This research proposal aims to analyze how robot identity is constructed through naming practices by examining names given to robots in research competitions. The methodology will use grounded theory with a feminist post-positivist approach inspired by Donna Haraway's work. The researcher will collect robot names to develop a theory about how naming relates to aspects like gender, function, and role. Interviews and observations at robotics events will further data collection. The goal is to shed light on cultural and social influences in robotics design.
Linked data in libraries: another fad or paradigm shift?Amber Billey
Linked data is the current hot topic in library technology, but is it just a passing trend or a game changer for how we handle and deliver library metadata? With the Library of Congress moving forward with BIBFRAME, OCLC publishing linked data, ALA hosting RDA in RDF “Jane-a-thons,” and numerous grant funded linked data projects in libraries — the evidence strongly supports that we are at the brink of a metadata movement that will dramatically effect our work. This talk will explore the basic principles of linked data, as well as its current and potential application in libraries. What will our library catalogs look like in a linked data environment? How will our workflows change? And most importantly, how will it effect our library users?
The document discusses the four fields of anthropology and how they relate to the study of culture. It defines anthropology as the holistic and comparative study of humankind. The four fields are cultural anthropology, physical anthropology, linguistics, and archaeology. Each field examines aspects of human life and behavior and relates them to culture. Taken together through a holistic and comparative approach, the four fields provide a comprehensive understanding of cultures and human diversity.
This document describes an obstacle avoidance robot designed and built by Elijah Barner. The robot uses an Arduino Uno microcontroller along with an ultrasonic sensor and motor shield to drive two DC motors. The ultrasonic sensor transmits and receives radio frequency signals to determine the distance to obstacles in front of the robot. The Arduino code translates the sensor signals and controls the motors to maneuver around obstacles by moving forward, backward, or changing directions. Diagrams show the hardware components and signal flow. The appendices provide additional illustrations and definitions of the inputs, outputs, software, and references used.
The document discusses several key aspects of feminist thought and critiques of science:
1) It outlines feminist views that seek gender equality and recognize how gender ideologies impact social structures.
2) Ecofeminism views the oppression of women and nature as interconnected.
3) Object relations theory holds that differences in how male and female children develop gender identities impact their relationships to nature and science.
4) Feminist critiques call for more democratic and inclusive approaches to science that consider interdependence.
Autoethnographic Writing Inside And Outside The Academy And EthicsBryce Nelson
This document discusses the ethics of autoethnographic writing both inside and outside of academia. It notes that published writers entering PhD programs are often surprised by university ethics requirements for works involving personal elements. The paper examines how autoethnography connects the personal and social, making it difficult to discuss oneself without discussing others. It also considers challenges of applying a retrospective methodology in practice-led research, which clashes with universities' proactive ethics procedures. The document identifies nine practical problems that can arise and argues for best practices around consent, transparency, and dialogue regarding autoethnographic research ethics.
Information Ethics: Current and Future Research AreasInHD
This document provides an introduction and overview of current and future research areas in information ethics. It discusses foundational issues that have been debated, such as different cultural approaches to ethics from Western, Confucian, Buddhist and flourishing ethics perspectives. Current research areas addressed include theoretical issues, professional issues, responsibility issues, regulatory issues, access and equity issues. The document concludes by outlining some forthcoming topics for future research, such as the surveillance society, convergent technologies, robotics, ubiquitous computing and ICT implants.
This document contains an annotated bibliography by Wyatt Hilyard for an anthropology class. It includes 20 sources related to primatology, cultural anthropology, and critiques of George Ayittey's work on issues facing Africa. Hilyard's academic work has focused on primatology but he was surprised by how many cultural sources interested him as well, particularly analyses of Ayittey's ideas about internal reform in Africa. The annotated bibliography provides brief summaries of each source and how it relates to Hilyard's studies and research interests.
Linked data in libraries: another fad or paradigm shift?Amber Billey
Linked data is the current hot topic in library technology, but is it just a passing trend or a game changer for how we handle and deliver library metadata? With the Library of Congress moving forward with BIBFRAME, OCLC publishing linked data, ALA hosting RDA in RDF “Jane-a-thons,” and numerous grant funded linked data projects in libraries — the evidence strongly supports that we are at the brink of a metadata movement that will dramatically effect our work. This talk will explore the basic principles of linked data, as well as its current and potential application in libraries. What will our library catalogs look like in a linked data environment? How will our workflows change? And most importantly, how will it effect our library users?
