Understanding Neurocapitalism or What Happens When Gramsci Does Human Computer Interaction
Nick Srnicek, Independent Researcher
The Eyes of the State
Antoinette Rouvroy, University of Namour (Video Conference)
Title TBC
13.00 to 14.00: LUNCH
14.00 to 16.00: BREAK OUT SESSIONS 
SESSION A: DATIFIED SELF
Sun-Ha Hong, University of Pennsylvania 
Data’s Intimacy: Machinic Sensibility and the Quantified Self
Elpida Prasopoulou, Coventry University 
The Body in the Internet of Things: An Auto-ethnography on Wearables
Aleksandra K. Przegalinska, Kozminski University 
Productivity 3.0: Mindtracking and the New Transparent Labour
Ana Viseu, Universidade Euroepia (TBC) 
Bodies, Data and the Question of Physiological Narcissism
SESSION B: ALGORITHMS, MODELS AND CALCULATIVE DEVICES
 
Nathan Coombs, University of Edinburgh 
Intractable Algorithms: Representational Uncertainty in the German High-Frequency Trading Act
Tyler Reigeluth, Université Libre de Bruxelles 
“Let’s misbehave!”: The politics of Behaving with Algorithm
Jérémy Grosman, University of Namour 
A Prediction, not an Oracle – Neural Network, between Algorithms and Metaphors
Charalampos Fytros, Lancaster University 
Mediating Solvency
SESSION C: EXPERIENCE, AFFECT, ATTENTION, INTERACTION
Miguel Prado, University of West England
Noise and Cognition in the Age of Big Data
Darshana Jayemanne, University of Melbourne
The Body Eclectic: Massively Multiplayer Mimesis
John McManus, Oxford University
Football Fans, Mimesis and the Enchanting Properties of Smartphone Use
Craig Hamilton, Birmingham City University 
Can Algorithms Make You Cry?: Popular Music and Machine-Derived Curation
16.00 to 16.15: COFFEE BREAK
16.15 to 18.30: PLENARY SESSION
Steve Fuller, University of Warwick 
Neuroscience as the Mind Instrumentalised: Telescope vs. Microscope
Michael Wheeler, University of Stirling 
The Knowledge Ecology: Epistemic Credit and the Technologically Extended Mind
Caroline Bassett, University of Sussex 
The Hubris of the ‘Artificial Intelligentsia’: Eliza and the Simulation of Smart
19.30: CONFERENCE DINNER

Friday 22nd April

09.00 to 11.00: PLENARY SESSION
Louise Amoore, Durham University 
Title TBC
David Berry, University of Sussex
Human Reason and Algorithmic Judgement
James Ash, Newcastle University 
The Interface Envelope: Power, Cognition and Gaming
11.15 to 11.30: COFFEE BREAK
11.30 to 13.10: BREAK OUT SESSIONS
SESSION A: PLATFORMS, INTERFACES AND SENSORS
Jacob Johanssen, University of Westminster 
Not Belonging to One’s Self: Affect and Alienation on Facebook’s Site Governance Page
Alex Gekker, Utrecht University
Numbers are Magic: Numerical User Interfaces and Disconnect
Heather Ford – Oxford Internet Institute
Ode to the Infobox
Alison Powell – London School of Economics and Political Science
A Goose in The Stream: Animals, ‘Accidents’ and Sensing Citizenships beyond the Calculative
SESSION B: ROBOTS, DRONES AND AI 
Tero Karppi, Marc Böhlen and Yvette Granata, SUNY Buffalo
Killer Robots and Cultural Techniques
Ramon Bloomberg, Goldsmiths College
Becoming Platform
Beatrice Fazi, University of Sussex
Can a Machine Think Anything New?
Marc Böhlen (Video Conference), Tero Karppi and Yvette Granata – SUNY Buffalo
Robot Control
SESSION C: AESTHETICS AND VISUALISATIONS
Roxana Fabius, Barad College
Business Intelligence and Aesthetic Criticality
Jonathan Gray, University of Amsterdam; Liliana Bounegru, University of Amsterdam, University of Groningen, University of Ghent; Stefania Milan, Amsterdam University; and Paolo Ciuccarelli Density Design, Politecnico di Milano 
Ways of Seeing Data
Lukasz Mirocha, University of Warsaw 
Challenging Technology Obfuscation Through Aesthetics of Real-time Visual Media: An Analysis of Glitches in Post-digital Consumer Mapping and Navigation Systems
13.10 to 14.00: LUNCH
PLENARY SESSION 14.00 to 16.15
Natasha Dow-Schüll, NYU (Video Conference)
From Mood Ring to MuseTM: Digital Sensor Technology and the Mediation of Sentience
Satinder Gill – Cambridge University 
Performing Knowledge: The Mediating Body
Will Davies – Goldsmiths College 
How Are We Now?: Mood as a Real-Time Indicator

