Through building and analyzing systems, D. Fox Harrell: http://foxharrell.com’s research investigates how the computer can be used to express cultural meanings through data-structures and algorithms. In his talk he showed that identities are complicated by their intersection with technologies like social networking, gaming, and virtual worlds. Data-structures and algorithms in video games and social media can perpetuate persistent issues of class, gender, sex, race, and ethnicity. They also create dynamic constructions of social categories, metaphorical thought, body language, and fashion. He showed work from his team at the Imagination, Computation, and Expression Laboratory: http://groups.csail.mit.edu/icelab/ (ICE Lab) at MIT which provides alternatives that can evolve those industry norms.
Dr. Harrell is an associate professor of digital media in the Comparative Media Studies Program and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT. He holds a PhD in computer science and cognitive science from the University of California, San Diego. In 02010 he was awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award for his project “Computing for Advanced Identity Representation.” He was a 02014-15 fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences: https://casbs.stanford.edu (CASBS) at Stanford, co-sponsors of this talk.
“Coding Ourselves/Coding Others” was given on May 05, 02015 as part of The Long Now Foundation’s “Conversations at The Interval” Salon Talks. These hour long talks are recorded live at The Interval, our bar, cafe, & museum in San Francisco. Since 02014 this series has presented artists, authors, entrepreneurs, scientists (and more) taking a long-term perspective on subjects like art, design, history, nature, technology, and time. To follow the talks, you can:
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