New Technologies Research Academy
17 May (Wednesday) - 19 May (Friday)
AS8 04-04 Seminar Room, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences,
National University of Singapore at 10 Kent Ridge Cres, Singapore 119260
How are different cultures and social groups using or appropriating new technologies in distinct ways? How do new technologies and technological objects impact upon questions of subjectivity and embodiment, and on the idea of the human and the post-human? How are data and computational methods transforming the way we do research in the social sciences and the humanities? To explore these and other questions, the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) warmly invites researchers interested in the histories, politics, philosophies, and applications of emerging technologies to participate in the New Technologies Research Academy, which will be held at NUS from 17-19 May 2023. This is an in-person, 3-day event offering talks and masterclass workshops on three themes:
1. Practical application of digital technologies for creating avenues for dignity and identity (such as the usage of blockchain in the humanitarian sector)
2. Computer-assisted technologies for research in the humanities (in areas such as AI-assisted translation and computer vision)
3. Autonomous agents and surveillance (including UAVs)
Time Left Till Start Of Conference:
Participate
The event is open to all. Please register and indicate the sessions you would like to attend.
SCHEDULE
Day 1, 17 May
09:00-09:15 Welcome remarks by Elaine Ho
09:15-10:15 Keynote by Bart Defrancq
10:15-10:30 Break
10:30-12:30 Workshop by Bart Defrancq
12:30-13:30 Lunch
13:30-14:30 Keynote by Lauren Tilton
14:30-14:45 Break
14:45-16:45 Workshop by Lauren Tilton
Day 2, 18 May
09:15-10:15 Keynote by Adam Fish
10:15-10:30 Break
10:30-12:30 Workshop by Adam Fish
12:30-13:30 Lunch
13:30-14:30 Keynote by Kuldeep Bandhu Aryal
14:30-14:45 Break
14:45-16:45 Workshop by Hum Qing Ze
Day 3, 19 May
09:00-10:30 Position papers
10:30-11:00 Break
11:00-12:30 Position papers
12:30-13:00 Closing remarks
13:00 Lunch
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Assoc Prof Bart Defrancq
Misgiven in evidence: Machine Translation and witness statements
Around the world millions of criminal cases involve multilingual processes. In most parts of the world these still imply the intervention of a human agent – an interpreter – to make communication possible. However, with the rise of LLM-based technologies offering good quality translations around the clock at a low price, it is likely that judicial authorities will eventually turn to speech technologies to communicate with speakers of non-dominant languages. I will address the legal and technical ramifications of such practices.
Bart Defrancq is an Associate Professor of interpreting at Ghent University and course leader of the interpreting programs. He is the current president of CIUTI, a global association of translation and interpreting programmes. Bart’s research focuses on simultaneous conference interpreting and police interpreting. He advocates corpus-based research methods and technological tools to support interpreters.
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Assoc Prof Lauren Tilton
Distant Viewing
Scholars from a range of backgrounds are turning to computer vision as evidence and as an object of study. Bringing together data science, digital humanities, and media studies, this talk will introduce the concept of distant viewing, a theory and method for understanding how computer vision views digital images. We will then turn to how distant viewing can facilitate the study of visual culture. The talk will end with a conversation about the role of interdisciplinarity, collaboration, and credit in pursuing computationally-driven research.
Lauren Tilton is an associate professor of Digital Humanities at the University of Richmond, and director of the Distant Viewing Lab. She is co-author of Humanities Data in R: Exploring Networks, Geospatial Data, Images and Texts (Springer 2015) and Layered Lives (Stanford 2022). Her scholarship has appeared in journals such as American Quarterly, Digital Humanities Quarterly, and Digital Scholarship in the Humanities. She is the co-editor of the forthcoming Debates in the Digital Humanities volume on computational humanities. Her most recent project, Distant Viewing, focuses on large scale image analysis using computer vision including an open source toolkit (https://github.com/distant-viewing/dvt) and forthcoming book on The MIT Press
Assoc Prof Adam Fish
Planetary Media Studies: The Mediation of Life and the Emergence of an Intelligent Technosphere
We human, non-human, and more-than-human intelligences come into being through mediation–the thermodynamic flows of energy, information, heat, and molecules. We emerge, decay, and regenerate following the laws of evolution and entropy as they are known on Earth. Life, thus, is based on mediation as it exists on this planet and in this galaxy. Digital media studies, then, is primed to contribute to the study of life and this planet and beyond. Through an investigation into the speaker’s drone and activist video work, this talk will focus on planetary media studies–an approach to digital media studies that emphasizes the contingencies of communication on this planet and in this galaxy. By looking at an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-owned satellite Earth station, the talk will introduce a planetary media studies that connects the specifics of cultural production to the universal aspirations of planetary science. By peering at the speaker’s drone-based biological conservation in Indonesia and coal mine surveillance in Australia, the talk will proceed to analyze how entropy weaves together biological and technological life on Earth. By considering the speaker’s drone-based fieldwork with renewable energy protesters in Greece, the talk will discuss the emergence of a self-regulating technosphere. The talk will conclude through a glance at the speaker’s new research into exoplanet telescopes on and off the Earth, considering how planetary media studies can contribute to envisioning life as it is, could be, and might have been. In sum, the talk offers a vision of digital media studies that is grounded in physics and cosmology and capable of oscillating between the specific diversities of intelligent life on Earth and a universe of physical forces. Implementing planetary media studies requires an experimental methodology of engagement with the more-than-human intelligences with which we cohabit this planet.
