In the last week of January, the PLATFORM WARS project is organizing a three-day workshop at the University of Antwerp under the title 'Platforms on the Frontline'. The goal is to provide room for exchange on how to better grasp and understand the various ways in which digital platforms, and the corporations building them, shape strategies, practices, and dynamics on today’s battlefields.
The workshop aims to facilitate interdisciplinary dialogue between participants, stimulate renewed conceptual thinking, and provide an opportunity to learn from each other’s methodological approaches. To this end, we have invited a variety of exciting speakers and scholars who work at the intersection of security and technology and whose work addresses one of the four structuring themes of PLATFORM WARS: data violence, platforms, markets, and regulation. These paper presentations will be complemented by keynotes of Anne Helmond (Utrecht University) on ‘The Platformisation and Industrialisation of Artificial Intelligence’, Koray Çalışkan (The New School) on ‘Stacked Economization: A Research Programme forthe Study of Platforms’, and Jutta Weber (University of Paderborn) on 'Targeting As Tinkering: Abductive Reasoning, Big Tech Data and Algorithmic Warfare'.
For a more detailed description of the workshop’s rationale, a preliminary schedule, and practical information on formats and location, click here: Programme 'Platforms on the Fronline' - Proton Docs
If you are interested in attending theworkshop, please send an e-mail to laszlo.steinwaerder@uantwerpen.be.