Osiris, Volume 38: Volume 38
Beyond Craft and Code: Human and Algorithmic Cultures, Past and Present
Will be published approx. on 31. July 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
312 pages
978-0-226-82787-2 (ISBN)
Description
Perceptively explores the shifting intersections between algorithmic systems and human practices in the modern era.
How have algorithmic systems and human practices developed in tandem since 1800? This volume of Osiris deftly addresses the question, dispelling along the way the traditional notion of algorithmic "code" and human "craft" as natural opposites. Instead, algorithms and humans have always acted in concert, depending on each other to advance new knowledge and produce social consequences. By shining light on alternative computational imaginaries, Beyond Craft and Code opens fresh space in which to understand algorithmic diversity, its governance, and even its conservation.
The volume contains essays by experts in fields extending from early modern arithmetic to contemporary robotics. Traversing a range of cases and arguments that connect politics, historical epistemology, aesthetics, and artificial intelligence, the contributors collectively propose a novel vocabulary of concepts with which to think about how the history of science can contribute to understanding today's world. Ultimately, Beyond Craft and Code reconfigures the historiography of science and technology to suggest a new way to approach the questions posed by an algorithmic culture-not only improving our understanding of algorithmic pasts and futures but also unlocking our ability to better govern our present.
How have algorithmic systems and human practices developed in tandem since 1800? This volume of Osiris deftly addresses the question, dispelling along the way the traditional notion of algorithmic "code" and human "craft" as natural opposites. Instead, algorithms and humans have always acted in concert, depending on each other to advance new knowledge and produce social consequences. By shining light on alternative computational imaginaries, Beyond Craft and Code opens fresh space in which to understand algorithmic diversity, its governance, and even its conservation.
The volume contains essays by experts in fields extending from early modern arithmetic to contemporary robotics. Traversing a range of cases and arguments that connect politics, historical epistemology, aesthetics, and artificial intelligence, the contributors collectively propose a novel vocabulary of concepts with which to think about how the history of science can contribute to understanding today's world. Ultimately, Beyond Craft and Code reconfigures the historiography of science and technology to suggest a new way to approach the questions posed by an algorithmic culture-not only improving our understanding of algorithmic pasts and futures but also unlocking our ability to better govern our present.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Chicago
United States
Publishing group
The University of Chicago Press
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 254 mm
Width: 171 mm
Thickness: 33 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-226-82787-2 (9780226827872)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
James Evans is the Max Palevsky Professor of History and Civilization in Sociology and director of Knowledge Lab at the University of Chicago, where he also serves as faculty director of the program in computational social science. He holds an external professorship at the Santa Fe Institute and is the author of numerous articles in Science, Nature, and PNAS. ?Adrian Johns is the Allan Grant Maclear Professor of History at the University of Chicago. His many books include The Nature of the Book: Print and Knowledge in the Making, Piracy: The Intellectual Property Wars from Gutenberg to Gates, and, most recently, The Science of Reading: Information, Media, and Mind in Modern America, all three also published by the University of Chicago Press.
