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                *CFP - Figurations: Persons In/Out of Data Conference*
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<br>*16-17 December, 2019 *
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<br>*Goldsmiths, University of London*
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<br>*Abstract deadline: **July 1st, 2019*. *Submit here
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<br>*Keynotes*:
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<br>Professor Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Simon Fraser University
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<br>Professor Jane Elliott, University of Exeter
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<br>Professor John Frow, The University of Sydney
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<br>Professor Susanne Kuechler, University College London
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<br>Professor AbdouMaliq Simone, The University of Sheffield
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<br>We’re drowning in an ocean of data, or so the saying goes. Data’s
<br>“big”:
<br>there’s not only lots of it, but its volume has allowed for the development
<br>of new, large-scale processing techniques. Our relationship with
<br>governments, medical organisations, technology companies, the education
<br>sector, and so on are increasingly informed by the data we overtly or
<br>inadvertently provide when we use particular services. The proverbial data
<br>deluge is large-scale—but it’s also personal.
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<br>Data increasingly characterises what it means to be a person in the
<br>present. Data promises to personalise services to better meet our
<br>individual needs. Data is often construed as a threat to our person(s). Not
<br>every person predicated by data is predicted the same. The intersection
<br>between data and person isn’t fixed: it has to be figured.
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<br>The aim of this conference is to bring together an interdisciplinary group
<br>of researchers to explore how the person—or persons, plural—are figured
<br>in/out of data. The figuration of a person might encompass any or all of
<br>processes of representation, calculation, analogisation, prediction, and
<br>conceptualisation. It cuts across multiple scales, epistemological modes,
<br>and disciplinary areas of enquiry. It tackles problems that cross into
<br>disparate disciplines. Our proposition is that the conceptual language of
<br>‘the figure’ and its variations—figuration, figuring, to figure, and so
<br>on—can help us to apprehend what the person is and how it is processed in
<br>the present.
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<br>We invite proposals for *20-minute presentations *that take up or respond
<br>to the question of how the person is figured in/out of data. We are
<br>interested in presentations that address the conceptual, methodological,
<br>analytical and/or empirical challenge of figuring the person in the
<br>present. Conversely, we are also interested in papers that take up the
<br>concept of the figure—broadly construed—as an heuristic for producing
<br>knowledge about the constitution of person(s) in the present.
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<br>Our proposition is deliberately interdisciplinary. We encourage proposals
<br>from researchers working in disciplines for whom the figure is central.
<br>These might include, but are not limited to: the social sciences, art
<br>history, media studies, the medical humanities, literary studies,
<br>philosophy, science and technology studies, urban studies, or geography.
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<br>The themes that papers might address could include:
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<br>-      The figuration of person or persons in/out of data;
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<br>-      Techniques of personalisation and the figuration of the person or
<br>persons;
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<br>-      Approaches that address the interrelation of visual, numerical,
<br>statistical, metaphorical, and/or philosophical modes of figuring the
<br>person or persons in the present;
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<br>-       Conceptual languages for apprehending persons in relation to
<br>data—e.g. the subject, identity, user, data double, individual, dividual,
<br>etc.;
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<br>-       The relationship between collective categories and/or category
<br>production—like persons, population, distributed reproduction, homophily,
<br>etc.—and techniques of figuration;
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<br>-       Figure as a concept for thinking gender in, e.g., science and
<br>technology studies;
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<br>-       The art-historical/psychological/media-theoretical concept of
<br>“figure/ground” and persons/data;
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<br>-       The relationship between visual and numerical modes of figuring and
<br>the constitution of persons;
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<br>-       Literary/linguistic uses of figuration in e.g. metaphor, analogy,
<br>simile, the icon, etc. in relation to the person or persons and data;
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<br>-       Figuration as a means of thinking the relationship between
<br>image/text/number or media and code;
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<br>-       Related concepts—like the diagram or pattern—as complements to or
<br>substitutes for the figure;
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<br>-       Conceptualising figuration in relation to resemblance, similarity,
<br>seriality, difference, etc.
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<br>Please submit abstracts of *300 words*, including your institutional
<br>affiliation(s) and a short biography (a line or two is fine) by following
<br>this link and filling out the online form:
<br>https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/cim/events/figurations/figurations/.
<br>The CFP can also be found here
<br>. The deadline for
<br>abstract submissions is *July 1st, 2019*.
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<br>If you have any enquiries, please direct them to *Scott Wark *at
<br>S.Wark@Warwick.ac.uk.
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<br>*Figurations *is organised by the People Like You: Contemporary Figures of
<br>Personalisation  project. People Like You is
<br>a group of scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, and artists who
<br>explore how personalisation actually works. We research personalisation in
<br>four areas: personalised medicine and care; data science; digital cultures;
<br>and interactive arts practices.
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<br>People Like You is funded by a Collaborative Award in the Medical
<br>Humanities and Social Sciences from The Wellcome Trust, 2018-2022. It
<br>involves researchers located at Goldsmiths College, University of London;
<br>Imperial College London, and The University of Warwick.
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