Human and Global Networks

April 12, 2019

What is the digital?

Overview

With FSU Digital Scholars, Demos co-hosted a webinar on the broad topic of “Humans and (Global) Networks,” featuring Alexander Galloway (Protocol 2004; The Exploit 2007; The Interface Effect 2012; Laruelle: Against the Digital 2014) and William G. Thomas III (The Iron Way 2011; OSCYS 2015; Anna 2018; Ordeal for Freedom forthcoming).

To help focus the discussion, Galloway and Thomas ask us to reconsider one concept that has likely been taken for granted in an era of hypervigilance and neoliberal thinking: (1) digital, along with its alliterative counterparts digitality and digitalism; and (2) historical imagination. Through rethinking these concepts, it is hoped that we will converse about the dilemmas that interest us, _vis-à-vi_s the pervasiveness of networks as interpretive tools, powers, and trusts. The conversation reaches into other domains, as well, including the ability of networks to illuminate generative cases and narratives, the utility of networks as spaces that enable social critique, and perhaps even the futility of networks as paradigms for shaping a more globally conscious citizenry. Galloway and Thomas may or may not agree on all points, and we may or may not agree amongst ourselves or with them, but all webinar participants can come away from the session having offered or received a unique consideration from their own work or study.

This webinar is the third and final event in an inaugural global webinar series on “People in Data,” co-hosted by FSU Digital Scholars and the Demos Project, and open to any members of the FSU, FAMU, and TCC communities, as well as greater Tallahassee, the state of Florida, and beyond.

Details

Friday, April 12, 2019 – 12:00-1:15 p.m. EDT “Humans and (Global) Networks”

• Alexander R. Galloway (New York University)
• William G. Thomas III (University of Nebraska, Lincoln)

Advanced Reading or Browsing

Webinar participants were invited to read and/or browse the following in advance of the webinar and the discussion:

• Galloway, A. R. (2019) “Peak Analog,” March 22 blog post
• Galloway, A. R. (2018) “Episode 2: Defining the Digital,” October 23 WB202 podcast, Critical Inquiry
• Thomas III, W. G. & Ayers, E. L. (2003) “The Differences Slavery Made: A Close Analysis of Two American Communities”. [See also retrospective essay.]
• Thomas III, W. G. & Ayers, E. L. (2003) “Overview: The Differences Slavery Made: A Close Analysis of Two American Communities” American Historical Review 108(5), 1299-1307,
• Thomas III, William G., Kaci Nash, Laura Weakly, Karin Dalziel, and Jessica Dussault. O Say Can You See: Early Washington, D.C., Law & Family. University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Accessed April 15, 2017.
• Turing, A. M. (1950) “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” Mind 59(236), 433-460. [https://doi.org/10.1093/mind/LIX.236.433]