The Techno-Anthroplogy Lab at Aalborg University Copenhagen<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Fragile computing:<\/span><\/p>\n Directions for developing post-optimistic technologies<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n One easily identifies both optimistic and pessimistic stories of digital technologies in science, policy and public: Some say, technologies aid development, help monitor climate change, are agents of optimisation and efficiency and therefore inevitable to prevent more harm to the planet. Others content, technologies enforce Northern ideals of progress, they are heating and energy eating machines, and humankinds\u2019 reliance on them has rendered us suspectable to various cyber attacks.\u00a0<\/p>\n In this talk, I attempt to develop post-optimistic, yet not pessimistic, directions for developing digital technologies. Drawing on STS and Environmental Anthropology, I argue that engineers and social scientist can find inspiration in frugal yet not heroic technological practices. Digital technologies are neither omnipotent dangers, nor are they cosy companions; they decay, require attention, are patched, insecure, well-known, bite back, are uneasy and remain broken.<\/p>\n I present two empirical examples: cybersecurity practices in small- and medium-sized companies in Denmark and fibre optic data cable repair on the lithic seabed of the Faroe Islands. The first example unfolds how companies with limited resources and aging technologies handle perpetual attacks and anxiety in one of the most digital countries of the world. The second example engages with digital infrastructures as contested materiality in the North Atlantic, both an object of security and climatic conditions.<\/p>\n Fragile Computing <\/em>attends to the pain points of digital technologies: encountering dilemmas between security and sustainability, robustness and fluidity, planning ahead and perishing. The outcome is neither na\u00efve hope, nor depression; it is neither praising the local heroes, nor shaming incompliance. The outcome are complicated normativities and theories, fragile in themselves, responsive to more than one way of creating digital technologies. STS is the place to start this development of post-optimistic, yet not hopeless, digital technologies.<\/p>\n \nLaura Kocksch is Assistant Professor in the Techno-Anthropology Lab of Aalborg University in Copenhagen. She is author of \u201cFragile Computing \u2013 How To Live With Insecure Technologies\u201d<\/a>, an ethnographic study of cybersecurity in critical infrastructures. Her current work focuses on digital infrastructure in the warming North Atlantic (Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands) and cybersecurity in small companies and communities.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The seminar will be held by videoconference. Participation is upon registration<\/a> only.<\/p>\n Learn more about the seminar\u2019s objectives and program<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Photo source\u00a0: Laura Kocksch<\/a>, Aalborg University Copenhagen.<\/span> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Laura Kocksch will present her work on “Fragile computing: Directions for developing post-optimistic technologies”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":19467,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tribe_events_status":"","_tribe_events_status_reason":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"tribe_events_cat":[160],"class_list":["post-19572","tribe_events","type-tribe_events","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tribe_events_cat-seminaires-en","cat_seminaires-en","entry","has-media"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i3-cnrs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/19572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/i3-cnrs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/i3-cnrs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/tribe_events"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i3-cnrs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/i3-cnrs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/19572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i3-cnrs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i3-cnrs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i3-cnrs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19572"},{"taxonomy":"tribe_events_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i3-cnrs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events_cat?post=19572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i3.cnrs.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Seminaire_Politiques-environnementales-du-numerique_16-jan-2025_Laura-Kocksch-.jpg\")
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\nBigOakFlickr (2015). \u201cComputer Keyboard<\/a>\u201d. CC BY-SA 2.0<\/span><\/p>\n