The document discusses the four fields of anthropology and how they relate to the study of culture. It defines anthropology as the holistic and comparative study of humankind. The four fields are cultural anthropology, physical anthropology, linguistics, and archaeology. Each field examines aspects of human life and behavior and relates them to culture. Taken together through a holistic and comparative approach, the four fields provide a comprehensive understanding of cultures and human diversity.
This document describes an obstacle avoidance robot designed and built by Elijah Barner. The robot uses an Arduino Uno microcontroller along with an ultrasonic sensor and motor shield to drive two DC motors. The ultrasonic sensor transmits and receives radio frequency signals to determine the distance to obstacles in front of the robot. The Arduino code translates the sensor signals and controls the motors to maneuver around obstacles by moving forward, backward, or changing directions. Diagrams show the hardware components and signal flow. The appendices provide additional illustrations and definitions of the inputs, outputs, software, and references used.
The document discusses several key aspects of feminist thought and critiques of science:
1) It outlines feminist views that seek gender equality and recognize how gender ideologies impact social structures.
2) Ecofeminism views the oppression of women and nature as interconnected.
3) Object relations theory holds that differences in how male and female children develop gender identities impact their relationships to nature and science.
4) Feminist critiques call for more democratic and inclusive approaches to science that consider interdependence.
Autoethnographic Writing Inside And Outside The Academy And EthicsBryce Nelson
This document discusses the ethics of autoethnographic writing both inside and outside of academia. It notes that published writers entering PhD programs are often surprised by university ethics requirements for works involving personal elements. The paper examines how autoethnography connects the personal and social, making it difficult to discuss oneself without discussing others. It also considers challenges of applying a retrospective methodology in practice-led research, which clashes with universities' proactive ethics procedures. The document identifies nine practical problems that can arise and argues for best practices around consent, transparency, and dialogue regarding autoethnographic research ethics.
Information Ethics: Current and Future Research AreasInHD
This document provides an introduction and overview of current and future research areas in information ethics. It discusses foundational issues that have been debated, such as different cultural approaches to ethics from Western, Confucian, Buddhist and flourishing ethics perspectives. Current research areas addressed include theoretical issues, professional issues, responsibility issues, regulatory issues, access and equity issues. The document concludes by outlining some forthcoming topics for future research, such as the surveillance society, convergent technologies, robotics, ubiquitous computing and ICT implants.
This document contains an annotated bibliography by Wyatt Hilyard for an anthropology class. It includes 20 sources related to primatology, cultural anthropology, and critiques of George Ayittey's work on issues facing Africa. Hilyard's academic work has focused on primatology but he was surprised by how many cultural sources interested him as well, particularly analyses of Ayittey's ideas about internal reform in Africa. The annotated bibliography provides brief summaries of each source and how it relates to Hilyard's studies and research interests.
This document provides an overview of the topics and themes that will be covered in a social theory course about material culture. It discusses the project assignment, which involves analyzing a material object. It also outlines several theoretical perspectives that may be applied, including actor-network theory, constructivism, postmodernism, and theories related to means of production, status, inequality, and more. Key theorists like Latour are mentioned. Themes like human-nonhuman agency, objectification, and function of objects are discussed at a high level.
Anthropology takes a holistic and comparative approach to understanding humanity. It is divided into four subfields: archaeology studies past human life through material remains; biological anthropology analyzes human evolution and variation; linguistics examines language development; and cultural anthropology studies human behavior and culture. Anthropologists use participant observation and field work to collect data. They must be aware of ethical issues and avoid ethnocentrism through self-reflection on their own biases.
SOCI/ANTH 441 Material Culture Week 3: Social TheoryAlexandre Enkerli
This document provides an overview of themes and theories to be covered in a social theory course, focusing on material culture. It lists several themes that will be explored, including daily life, status and inequality, technology adoption, subjectivity, and sociology. It also outlines several theories that may be applied to analyze objects, such as actor-network theory, constructivism, postmodernism, and theories related to non-human agency. Examples of theorists who may be discussed are also mentioned, such as Latour, Goffman, and Winner.
