Society of the Query #2 videos and blog reports are now online! If you missed out on this year’s conference or would like to experience it again, be sure to check out the videos below, where each presentation can be viewed in its entirety.
View or download the Conference Report with all blog posts here.
Society of the Query #2, an initiative of the Institute of Network Cultures, Hogeschool van Amsterdam, took place in Amsterdam, on November 7th and 8th 2013. It brought together 25 speakers divided in six sessions, including an art session. Two hundred people attended the event at the 7th floor of the Amsterdam Public Library, which, for two days, was the world’s hottest search engine hub.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Session 1 – Google Domination
Siva Vaidyanathan on the intimate relationship between state surveillance and corporate dataveillance.
Society of the Query #2 kicks off with a mind-boggling presentation by Siva Vaidhyanathan, author of The Googlization of Everything. With the steady revelations throughout the summer of 2013 about the United States government’s programs and powers to monitor digital communication, mine metadata, and circumvent encryption, it has become clear that… (read more…)
Society of the Query #2 – Siva Vaidyanathan: The Leviathan and the Cryptopticon from network cultures on Vimeo.
Astrid Mager – Is Small Beautiful? Big Search and its Alternatives
In this first session, Astrid Mager tells us about search engines, pointing out that Google is not the only search engine that is using personal data for commercial interests, or for instance, collaborating with the NSA. She holds that we shouldn’t blame only Google as there are many other factors involved, but proposes (read more…)
Society of the Query #2 – Astrid Mager: Is Small Really Beautiful? Big Search Engines and its Alternatives from network cultures on Vimeo.
Dirk Lewandowski – Why We Need an Independent Index of the Web
How can we create real alternative search engines? German professor Dirk Lewandowski spoke as third speaker in the session ‘Google Domination’. He argues that we need an independent index of the web. “We don’t need publicly funded search engines. Instead, we need publicly funded search index.” Why? He argues that (read more…)
Society of the Query #2 – Dirk Lewandowski: Why We Need an Independent Index of the Web from network cultures on Vimeo.
Google Domination discussion
Society of the Query #2 – Google Domination – discussion from network cultures on Vimeo.
Session 2 – Search Across the Border
Thomas Petzold Talks About the Search Industry’s Five-Percent Gamble
Thomas Petzold started the second session of Society of the Query #2,Search Across the Border, on a more positive tone as he gave kudos to the search engine. He commended it for still being a great tool, one that has had a huge impact on not only the collective memory of our species, but also on how we collaborate when trying to solve problems. (read more…)
Society of the Query #2 – Thomas Petzold: The Search Industry’s Five Percent Gamble from network cultures on Vimeo.
Min Jiang – Search Without Borders
The popular depiction of the search engine as a borderless, global medium is an illusion, says Min Jiang. Search engines have become increasingly re-territorialized driven by several geo-graphical, political-legal, technological and economical factors that supersede our cosmopolitan impulses. As a native Chinese who has been doing research in the States, Dr. Min Jiang is the (read more…)
Society of the Query #2 – Min Jiang: Search Without Borders? On Borders and Chinese Search Engines from network cultures on Vimeo.
Payal Arora – The Making of Art Knowledge via Google Images in rural India
Payal Arora is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Media and Communication – Faculty of History, Culture and Communication at Rotterdam Erasmus University. With a research interest in digital learning, she contributed to the conference with a very interesting (albeit also worrying) study on (read more…)
Society of the Query #2 – Payal Arora: Chinese Cowboy Paintings as Western Art? from network cultures on Vimeo.
Search Across the Border discussion
Society of the Query #2 – Search Across the Border – discussion from network cultures on Vimeo.
Session 3 – The Art of Search
Rebecca Lieberman on the Poetics of Search
“Demented Panda and Koki wandered through the small plot of land. Except it was no longer only a small plot of land, but also an enormous food court. Except it wasn’t just a food court, but also an outdoor rehearsal space lent to artists by a small nonprofit arts organization. Except it wasn’t a rehearsal space, but a soundstage for gigantic live entertainments. Except it wasn’t a soundstage, but a fake Baghdadi neighborhood staged for counterinsurgency training exercises…” (read more…)
Society of the Query #2 – Rebecca Lieberman: ‘visually similar imgs’ from network cultures on Vimeo.
Anja Groten – The Aesthetics of Power
In this third session, Anja Groten presents “The aesthetics of power”. Anja Groten is a designer and researcher based in Amsterdam who presents for Society of the Query her project called ‘Machina Recordatio’. Machina Recordatio gives voice to those excluded from society: (read more…)
Anja Groten Presentation from A.G. on Vimeo.
Isabelle Massu – The Great Family of Man
In her presentation, Isabelle Massu talked about her project, L’Iconopathe, stating that it first spawned two years ago, from her love of photography and archiving. The Iconopathe, which takes the shape of a website, is meant to (read more…)
Society of the Query #2 – Isabelle Massu: The Great Family of Man from network cultures on Vimeo.
Rosa Menkman on Resolutions
For a year, glitch artist and researcher Rosa Menkman has been studying resolutions. She was inspired by the Evil Media Distribution Centre by Graham Harwood (YoHa) and Matthew Fuller (Goldsmiths, University of London) that was presented at Transmediale this year in Berlin. (read more…)
Society of the Query #2 – Rosa Menkman: Beyond Resolution from network cultures on Vimeo.
