Tuesday, 28 March 2023
“Mathematical modeling of complex social systems”
Nataša Djurdjevac Conrad
Understanding complex social phenomena and emergent behavior in social systems is a topic of great interest in several fields, including sociology, anthropology, economics, and political science. However, the abstract nature of social systems and the complexity of human behavior pose significant challenges that often require interdisciplinary collaborations and the integration of diverse data sources. Mathematical models are shown to be powerful tools for understanding and predicting the behavior of complex social systems. In this talk, we will explore the use of agent-based modeling, network analysis, and other mathematical techniques to study complex social phenomena in real-world applications, such as cultural change, the spread of Covid-19, and opinion formation. We will discuss several case studies from our recent work, highlighting the benefits and limitations of known modeling techniques, as well as addressing the challenges of data collection and model validation. By examining these approaches, we aim to provide insight into the potential of mathematical modeling for understanding complex social phenomena and processes of change.
Wednesday, 29 March 2023.
“Noisy Chatbots, Silent Archives, and the Illusion of Interoperability”
Amalia S. Levi
Archival collections are increasingly being digitized; however the ease of access belies the multiple processes that result in inherently partial and selective collections online. Furthermore, infrastructures holding in place digitized materials are built based on Western worldviews and imperial legacies that mediate and condition our understanding of materials. Striving for interoperability without being aware of or interrogating omissions, power structures, and distortions underlying datasets we work with results in projects that perpetuate dominant voices and in scholarship that reinscribes and reifies archival silences into the digital realm. Simply put, we end up training our systems with vast swaths of world memory absent and make what is already visible hyper-visible. In my talk, I will discuss focusing not only on what is there, but mainly how to seek out ‘silences’ in a generative way for providing a more equitable view of the past—and of the present.
“Book History in Bits: Hypertext, Method and Contingency”
Christopher Ohge
Book history has always addressed questions of technology, and the intellectual, technical, and aesthetic possibilities of text are constantly evolving. This talk explores the creative-critical uses of textual scholarship by considering hypertext as a method rather than as a format of delivery, which allows editing and curation to bridge different practises and fields of research.
Thursday, 30 March 2023.
“Dance Data, Embodied Knowledge, and Historical Inquiry”
Kate Elswit
Further information coming soon.