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SUMMARY:How should we think about Information Technology and Social Change
 ?  Towards a material-spatial aesthetics of technology use - Seamas Kelly
DTSTART:20140211T131000Z
DTEND:20140211T140000Z
UID:TALK50201@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Katherine Bowers
DESCRIPTION:Everyone nowadays\, it seems\, has an opinion on the role of n
 ew information and communication technologies (ICT) in altering the contou
 rs of our social worlds.  Utopian and dystopian visions abound: for some\,
  for instance\, modern social media are contributing to an increased infan
 tilisation of public discourse\, whilst for others they are a revolutionar
 y force for social and political liberation.  The hackneyed nature of much
  public debate on such issues\, and the array of powerful corporate and co
 mmercial vested interests involved\, is worrying to say the least.  A pert
 inent question\, then\, is how might we think about ICT and social change 
 in more sophisticated and insightful ways?  \nIn this talk\, I will attemp
 t to briefly review some of the key challenges and traps in this area\, be
 fore going on to outline what I think is a more promising approach to thin
 king about how ICT might be implicated in processes of social continuity a
 nd change.  This approach puts the notion of (techno-)social\, or sociomat
 erial\, practice centre stage\, in a bid to redress some of the anti-techn
 ological and anti-aesthetic bias of classical approaches to social and cul
 tural theory.\n
LOCATION:The Richard King Room\, Darwin College
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