Networked Silences: Algorithms & meaning-making in times of climate change

Welcome to a symposium and workshop dedicated to understanding the networked silences created by algorithmic platforms. Social media, search engines, and recommender systems contribute not only to making things known, but also to obscuring them, to situating sustainable practices outside cultural norms, and to creating ignorance and doubt about legitimate environmental concerns.
  

As part of collective meaning-making on environmental issues and the climate crisis, such networked silences have real implications for knowledge and action in everyday life, society and politics, and for the possibilities for meaningful environmental change.  Underlying this is the realisation that algorithms are historically and culturally contingent and inevitably favour certain perspectives over others. This has implications for which environmental issues receive more or less attention, including in public debate. It is therefore of great importance to initiate a conversation on the social and technical mechanisms that enable and sustain those silences.

The symposium is held at the Uppsala Art Museum (October 6) and includes presentations, structured networking, a moderated panel discussion, and opportunities to exchange ideas over refreshments. The following day (October 7), an academic workshop takes place at SLU Uppsala to discuss ongoing and emerging research. Registration is free and can be for one or both half-days.