GenZ Special Guest lecture: Dr Robin Smith, Cardiff University

Welcome to an open seminar to hear a lecture by the GenZ visiting scholar Dr Robin Smith from Cardiff University. Please register by March 31 here.

When: April 4, 2023, 10-11 am

Where: University of Oulu, Tellus Stage and Zoom

Title of the lecture: Membership, participation, and the interactional accommodation of technology in 'digital society'

Abstract: This talk is concerned with the reflexive accomplishment of social order in a range of activities involving digital technologies of different sorts and in different contexts. The focus of the talk is exploring and describing some of the ways in which technologies are, in the words of Harvey Sacks (1995), 'made at home in the world' in and through members' existing methods. At the same time, I consider the ways in which members' methods are adapted in and through the technological orders of accountability. I am, in keeping with my previous work, specifically interested in how this reflexive organisation is achieved and made available in and through dynamic relational configurations of category, action, and setting. Drawing on insights from Harold Garfinkel and Harvey Sacks (and to a lesser extent, Ludwig Wittgenstein), I discuss a range of cases including Chatgpt, 'self-driving' vehicles, and interaction in VR environments. In conclusion I suggest that the future co-evolution of human methods and digital technologies can be traced in relation to very human interactional membership practices of participation and accommodation.

In the Special Guest seminars, visiting researchers of the University of Oulu get to present their current studies to a multi- and interdisciplinary audience and engage in interesting discussions with questions from the audience. The Special Guest seminars are open for everyone and aim to promote future collaboration with our guest researchers.