Topic list for the sprint workshops for May 15-17 (still in development somewhat!).
in the context of the Webweek Rhein Main
It is now:
Zukunft der Medien / Future of Media Wednesday and Friday 1030-1200
Internet of Animals Thursday 1030-1200
(Language German or English, will depend on who will attend)
The location will be Hamburger Allee 96 HH (Frankfurt West, right near the station)
Two topics are scheduled for each day plus an optional third to select at the meeting
(It can be agreed to swap the topics, if you are more interested in another, anyway)
The idea is a series of blitz workshops (short talks/snapshot workshops/sprint workshops). A thesis is presented in the form of a conceptual metaphor (e.g. approx. 10 min) that specifically highlights the technological change. Following is a 15 min timespan where we investigate the thesis with a special adaption to the backgrounds of the participants.
this one is planned for Wednesday:
(Artificial) Intelligence:
A dominant filter and amplifier in the (intuitive, emotional and analytical) human understanding of technological change is the idea of "intelligence" as denominator of what a particular device does or what motivates to build it or what the meaning of its existence represents.
Underlying concepts are imported here which do not hold up to scrutiny, like: Intelligence has to be something that makes you human, Intelligence is a one body one entity thing.
You will hear AI experts who insist that present day deep learning NNs are nothing else but dumb statistical pattern recognition devices and can not be creative. This is an understanding that only can arise with the idea of the human individual as the model for the shaping of an individual machine.
But even if this conception hampers the technological change for a while, eventually we will be confronted with something confusingly different.
this one is planned for Friday
Internet Of Things:
The session questions the concept of a thing and investigates the consequences that arise from understanding those ‘things’ differently.
alt: We are speaking of smart devices what already contradicts the understanding of a thing as something dead. Let’s go even further beyond: the session replaces the notion of things as things (especially in dichotomy) and offers new ways to understand what is actually happening.
other examples: Big Data, (Virtual) Reality
B. (find and) apply alternative conceptional metaphors to expand understanding:
this one is planned for Wednesday
(What we can learn from) Molecules and atoms:
We tend to underrate the meaning of particular technologies and concepts because it is almost impossible to understand the impact they can have in connection with others.
A helpful example we find in chemistry. Although C, H, O molecules have particular properties, its combinations can have totally different ones and impact that never would anticipate before.
With this examples in mind we will seek analogies in the existing world of technologies and evaluate possible scenarios for the future. An immediate future as one of the main dynamics of our time lies in making connections.
this one is planned for Friday
Do we need a syntax lesson in network-typologies? (network in abstracted, non-technical sense):
The different types of architecture in which we connect everything in this world now will determine not only the acceleration of technology and growth but also the odds for general survival.
We will detect fundamentally different network types (for example: organic) and will try to evaluate where we are efficient and where we live dangerously. The understanding will help us build better solutions in our ‘smaller’ environments, too.
C. (create) experimental metaphors:
Examples: Internet organism, dreaming AI etc.
After having learned about conceptional metaphors these sessions will be even more open and experimental in throwing the dice of creating concepts before they exist. An undetected way to look on things? A potential self fulfilling prophecy (creating the metaphor first, then the metaphorized)? Or just an intriguing title/topic for a fictitious pop song or short story?
this one is optional: How the wifi chicken actually became wired:
The input is a design study of the chicken that lives in virtual reality to increase its health in mass farming situations. But how actually build the device? What are the technical options that already exist?
this one is planned for Thursday: The wifi chicken in the farming environment:
Now that we created a chicken that lives in virtual reality: The wifi chicken informs us about the actual consequences its new lifestyle had. And it has an idea how to spread its new 'wealth' to all chicken on the planet: The collection and use of data and machine learning applications to transfer and individualize the well-being of farm animals. But how? It asks for our help (Is that a good idea?).
this one is planned for Thursday: Remote dog communication:
We have developed some ideas to make dogs communicate with each other over distance. Now it is time to realize and improve the actual implementations. There are three main fields here: the communication concept, the technical concepts, and the understanding of the dog (what can the dog learn about the experiences and where are the barriers).
Conceptional metaphors / ZdM (Future of Media)
A. detect (and replace) conceptional metaphors that inhibit understanding:this one is planned for Wednesday:
(Artificial) Intelligence:
A dominant filter and amplifier in the (intuitive, emotional and analytical) human understanding of technological change is the idea of "intelligence" as denominator of what a particular device does or what motivates to build it or what the meaning of its existence represents.
Underlying concepts are imported here which do not hold up to scrutiny, like: Intelligence has to be something that makes you human, Intelligence is a one body one entity thing.
You will hear AI experts who insist that present day deep learning NNs are nothing else but dumb statistical pattern recognition devices and can not be creative. This is an understanding that only can arise with the idea of the human individual as the model for the shaping of an individual machine.
But even if this conception hampers the technological change for a while, eventually we will be confronted with something confusingly different.
this one is planned for Friday
Internet Of Things:
The session questions the concept of a thing and investigates the consequences that arise from understanding those ‘things’ differently.
alt: We are speaking of smart devices what already contradicts the understanding of a thing as something dead. Let’s go even further beyond: the session replaces the notion of things as things (especially in dichotomy) and offers new ways to understand what is actually happening.
other examples: Big Data, (Virtual) Reality
B. (find and) apply alternative conceptional metaphors to expand understanding:
this one is planned for Wednesday
(What we can learn from) Molecules and atoms:
We tend to underrate the meaning of particular technologies and concepts because it is almost impossible to understand the impact they can have in connection with others.
A helpful example we find in chemistry. Although C, H, O molecules have particular properties, its combinations can have totally different ones and impact that never would anticipate before.
With this examples in mind we will seek analogies in the existing world of technologies and evaluate possible scenarios for the future. An immediate future as one of the main dynamics of our time lies in making connections.
this one is planned for Friday
Do we need a syntax lesson in network-typologies? (network in abstracted, non-technical sense):
The different types of architecture in which we connect everything in this world now will determine not only the acceleration of technology and growth but also the odds for general survival.
We will detect fundamentally different network types (for example: organic) and will try to evaluate where we are efficient and where we live dangerously. The understanding will help us build better solutions in our ‘smaller’ environments, too.
C. (create) experimental metaphors:
Examples: Internet organism, dreaming AI etc.
After having learned about conceptional metaphors these sessions will be even more open and experimental in throwing the dice of creating concepts before they exist. An undetected way to look on things? A potential self fulfilling prophecy (creating the metaphor first, then the metaphorized)? Or just an intriguing title/topic for a fictitious pop song or short story?
The Internet Of Animals
session topics:this one is optional: How the wifi chicken actually became wired:
The input is a design study of the chicken that lives in virtual reality to increase its health in mass farming situations. But how actually build the device? What are the technical options that already exist?
this one is planned for Thursday: The wifi chicken in the farming environment:
Now that we created a chicken that lives in virtual reality: The wifi chicken informs us about the actual consequences its new lifestyle had. And it has an idea how to spread its new 'wealth' to all chicken on the planet: The collection and use of data and machine learning applications to transfer and individualize the well-being of farm animals. But how? It asks for our help (Is that a good idea?).
this one is planned for Thursday: Remote dog communication:
We have developed some ideas to make dogs communicate with each other over distance. Now it is time to realize and improve the actual implementations. There are three main fields here: the communication concept, the technical concepts, and the understanding of the dog (what can the dog learn about the experiences and where are the barriers).