Talk given to faculty members of Camarines Norte State College, organized by Ugnayang Pang-Aghamtao (UGAT/Anthropological Association of the Philippines) / July 2021 / via Zoom
Objectification Is A Word That Has Many Negative ConnotationsBeth Johnson
Here is an introduction to social web mining and big data:
Social web mining is the process of extracting useful information and knowledge from social media data. With the rise of big data, social media platforms are generating massive amounts of unstructured data every day in the form of posts, comments, shares, likes, etc. This user-generated data holds valuable insights about people's opinions, interests, behaviors and more.
Big data analytics provides tools and techniques to analyze this large, complex social data at scale. Social web mining applies data mining and machine learning algorithms to big social data to discover patterns and relationships. Areas of focus include sentiment analysis to understand public opinions on brands, products or issues; network analysis to map relationships and influence; and
This document summarizes a study that analyzed the social networks of scientists working in the field of agricultural innovation. The study used social network analysis techniques to examine:
- The communication and collaboration ties between scientists in the field to understand if an "invisible college" existed.
- How productive scientists were more central in the network than others based on measures like degree and density.
- How the field grew over time, with most new entrants in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including many students of the most productive scientists.
- How scientists could be grouped into distinct collaborative subgroups within the overall network based on their coauthorships and student-advisor relationships.
This document summarizes a study on scientists' views of utopia in their work. It surveyed 388 scientists from different fields and continents. The study found the highest percentage of scientists with "no utopias" came from Europe, while Africa had the highest percentage with collective utopias related to knowledge. Individual utopias were more common in natural sciences. America had the most fully formed visions of science. Gender did not influence views of contemporary science. The study provided insight into how scientists currently view the relationship between science, knowledge, and communication.
This document provides an introduction to postmodernism and related theories in international relations. It begins with definitions of postmodernism and modernism, noting that postmodernism has emerged in various disciplines. It then discusses key aspects of modernism versus postmodernism. The document proceeds to outline some major postmodern thinkers and their ideas, including Foucault, Derrida, Lyotard and Baudrillard. It also discusses post-structuralism and how it critiques and builds upon structuralism. Finally, it briefly defines post-colonialism and the work of Edward Said on orientalism.
The document summarizes the career path and work of an anthropologist who founded a research consultancy applying anthropological methods to business problems. It describes some of the consultancy's projects in media, technology and organizations. It argues that anthropology is moving beyond academic and NGO settings into "unbound" applications in commercial and other sectors, using ethnography to provide novel insights and solutions for clients.
This document provides an introduction to critical realism as a philosophical and methodological approach for doctoral researchers. It begins by discussing the need for researchers to adopt an explicit methodology. It then introduces critical realism as a philosophy of science that sits between objectivist and subjectivist approaches, combining an objectivist ontology with a soft social constructionist epistemology. The document outlines some of critical realism's key theoretical tools such as depth ontology, retroduction, and morphogenetic social change. It provides examples of critical realism's application across various fields and concludes with some limitations and resources for further information.
Rethinking concepts in virtual worlds and education researchEduserv
A presentation by Diane Carr and Martin Oliver at the Where next for Virtual Worlds in UK higher and further education event held in London in January 2010.
Disadvantages Of Applied EthnomethodologyAshley Fisher
Participant observation was used to study drug dealers and smugglers. This qualitative method allowed the researchers to gain the trust of and interact with their subjects. However, it also presented challenges, such as subjects experiencing drug withdrawal during interviews, becoming malicious without warning. The researchers had to take precautions and balance overt and covert roles with different levels of relationships within the group to overcome issues.
Race and racial cognition page 1 of 41printed from oxfossusere73ce3
This chapter discusses how recent psychological research on racial cognition is relevant to philosophical debates around race. It summarizes two key findings from psychology: 1) Racial thought is shaped both by social environment and evolved psychological mechanisms, with implications for reform proposals. 2) Implicit racist biases can influence behavior even in people who profess anti-racist views, and these implicit biases can operate independently of explicit beliefs. The chapter argues these findings are important to consider in evaluating the feasibility and potential impact of different philosophical positions on issues like racial categorization and reform.
