The rapid and relentless production
of new technologies has outstripped
our ability to carefully consider their social, ethical,
psychological, and physical implications. This race between high-tech
manufacturing and our understanding of its social and personal impacts
has been observed by many researchers in the Arts and Social Sciences
over the last fifty years. But their efforts, which range from curmudgeonly
skepticism to technophilic rhetoric,
have had very little impact on the ways in which technologies are designed
and implemented. The primary reason for this inefficacy is that the
critical assessment of new media
in the Arts and Social Sciences is often presented in forms (i.e., printed
academic articles in specialized journals) that are incongruent with
new media culture.
By contrast,
the Critical Media Lab (CrimeLab) supports interdisciplinary research-creation projects that draw on new media to investigate the impact of information technology on the human condition.
This approach, which will challenge the boundaries between art and science, research and artistic practice, will result in the invention of new technologies and media artifacts, dialogue facilitation across disciplines and communities, and policy formation that directly impacts technological design and implementation.
By contrast,
the Critical Media Lab (CrimeLab) supports interdisciplinary research-creation projects that draw on new media to investigate the impact of information technology on the human condition.
This approach, which will challenge the boundaries between art and science, research and artistic practice, will result in the invention of new technologies and media artifacts, dialogue facilitation across disciplines and communities, and policy formation that directly impacts technological design and implementation.
