Beyond Code and Craft
April 27-28, 2018
Beyond Code and Craftis an international conference dedicated to changing how we think about the relationship between codeand craft in the past and the present. Familiar accounts of that relationship portray a time-honored world of human prudence and judgment – the world of craft – that is in retreat before a new world of remorseless algorithmic logic – the world of code. But things are rarely, if ever, so clear-cut. Just as there are many forms of human craft that collaborate and compete in cultural and economic production, so there are many kinds of algorithms, and in practice the two domains have long depended on each other. This conference will seek out new distinctions and a new vocabulary with which to articulate this reality. Drawn from the past and present, our insights will help us make sense of the widening universe of algorithms in the future.
The University of Chicago
TheFranke Institute for the Humanities
1100 E. 57th Street
Sponsored by “Algorithms, Models, and Formalisms,” a Mellon Foundation Project at the Franke Institute for the Humanities
Please register if you would like lunch; send an email to
Persons with disabilities who need accommodation in order to participate in this event should contact 773.702.8274 in advance.
For more information, please call the Franke Institute for the Humanities at 773-702-8274.
FRIDAY, APRIL 27
9:00 – 9:30 a.m.
Introduction
Adrian Johns, Allan Grant Maclear Professor, History andConceptual & Historical Studies of Science, University of Chicago
James A. Evans, Professor, Sociology andConceptual & Historical Studies of Science, University of Chicago
9:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Session One: The Making of the Craft/Code Dichotomy: Historical Perspectives
Introducer: HaunSaussy, University Professor, Comparative Literature, University of Chicago
Matthew Jones, James R. Barker Professor, Contemporary Civilization, Columbia University
John Tresch, Chair in History of Art, Science and Folk Practice, Warburg Institute, London
Hallam Stevens, Associate Professor, History, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
11:30a.m – 12:00 p.m.
Break
12:00a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Session Two: Variation, Choice, and Prediction
Introducer:Karin Knorr Cetina, Otto Borchert Distinguished Service Professor, Sociology, University of Chicago
Scott E. Page, Leonid Hurwicz Collegiate Professor, Complex Systems, Political Science, and Economics, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Nick Seaver, Assistant Professor, Anthropology, Tufts University
1:30 – 2:30p.m.
Lunch
2:30 – 4:45 p.m.
Session Three: Political Dynamics
Introducer:Patrick Jagoda, Associate Professor, English and Co-Founder of the Game Changer Lab, University of Chicago
Alma Steingart, Lecturer,History of Science, Harvard University
Tyler Reigeluth, Postdoctoral Scholar, Université du Québec à Montréal
MikeAnanny, Assistant Professor, Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California
4:45 p.m.
Reception
- See next page for Saturday schedule
SATURDAY, APRIL 28
9:00 – 10:30 a.m.
Session Four: Data Cultures
Introducer: David Sepkoski, Senior Research Scholar, Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
Alex Csiszar, Associate Professor, History of Science, Harvard University
MichaelCastelle, Assistant Professor, Center for Interdisciplinary Methodologies, Warwick University
10:30 – 11:00a.m.
Break
11:00 – 12:30 p.m.
Session Five: Practices of Abstraction: Computing, Mathematics, and Knowledge
Introducer: Jillian Foley, Conceptual & Historical Studies of Science, University of Chicago
Michael J. Barany, Postdoctoral Fellow, Society of Fellows, Dartmouth College
Stephanie A. Dick, Assistant Professor, History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania
12:30–1:30p.m.
Lunch
1:30 – 2:30 p.m.
Session Six: Diverse Algorithms in Practice
Introducer: James A. Evans,Professor, Sociology and Conceptual & Historical Studies of Science, University of Chicago
Jason Salavon, Associate Professor, Visual Arts, University of Chicago
Luis Bettencourt, Director, Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation & Professor of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago.
Others to be announced
2:30 – 3:45p.m
Roundtable Discussion: The Diversity of Algorithms