Algorithmic Technology and Society
About their research
Algorithmic technologies and AI proliferate in multiple sectors and aspects of social life, prompting scholars from a multiplicity of disciplines to create interdisciplinary research spaces that bring together different perspectives and expertise on technological development. This working group gathers scholars working on the history of science and technology, philosophy of technology, political economy, environmental sciences, social theory, media studies, marketing, literary studies, geography and political theory.
The objective of this working group is to foster better shared and critically informed understandings of the social, cultural, political and economic implications of developments in algorithmic technology. We will explore key research questions interrogating the relations between algorithmic technologies and labor, lived temporalities, ecological transition, liberal arts education, gender, race and class power, critical theory, health and creative work. We feel the interconnectedness of issues related to technology in our current moment calls for multidisciplinary critical approaches and collective research, and this working group aims at providing a space for a collective approach of technology as a complex and multilayered socio-historical phenomenon.
Our activities are open to members of the Concordia community, as well as from other universities and the broader Montreal community interested in the societal impacts of algorithmic technologies.
Team
Organizer
Jonathan Martineau, Liberal Arts College, Concordia University
Coordinator
Martin Deron, PhD Candidate, INDI program, Concordia University
Key questions
- How are algorithmic technologies transforming labor and leisure?
- What are the impacts of AI on Liberal Arts education?
- How can critical theoretical perspectives help us understand the current development of algorithmic technologies and AI?
- How does AI and algorithmic technology participate in or reconfigure systems of power in society?
Group members
- Jonathan Martineau, Assistant Professor, Liberal Arts College, Concordia University
- Jarrett Carty, Full Professor, Liberal Arts College, Concordia University
- Ariela Freedman, Full Professor, Liberal Arts College, Concordia University
- Ivana Djordjevic, Associate Professor, Liberal Arts College, Concordia University
- Fenwick McKelvey, Associate Professor, Department of Communications Studies, Concordia University
- Beverley Best, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University
- Martin Danyluk, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Planning and Environment, Concordia University
- Jennifer Garard, Affiliate Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Planning and Environment, Concordia University
- Mathieu Lajante, Associate Professor and Interim Chair, Ted Rogers School of Management, Toronto Metropolitan University
- Denise Celentano, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Université de Montréal
- Myriam Lavoie-Moore, Assistant Professor, School of Communication Studies, Université Saint-Paul, Ottawa
- Ana Brandusescu, PhD Candidate, Department of Geography, McGill University
- Rabih Jamil, PhD Candidate, Department of Sociology, Université de Montréal
- Martin Deron, PhD Candidate, INDI program, Concordia University
- Giuliana da Cunha Facciolli, Graduate, Social and Political Thought, York University
- Daisy Moriyama, Graduate, Department of Philosophy, Concordia University
Activities
Fall 2024
Guest talks
Fenwick McKelvey (Concordia University) - Artificial Intelligence (AI) Governance in Canada
Jennifer Garard (Concordia University) - Sustainability in the Digital Age
Beverley Best (Concordia University) – Marx and Automation
Speakers have confirmed. Dates to be determined
Workshops on “AI technology and critical social theory”
Workshops consists in several sessions where participants share their ongoing work, and receive collective feedback. Confirmed workshops by : Mathieu Lajante, Toronto Metropolitan University, and Mirella Vadean, Université de l’Ontario français. Schedule TBD.
Winter 2025
Guest talks
Céline Castets-Renard (University of Ottawa) - Ethical considerations of surveillance technology
Christophe Abrassart (Université de Montréal) - AI and sustainability
Jonathan Durand Folco (Saint Paul University) – Algorithmic capitalism and democracy
Speakers have confirmed
Workshop on “The political economy of algorithmic technology”
Workshops consists in several sessions where participants share their ongoing work, and receive collective feedback. Schedule TBD.