[ecrea] Hackademia Summer School

15. November 2015
Call For Participants

Hackademia: empirical studies in computing cultures

A Digital Cultures Research Lab (DCRL) Summer School

August 28th – September 2nd, 2016

Leuphana University


Curated by

Paula Bialski, Leuphana University

Gabriella Coleman, McGill University

Marcell Mars, Leuphana University


Background

Studying digital media today means studying those
technologists—hackers, security resarchers, game developers, system
administrators, and designers—who create and maintain the digital
worlds we live in. How much agency lies in the hands of programmers,
coders, and engineers to create our digital worlds is still up for
debate, yet this much is true: various hacking and related subcultures
form critical nodes of practice that help shape and condition the
contemporary technologies we use everyday. Whether it is an analyst or
coder implementing algorithms at a large financial institution, a
group of designers working on improving the user interface for a
cryptographic tool, a privacy team securing a browser, a developer
coding her own app, cryptographers working on an open source anoymized
system, a programmer working on a p2p file-sharing platform, hackers
buying and selling zero days in a grey market, a team of system
administrators at Google working to scale up services, a
journalist-coder developing visualization tools, indie game developers
seeking to write a politically minded game, or a hacker-leaker
whistleblowing to salavage privacy - all have something to say about
how digital technology can and should be created.

These technology workers/experts are now central to every field of
social, political, and economic import. They secure our communications
networks; shape the design and portals we use to connect to our banks,
our friends, our loved ones, our colleagues, our business partners;
inform us about the activities of our governments; design novel
currencies; exfiltrate intellectual property and proof of wrongdoing
from corporate actors; offer us alternative ways of organizing our
political voices whether through political projects or games; function
as conduits and warriors between nations; and allow us to confront the
laws we don’t like – through democratic engagements, as in the Free
Software movement, or tools that enable outright circumvention.

This is an ideal time to understand and ultimately appraise their
activities, actions, their desires, and intentions. While an
increasing number of scholars – ethnographers, cultural
anthropologists, sociologists, and media historians – are undertaking
the study of hacker cultures, there are many methodological questions
to pose and explore: How much technical knowledge is necessary to
study the worlds of computing and programming?  How does one gain
access to secret nooks of hacking or corporate sites – whether a
security company, gaming outfit, or blackhat computer forum – where
codes, designers, and hackers labor? How is the study of hackers
similar and different to the study of other experts such as
scientists? As participant observers, how can we fully understand the
engineering culture of the hackers we are studying, and what shortcuts
in our methods must be taken in order to create an understanding?

Who Should Apply?

This summer school invites doctoral students in the field of
ethnography, cultural anthropology, media studies, software studies,
sociology, science, technology studies, history, or other, who are
currently working on a dissertation on the life-worlds, practices,
cultures, or platforms of hackers. Hackers here are understood broadly
as programmers, coders, pirates, and computer engineers of all shapes
and forms – and do not necessarily have to be engaged in illegal or
subversive activity or self identify as hackers. Applicants who are
struggling with field entry, are learning to code, or seek to expand
their methods, are particularly welcome.

Who Will Attend?

This summer school will provide a dialogue between hackers and
academics. As such, we will additionally invite a number of hackers,
coders, programmers, and technologists. These guests will lead
sessions around the topic of field entrance, knowledge transfer, work
organization and hacker communication practices, feminist critiques,
and standards/protocols. Keynote speakers will also provide evening
lectures, and help lead sessions.

Where and when will this take place?

The Hackademia summer school will take place at the Digital Cultures
Research Lab (DCRL), Leuphana University in Luneburg, Germany (30
minutes away from Hamburg), between August 28th – September 2nd, 2016.

How to apply:

Please submit your CV along with a 500-word abstract of your
dissertation, and a 500-word explanation on why you would like to
attend this summer school. The deadline for applications for the
summer school is January 4th, 2016. Please email your applications
(compile into one PDF) to (bialski /at/ leuphana.de)
<mailto:(bialski /at/ leuphana.de)>
All applicants will be informed about the selection of participants in
mid-February.

The working language of the summer school will be English; therefore,
a sufficient understanding of English is expected.

There is no participation fee. The organizers will cover accommodation
costs. We have a limited amount of need-based travel funding
available. Please indicate in your application letter if you wish to
apply for travel funding.

For further information on the DCRL, please visit:
http://cdc.leuphana.com/structure/digital-cultures-research-lab/project/research
<http://cdc.leuphana.com/structure/digital-cultures-research-lab/project/research>

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