Technoculture

Science is foremost a human activity. The celebration of "heroes" like Einstein and Marie Curie gives the false impression that scientific discoveries are done by isolated individuals. Brigitte van Tiggelen explains why science is a process in which every person counts. We need narratives about science, but we need to be careful what implications they have. Another brilliant conversation with this historian of science, also my guest on episode #7. 

More info at: www.technoculture-podcast.com

Maximilian Schich's research work combines hermeneutics, information visualization, computer science, and physics to understand art, history, and culture. Sounds complex? Hear him explain the ideas behind the achievement of a "systematic science of art and culture," and watch his amazing video featured on Nature. You will go "Wow!" 

More info at: www.technoculture-podcast.com

Aleš Vaupotič is a literary comparatist and a curator. His work is in the Digital Humanities and is concerned with the building, managing, and studying digital collections of cultural data. Aleš is also a creative artist with a fascination for today's technology, and he experiments with data visualization techniques as well as electronic microscopy. 

More info at: www.technoculture-podcast.com

Ubiquitous Music is a new area of research that encompasses ubiquitous computing, mobile and networked music, eco-composition and cooperative composition. Victor Lazzarini and Damián Keller are two of the fathers of this new movement, which has not only artistic and technological applications, but social implications, and educational ambitions. 

More info at: www.technoculture-podcast.com

Cybersecurity is fascinating and scary at the same time. Right? Patrick Wheeler, expert in cybersecurity and technology, explains how cybersecurity is not only a concern of banks and hackers, but of every citizen like you and I. We have to be aware of the risks without getting paranoid, and we can exercise due diligence without being nerds. Cybersecurity is about data protection on social media and cyberwars, but especially about social awareness. 

More info at: www.technoculture-podcast.com

Did you know that your writing style can give away your identity? Mike Kestemont is an expert in authorship attribution, a field of study that applies artificial intelligence algorithms to linguistics and text analysis. A self-declared enthusiast of the Deep Learning movement, Mike explains very complex concepts very easily. Worth a listen! I've learnt a lot. Including about a shocking spinoff of the Harry Potter novels...

Giovanna Fossati is Chief Curator at the Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam and Professor of Film Heritage and Digital Film Culture at the University of Amsterdam. I asked her about film preservation and restoration: how it is done, how much of the process is digital, what are the main challenges. On the Youtube channel of Eye, you can see some detailed demonstrations of the process.

Margaret Schedel is Associate Professor of Music at Stony Brook University in NY, and a creative force of nature. I've recently nominated her my Woman Hero in MusicTech and when I grow up I want to be like her! Meet a brilliant mind and let her lead you into her synaesthetic world of sounds.

Everything has its consequences, including digitality. But what are they? Are they positive or negative? Robin Boast is Professor of Cultural Information Science at the University of Amsterdam, and author of the book "The Machine in the Ghost: Digitality and its Consequences". He certainly has something to say about our society, media, and their history.

As both a popular mass medium and a platform for underrepresented voice, podcasts have cultural significance and scholarly value. But will they endure? Mary Kidd works at the New York Public Library and is involved in "Preserve This Podcast!", a grant-funded project that will help podcasters make sure their work doesn’t disappear.