Control Societies Speaker Series: Orit Halpern

Co-sponsored by the Provost’s Excellence Through Diversity Fund, the Warren Center for Network and Data Sciences, the Price Lab for Digital Humanities, and the School of Social Policy and Practice.

Title: The Smart Mandate: Ubiquitous Computing, Environment, and ‘Resilient Hope’

Abstract: This talk will discuss the emergence of “smartness” as a seemingly necessary mandate by which to speculate upon, and anticipate, negative futures, and will attempt to ask about what types of architectural, design, and political practices might be able to envision different ways to respond to the contemporary environmental, security, and economic catastrophes that are impacting planetary life.

Bio: Dr. Halpern is a strategic hire in Interactive Theory and Design and an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia University. Her work bridges the histories of science, computing, and cybernetics with design and art practice. Her recent monograph, Beautiful Data (Duke Press, 2015), is a history of interactivity, data visualization, and ubiquitous computing.