Preconference Workshops for #AoIR2020
AoIR routinely hosts several preconference workshops before the main conference. Attendees must register for #AoIR2020 to attend a preconference. All workshops will be held prior to the official start of #AoIR2020. Descriptions of each are below.
Early Careers Scholars Workshop
The Future of Agency in the Algorithmic Age
Doctoral Colloquium
The AoIR Doctoral Colloquium is a preconference workshop that traditionally devotes a full day to bringing doctoral students together with mentors for intensive discussions about doctoral projects and about academic and alt-academic professions. This year, 78 doctoral students were assigned mentors, and mentees and mentors are meeting during the month leading up to the conference to discuss their research. At the conference, doctoral students are invited to participate in the Themed and Moderated Discussions, when they will be able to place their research in dialogue with that of others. Doctoral students are also taking a role in the Social Hours that follow the discussions, where several are joining Doctoral Colloquium organizers Kishonna Gray, Chris Persaud and Shawn Walker at the Grogan Pub (details forthcoming). Contact CPersaud@usc.edu for more information.
Enrollment deadline for the Doctoral Colloquium is passed.
All DC events have been scheduled with participants.
Early Careers Scholars Workshop
This three-hour workshop brings early career scholars together to address unique issues they face, develop strategies to achieve career goals, and foster a professional network. We define early career scholars as people who have finished the requirements for their terminal degree but have not advanced to the next level in their field or industry. This workshop fosters community among emerging scholars and bridges the divide between junior and senior scholars.The issues we will cover depend greatly on the participants.
AoIR is an international and diverse organization, and we know that our experiences as scholars and educators vary by country, institution type, and field and are framed by our own identities (race, gender, etc.). Our goal is to discuss shared challenges and opportunities while understanding differences so that we can build our own professional networks at the same time that we create a diverse and inclusive community of scholars who will eventually become future career mentors within AoIR.
The workshop consists of three sessions, including small-group discussions for workshop participants, interactions with a panel of senior scholars, and smaller topical breakout sessions involving both early-career and senior scholars. We ask that participants prepare some questions before the workshop to get the discussion going. All workshop sessions will remain confidential and will not be recorded or tweeted
When: Friday, 23 October 2020 12:00-15:00 UTC
Confirm YOUR time zone with UTC here: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/timezone/utc
How: Zoom link will be available to ECR Registrants.
The Future of Agency in the Algorithmic Age
Algorithms play an increasing role determining our information and capacity for action. Further, the increasing use of automated decision-making raises important ethical and philosophical questions on the future of agency, as it is difficult to ascribe agency and thereby responsibility. If our independent agency, also known as the free will, is severely limited, it bears important and far-reaching consequences for liberal democracy as we know it.
In this pre-conference, we invite participants to explore and discuss such issues. To initiate and facilitate the discussions, a range of scholars with different backgrounds and interests, but all interested and engaged in the topic, will provide igniting talks discussing aspects of algorithmic agency. The first four talks sketch the problems from political, democratic, semantic and ethical perspectives. The last three talks sketch possible solutions.
When: Monday, 26 October, 17:00-20:00 UTC
Confirm YOUR time zone with UTC here: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/timezone/utc
How: Zoom link will be available closer to event.
Mode: In the first half of the pre-conference the organizers will give igniting talks (app. 10 minutes each followed by questions and comments from the audience). In the second half, we will invite participants, in plenum and in groups to work with philosophical, ethical and practical questions and topics related to algorithmic agency, based on the igniting talks and their own ideas.
Value-driven Next Generation Internet: A future Internet in support of people’s lives and global sustainability
Live event with lightning talks and moderated group discussions by world-leading experts (Nancy Baym, Steve Jones, Andra Siibak, Michael Zimmer and Katrin Tiidenberg). The aim of the workshop is to bring new insights into how to support a more human-centric evolution of the internet. This is a continuation of a successful pre-conference workshop at AoIR2019 with the aim of feeding AoIR-insights into the European Commission’s ambitious Next Generation Internet initiative (https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/next-generation-internet-initiative)
When: Monday 26 October, 13.00-16.00 UTC / 14.00 – 17.00 Dublin
Confirm YOUR time zone with UTC here: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/timezone/utc
How: Zoom link will be available closer to event.
Mode: Lightning talks and live discussion. The session will be recorded and the insights will be translated into a report for the European Commission, keeping full anonymity of the participants.
If you have any questions about the workshop, please contact Mathias Holm Sørensen via email matho@cc.au.dk