Content
Introduction: How and Why to Historicize Algorithmic Cultures
James Evans andAdrian Johns
pp. 1-15
MACHINATIONS: CRAFT, CODE, AND BEYOND
The Craft and Code Binary: Before, During, and After
James Evans,Tyler Reigeluth, andAdrian Johns
pp. 19-39
On Remediation: Media, Repair, and the Discipline of Fantasy in the Theory and Practice of Algorithmic Modernity
Michael J. Barany
pp. 40-57
MAKING AND BREAKING RULES: PREDICTION, DISCOVERY, AND ORIGINALITY
The Marxist in the Machine
Stephanie Dick
pp. 61-81
The Art and Craft of Mathematical Expression: Computational Origami and the Politics of Creativity
Clare S. Kim
pp. 82-102
Provincializing Impact: From Imperial Anxiety to Algorithmic Universalism
Alex Csiszar
pp. 103-126
RECKONING WITH REALITY: PROBLEMS OF DESIGN AND CONTROL
Between "Magnificent Machine" and "Elusive Device": Wassily Leontief's Input-Output Analysis and Its International Applicability
Honghong Tinn
pp. 129-146
Armed Algorithms: Hacking the Real World in Cold War America
Salem Elzway
pp. 147-164
"There's No Data Like More Data": Automatic Speech Recognition and the Making of Algorithmic Culture
Xiaochang Li
pp. 165-182
UNRULY ASSEMBLAGES: RECURSIVE WORK AND ALGORITHMIC TENACITY
Users Gone Astray: Spreadsheet Charts, Junky Graphics, and Statistical Knowledge
Matthew L. Jones
pp. 185-204
Statecraft by Algorithms
Alma Steingart
pp. 205-222
Making Mistakes: Constructing Algorithmic Errors to Understand Sociotechnical Power
Mike Ananny
pp. 223-241
CULTURE ENCODED: VISIONS OF ALGORITHMIC PASTS, PRESENTS, AND FUTURES
Code and Critique: Ted Nelson's Project Xanadu and the Politics of New Media
Hallam Stevens
pp. 245-264
Settler Computing: Water Algorithms and the Equitable Apportionment Doctrine on the Colorado River, 1950-1990
Theodora Dryer
pp. 265-285
Algorithm's Cradle: Commemorating al-Khwarizmi in the Soviet History of Mathematics and Cold War Computer Science
Ksenia Tatarchenko
pp. 286-304
Afterword: Mashed between Code and Craft: So Many Pictures of Food
John Tresch
pp. 305-320
Notes on the Contributors
pp. 321-322
Index
pp. 323-328
James Evans andAdrian Johns
pp. 1-15
MACHINATIONS: CRAFT, CODE, AND BEYOND
The Craft and Code Binary: Before, During, and After
James Evans,Tyler Reigeluth, andAdrian Johns
pp. 19-39
On Remediation: Media, Repair, and the Discipline of Fantasy in the Theory and Practice of Algorithmic Modernity
Michael J. Barany
pp. 40-57
MAKING AND BREAKING RULES: PREDICTION, DISCOVERY, AND ORIGINALITY
The Marxist in the Machine
Stephanie Dick
pp. 61-81
The Art and Craft of Mathematical Expression: Computational Origami and the Politics of Creativity
Clare S. Kim
pp. 82-102
Provincializing Impact: From Imperial Anxiety to Algorithmic Universalism
Alex Csiszar
pp. 103-126
RECKONING WITH REALITY: PROBLEMS OF DESIGN AND CONTROL
Between "Magnificent Machine" and "Elusive Device": Wassily Leontief's Input-Output Analysis and Its International Applicability
Honghong Tinn
pp. 129-146
Armed Algorithms: Hacking the Real World in Cold War America
Salem Elzway
pp. 147-164
"There's No Data Like More Data": Automatic Speech Recognition and the Making of Algorithmic Culture
Xiaochang Li
pp. 165-182
UNRULY ASSEMBLAGES: RECURSIVE WORK AND ALGORITHMIC TENACITY
Users Gone Astray: Spreadsheet Charts, Junky Graphics, and Statistical Knowledge
Matthew L. Jones
pp. 185-204
Statecraft by Algorithms
Alma Steingart
pp. 205-222
Making Mistakes: Constructing Algorithmic Errors to Understand Sociotechnical Power
Mike Ananny
pp. 223-241
CULTURE ENCODED: VISIONS OF ALGORITHMIC PASTS, PRESENTS, AND FUTURES
Code and Critique: Ted Nelson's Project Xanadu and the Politics of New Media
Hallam Stevens
pp. 245-264
Settler Computing: Water Algorithms and the Equitable Apportionment Doctrine on the Colorado River, 1950-1990
Theodora Dryer
pp. 265-285
Algorithm's Cradle: Commemorating al-Khwarizmi in the Soviet History of Mathematics and Cold War Computer Science
Ksenia Tatarchenko
pp. 286-304
Afterword: Mashed between Code and Craft: So Many Pictures of Food
John Tresch
pp. 305-320
Notes on the Contributors
pp. 321-322
Index
pp. 323-328