This document provides an annotated bibliography for Spencer Ruelos' theoretical and research interests, which center around queer, digital, and social justice anthropological theories. The bibliography is divided into three sections: Queer Anthropology, Digital and Virtual Anthropologies, and Social Justice and Transformation. The Queer Anthropology section lists 10 influential works that have shaped Ruelos' understanding of concepts like gender, sexuality, and power relations. The Digital and Virtual Anthropologies section explores Ruelos' interest in technology's role in daily life and relationships. The final section on Social Justice and Transformation outlines Ruelos' activist interests in social movements and using anthropology for social change.
Sociology and anthropology are social sciences that study human behavior and societies. Sociology is defined as the scientific study of human social behavior, especially the study of the origins, organization, institutions and development of human society. It examines how people live in groups and the influences on their relationships. Anthropology is the study of human beings and their ancestors through time in relation to physical character, environmental and social relations, and culture. It seeks to describe human cultures, classify cultural phenomena, and understand the origins and changes of human cultures through various methods like observation, interviews and analysis of artifacts. Both sociology and anthropology aim to scientifically study different aspects of human social life and use empirical methods to gather and analyze data.
Position paper the direction of anthropology v velasquezvpv13
This document discusses debates around the future and identity of anthropology as a discipline. It summarizes John Comaroff's argument that anthropology is facing a "crisis of identity" due to other fields adopting its research methods and topics. Comaroff identifies three main issues: the loss of ethnography as anthropology's trademark tool, the lack of distinct empirical territories, and perceptions that other fields can perform anthropological work better. The document also discusses perspectives from Mwenda Ntarangwi and others on how to strengthen anthropology's theoretical foundations and approach its subject material holistically across disciplines.
The Multiverse of Lies - Explaining post-truth populism using MCU examples (Á...Gábor Polyák
Popular culture is an excellent, but little used intermediary for education and dissemination. Modern educational theory (e.g. constructivist pedagogy) has been long arguing that the only really integral parts of consciousness are those that can be related to earlier cognitive schemata. Such is typically the case in works of popular culture, which, moreover, often reflect on important social problems.
This is particularly important where civic education is virtually absent from school education. Hungary is such a country, that is why a series of books on well-known popular culture works for the purpose of science communication and education has had a strong resonance. The book series currently consists of 7 volumes with 83 papers by 72 authors. In addition to the MCU, examples are drawn from the Star Wars and Harry Potter universes, as well as from works such as The Handmaid's Tale.
The specific studies in the book series also show how the phenomenon of disinformation and fake news can be explained in terms of the MCU films. The films Iron Man 3 (2013) and Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019) are excellent examples to illustrate the post-truth situation. Iron Man exploits the audience's curiosity and fear of terrorism through the character of the "Mandarin", while Spider-Man is a spectacular illustration of the cognitive weaknesses behind disinformation. He makes us believe that he is stuck in spectacular clichés, and then asks us: how could we believe this transparent tale?
The indirect aim of the presentation is to discuss that in the current populist political environment of Hungary it is particularly important to find alternative discourses and narratives that make the problems of fake news and the post truth phenomenon articulable, understandable, and negotiable. The MCU provides an excellent framework for this.
This document provides an overview of the topics and themes that will be covered in a social theory course about material culture. It discusses the project assignment, which involves analyzing a material object. It also outlines several theoretical perspectives that may be applied, including actor-network theory, constructivism, postmodernism, and theories related to means of production, status, inequality, and more. Key theorists like Latour are mentioned. Themes like human-nonhuman agency, objectification, and function of objects are discussed at a high level.
Anthropology takes a holistic and comparative approach to understanding humanity. It is divided into four subfields: archaeology studies past human life through material remains; biological anthropology analyzes human evolution and variation; linguistics examines language development; and cultural anthropology studies human behavior and culture. Anthropologists use participant observation and field work to collect data. They must be aware of ethical issues and avoid ethnocentrism through self-reflection on their own biases.
