Algorithm & the Web (Part 1)

"From Indymedia to Instagram: On Dialectics of Culture and Technology"

1 of 3 in short course: ALGORITHM & THE WEB: An Anthropology of Social Movements for the 21st Century, by Erica Lagalisse

Algorithm & the Web is a three part series exploring the relationship of culture and technology since 2000. The course studies how activists have used the Internet over time, and analyzes how we shift between the algorithm vs. network as mental models. We see how thinking with geometry creates real world effects, influencing social movement debates around class vs. identity, spectrums and binaries, intersectionality, and technology itself.

Algorithm & the Web teaches an anthropology of social movements in the twilight of the 20 th century, inviting

intergenerational exchange during an era when technology changes faster than most can adapt. Long live the library.

Part 1: From Indymedia to Instagram: On Dialectics of Culture and Technology

We begin with a story—an ethnography of Mexican activism in Montreal, Canada during the heyday of the digital commons, when activists used email list-serves, the Zapatistas claimed identity was about to dissolve, and for a moment everything on the Internet was free. A decade later, the left was "cancelling" itself and renting music: What happened?

This narrative moves around North America and through the #hashtag revolutions to today, to offer an apology, a challenge, and a novel take on growing divisions in identities everywhere. In the process we consider how cancelling events became "cancelling" a person.

Doors open at 18:30h (for book table, installation) Mix of Lecture & Discussion 19h-21h (+/- 30min) Break & Open Discussion (≈ 21h-22h) No photography, audio or video recording allowed. Food & drink welcome (please be discreet).

This is a course developed to be attended in order. Drop in participation in both lectures and discussions is welcome, yet please work to honour the cumulative discussion of repeat attendees.

Supported by Scrappy Capy Distro, and funded in part by the Canada Council of the Arts.