Speaker: Prof Geoffrey C. Bowker, University of California, Irvine
In this talk, Prof Bowker will explore how the concept of selfhood can be enriched by considering ourselves as existing both inside of our own bodies and minds and within extended data networks. Drawing examples from the quantified self-movement and big data analytics more generally, he argues that it is not just that data about us is being captured: we are partially constituted by that data. This analysis is then developed in terms of the new forms that ‘nature’ is taking within the world of biodiversity data.
Bio: Geoffrey C. Bowker is Professor at the School of Information and Computer Science, University of California at Irvine, where he directs the Evoke Laboratory, which explores new forms of knowledge expression. Recent positions include Professor of and Senior Scholar in Cyberscholarship at the University of Pittsburgh iSchool and Executive Director, Center for Science, Technology and Society, Santa Clara. Together with Leigh Star he wrote Sorting Things Out: Classification and its Consequences; his most recent book is Memory Practices in the Sciences. He is currently working on big data policy and on scientific cyberinfrastructure; as well as completing a book on social readings of data and databases. He is a founding member of the Council for Big Data, Ethics and Society.
WHEN: Thursday, 9 June 2016 from 17:00 to 18:30
WHERE: Room 309 Richard Hoggart Building, Goldsmiths University, London, SE14 6NW
Register to attend via Eventbrite.