SOCI/ANTH 441 Material Culture Week 3: Social TheoryAlexandre Enkerli
This document provides an overview of themes and theories to be covered in a social theory course, focusing on material culture. It lists several themes that will be explored, including daily life, status and inequality, technology adoption, subjectivity, and sociology. It also outlines several theories that may be applied to analyze objects, such as actor-network theory, constructivism, postmodernism, and theories related to non-human agency. Examples of theorists who may be discussed are also mentioned, such as Latour, Goffman, and Winner.
Talk given to faculty members of Camarines Norte State College, organized by Ugnayang Pang-Aghamtao (UGAT/Anthropological Association of the Philippines) / July 2021 / via Zoom
Objectification Is A Word That Has Many Negative ConnotationsBeth Johnson
Here is an introduction to social web mining and big data:
Social web mining is the process of extracting useful information and knowledge from social media data. With the rise of big data, social media platforms are generating massive amounts of unstructured data every day in the form of posts, comments, shares, likes, etc. This user-generated data holds valuable insights about people's opinions, interests, behaviors and more.
Big data analytics provides tools and techniques to analyze this large, complex social data at scale. Social web mining applies data mining and machine learning algorithms to big social data to discover patterns and relationships. Areas of focus include sentiment analysis to understand public opinions on brands, products or issues; network analysis to map relationships and influence; and
This document summarizes a study that analyzed the social networks of scientists working in the field of agricultural innovation. The study used social network analysis techniques to examine:
- The communication and collaboration ties between scientists in the field to understand if an "invisible college" existed.
- How productive scientists were more central in the network than others based on measures like degree and density.
- How the field grew over time, with most new entrants in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including many students of the most productive scientists.
- How scientists could be grouped into distinct collaborative subgroups within the overall network based on their coauthorships and student-advisor relationships.
This document summarizes a study on scientists' views of utopia in their work. It surveyed 388 scientists from different fields and continents. The study found the highest percentage of scientists with "no utopias" came from Europe, while Africa had the highest percentage with collective utopias related to knowledge. Individual utopias were more common in natural sciences. America had the most fully formed visions of science. Gender did not influence views of contemporary science. The study provided insight into how scientists currently view the relationship between science, knowledge, and communication.
This document provides an introduction to postmodernism and related theories in international relations. It begins with definitions of postmodernism and modernism, noting that postmodernism has emerged in various disciplines. It then discusses key aspects of modernism versus postmodernism. The document proceeds to outline some major postmodern thinkers and their ideas, including Foucault, Derrida, Lyotard and Baudrillard. It also discusses post-structuralism and how it critiques and builds upon structuralism. Finally, it briefly defines post-colonialism and the work of Edward Said on orientalism.
The document summarizes the career path and work of an anthropologist who founded a research consultancy applying anthropological methods to business problems. It describes some of the consultancy's projects in media, technology and organizations. It argues that anthropology is moving beyond academic and NGO settings into "unbound" applications in commercial and other sectors, using ethnography to provide novel insights and solutions for clients.
This document provides an introduction to critical realism as a philosophical and methodological approach for doctoral researchers. It begins by discussing the need for researchers to adopt an explicit methodology. It then introduces critical realism as a philosophy of science that sits between objectivist and subjectivist approaches, combining an objectivist ontology with a soft social constructionist epistemology. The document outlines some of critical realism's key theoretical tools such as depth ontology, retroduction, and morphogenetic social change. It provides examples of critical realism's application across various fields and concludes with some limitations and resources for further information.
Rethinking concepts in virtual worlds and education researchEduserv
A presentation by Diane Carr and Martin Oliver at the Where next for Virtual Worlds in UK higher and further education event held in London in January 2010.
Disadvantages Of Applied EthnomethodologyAshley Fisher
Participant observation was used to study drug dealers and smugglers. This qualitative method allowed the researchers to gain the trust of and interact with their subjects. However, it also presented challenges, such as subjects experiencing drug withdrawal during interviews, becoming malicious without warning. The researchers had to take precautions and balance overt and covert roles with different levels of relationships within the group to overcome issues.
