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Title: Infrapunctural Imaginaries (exercise) |
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Title: Infrapunctural imaginaries (exercise) |
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Slug: 01-s5-introduction |
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Date: 2020-11-01 12:00 |
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Summary: What are the norms and values of different communication infrastructures? |
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Summary: In this section we will use the practice of script writing to imagine a bot as a potential digital infrapuncture. |
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[mb: bridge from *bot logic* to this exercise] |
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We have discussed how bots can be entry points for studying infrastructures, as they require the familiarity with their material and social conditions. An intimate knowledge of how an infrastructure operates can be helpful in identifying the power hierarchies in place or the embedded values in the design of an infrastructure. This is needed to be able to identify stress and pressure points. |
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[mb: add question: What kind of communication infrastructures do we use in our everyday lives?] |
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We have encountered different computational infrastructures throughout this module. In this section we will get hands on with *communication infrastructures*, which include for example micro-blogging platforms, groupchats, discussion forums, or mailinglists; places where people come together for discussion and to organise themselves. |
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What are the norms and values of different communication infrastructures? |
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What are the norms of the conversations? [mb: rephrase] |
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And who decides what is normal and sets the norms? |
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To dive into these question and further explore how communicative infrastructures are transforming and being transformed by different groups, we will now switch mode [mb: mode?] and do a dialog-writing exercise. |
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So far, we encountered different computational infrastructures throughout this module. In this section we will focus specifically on *communicative infrastructures*, which for example include micro-blogging platforms, groupchats, discussion forums, or mailinglists. [mb: add "Places where groups of people come together for dicussions and to organise themselves".] |
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# Why an exercise? |
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Doing an exercise will create space to engage with [mb: to activate?] the term *digital infrapunctures*, allowing us to speculate about possible bot interventions or infrapunctural actions. |
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While keeping in mind that different groups use different infrastructures in different ways, it is important to situate ourselves and work with a specific context in mind. We will take a moment to formulate this context first. |
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We will now do an exercise to apply the term *digital infrapunctures* to a (more or less) fictional setting, allowing us to imagine possible bot interventions or infrapunctural actions. |
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# What is the exercise? |
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1. Choose a communicative infrastructure that is used by a specific group. |
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2. Imagine that this group is working on a bot as infrapunctural intervention. |
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3. Come up with a scenario and write down what is happening in the format of a dialog. |
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During this exercise we will use the practice of script writing to imagine a bot as a potential digital infrapuncture. To do this, we will write a script made up of a fictional series of posts, staged on a communication infrastructure of your choice. The script will simulate the way in which your proposed bot operates within its context. |
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When using the word *script*, we wish to evoke the double meaning of the word. Script as it is understood in programming practices, where a task is written in code as a series of steps and script as it is used in theatre plays, where a text is written in order to be performed. |
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At the end of the exercise, you have written a script of a speculative dialog, that illustrates how a bot operates, what its attitude is and what it would say. The format of the dialog will challenge you to also think about possible responses and reactions to the bot. |
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Depending on the type of bot you are making, the format of the script may challenge you to think about the bot's attitude, what it posts and what kind of possible responses or reactions the bot triggers. |
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While keeping in mind that different groups use infrastructures in different ways, it is important to work with a specific context in mind. In the next page we will take a moment to formulate this context first. |
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Title: Step 1: Group formation |
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Title: Step 1: Unnerving norms and values |
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Slug: 02-s5-step-1 |
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Date: 2020-11-01 12:01 |
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Summary: Start of the excercise. |
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Summary: Start of the exercise. |
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<br> |
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*Please answer the following questions and write your answers down.* |
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*Consider the questions below and write your answers down.* |
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When we talk about communicative infrastructures, which ones come to mind? |
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When we talk about digital communication infrastructures, which ones come to mind? Make a list and pick one that you would like to work with. |
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Pick one communicative infrastructure and answer the following questions: |
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* Who makes and maintains the infrastructure? |
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* Who can make decisions about the infrastructure? [mb: check how Karin rephrased this question elsewhere in the module] |
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* What groups come to mind that use this infrastructure? |
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Regarding the norms and values of the infrastructure: |
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Pick a group to work with in this exercise. |
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* What does the infrastructure bring together? |
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* What kind of interaction is afforded by the infrastructure? |
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* What does the design of the infrastructure render as valuable? |
