<nettime-ann> cfp: securing with algorithms: knowledge, decision, sovere

Call for submissions for a special issue of Security Dialogue on "Securing with algorithms: Knowledge, decision, sovereigntyâ.

In a world where the data traces or ÃÂÂlife patterns of human beings are thought to yield new forms of knowledge and novel ways of knowing future threats, the algorithm appears to afford a renewed capacity to secure. As Edward SnowdenÃÂÂs 2013 disclosure of the analysis of bulk data by the NSA and GCHQ revealed, the sifting, sorting and triage of vast streams of digital data has become possible because of algorithmic techniques such as knowledge discovery and the querying of distributed databases. As online data streams become read by text analytics that promise to discover incipient sentiment and human affects, algorithms exhibit a capacity for action beyond the threshold of human perceptibility. With advances in machine learning, neural computation and clustering ÃÂÂ identifying clusters or patterns that were not previously perceptible to human vision ÃÂÂ the actions of algorithms on humans, objects, and other algorithms pose new questions for how we think about the problem of security.

The special issue will explore the implications and effects of algorithm, broadly conceived, for the imagination and practice of security. What does it mean to secure with algorithms? Do algorithmic techniques of war, security and intelligence gathering extend what is thought to be calculable? Do algorithms deployed in autonomous systems compute beyond the threshold of human perceptibility and consciousness? Do digital forms of cognition radically transform human agency ÃÂÂ at the border, on the battlefield, at the screenic interface of the smart city? What are the implications of novel forms of machinic decisions and agency, as algorithms recursively act upon other algorithms and humans? What kind of ethics, justice or resistance can be opened up, beyond the ÃÂÂhumanÃÂÂ in human rights, and dwelling within human-algorithm relations?

We invite contributions from across the disciplines, and with particular interest in the insights on algorithm as a way of thinking about, ordering and visualizing security, from across the arts, computer science, social science and philosophy.

Deadline Abstracts submission (500 words) 11 May 2015. Please submit to: sd@prio.no In the event a full submission is invited, 15 September 2015 will be the deadline for submitting a complete draft. Please use our online submission platform Sagetrack and consult the Notes for Authors for guidelines on style and the submission process. All queries about the special issue should be directed to the managing editor at sd@prio.no.

The call is online at <http://raley.english.ucsb.edu/wp-content/CFP-Securing-with-Algorithms.pdf>.