Race and racial cognition page 1 of 41printed from oxfossusere73ce3
This chapter discusses how recent psychological research on racial cognition is relevant to philosophical debates around race. It summarizes two key findings from psychology: 1) Racial thought is shaped both by social environment and evolved psychological mechanisms, with implications for reform proposals. 2) Implicit racist biases can influence behavior even in people who profess anti-racist views, and these implicit biases can operate independently of explicit beliefs. The chapter argues these findings are important to consider in evaluating the feasibility and potential impact of different philosophical positions on issues like racial categorization and reform.
This document provides an annotated bibliography for Spencer Ruelos' theoretical and research interests, which center around queer, digital, and social justice anthropological theories. The bibliography is divided into three sections: Queer Anthropology, Digital and Virtual Anthropologies, and Social Justice and Transformation. The Queer Anthropology section lists 10 influential works that have shaped Ruelos' understanding of concepts like gender, sexuality, and power relations. The Digital and Virtual Anthropologies section explores Ruelos' interest in technology's role in daily life and relationships. The final section on Social Justice and Transformation outlines Ruelos' activist interests in social movements and using anthropology for social change.
Sociology and anthropology are social sciences that study human behavior and societies. Sociology is defined as the scientific study of human social behavior, especially the study of the origins, organization, institutions and development of human society. It examines how people live in groups and the influences on their relationships. Anthropology is the study of human beings and their ancestors through time in relation to physical character, environmental and social relations, and culture. It seeks to describe human cultures, classify cultural phenomena, and understand the origins and changes of human cultures through various methods like observation, interviews and analysis of artifacts. Both sociology and anthropology aim to scientifically study different aspects of human social life and use empirical methods to gather and analyze data.
Position paper the direction of anthropology v velasquezvpv13
This document discusses debates around the future and identity of anthropology as a discipline. It summarizes John Comaroff's argument that anthropology is facing a "crisis of identity" due to other fields adopting its research methods and topics. Comaroff identifies three main issues: the loss of ethnography as anthropology's trademark tool, the lack of distinct empirical territories, and perceptions that other fields can perform anthropological work better. The document also discusses perspectives from Mwenda Ntarangwi and others on how to strengthen anthropology's theoretical foundations and approach its subject material holistically across disciplines.
The Multiverse of Lies - Explaining post-truth populism using MCU examples (Á...Gábor Polyák
Popular culture is an excellent, but little used intermediary for education and dissemination. Modern educational theory (e.g. constructivist pedagogy) has been long arguing that the only really integral parts of consciousness are those that can be related to earlier cognitive schemata. Such is typically the case in works of popular culture, which, moreover, often reflect on important social problems.
This is particularly important where civic education is virtually absent from school education. Hungary is such a country, that is why a series of books on well-known popular culture works for the purpose of science communication and education has had a strong resonance. The book series currently consists of 7 volumes with 83 papers by 72 authors. In addition to the MCU, examples are drawn from the Star Wars and Harry Potter universes, as well as from works such as The Handmaid's Tale.
The specific studies in the book series also show how the phenomenon of disinformation and fake news can be explained in terms of the MCU films. The films Iron Man 3 (2013) and Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019) are excellent examples to illustrate the post-truth situation. Iron Man exploits the audience's curiosity and fear of terrorism through the character of the "Mandarin", while Spider-Man is a spectacular illustration of the cognitive weaknesses behind disinformation. He makes us believe that he is stuck in spectacular clichés, and then asks us: how could we believe this transparent tale?
The indirect aim of the presentation is to discuss that in the current populist political environment of Hungary it is particularly important to find alternative discourses and narratives that make the problems of fake news and the post truth phenomenon articulable, understandable, and negotiable. The MCU provides an excellent framework for this.
3. “The Naming of Robots” My research proposal is to analyze the production of identity in robot design by examining naming practices in research robot competitions and exploring the history of robot names. Are robot names gendered? Robot competitions set benchmarks for research in rapidly evolving field. Classifications/taxonomy appear fluid but reproduce hegemonic values. Phonology studies and Implicit Assumption (Harvard) reveal our biases. Methodology: Grounded theory - feminist post-positivist - Donna Haraway Aim: relevant to robotics/technology and cultural studies/humanities Limitations: Cultural Studies discipline – abstract textual undefined Limitations: Masters project – 12,000 to 15,000 words – 6 months.
