[Air-L] Reminder: Amsterdam Digital Methods Summer School 2011, Call for Participants

[Anne Helmond]

- Please note that the early bird application deadline is *7 March 2011*.
Early bird candidates will be informed on 7 April 2011 -


*Digital Methods Summer School 2011*

Media Studies, University of Amsterdam, 27 June - 8 July 2011


*After Cyberspace: Data-rich Media*

The Digital Methods Summer School, now in its fifth edition, trains
post-graduates, PhD candidates and motivated students and scholars in how to
undertake Web research after cyberspace. The idea of "after cyberspace" is
an invitation to think through and study the web without resort to the
traditions informing "virtual" and "cyber" corporality, politics and
identity. Rather the web, first with locative technology, later with
language and national webs, and more recently with college and corporate
networking software (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) continues to be grounded.

In the 2011 Digital Methods Summer School we will pay homage to cyberspace,
in the opening, by presenting thought on a particular strand of media
coverage about WikiLeaks, where cybergurus and cyberwar experts reappear on
the scene. Just as importantly, we will ask, how to make use of the leaks,
and their containers, for research purposes? From data-driven journalism to
bespoke cablegate engines, does WikiLeaks spawn an online ecology of tools,
visualizations and other substantive practices and outputs? Is such an
ecology typical for data platforms? For comparative purposes, we will
introduce and study the tool and visualization universes of Twitter as well
as Wikipedia, both of which are examples of data-rich media. We would like
to learn from platform media analytics and apply it to other data-rich
media, so as to further develop tools for cultural diagnostics. One
challenge is the question of device effects. For example, when comparing the
Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian Wikipedia entries for the Srebrenica Massacre,
does Wikipedia's "neutral point of view" policies overdetermine the content,
perhaps neutralize it, or can one read culturally distinctive views on the
events?

Another strand of study is networked content, which is thought of as online
content held together, maintained or even co-authored by software and bots.
The interplay of search engines and content interests us this year, not just
because Wikipedia articles are routinely at the top of Google results. (The
relationship between Google and Wikipedia remains understudied.) But there
is also content seemingly authored for engines first and readers only
second, as in the case of "demand media." We would like to study efforts
that seek to fill in engine results with content, reopening the question of
engine epistemology. Presentations will include work on engine log analysis.
Apart from (Google) flu trends, are log analyses able to identify and
geo-locate cultural and political preference?


*About "Digital Methods" as Concept*
Digital Methods is a term coined as a counter-point to virtual methods,
which typically digitize existing methods and port them onto the Web.
Digital Methods, contrariwise, seek to learn from the methods built into the
dominant devices online, and repurpose them for social and cultural
research. That is, the challenge is to study the info-web and the social web
with the tools that organize them. There is a general protocol to digital
methods. At the outset stock is taken of the natively digital objects that
are available (links, tags, threads, etc.) and how devices such as search
engines make use of them. Can the device techniques be repurposed, for
example by remixing the digital objects they take as inputs?

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*About the Summer School*
The Digital Methods Summer School, founded in 2007 together with the Digital
Methods Initiative, is directed by Professor Richard Rogers, Chair in New
Media & Digital Culture at the University of Amsterdam. The Summer School is
one training opportunity provided by the Digital Methods Initiative (DMI).
DMI also has a Winter School, also known as the mini-conference, where
papers are presented and responded to. Winter School papers are often the
result of Summer School projects. The Summer School is coordinated by two
PhD candidates in New Media at the University of Amsterdam, or affiliates.
This year the coordinators are Anne Helmond (University of Amsterdam) and
Carolin Gerlitz (Goldsmiths, University of London). The Summer School has a
technical staff as well as a design staff. The Summer School also relies on
a technical infrastructure of some five servers hosting tools and storing
data. Participants bring their laptops, learn method, undertake research
projects, make reports, tools and graphics and write them up on the Digital
Methods wiki. The Summer School concludes with final presentations. Often
there are guests from non-governmental or other organizations who present
their issues. Women on Waves came along during the 2010 Summer School.
Greenpeace International, based in Amsterdam, will be invited in 2011.

Previous Digital Methods Summer Schools, 2007-2010,
https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/DmiSummerSchool.

The Digital Methods Initiative was founded with a grant from the Mondriaan
Foundation, and the Summer School is supported by the Center for Creation,
Content and Technology (CCCT), University of Amsterdam, organized by the
Faculty of Science with sponsorship from Platform Beta.

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*Summer School Training Certificate*
The Digital Methods Summer School issues completion certificates to
participants who follow the Summer School program, and complete a
significant contribution to a Summer School project. For previous Summer
School projects, see for example
https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/WikipediaAsASpaceOfControversy.

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*Applications & Fees*
To apply for the Digital Methods Summer School, 27 June - 8 July 2011,
please send a one-page letter explaining how digital methods training would
benefit your current work, and also enclose a CV. Mark your application "DMI
Training Certificate Program." The early bird application deadline is 7
March 2011. Early bird candidates will be informed on 8 March 2011. The
regular deadline for applications for the Summer School is 8 April. Notices
will be sent on 15 April. Please address your application email to the
Summer School coordinators, Anne Helmond and Carolin Gerlitz, and send to
info [at]digitalmethods.net. Informal queries may be sent to Anne or
Carolin, anne [at] digitalmethods.net or c.gerlitz [at] digitalmethods.net.

The Summer School costs EUR 295 per person. Accepted applicants will be
informed of the bank transfer details upon notice of acceptance to the
Summer School. The fee must be paid by 15 May 2011.

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*Logistics*
Participants must arrange their own travel and accommodation. The Summer
School meets Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and all participants also work
on the Tuesdays and Thursdays. Please bring your laptop. We will provide
abundant connectivity.

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*Summer School Location*
New Media & Digital Culture, University of Amsterdam, Turfdraagsterpad 9,
1012 XT Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Rooms 0.13 & 0.04


We look forward to welcoming you!