Abstract:
This talk investigates notions of ownership, infrastructural access and control, and begins by exploring the impact of intellectual property restrictions on medical equipment, encountered during the speaker's time in a clinical neuroscience lab, leading to a transition to a tech policy lab focussing on creative experimentation with shared spectrum, grey market technologies and telecom policy. The talk uses examples of creative technology and media art prototypes developed during this period, that explore the potential of white space spectrum, weather data interfaces, and open hardware, exposing the often-unseen, community-driven efforts behind seemingly commoditized data and communication technologies. Finally, the talk examines the ethics of design in machine listening technologies designed for assistive hearing that was driven by an oralist bias and emphasis on speech recognition and speech sounds above all other encountered sounds. By examining the history of cross-purpose innovation in this field, it raises questions about stakeholder ship, and the limitations imposed by intellectual property laws that restrict customization and future advancements in this field. This talk will resonate with those interested in design of interactive media for emerging technologies and the complex relationship between technology, policy, and social justice.
Bio:
Dr. Sharath Chandra Ramakrishnan is Assistant Professor at the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign. His research spans the fields of human-machine interaction design in virtual environments, cognitive psychology, auditory cognition, sound studies and the media arts, bridging his previous professional experience in clinical neuroscience, interaction design and technology policy. His current trajectory involves efforts that extend to more than a decade of being involved in community media networks, grassroot technology activism and communications technology design. This included setting up a technology policy and community lab at the Center for Internet and Society, Bangalore, India and involvement in several networks in South Asia and South America (CPR SOUTH (IDRC), Bricolabs, HONF Foundation in Indonesia, Plato Hedro in Colombia, to name a few). As a licensed amateur radio broadcaster, he continues to extend his creative technology and media arts practice as a ‘transmission artist’ in various international curations and forums, to engage the public while addressing contexts that bridge the worlds of media, science and tech policy. He holds an M.S. in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Edinburgh, School of Informatics and a Ph.D. in Arts, Technology and Emerging Communication, from The University of Texas at Dallas.
