Sam Hind

lecturer in digital media and culture at the University of Manchester, UK.

sam.hind@manchester.ac.uk

  • Activism I

    An exciting looking programme for the upcoming #DigitalActivismNow conference at KCL on April 4th. The closing plenary will be given by Gabriella Coleman and is entitled ‘Weapons of the Geeks’. There are 4 panels across the day:

    • Hacking and Hacktivism (chaired by Tim Jordon, KCL) inc. a presentation by Sam Carlisle from Sukey.
    • Digital Propoganda (chaired by Joss Hands, Anglia Ruskin) inc. a presentation by Eugenia Siapera, Dublin City.
    • Social Networks and Digital Organizing (chaired by Miriyam Arouagh, Westminster) inc. a presentation by Paulo Gerbaudo, KCL.
    • Digital Transparency and Secrecy (chaired by Clare Birchall, KCL) inc. a presentation by David Berry, Sussex.

  • Living Maps

    Apologies for the silence on this blog of late, because despite coming across a wealth of mapping articles, videos and whatnot, I’ve been rather busy putting together a few pieces of work that have had to take precedence! I will try to remedy this in the next month or so, despite the continuation of these efforts. As a good start, I would like to draw people’s attention towards the 2014 Living Maps Seminar Series which had its launch earlier this month.

    The first was entitled ‘Mapping the Field’ and saw input from Phil Cohen and Christian Nold, following a screening of the short film The Map is Not the Territory. Here are details of the remaining 6 seminars:

     
    SEMINAR 2 : Hidden Histories
    Exploring strategies to excavate hidden layers of cultural and natural histories and put them on the map.
    VENUE: The Building Exploratory, London 11/02/2014
    6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

    SEMINAR 3 : Grounding Knowledge
    Looking at maps that have site specific and partisan purposes, addressing issues of power and politics.
    VENUE: City Centre Queen Mary University of London, London 11/03/2014
    6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

    SEMINAR 4 : Marginalised Bodies, Liminal Spaces
    Looking at issues of disability and the fight for access to the city.
    VENUE: UEL Docklands Campus, London 13/05/2014
    6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

    SEMINAR 5 : Constructing New Geographies
    Addressing the contradictions of mapping the post-modern city: the self-defining spaces and the centres of power.
    VENUE: Dept. of Geography, Environment and Development Studies, Birkbeck University of London, London 10/06/2014
    6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

    SEMINAR 6 : Communities of Resistance
    Case studies in regeneration and gentrification, communities of resistance and the role of ‘counter mapping’.
    VENUE: UCL Urban Laboratory, 4th Floor Central House, London 08/07/2014
    6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

    SEMINAR 7 : Mapping the Future
    How far can GIS be mobilized for radical action; can artists maps offer a representation of emergent political landscapes?
    VENUE: The Young Foundation, London 22/07/2014

  • GEM #2: ALEXANDER GALLOWAY – THE INTERFACE EFFECT

    On Tuesday January 14th we will have the next GEM jam in Utrecht. Please save the date! We will convene between 1 and 3 at Muntstraat 2A, 1.11. In this second meeting of the Research Group on Geomedia and Urban Interfaces (see below) we will discuss Alexander Galloway’s 2012 book The Interface Effect.

    Although it isn’t a particularly lengthy title, some might consider reading Patrick Jagoda’s review in the LARB as a good entry point into the book. If you are unfamiliar with Galloway’s work in general, his other two major books are Protocol (2004), a Deleuzian take on the machinations of control and Gaming (2006), a reading of algorithmic culture. The Interface Effect is the third and final title in his ‘Allegories of Control’ trilogy.

    Interface Effect

    GEM meetings are open to anyone interested in the specific topic of the meeting and/or the activities of the research group. Please pass on this invitation, and let us know if you want to be put on the GEM email list!

    Happy Holidays from the GEM team!
    Nanna Verhoeff (Utrecht University)
    Sybille Lammes (Warwick University)
    Chris Perkins (Manchester University)
    Alex Gekker (Utrecht)
    Sam Hind (Warwick)
    Clancy Wilmott (Manchester)
    //
    Introducing GEM: research group on geomedia and urban interfaces
    GEM will regularly assemble at Utrecht University to discuss topics at the intersection of media studies and critical geography, with a specific focus on screens as navigational interfaces. Tied to the Charting the Digital European Research Council project and in co-operation with the Universities of Warwick and Manchester, we aim to provide an inclusive platform to discuss interdisciplinary topics pertaining to this focus.
    *
    Whether or not we wish to speak of a spatial or spatiotemporal turn, spatiality has become a central theoretical concept in media studies as well in critical geography. New urban interfaces, and in particular digital maps, have prompted challenging questions about how spatialities can be epistemologically and ontologically understood and which theories, tools and methodologies are needed to understand our contemporary mediatized and mobile daily lives to their full extent. GEM aims to shed light on such questions by exploring the intersections of the different notions of space in different disciplines and traditions of thought, combined with the analysis of and reflection on how we approach and do geo-media and urban interfaces and explore the essentials we need as researchers to engage with these research topics.
    *
    Open to PhD candidates and other junior and senior researches, as well as interested artists or practitioners, we will occasionally incorporate guest lectures, workshops and master classes. Those who join are more than welcome to suggest their own workshops, reading material, research questions and/or methodologies.

  • Why are maps still so powerful?

    Can a map reveal too much? How do they direct our thinking? From ancient atlases to satnav and Google, maps continue to be a key planning tool.

    Rana Mitter hosts a discussion recorded at BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking Festival at Sage, Gateshead between Vanessa Lawrence CB, head of Ordnance Survey and Professor Jerry Broton. They look at who owns the data? What are they doing with it? Who are they selling it to? Who has peer reviewed the maps?

    Professor Jerry Brotton, Professor of Renaissance Studies in the Department of English, Queen Mary, University of London is the author of A History of the World in Twelve Maps and presenter of the BBC Four TV series Maps: Power, Plunder and Possession.

    Vanessa Lawrence is advisor to the British government on mapping, surveying and geographic information. She is honorary vice-president of the Geographical Association and visiting Professor at the University of Southampton and Kingston University.

    Available here.

  • Mandela’s Spatial Legacy

    A great post by Vanessa Quirk at Arch Daily on the effect of apartheid on South Africa’s towns and cities. She sets the tone with the claim that by:

    Aggressively wielding theories of Modernism and racial superiority, South Africa’s urban planners didn’t just enforce Apartheid, they embedded it into every city – making it a daily, degrading experience for South Africa’s marginalized citizens.

    A link to it is here.