[Air-L] Special Issue launch “Critical Technical Practice(s) in Digital Research” (10 July)

[van Geenen, Daniela]

Dear all,

Just a brief reminder that it is still possible to register for our hybrid launch event this Wednesday afternoon (for more information see below)!

Best wishes,

Daniela

> On 26. Jun 2024, at 12:21, van Geenen, Daniela via Air-L <air-l at listserv.aoir.org> wrote:
> 
> Dear list members,
> 
> It is our pleasure to invite you to the public launch of the special issue “Critical Technical Practice(s) in Digital Research” on Wednesday 10 July, 2 to 4 pm CEST with some short presentations and the possibility for Q&A and discussion.
> 
> You can join us either online or in Siegen (Germany). For registration: https://forms.office.com/e/P5GKbi4Mnt
> 
> In this special issue, we turn to ideas of and approaches to critical technical practices (CTPs) as entry points to doing critique and doing things critically in digitally mediated cultures and societies. We explore the pluralisation of ‘critical technical practice’, starting from its early formulations in the context of AI research and development (Agre, 1997a, 1997b) to the many ways in which it has resonated and been taken up by different communities of practice, and in diverse publications and projects. Agre defined CTP as ‘a technical practice for which critical reflection upon the practice is part of the practice itself’ (1997a: XII). Communities of practice who adopted and adapted CTP range from human–computer interaction (HCI) to media art and pedagogy, from science and technology studies (STS) and computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) to digital humanities, media studies and data studies. This special issue serves as an invitation to (re)consider what it means to use this notion drawing on a wider body of work, including beyond Agre. In this introduction, we review and discuss CTPs according to (1) Agre, (2) indexed research, and (3) contributors to this special issue. We conclude with some questions and considerations for those interested in working with this notion.
> 
> The issue features contributions on machine learning, digital methods, art-based interventions, one-click network trouble, web page snapshotting, social media tool-making, sensory media, supercuts, climate futures and more from Tatjana Seitz & Sam Hind; Michael Dieter; Jean-Marie John-Mathews, Robin De Mourat, Donato Ricci & Maxime Crépel; Anders Koed Madsen; Winnie Soon & Pablo Velasco; Mathieu Jacomy & Anders Munk; Jessica Ogden, Edward Summers & Shawn Walker; Urszula Pawlicka-Deger; Simon Hirsbrunner, Michael Tebbe & Claudia Müller-Birn; Bernhard Rieder, Eric Borra & Stijn Peters; Carolin Gerlitz, Fernando van der Vlist & Jason Chao; Daniel Chavez Heras; and Sabine Niederer & Natalia Sanchez Querubin.
> 
> The issue published in Convergence (Vol. 30, Issue 1) can be accessed here:
> https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/cona/30/1.
> 
> Links to the articles, to our living literature collection (Zotero group), and information on the newly created dedicated mailing list can be found here: https://publicdatalab.org/projects/pluralising-critical-technical-practices/.
> 
> Best wishes,
> 
> Daniela van Geenen, Karin van Es & Jonathan Gray
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