16.15 to 16.30: COFFEE BREAK

PLENARY SESSION 16.30 to 17.15
Michael Dieter, University of Warwick
Title TBC
Jennifer Gabrys, Goldsmiths College
Digital Infrastructures of Withness: Constructing a Speculative “Smart” City
18.00 to 18.15: DISCUSSION AND CLOSING REMARKS
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Reblog> Jane McAlevey: Workshop on Social Movement Unionism

This looks good. Another interesting event found through Mark Purcell…

Understanding power and strategy for effective organizing10am-5.30pm Tuesday 28 June 2016

University of Leeds,

Room 1.02, 20 Lyddon Terrace, Leeds, LS2 9JT
For map: http://tinyurl.com/zwoemdq

Attendance fees (includes lunch & refreshments) £20

NOTE: places are limited. You must register and pay in advance. Details can be found at www.buira.org

Jane McAlevey is well-known in the American labor movement as the hard-charging organizer who racked up a string of victories at a time when union leaders said winning wasn’t possible. In her book /Raising Expectations (and Raising Hell)/ Jane argues that labor can be revived, but only if the movement acknowledges its mistakes and fully commits to deep organizing, participatory education, militancy, and an approach to workers and their communities that more resembles the campaigns of the 1930s.In short, she advocates whole worker organising through social movement unionism.

Rather than building community-labour alliances, the whole worker organizing approach merges workplace and non-workplace issues into a tight blend. Jane had years of experience in community organizing prior to becoming a fulltime union organizer and negotiator and her approaches flow from the combined experience of union and community organizing. These methods have been successful in winning local political campaigns in addition to worker organizing campaigns.

Jane has recently completed her PhD and is currently teaching at Harvard University Law School on the Labor and Worklife Program.

This day-long workshop, supported by the *British Universities Industrial Relations Association,* is aimed at trade union an community activists who are interested in developing a greater understanding of the differences between organizing and mobilizing and how to undertake power analysis for effective organizing.

Workshop details

10am: Registration and refreshments

10.15am: introductions

10.30-1pm: morning workshops

1pm-2pm: Buffet Lunch: provided in attendance fee

2pm-5.50pm: afternoon workshops

Topics to be covered include:

·Core differences between organizing and mobilizing approaches.

·What is an organic leader?

·Differences between activists and leaders.

·Understandingpower: the relationship between strategies and power analysis.

This event is being sponsored by the British Universities Industrial Relations Association. Its annual conference on ‘Employment relations towards 2020 and beyond: reflection, prospects and opportunities’ will follow this workshop on 29 June–1^st July at The Carriageworks, Millennium Square, Leeds LS2 3AD.

If you wish to attend please contact Jane Holgate: j.holgate [at] leeds.ac.uk

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Reblog> Postcapitalist Futures: Talk at Bristol

Via Mark Purcell…

The University of Bristol’s School of Geographical Sciences will host the 6th annual Bassett lecture on Tuesday 3rd May 2016 at 4pm.This year’s speaker is Nick Srnicek, who will be presenting under the title ‘Postcapitalist Futures’ (details below).

The lecture will take place in the Peel Lecture Theatre, School of Geographical Sciences, University Road, Bristol, BS8 1SS

Abstract:
What does the future of work hold? This talk will examine the current capitalist conjuncture, outlining the changing technological and economic conditions of work. The social democratic era of good jobs, it will be shown, is over – and the left must grapple with this shift. In place of full employment, we should be arguing for full unemployment. This talk will try and show both why this is necessary, and how this is possible.

Biography

Nick Srnicek is the co-author, with Alex Williams, of both Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work (Verso, 2015) & “#ACCELERATE MANIFESTO for an Accelerationist Politics” (2013). He is the co-editor of The Speculative Turn (Re.press, 2011 with Levi Bryant and Graham Harman) and is currently working on a new book entitled Postcapitalist Technologies (Polity, forthcoming).

The Bassett Lecture:

The Bassett Lecture is held every year in honour of Dr. Keith Bassett, a critical geographer and long-time Senior Lecturer in the School of Geographical Sciences. Though formally retired, Dr. Bassett continues to write, teach, and contribute to the intellectual life of the School and University. The lecture series recognizes Dr. Bassett’s work and contributions in the fields of social and geographical theory, critical geographies of political economy, urbanism, social movements and social justice, political ecology, and critical socio-legal studies.

All Welcome!

No booking required, for enquiries contact: tom.keating [at] bristol.ac.uk