The Art of Search discussion
Society of the Query #2 – The Art of Search – discussion from network cultures on Vimeo.
Friday, November 8, 2013
Session 4 – Reflections on Search
Kylie Jarrett – Search for the Google God: Metaphysics and the Social Imaginary of Search
In this first session of Friday, Kylie Jarrett talks about the history of search, going back to metaphysical desires on historical information technologies but focusing as well on Google and contemporary search engines. Kylie highlights two sources of deep importance in the history of search: (read more…)
Society of the Query #2 – Kylie Jarrett: Search for the Google God: Metaphysics and the Social Imaginary of Search from network cultures on Vimeo.
Antoinette Rouvroy – Algorithmic governmentality and the End(s) of Critique
Antoinette Rouvroy, in her presentation titled “Algorithmic Governmentalities and the End(s) of Critique,” discussed issues surrounding search engines current focus on relationships between sites rather than content. She began by explaining (read more…)
Society of the Query #2 – Antoinette Rouvroy: Algorithmic Governmentality and the End(s) of Critique from network cultures on Vimeo.
Anton Tantner – Human Search Engines and Intelligence Offices of the Analogue Age
Much critique and debate at the 2nd edition of Society of the Query took place around the way that knowledge – a complex, dynamic and essentially cognitive (human) process – is indexed and retrieved via algorithmic identification made possible by software search engines. (read more…)
Society of the Query #2 – Anton Tantner: Towards a History of Search in the Analogue Age from network cultures on Vimeo.
Reflections on Search – discussion
Society of the Query #2 – Reflections on Search – Discussion from network cultures on Vimeo.
Book Launch – Ippolita – ‘The Dark Side of Google’
During the second Society of the Query conference, the Ippolita collective presented their book entitled ”The Dark Side of Google” (2007; it-fr-es-en) firstly presented in 2006 .The book originally appeared in Italian, and has been translated into French, Spanish and consequently English. The distinct thing about writing is that (read more…)
Society of the Query #2 – Book Launch: The Dark Side of Google by Ippolita from network cultures on Vimeo.
Session 5 – Search in Context
Simon Knight on the Epistemic Context of Search and Assessment
On day two of the Society of the Query conference, Simon Knight introduced his analysis of the search engine as an epistemic tool by outlining the latest policy changes in the Danish school system. After a recent pilot study (read more…)
Society of the Query #2 – Simon Knight: Finding Knowledge: What it means to ‘know’ in the Age of Search from network cultures on Vimeo.
Sanne Koevoets – Library Dwelling: Quest and Query Tropes in Narratives on Libraries and the Internet
Dr. Sanne Koevoets currently teaches philosophy and new media studies at Leiden University College in The Hague. In her research she focuses on the gendered dynamics of the library in the network society, with which she has engaged through the figure of the female librarian and the trope of the labyrinth. (read more…)
Society of the Query #2 – Sanne Koevoets: Library Dwelling: Quest and Query Tropes in Narratives on Libraries and the Internet from network cultures on Vimeo.
Interview with Maarten Sprenger
The fifth session of Society of the Query #2, ‘Search in Context‘ ended with a conversation between Geert Lovink andMaarten Sprenger, the author of a recently published book for children and adults about searching for valuable information online (read more…)
Society of the Query #2 – Interview with Maarten Sprenger from network cultures on Vimeo.
Session 6 – The Filter Bubble Show
Erik Borra and René König Google Search Perspectives on 9/11
Erik Borra and René König were the second to last speakers of Society of the Query #2′s sixth and final session,The Filter Bubble Show, with a talk on why search engines are biased. As a case study, Borra and König chose the controversial topic of 9/11 and tried to answer how Google’s algorithm decides what is relevant for this particular query. (read more…)
Society of the Query #2 – Erik Borra and René König: Googling 9/11: The Perspectives of a Search Engine on a Global Event from network cultures on Vimeo.
Measuring Personalization: An Experimental Framework for Testing Technological Black Boxes – Pascal Jürgens
Pascal Jürgens, in his presentation titled “Measuring Personalization—An Experimental Framework for Testing Technological Black Boxes,” discussed issues surrounding control and responsibility in regard to search engine results. As search engines increasingly provide easier and easier access to content, they also hold immense power over what information (read more…)
Society of the Query #2 – Pascal Jürgens: Measuring Personalization from network cultures on Vimeo.
Does Culture Affect Information Diversity? by Engin Bozdag
Engin Bozdag is a PHD candidate at Delft University of Technology and spoke about his Empirical study of Information Diversity for Dutch and Turkish Twitter users. Engin Bozdag was interested in the information bubble phenomenon; the idea that the information we receive and process is part of a bubble that is a result of selection and the notion of our world. (read more…)
Society of the Query #2 – Engin Bozdag: Does Culture Affect Information Diversity? from network cultures on Vimeo.
The Filter Bubble Show – discussion
Society of the Query #2 – The Filter Bubble Show – Discussion from network cultures on Vimeo.