Course Contents

How is the world represented in science and technology? And when is science and technology intervening in reality? Is, for instance, the structure of a database representing certain state of affairs in the world? Is a computerised list of concepts a true or complete representation of the subject domain, or is it rather arbitrarily constructed to fit the database system's limitations? And if the latter is the case, is it then a kind of intervention that will change the piece of reality it is supposed to represent? If science and technology is just as much about intervention as representation, how will this effect the prominent idea of objectivity that traditionally sets science and science-based technology apart from non-science? Anyone concerned with classification work is potentially confronted with such questions regarding representations, interventions and reality.

The discussion about our capability to represent the world in symbolic form is not exclusive of computer science and IT. It can also be found among other science and technology researchers and in everyday life. Many scientists act, for instance, from a conviction that the numbers they read on a measuring device in a physics experiment tell them how a select part of nature behaves. Others reject this view, and may talk about technology-driven construction of reality in the lab. Proponents of artificial intelligence might build their research on the belief that verbal reports about inner states represent such states in full, and subsequently can be simulated in a computer program. Other may disagree: Words do not represent the working of the mind, thus, automated manipulation of symbols is not relevant to psychology, or it reinvent what psychology is about!

The course presents and discusses this range of essential questions within the general framework of IT research. The course will provide the participants with ideas and arguments to recognise key issues in the discussion, and to relate it to their own projects. The tension between technological limitations and theoretical possibilities will be emphasised. The lectures will address a range of issues from formalisms in computer science, over cybernetics and philosophy of technology to work-oriented systems design.

About the Lecturers

The key lectures at the course will be internationally recognized researchers within their fields.

Professor Andy Pickering: Department of Sociology, Univertsity of Illinois, USA
Professor Christiane Floyd: SWT, Department of Computer Science, University of Hamburg, Germany
Professor Peter-Paul Verbeek: Department of Philosophy in Twente, Holland
Professor Stefan Arnborg: Computer Science and Communication, KTH (Royal Institute of Technology), Stockholm, Sweden

Facts

Place: University of Aarhus
Room: Turing-024
Prerequisites: The participants will receive mandatory reading materials shortly after April 1^st to be read before the course starts.
Course Language: English
ECTS credits: 4 points for participation throughout the whole seminar, plus one point for preparing and delivering a presentation.

Registration

Primary target group is PhD students from the BRICS PhD School. The course is open for all PhD-students in Denmark and the Nordic countries.

Deadline for application and submission of abstract: April 1^st, Each application should include a short CV, a title and description of the PhD project, and an abstract of the presentation (300 words).

The seminar is free of charge for all PhD students inside Academia. Others must pay DKK 1000 per ECTS to participate. Participants are also expected to cover their own expenses for travel, food and lodging. For information about convenient accommodation, you may ask the PhD School secretary.

Applications and other contacts should be directed to phdschool-secretary@brics.dk.

Immediately after the deadline all candidates will be notified.

Organisers

Associate professor Olav Bertelsen, Department of Computer Science, University of Aarhus
Associate professor Claus Bossen, Institute of Information and Media Studies, University of Aarhus
Associate professor Finn Olesen, Institute of Information and Media Studies, University of Aarhus

Last modified: 2006-03-20 by webmaster.