This module is written by Cristina Cochior and Manetta Berends in the proximity of [Varia](https://varia.zone/en/), a member-based organisation in the South of Rotterdam that works on/with everyday technology. The research behind this work was started in 2016 by Cristina Cochior and it was further developed and consolidated in 2020 together with Manetta Berends for the purpose of a workshop they organise together and this online module.
This module was made by Cristina Cochior and Manetta Berends in the proximity of [Varia](https://varia.zone/en/), a member-based organisation in the South of Rotterdam that works on/with everyday technology.
The module is produced in the context of the course *Data-driven research and digital tools* at the Department of Media & Culture, Utrecht University in collaboration with [Dr. Karin van Es](https://www.karinvanes.net) and [Creative Coding Utrecht](https://creativecodingutrecht.nl/).
@ -7,16 +7,9 @@ Inspired by the potential of *digital infrapuncture*, a term coined by researche
This module combines theoretical and practical work, bringing the fields of digital humanities, design and media art together, and proposes to use the format of the *prototype* (and the activity of *prototyping*) as performative theoretical tool that feeds different practices into each other. We understand the prototype both as a research methodology (to critically engage with digital infrastructures in a hands-on way) and as a prefigurative practice (to imagine possible transformations and interventions, bridging between past, present and future), following Alan Galey's and Stan Ruecker's work on framing how prototypes could act as arguments. In their article *How Prototypes Argue*[^prototype] Galey and Ruecker formulate how "digital artifacts have meaning, not just utility, and may constitute original contributions to knowledge in their own right".
# Goals
This online module aims to foster what Karin van Es, Maranke Wieringa and Mirko Tobias Schäfer term *tool criticism thinking*[^toolcriticism] (e.g. the skills and practices for critically engaging with the norms and values of our computational tools and infrastructures). The module consists of readings, videos and exercises that help you analyze and reflect on how infrastructural agency, impact or power is shaped, structured and performed.
The goal of this online module is to foster what Karin van Es, Maranke Wieringa and Mirko Tobias Schäfer term *tool criticism thinking*[^toolcriticism] (e.g. the skills and practices for critically engaging with the norms and values of our computational tools and infrastructures). The module consists of readings, videos and exercises that help you analyze and reflect on how infrastructural agency, impact or power is shaped, structured and performed.
By the end of the module you will have:
- identified some of the norms and values of a digital infrastructures
- signalled a particular tension (or rather hurt) that emerges from these norms and values
- proposed a bot that could potentially address or engage with this hurt
- evaluated the implications of bot-making and bot interventions
Through the different tracks we will try to identify some of the norms and values of a digital infrastructures, signal particular tensions that emerge from these norms and values, formulate bots that could potentially address or engage with this hurt, and finally evaluate the implications of bot-making and bot interventions.
You can go through this module at your own speed. No subscription is required, you can simply start by clicking on the *start* button in each section and follow the instructions.
