Figurations: Persons In/Out of Data

Event website: https://peoplelikeyou.ac.uk/activities/figurations/

Time: 9.30am – 6pm, Monday 16 and Tuesday 17 December, 2019

Location: Professor Stuart Hall Building, Goldsmiths, University of London, 8 Lewisham Way SE14 6NW

We’re drowning in an ocean of data, or so the saying goes. Data’s “big”: there’s not only lots of it, but its volume has allowed for the development of new, large-scale processing techniques. Our relationship with governments, medical organisations, technology companies, the education sector, and so on are increasingly informed by the data we overtly or inadvertently provide when we use particular services. The proverbial data deluge is large-scale—but it’s also personal. Data promises to personalise services to better meet our individual needs. Data is often construed as a threat to our person(s). Not every person predicated by data is predicted the same. The intersection between data and person isn’t fixed: it has to be figured.

What methodological, conceptual, and/or empirical potential do 'figurations' offer to researchers working at the intersection of the person and data today? Over two days, more than 50 presenters and 4 keynote speakers will address how the 'figure' and its variants—figuration, figuring, to figure, and so on—is being developed and used in disciplines including the medical humanities, the social sciences, media studies, art history, literary studies, philosophy, science and technology studies, urban studies, and geography.

Keynotes:

Professor Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Simon Fraser University

Professor Jane Elliot, University of Exeter

Professor John Frow, The University of Sydney

Professor AbdouMaliq Simone, The University of Sheffield

 

Registration is free. To register, please follow this link. If you have any questions, please email Scott Wark at S.Wark@warwick.ac.uk