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ISTeC
Distinguished Lecture in conjunction with the Computer
Science Department and the Electrical and Computer
Engineering Department Seminar Series The Data Intensive University: The Idea of a University in a Digital Age Speaker: David Berry, Professor, Digital Humanities (Media and Film), School of Media, film and Music, University of Sussex When: 11:00AM ~ 11:50AM, March 25, 2019 Where: Morgan Library Event Hall Contact: Jonathan E. Carlyon (Jonathan.Carlyon@ColoState.EDU) Abstract: In a digital age the university needs to communicate humanistic values and its contribution to public culture more than ever. The university is particularly important for continuing to ask the question: what is a life worth living? Today we live within a horizon of interpretability determined in large part by the capture of data by algorithms which overtake our lives and thoughts. This is a world that relies upon automation by computation and the manipulation of data using sophisticated software. It is a data-intensive world built on the economic realisation of an increasingly data-intensive scientific milieu. However, this has a number of darker aspects, from extensive value-extraction of private data and the emergence of new forms of digital propaganda, to the creation of an economy of imperious digital monopolies. We need to ask key questions about who, what, why, when, where, and how in relation to digital technologies, but we also need to develop these questions in relation to humanistic inquiry and being-human. For me, a critical site for both understanding these issues and for starting the process of responding to them is the university. Not just the university we have, but the university we must have, the university we have to build – I argue that we need to rediscover a philosophy of the university but also develop a set of critical practices for thinking both with and about computation. I have started to describe the new emergent form of the university as a data-intensive university, one that is increasingly constructed by a data-centric economy and polity. I argue that a number of shifting social, political and economic forces call for a response in the form of a new distinctive role for the university. But this also raise new questions for the university: How do the academic disciplines respond, what are the implications for their teaching and research? What are the implications for the wider university and its capacity to offer critique? Indeed, where is the centre of the university in a data-intensive age and what thereby is the compass by which a university is able to justify its direction? In this talk I will explore these issues and the ways forward for meeting the challenges. Bio: Dr. Berry researches the theoretical and medium-specific challenges of understanding digital and computational media, particularly algorithms, software and code. His work draws on digital humanities, critical theory, political economy, social theory, software studies, and the philosophy of technology. As Professor of Digital Humanities, he is particularly interested in how computation is being incorporated into arts and humanities and social science practice. His new work examines the historical and philosophical genealogies of the notion of an "Idea of a University" and is funded by the British Academy. |