4. Cultural Studies & Robotics Cultural studies ‘lacks an established methodology and even a well-defined object’ Meaghan Morris, 1993. Australian Cultural Studies. ‘The project of taking popular culture seriously as a site of struggles over identity, value and power (is) one of the most versatile areas of study..’ IenAng, 2006. From Cultural Studies to Cultural Research. Making it up as you go is vital. Angela McRobbie, 1992. Post-Marxism Cultural Studies. No expert agrees on what a robot is – only that they work on them. ISO 8373 - definition of robot can describe a microwave or dishwasher. As robots become mass produced consumer objects and leave the research environment, most become simply machines or vehicles. Very low academic standards in robotics research due to field in flux – focus on staying ahead of everyone else. Angel del Polbil, 2008. EURON Projects.
5. Over 100 robot competitions each year, with 1000s of robots and teams from universities and schools and more than $1,000,000 in prizes, plus prestige!
6. Artifacts have politics Pervasive and continual gender bias in robotics and STEM. What else? Robotics functions with naïve technological determinism, however social shaping of technology approach ignores materiality or agency of ‘stuff’. Technologies are either explicitly or inherently political. Langdon Winner, 1986. Robotics is a liminal space – defined by whoever is doing it. Culture/Robotics/Culture - Reflexive circle. Naming fixes concepts; Material/semiotic object (Haraway), Symbolic power (Bourdieu), Identity and interface (Turkle). Gaps in knowledge! Focus on HCI/psychology/design not social/cultural Grounded theory starts with some ideas and desire to explore an area, collect data and then to adjust the hypotheses.
7. Phonology & Freakonomics Gender is basic classificatory system. Pierre Bourdieu, 1980. The Logic of Practice. Levitt’s large study showed high correlation between class, gender & name - with names moving downwards in economic position and gender. Although the English language is not explicitly gendered, most people recognize masculine or feminine sounding words through structural cues or phonology, not memory – suggesting deep symbolic meanings. Classification by gender (Bern’s sex role index) M, F, A, U. Classification by human/animal/machine. Classification by shape/structure. Classification by function/use. Classification by competition.
9. Haraway Background - Zoologist, Biologist, Philosopher. “Situated knowledges” – between the essentialism of feminist standpoint theory and postmodernism’s relativism and apolitical differentiation. Haraway is relational not relativistic. “Responsibility” - knowledge is power – like Foucault. But Haraway is deconstructionist rather than constructivist. “Material/Semiotic objects” – we are implicated in text as text is in us. “Metaphor” – nameplay and rhetoric to maintain theoretical complexity. Difficult theorist to put into practice but apt for the naming of robots.
10. Frankenstein was the name of the doctor. The monster was denied both a name and a mate.
11. The Naming of Robots: Cultural history using Haraway’s theories (material/semiotic, nameplay) Collection of names of research robots (grounded/limited) to develop a theory of the role of identification (and gender) in the cycle of robotics research and correlation with robot function, shape or role. To demonstrate results with searchable database and web quiz/collection tool for more data collection. (see your sample!) To extend the naming project by; requesting more data from competition organisers qualitative i/vs with 10-12 robotics researchers (in situ) participant observation at robotics competitions, workshops and labs observation at education robotics workshops evaluating children’s naming practices Questions, suggestions and filling in the sample forms - Thank You!
Editor's Notes
This sample questionnaire demonstrates how my research proposal might work. If you circle the name you think suits each robot best and return the sheets to me at the end of the presentation, you will be helping me fine tune my research design and I hope you’ll have some fun. I’ll will explain this further at the end of this presentation.
As you can see the cultural studies is the relatively recent undefined and undisciplined discipline of the humanities, raking through the garbage in search of gold. To quote/cite Frow and Morris again, “Cultural studies often tends to operate in what looks like an eccentric way, starting with the particular, the detail, the scrap of ordinary or banal existence and then working to unpack the density of relations and of intersecting social domains that inform it.”This shares a common theme with robotics, that of vitality and the freedom to make it up as you go along, as McRobbie put it, to just get on with the job with whatever tool is to hand. Robotics is a very high growth area which works in the same undisicplined fashion. Robotics competitions are seen as the most effective and enjoyable way of sharing knowledge and setting benchmarks for future research.