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* Who has the access and agency to intervene in the making of the infrastructure? |
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* How do these norms relate to power hierarchies, gender, ethnicity, class or race? |
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What kind of group are you interested in (that you are possibly even part of)? |
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Ideas for possible groups: |
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Regarding the way these are manifested in the design of an infrastructure: |
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* Exhausted protestors |
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* Striking academics |
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* Radical librarians |
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* Long-distance learners |
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* System administrators of a platform that is increasingly used by alt right groups |
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* What communication features can be used to interact with others? |
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* How do they shape the mode of conversation? |
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* What does the system emphasise? |
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* What does the system hide? |
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Title: Step 2: Norms |
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Title: Step 2: Teasing out a stress point |
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Slug: 03-s5-step-2 |
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Date: 2020-11-01 12:02 |
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Summary: Continuation of the excercise. |
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<br> |
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*Define the norms and values of the infrastructure you choose. Read and answer the following the questions, write your answers down.* |
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*Consider the questions below.* |
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What are the conversational norms of the group you have selected? |
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What is a stress point you would like to address? Try to formulate it as specifically as you can. |
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What are the norms of the infrastructure? |
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In case you are finding it difficult to articulate a stress point, or to frame it as a specific situation, consider a group from whose perspective you would like to work with in this exercise. What groups come to mind that use this infrastructure? |
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How are these norms shaped by the platform on which the communication is happening? |
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Look at the questions below and try to describe your group further. |
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Possible ideas: |
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* How do these norms relate to power, gender, or race? |
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* Who sets these default conversational structures? |
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* How does the group greet each other? How do you say goodbye? |
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* How does your group celebrate? |
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* What modes of communication can be used next to textual ones? |
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* Exhausted protesters |
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* Striking academics |
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* Radical librarians |
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* Long-distance learners |
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* Amateur counter-archivists |
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Title: Step 3: Infrapunctures |
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Title: Step 3: How does the bot *punctuate*? |
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Slug: 04-s5-step-3 |
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Date: 2020-11-01 12:03 |
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Summary: Continuation of the excercise. |
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<br> |
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*Outline a bot that tackles a specific hurt you have identified in the digital communication infrastructure you chose previously. Follow the following questions, write your answers down.* |
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*Outline a bot that engages with the specific point of stress you have identified. Consider the following questions.* |
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Identify a hurt concerning (lack of) agency, impact or power in relation to how your group communicates. |
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How could a bot intervene in this situation? Or following Verhoeven's terminology, how could it *punctuate*? |
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How could a bot intervene? In other words, how could it punctuate? |
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What (programmatic) behaviour could your bot enact? |
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Some (non-exhaustive) attributes of bot (programmatic) behaviour: |
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* iteration |
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* repetition |
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* storing |
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* versioning |
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* amplification |
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* ... |
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- *repetition*: bots can be run repeatedly |
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- *condition*: bots are often written in response to a particular condition |
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- *iteration*: bots can be used multiple times |
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- *memory*: bots can rely on a database |
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- *tempo*: bots can operate at a specific time frame as described by the programmer |
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- *versioning*: bots can make multiple versions of an original source |
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- *amplification*: bots can extend the reach of a message |
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Look at the questions below and pick a few to answer. |
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Some further questions that can help narrow down the action mode of your bot. |
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* What roles can be picked up by a bot? Is the bot for example a janitor, gardener, reporter? |
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* In what way is the bot conducive to the well-being of the group? |
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* In what way is the bot conducive to the well-being of its context? |
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* What modes of interaction does the bot use? Is the bot for example witnessing, listening, gathering, greeting, sparking, whispering, reminding, shouting? |
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