[oberlist] DE* call/edu/digit: Hackademia: empirical studies in computing cultures

Mon Dec 21 00:06:19 CET 2015

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Subject: Artinfo Digest, Vol 83, Issue 14
From:    artinfo-request at lists.c3.hu
Date:    Sat, November 21, 2015 1:00 pm
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Message: 2
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 2015 13:22:46 +0100
From: Geert Lovink <geert at xs4all.nl> (by way of Janos Sugar)
Subject: [artinfo] Hackademia: empirical studies in computing cultures

	(call for participants)

DCRL Digital Cultures Research Lab
Leuphana University
Am Sande 5
21335 L?neburg
Germany

15. November 2015
Call For Participants

Hackademia: empirical studies in computing cultures
A Digital Cultures Research Lab (DCRL) Summer School
August 28th - September 2nd, 2016
Leuphana University

Curated by

Paula Bialski, Leuphana University
Gabriella Coleman, McGill University
Marcell Mars, Leuphana University

Background

Studying digital media today means studying those
technologists-hackers, security resarchers, game
developers, system administrators, and
designers-who create and maintain the digital
worlds we live in. How much agency lies in the
hands of programmers, coders, and engineers to
create our digital worlds is still up for debate,
yet this much is true: various hacking and
related subcultures form critical nodes of
practice that help shape and condition the
contemporary technologies we use everyday.
Whether it is an analyst or coder implementing
algorithms at a large financial institution, a
group of designers working on improving the user
interface for a cryptographic tool, a privacy
team securing a browser, a developer coding her
own app, cryptographers working on an open source
anoymized system, a programmer working on a p2p
file-sharing platform, hackers buying and selling
zero days in a grey market, a team of system
administrators at Google working to scale up
services, a journalist-coder developing
visualization tools, indie game developers
seeking to write a politically minded game, or a
hacker-leaker whistleblowing to salavage privacy
- all have something to say about how digital
technology can and should be created.

These technology workers/experts are now central
to every field of social, political, and economic
import. They secure our communications networks;
shape the design and portals we use to connect to
our banks, our friends, our loved ones, our
colleagues, our business partners; inform us
about the activities of our governments; design
novel currencies; exfiltrate intellectual
property and proof of wrongdoing from corporate
actors; offer us alternative ways of organizing
our political voices whether through political
projects or games; function as conduits and
warriors between nations; and allow us to
confront the laws we don't like - through
democratic engagements, as in the Free Software
movement, or tools that enable outright
circumvention.

This is an ideal time to understand and
ultimately appraise their activities, actions,
their desires, and intentions. While an
increasing number of scholars - ethnographers,
cultural anthropologists, sociologists, and media
historians - are undertaking the study of hacker
cultures,there are many methodological questions
to pose and explore: How much technical knowledge
is necessary to study the worlds of computing and
programming?  How does one gain access to secret
nooks of hacking or corporate sites - whether a
security company, gaming outfit, or blackhat
computer forum - where codes, designers, and
hackers labor? How is the study of hackers
similar and different to the study of other
experts such as scientists? As participant
observers, how can we fully understand the
engineering culture of the hackers we are
studying, and what shortcuts in our methods must
be taken in order to create an understanding?

Who Should Apply?

This summer school invites doctoral students in
the field of ethnography, cultural anthropology,
media studies, software studies, sociology,
science, technology studies, history, or other,
who are currently working on a dissertation on
the life-worlds, practices, cultures, or
platforms of hackers. Hackers here are understood
broadly as programmers, coders, pirates, and
computer engineers of all shapes and forms - and
do not necessarily have to be engaged in illegal
or subversive activity or self identify as
hackers. Applicants who are struggling with field
entry, are learning to code, or seek to expand
their methods, are particularly welcome.

Who Will Attend?

This summer school will provide a dialogue
between hackers and academics. As such, we will
additionally invite a number of hackers, coders,
programmers, and technologists. These guests will
lead sessions around the topic of field entrance,
knowledge transfer, work organization and hacker
communication practices, feminist critiques, and
standards/protocols. Keynote speakers will also
provide evening lectures, and help lead sessions.

Where and when will this take place?

The Hackademia summer school will take place at
the Digital Cultures Research Lab (DCRL),
Leuphana University in Luneburg, Germany (30
minutes away from Hamburg), between August 28th -
September 2nd, 2016.

How to apply:

Please submit your CV along with a 500-word
abstract of your dissertation, and a 500-word
explanation on why you would like to attend this
summer school. The deadline for applications for
the summer school is January 4th, 2016. Please
email your applications (compile into one PDF) to
bialski at leuphana.de

All applicants will be informed about the
selection of participants in mid-February.

The working language of the summer school will be
English; therefore, a sufficient understanding of
English is expected.

There is no participation fee. The organizers
will cover accommodation costs. We have a limited
amount of need-based travel funding available.
Please indicate in your application letter if you
wish to apply for travel funding.

For further information on the DCRL, please visit:

http://cdc.leuphana.com/structure/digital-cultures-research-lab/project/research

End of Artinfo Digest, Vol 83, Issue 14
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