Monday, May 13, 2013

CFP: Cybersecurity & Cybersurveillance

The Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNet) organizes a conference which encourages submissions on cybersecurity and cybersurveillance. I'm becoming more and more interested in cybersecurity, because its technologies are in some ways about the opposite of surveillance technology. Whereas the myth of surveillance technologies suggests they make invisible things visible, some cybersecurity technologies (i.e. cryptography) suggest they can make things invisible and inaccessible: it's all about secrecy. (I hope Richard will tell us more about  cryptography!) The conference is apparently only a day, but it's free, and it's on Bali (!). The call doesn't say much about what exactly they're looking for, but perhaps the past GigaNet conferences can be an indicator. Here's the call:

Monday, May 6, 2013

Lucy Suchman talks about drones @ WZB

Lucy Suchman will talk about her work in progress, which is about drones, on May 22nd at the WZB, Berlin. Exiting stuff! Everyone's welcome, but they ask for registration to help them plan. I'll definitely go (and talk about it here later). Check out the abstract:

University of Amsterdam symposium on transnational bodies

The University of Amsterdam will host a one-day symposium on June 6, 2013: Transnational Bodies. There will be lectures on, among others, forensics, trafficking and violence. I think it resonates with, and might be informative for, what has been written about 'data doubles'. Not to mention the moments in which surveillance actually gets physical and intersects with intervention. This is the invitation:

CRESC Conference: In/vulnerabilities

The CRESC in Manchester will have its annual conference on September 4-6, 2013: In/vulnerabilities and social change: Precarious lives and experimental knowledge. It will be held in London. The CRESC has some great STS-related research programmes, and I think the conference will be a nice mixture of STS and other social science disciplines. Stephen Graham and Isabelle Stengers are among the keynotes peakers. I am excited. Deadline for abstracts: May 10, 2013. 

Stanford Conference May 9 - 10: Governing Technologies

For those in the Bay Area: there will be an interesting graduate conference in Stanford on May 9 & 10. It is called Governing Technologies: Material Politics and Hybrid Agencies. It is definitely 'surveillance friendly' (as I will be presenting - using the concept of exposure!). This is the conference website.

Friday, May 3, 2013

Lectures @ Aarhus University

There's a couple of interesting lectures/discussions on surveillance technologies at Aarhus University, Denmark:

CFP: The Techno-sphere of Security

Here's a call for papers for a thematic issue on urban surveillance. Deadline is May 31st, 2013.

PhD Seminar @ ITU Copenhagen

The IT University of Copenhagen hosts its annual STS course for PhD students. This year's topic is dedicated to the question how we can analyze the agency of nonhumans - broad enough to fit in surveillance studies questions, such as how specific technologies afford specific surveillance practices. Francisca and I went in 2011, and they really do invite impressive speakers and discussants to their seminars, so check it out. Here's the original call: