Category:Implicancies

Radio Implicancies

If technological systems are implicated in the structuring of knowledge and knowledge systems are implicated in how technology operates … how do we start to think the world otherwise?

The question above triggered Special Issue #12. It might sound impossibly abstract, but Radio Implicancies is rooted in concrete concerns. From the way the Latin alphabet has become ubiquitous in human-machine interfaces to the naturalized alignment of computation with binary separations, from mis-directed critiques on algorithmic discrimination, or harm done to marginalised knowledges by on-line learning platforms^[1], to eco-solutionism immersed in technocapitalism^[2] … we know that technology orients knowledge and constrains what world(s) can be thought, studied, imagined and critiqued. We also know that dominant knowledge systems and technological systems are soaked in colonial thought, if not practice.^[3] But where do we start when we want to do things differently?

Special Issue #12 invites you to experiment with propositions by feminist, non-binary, queer, anti-colonial and other disobedient researchers in response to this complex knot. Their resistant praxes widen the toolset for ‘thinking the world’ by paying attention to both matter and form. Their work considers feelings, intuitions, inventions, humour, diffractions and figurations in order to expand epistomologies (knowledge systems) as well as ontologies (thinking about what exists). They imagine knowledge infrastructures beyond binary separation, ask what non-exclusionary categories could do, or what other ways of calculating, validating, ordering collections of digital material could emerge. Of course none of them offers simple fixes to any of the issues on the table.

I borrowed the term “implicancies” from Denise Ferreira Da Silva and Arjuna Neumann. In their film ‘4 Waters: Deep Implicancy’, “implicancy” stands for entangled forms of responsibility that keep modern operations in place: extraction, disposession, segregation, externalisation and optimisation.^[4] But “implicancy” is also a technical term used in propositional calculus, explained as ‘the hypothesis of an implication’. Without having much experience with this type of mathematical logic, to me it suggests the possibility of a paradigm shift, not just by external agents, but by the power of imagination. As Da Silva writes: ‘What will have to be relinquished for us to unleash the imagination’s radical creative capacity and draw from it what is needed for the task of thinking The World otherwise? Nothing short of a radical shift in how we approach matter and form.’^[5]

Radio Implicancies starts in the middle. It asks you to take a deep breath and jump in so we can work together on ways that knowledge and technology might intersect differently. Let’s not wait for tomorrow to pay attention to the colonial conditionings of contemporary techno-cultures!^[6]

Zoumana Meïté, Martino Morandi (2019), A new fire ceremony

How does this work

From April 22nd onwards, we meet every Tuesday morning with Michael and Wednesday afternoon with Femke. In addition, there are sessions planned with Aymeric and Steve. Most Wednesday afternoons an invited guest will join to propose an exercise, a question, something to read or a discussion. Wednesday mornings Femke will be available for individual or small group appointments, as needed. We will use the meetings to build a set of materials, playlists, keywords, references, resources to be used for the Radio Implicancies broadcasts.

Radio Implicancies experiments with (and thinks with) technological and epistemological objects such as Structured Query Language (SQL), library standards, queer analytics, other catalogs, alternative orders, streaming protocols, various platforms.

On Thursday afternoons, Radio Implicancies broadcasts from 15:00-17:00. These public broadcasts are ongoing experiments with a specific subset of technological tools for sharing and formatting knowledge. Radio Implicancies will use any means necessary i.e. different protocols and editorial approaches: audio streaming, live-on-tape, DJ-ing, on-line reading groups, web-rtc, liquid soap, podcasts, xmpp chat, … We will use this wiki to support communication, documentation and archiving of the broadcasts.

In addition to the materials brought in by guests, Aymeric, Michael and Steve will provide input, feedback and support for your ongoing technical and conceptual work through regular tutorials and on-line sessions.

Special Issue #12 will be special in many ways. It will take place entirely on-line for only nine weeks, including a two-week break. It is hosted by someone you have never met in RL while we individually and collectively plot through uncertain times. The Radio Implicancies schedule is therefore on purpose repetitive, so that we can use the time together to make changes and re-invent what it means to deal with implicancies and with being implicated. In a way Issue #12 will be launched every week!

Schedule

O N E

Tuesday 13 April

14:00-17:00 Femke

Wednesday 14 April

10:00-13:00 Prototyping: Manetta + Michael
14:00-17:00 Prototyping: Manetta + Michael

Thursday 15 April

10:00-13:00 Femke (tutorials)
14:00 Preparations (Femke + ...)
16:00 Broadcast 1

T W O

Monday 19 April

10:00-13:00 Prototyping: Michael
14:00-17:00 Prototyping: Michael (tutorials)

Tuesday 20 April

10:00-13:00 Steve
14:00-17:00 Femke

Wednesday 21 April

10:00-13:00 Prototyping: Manetta
14:00-17:00 Prototyping: Manetta (tutorials)

Thursday 22 April:

14:00 Preparations (... + ...)
16:00 Broadcast 2

T H R E E

Monday 26 April

10:00-13:00 Prototyping: Michael
14:00-17:00 Prototyping: Michael (tutorials)

Tuesday 27 April

10:00-13:00 Steve
14:00-17:00 Femke

Wednesday 28 April

10:00-13:00 Prototyping: Manetta
14:00-17:00 Prototyping: Manetta (tutorials)

Thursday 29 April

14:00 Preparations (Femke + ...)
16:00 Broadcast 3

[May Holidays]

F O U R

Monday 10 May

10:00-13:00 Prototyping: Michael
14:00-17:00 Prototyping: Michael (tutorials)

Tuesday 11 May

10:00-13:00 Steve
14:00-17:00 Femke + Guest I

Wednesday 12 May

10:00-13:00 Prototyping: Manetta
14:00-17:00 Prototyping: Manetta (tutorials)

Thursday 13 May

10:00-13:00 Femke (Tutorials)
14:00 Preparations (Femke + ...)
16:00 Broadcast 4

F I V E

Monday 17 May

10:00-13:00 Prototyping: Aymeric t.b.c.

Tuesday 18 May

10:00-13:00 Prototyping: Aymeric t.b.c.

Wednesday 19 May

10:00-13:00 Prototyping: Aymeric t.b.c.

Thursday 20 May

14:00 Preparations (Femke + Aymeric) 16:00 Broadcast 5

S I X

Monday 24 May

10:00-13:00 Prototyping: Michael
14:00-17:00 Prototyping: Michael (tutorials)

Tuesday 25 May

14:00-17:00 Femke + Queer Motto API

Wednesday 26 May

10:00-13:00 Prototyping: Manetta
14:00-17:00 Prototyping: Manetta (tutorials)

Thursday 27 May

14:00 Preparations (Femke + ...)
16:00 Broadcast 6

S E V E N

Monday 31 May

0:00-13:00 Prototyping: Michael
14:00-17:00 Prototyping: Michael (tutorials)

Tuesday 1 June

14:00-17:00 Femke + Promiscuous browser workshop

Wednesday 2 June

10:00-13:00 Prototyping: Manetta
14:00-17:00 Prototyping: Manetta (tutorials)

Thursday 3 June

14:00 Preparations (Femke + ...)
16:00 Broadcast 7

E I G H T

Monday 7 June

10:00-13:00 Prototyping: Michael
14:00-17:00 Prototyping: Michael (tutorials)

Tuesday 8 June

10:00-13:00 Steve
14:00-17:00 Promiscuous browser workshop

Wednesday 9 June

10:00-13:00 Prototyping: Manetta
14:00-17:00 Prototyping: Manetta (tutorials)

Thursday 10 June

14:00 Preparations (Femke + ...)
16:00 Broadcast 8

N I N E

Monday 14 June

10:00-13:00 Prototyping: Michael
14:00-17:00 Prototyping: Michael (tutorials)

Tuesday 15 June

14:00-17:00 Femke

Wednesday 16 June

10:00-13:00 Prototyping: Manetta
14:00-17:00 Prototyping: Manetta (tutorials)

Thursday 17 June

14:00 Preparations (Femke + ...)
16:00 Broadcast 9

Friday 18 June

10:00-13:00 Evaluate (Femke + Aymeric)

Implicants

https://pzwiki.wdka.nl/mediadesign/Implicants_Issue_15

Caretakers Page

Guests + contributors

Manetta Berends, Aymeric Mansoux, Zoumana Méïté, Martino Morandi, Michael Murtaugh, Helen Pritchard, Steve Rushton, Femke Snelting, ...

→ Biographies

References

↑ Taskeen Adam (2019), Digital neocolonialism and massive open online courses (MOOCs): colonial pasts and neoliberal futures
↑ “I'm very pro-technology, but I belong to a crowd that is quite skeptical of the projects of what we might call the “techno-fix,” in part because of their profound immersion in technocapitalism and their disengagement from communities of practice.” Donna Haraway (2019), A Giant Bumptious Litter: Donna Haraway on Truth, Technology, and Resisting Extinction https://logicmag.io/nature/a-giant-bumptious-litter/?
↑ “It is not so much that computing has a colonial impulse, but rather —as decolonial thinkers might argue— it is colonial through and through.” Syed Mustafa Ali (2016), A brief introduction to decolonial computing
↑ Denise Ferreira Da Silva, Arjuna Neumann (2018), 4 Waters: Deep Imlicancy https://vimeo.com/287255021
↑ Denise Fereira Da Silva (2016), On difference without separability
↑ “I feel that the knowledges and methods our disciplines use have a very slim chance of survival. The epistemologies privileged by digital spaces and the various platforms that now (and maybe for the foreseeable future) become existential tools for teaching are not well suited to our epistemologies: What is the PowerPoint document, YouTube-Video, or interactive PDF that best simulates the experience of reading and discussing Gender Trouble for the first time? How do I do "mood work" (Carolyn Padwell) when teaching 20 people in a virtual classroom on BigBlueButton? How do you and I discuss the overt or residual racism and politics of Birth of Nation (1915) or The Green Book (2017), and my own position as a white person behind a MacBook using Zoom (unable to broadcast my system audio, and I do not know whether I should send the video-feed showing myself because of bandwidth issues)?” Simon Strick (2020), Digitally Drunk https://www.zfmedienwissenschaft.de/online/blog/digitally-drunk