Adam Fish is a Scientia Associate Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, School of Arts and the Media, at the University of New South Wales. He is a cultural anthropologist, documentary video producer, and interdisciplinary scholar who works across social science, computer engineering, environmental science, and the visual arts. Dr. Fish employs ethnographic, participatory, and creative methods to examine the social, political, and ecological impacts of new technologies. He has authored several books including: Hacker States (MIT 2020, with Luca Follis, Lancaster University, UK), about how state hacking impacts democracy; Technoliberalism (Palgrave Macmillan 2017), an ethnography of the politics of internet and television convergence in Hollywood and Silicon Valley; and After the Internet (Polity 2017, with Ramesh Srinivasan, UCLA, US), which reimagines the internet from the perspective of grassroots activists, citizens, and hackers on the margins of political and economic power. After the Internet was translated into Spanish in 2021. His most recent completed project was based on four years of collaboration with marine conservation drone operators across the world and resulted in the forthcoming book Oceaning: Governing Marine Life with Drones in 2024 with Duke University Press. Alongside this he is finishing a book on drone studies with Michael Richardson (UNSW) for MIT Press.
Kuldeep Bandhu Aryal
Beyond the Block: Unlocking Social Impact with Blockchain in Decentralized ID and Cash Systems
The potential of blockchain technology in decentralized ID systems and unrestricted cash transfers is immense, offering innovative solutions to some of the most pressing challenges in the development sector. Decentralized IDs offer secure, verifiable identities, improving access to vital services and empowering marginalized groups like refugees with portable digital identities. Blockchain also enables transparent, efficient cash transfers, removing intermediaries and lowering fraud risks. Smart contracts automate fund disbursement, ensuring timely assistance and increased donor accountability. Additionally, blockchain enhances commodity traceability, fostering ethical, sustainable practices. By revolutionizing how we tackle global issues, blockchain fosters more inclusive, resilient development solutions.
Kuldeep Bandhu Aryal is the co-lead and senior manager for frontier technology and partnerships at the BRAC Social Innovation Lab. He is a Fellow at the Ethereum Foundation, and Innovation Lead at Field Ready International and has a demonstrated history of innovation management in the development and humanitarian sectors in both Nepal and Bangladesh over the past 7 years. With overlapping personal and professional values, Kuldeep seeks to promote open-source innovations and whole-of-community approaches to make resource-constrained communities more resilient during times of crisis and disasters. Kuldeep has extensive experience in using Frontier Technologies and exploring solutions for challenges faced in various humanitarian responses. Kuldeep has explored and implemented the use of Digital Fabriaction to promote local manufacturing of aid supplies. He was the lead during the development of South Asias first blockchain based cash transfer system called “Sikka” during his engagement with the Nepal Innovation Lab in Kathmandu. He’s currently a fellow at the Ethereum Foundation where he is exploring the use of blockchain for the creation of a decentralised unique ID system to link with various humanitarian response verticals. Kuldeep is also engaged with building solutions to improve supply chain in responses through distributed manufacturing technology as well as exploring decentralised feacal sludge management technologies for the Rohingya response. With Field Ready International, Kuldeep is also leading projects around plastics recycling to increase the lifespan of infrastructure in the Rohingya refugee camps. He was recognised by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundations as a Goalkeeper in 2021 for using local manufacturing for making PPE for the frontline workers during the COVID Response.
FAQ
Registration and participation is free.
Have a question or feedback? Feel free to contact us at fassresearchevents@nus.edu.sg
Conference Committee
This event is organised by Beryl Pong (English, Linguistics & Theatre Studies), Bei Hu (Chinese Studies), Kokil Jaidka (Communications and New Media), Elliott Prasse-Freeman (Sociology & Anthropology) and Miguel Escobar Varela (English, Linguistics & Theatre Studies).
The New Technologies Research Academy follows from a successful sandpit event on ‘Culture and New Technology’ in August 2022, where objects of inquiry included hardware like computers and communications devices; visual, digital, and social media; digital security, cryptocurrency, and blockchains; wearable technology and sensor technology; as well as research methods like eye tracking, data mining, network analysis, and natural language processing.