CONFERENCE-EXPERIENCE-EXHIBITION

University of Oregon in Portland • April 6-8, 2017 • whatis.uoregon.edu

On Saturday, April 8, 2:45-4:00pm I’ll be chairing a session on Cyborgs.

Chair: Amber Case, Fellow, Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University/Visiting Researcher, MIT Center for Civic Media.

  • Caroline Alphin, ASPECT-Alliance for Social, Political, Ethical and Cultural Thought, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
    “Cyborg Neoliberalism: Practicing Neoliberal Subjectivity through the Fitness Tracker”
  • Justin Barnard, English, State University of New York (SUNY) at Fredonia
    “Ex Humana: How Technology is Changing What it Means to be Human”
  • Patrick Dunham, Comparative Literature, University of Oregon
    “The Eradication of Reality in the Age of the Simulation”
  • Lucy Benjamin, Media Studies/Film Studies, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
    “Loving Life: Romantic Encounters of the Modern Cyborg”

About
The 7th annual What is…conference will take place April 6-8 at the White Stag complex in Portland. The conference engages communication, media, and nature by examining everyday life—our lifestyles and lifeworks—emphasizing the environments we live in. The event emphasizes how communication is instrumental in and for living systems. What is life and how is life mediated? It builds on last year’s conference-experience, What is Media? (2016), expanding a transdisciplinary notion of medium/media with special attention to its material, historical, and ecological ramifications.

The event marks the second collaboration with scholars from the natural sciences (physical and life sciences) and the arts. Panels and roundtables will present a wide range of topics including but not limited to: media literacies, complexity, ethics, ecocriticism, data, food, health, economics, rights/privacy, audiences, platforms and living technologies.

The conference-experience will continue the focus on an integrated view of communication for the 21st century, and plant the seeds for deeper investigations into complexity in systems, environmental and ecological approaches. In acknowledging art/science, technology, and environments/nature, communication is at an emergent crossroads.

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