Call for Papers March 2014 (please circulate):
Creative Robotics:
Rethinking HumanâMachine Configurations.
Issue Editors: Petra Gemeinboeck, Jill Bennett and Elena Cox.
abstract deadline: April 25, 2014 article deadline: July 31, 2014 publication aimed for: November, 2014
http://fibreculturejournal.org/ http://fibreculturejournal.org/cfp_creative_robotics/
Please note that for this issue, initial submissions should be abstracts only
all contributors and editors must read the guidelines at;
http://fibreculturejournal.org/policy-and-style/
before working with the Fibreculture Journal
email correspondence for this issue:
[email protected]âIf
one thinks of a classic âupstairs/downstairsâ scenario, it is no longer
clear where the robots will be lodgingâ (Turkle, 2010)
We are on
the verge of a robotic revolution, a revolution that has long been
foreshadowed by science fiction such as Karel CÌapekâs play
R.U.R. (Rossumâs Universal Robots) in 1920 and Isaac Asimovâs first collection of stories
I, Robot in
1950. Today, robots are infiltrating our everyday lives, in the form of
complex toys, household appliances, and assistants in therapy,
eldercare and education. Billions of dollars are being spent every year
to turn machines into co-inhabitants, co-workers, assistants, carers,
and entertainers. Together with autonomous, self-driving cars and
Amazonâs delivery drones, robots promise to radically change our lives
in the very near future.
Looked at from this perspective, one
could view this ârobotic revolutionâ as simply a matter of investment
and technological advancement, in the service of societyâs needs. But
the next phase in the ongoing humanâmachine coevolution brings with it
an abundance of pressing questions to explore. Fast growing robotics
areas such as Social Robotics and HumanâRobot Interaction enlist the
expertise of researchers in psychology, biology, cognitive science and
social science to contribute their views to dilemmas such as how social
robots should look, or how they can interact ânaturallyâ with people. So
far the most popular response has been to make the social robot as
human-like as possible, neatly closing the loop on science fiction
imaginaries such as Asimovâs
Bicentennial Man. Yet, before
considering the pragmatics of form, function and behaviour, it is worth
asking whether we as a culture understand these fundamental questions
yet. And who asks the questions? Robots and humanârobot configurations
are historically and culturally constructed socio-material assemblages,
materially enacting provocative political, social and aesthetic
relations. Currently, our visions seem to be arrested along the boundary
of the humanâ machine binary; we are either invested in blurring this
boundary or reaffirming it.
The Creative Robotics issue of the
Fibreculture Journal deliberately
positions itself at the uneasy nexus out of which these sociomaterial
assemblages emerge, while subscribing to a fundamentally experimental,
embodied and performative approach. It addresses an emerging research
area that brings concepts and methods from experimental arts and
performance, and critical perspectives from social anthropology to the
interdisciplinary research of humanârobot interaction. The Creative
Robotics issue wants to manifest a sense of the scope and diversity of
questions and issues raised by present visions of humanârobot
configurations. At the same time, it wants to unhinge, open up and
expand these visions.
To produce this transdisciplinary discourse, this issue of the
Fibreculture Journal invites
contributions from a wide range of fields and practices, including
experimental arts; performance and dramaturgy; science, technology and
society; social anthropology; humanârobot interaction (HRI); robotics,
embodied cognitive science; and artificial intelligence/philosophy.
Contributions could explore:
â representation vs. ontology
â embodiment and performativity
â aesthetics and affect
â machines and performance
â thinking with the machine body
â cultural and historical practices
â differentiated entry points for humanâmachine configurations
â humanârobot kinesics and communication
â new practices in humanârobot interaction
To
shape the discursive landscape of this special issue our editorial
process aims for a meshwork of perspectives and a mix of theoretical and
experimental practices that explore sociomaterial relations and the
ways in which they are historically, culturally and technologically
constituted.
The Fibreculture Journal
(
http://fibreculturejournal.org/) is a peer reviewed international
journal, associated with Open Humanities Press
(
http://openhumanitiespress.org/), that explores critical and
speculative interventions in the debate and discussions concerning
information and communication technologies and their policy frameworks,
network cultures and their informational logic, new media forms and
their deployment, and the possibilities of sociotechnical invention and
sustainability.
--
"A traveller, who has lost his way, should not ask, Where am I? What he really wants to know is, Where are the other places" - Alfred North Whitehead
Andrew Murphie - Associate Professor
School of the Arts and Media,
University of New South Wales,
Sydney, Australia, 2052
Editor - The Fibreculture Journal
http://fibreculturejournal.org/>
web:
http://www.andrewmurphie.org/ tlf:612 93855548 fax:612 93856812
room 311H, Robert Webster Building