[Air-L] EASST-4S 2024 CfP - panel '(Re)Making AI through STS'

[Stefania Milan]

Dear colleagues
we would like to draw your attention to an exciting call for abstracts 
for the panel '(Re)Making AI through STS' at the forthcoming EASST-4S 
2024 conference in Amsterdam (16-19 July 2024). For additional 
information about the conference, please follow this link [1]. The 
deadline for submissions is February 12, 2024.
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions. We hope to see you in 
Amsterdam!
Best regards
Stefania Milan (with Francesco Miele and Simone Arnaldi, University of 
Trieste)
[1] https://www.easst4s2024.net


PANEL '(Re)Making AI through STS.'
Convenors: Francesco Miele (University of Trieste), Stefania Milan 
(University of Amsterdam), Simone Arnaldi (University of Trieste).
 >> how to submit [2]

Short Abstract:
How can STS contribute to (re)make the transformations brought about by 
the advance of AI in society? We welcome empirical, theoretical and 
methodological contributions helpful for providing non-deterministic, 
anti-heroic and ‘flat’ narratives about AI and ongoing societal changes.

Long Abstract:
The recent renaissance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its growing 
relevance in public debate have fueled never died hopes and fears about 
the disruptive role of innovative machines in our societies. Whether 
social scientists have often partaken in the deconstruction of seductive 
myths concerning AI and its miraculous role in tackling pivotal issues 
of modern societies, this open panel aims to examine how STS can 
contribute to govern the transformations emerging around AI 
technologies. First, we encourage STS researchers to explore the advance 
of AI in high-stake areas - including education, employment, credit 
scoring, entertainment, environment preservation, cultural consumption 
and healthcare – providing accounts that move away from the dystopian 
and utopian narratives very common in popular science as well as in 
certain academia. Where enthusiastic and critical positions about AI 
have been often sustained by technological or social determinism, in 
contrast we welcome theoretical and empirical contributions that adopt a 
‘flat’ ontology that put all forms agency on a par, without taking for 
granted that power asymmetries and transformative capabilities belong to 
specific human and non-human actors. Second, we invite scholars to 
reflect on the methodological ability of STS to give voice to the 
voiceless, supporting the theoretical and empirical efforts of proposing 
anti-heroic and non-deterministic narratives about AI. We believe that 
this can happen developing methods and techniques that, one the one 
hand, explore the power of acting of actors generally excluded by the 
grand narratives about AI and, on the other hand, involve these actors 
in the enactment and the evaluation of AI technologies. Possible topics 
include but are not limited to:
• Deconstruction of seductive myths
• Appropriation and resistance practices from below
• Distributed agency
• AI and vulnerable populations
• Non-human world(s)
• Failures and pitfalls of AI
• Power asymmetries and re-negotiations
• Digital and computational methods
• Post-qualitative research
• Participatory methods

[2] https://www.easst4s2024.net/callforabstracts/