My figures are very conservative. The number of competitions is multiplying, as is the prizemoney involved, let alone the prestige of participation. Bourdieu’s concept of scientific capital is informative but universities are also seeking financial capital, converting their research to government, industry or consumer production. Robotics is a big business in some domains, primarily defence, industrial, agricultural and mining. Whenever I am in a robotics competition or lab I wonder where all the women are and what effect this well documented and pervasive male gender bias in science and technology will have on the future, particularly as the most gendered areas are computing and robotics.
Langdon Winner described the inherent political nature of all technologies, in that something is always more easily used for one function than another. Once a feature has been introduced and reproduced you are likely to find design ‘lock-in’ occurring. A classic example of ‘lock-in’ is our use of the QWERTY keyboard which suited manual typewriters but is very inefficient for computer keyboards. We still use it although there are alternatives. (4.5)Most research is done at the culture ends of my culture/robotics/culture circle and the design of new artifacts is seen as an individual or unique process. Most studies are focussed on consumer products, already designed, or on individual relations HCI/psychology and the potential impacts on design, like Turkle. Or on the social shaping of knowledge as in Science and Technology Studies, as expressed by Latour, Foucault, Mackenzie, Wajcman, Cockburn.Robots are liminal objects. Once they leave the lab, unless branded or named a robot, (like the industrial robots of the 60s/70s) they become either machines, vehicles or toys. To study robotics is to be studying a boundary that is always in dispute. Or is it? The focus of most research is on solving practical problems, whether cognitive or embodied, not on developing critical theories. And as Stuart Hall puts it, “There is all the difference in the world between understanding the politics of intellectual work and substituting intellectual work for politics”.
Robotics is not neutral. Because there is a community of somewhat shared practise and public domain data, I propose to do a naming project, using grounded theory. Names are so common as to seem unimportant and yet they are the ultimate marker of identity. Gender is one of our most basic categorical structures.I don’t really know what will turn up, or even if I can make valid deductions, although I have some working hypotheses. Just the comparatively recent publication of the names of robots indicates that identity formation is becoming normalised in some areas. This is really the extent of previous studies, like Sherry Turkle’s, on individual relations to robots, identity and emotion. There are definitely indications of gender and function differentiations.There are limitations of name research. Aside from language, many teams either don’t name or don’t publicise the names of their robots. I hope to find 300 to 500 names and without a background in phonology, I may not get any usable interpretable data.
However, the liminal robot is being increasingly fixed as an identity, which alone is worth studying. These are samples from the EURON or European Robotics Research Network site.
Donna Haraway is one of the most exciting theorists in this area. Her early work was on primates, then cyborgs and most recently on genetic engineering and companion animals. It is her contributions to methodology that make her my key theorist. She critiqued feminist standpoint theory and developed the concept of ‘situated knowledges’, which helps makes some sense of postmodernism. Her concept of material/semiotic objects informs my research.Haraway is a difficult theorist to put into practice but highly appropriate for research standing between cultural theory and engineering. I will base my thesis on a short cultural history of the naming of robots in the context of Haraway’s theories and then proceed with the collection of data on the naming practices of the new breed of robots, (as grounded theory.)
Speaks for itself. I intend to use Frankenstein as a trope throughout my thesis, in the same way that Haraway uses an iconic material/semiotic object to demonstrate the whole range of loaded meanings and the tensions within the broader topic; robotics, naming, gender & identity, future life.
Some areas are currently beyond my master’s research but I’d like my research proposal to extend beyond the textual analysis and the collection of names from recent competitions to the creation of an open database of names/shapes of research robots for with web quiz/data collection.And maybe also to extend the naming project by; requesting more data from competition organisersqualitative i/vs with 10-12 robotics researchers (in situ)participant observation at robotics competitions, workshops and labsobservation at education robotics workshops evaluating children’s naming practices I would appreciate your questions, suggestions and the sample forms if you care to fill them in. Thank You!