Eurograd message

                Another issue of "Technology and Language" has appeared, and with it a 
new call for contributions that appeals to interests in the ambivalence 
of technoscientific progress, in socio-technical visions and narratives, 
cultural and literary studies of technology, science and technological 
studies.

https://soctech.spbstu.ru/en/issue/17/
www.philosophie.tu-darmstadt.de/T_and_L

Guest-edited by Andrea Bréard and Marco Tamborini, the most recent issue 
is dedicated to “Translation - Theory and Technology.” There are many 
languages in which technological objects are written – visual, natural, 
symbolic, olfactory, artefactual, etc. – and many ways in which 
technology is used to translate between these languages. The collected 
papers raise anthropological questions with translation as an 
epistemological tool to better delineate the characteristis of the human 
being: Practices of translanguaging are essential to engineering as a 
profession. There are linguistic means for the translation of olfactory 
terms, and various technical paradigms to exhibit the unity of color and 
sound. Tolstoy‘s conception of translation exhibits an integrative 
potential which machines cannot grasp. And a reader-oriented approach to 
translation focuses on perceptions of meaning. One of the contributed 
papers considers how persuasive technologies challenge notions of human 
rationality.

New Call for Contributions: „Technology and Tragedy“ (Deadline: 
September 5, 2025) — Prometheus, Daedalus and Icarus, Faust and 
Frankenstein are tragic characters. In the Anthropocene and the age of 
climate change, many pin their hopes on new technologies - as they 
confront the tragic end of the modern technological world. Throughout 
western history, technology has been framed in a dichotomy as savior and 
downfall of humanity, saving and destroying us. Tragedies traditionally 
explore moral positions and the consequences of overreaching ambition. 
In modern contexts, they invite us to reflect on the limits of human 
intervention and the unintended effects of technological dominance. 
There is the shipwreck of the Titanic, the fiery destruction of the 
Hindenburg airship, the Bridge of San Luis Rey - they are framed as 
„tragedies“ and thus they receive a narrrative form which is a social 
technology in itself. This form enables us to observe, derive meaning, 
and create sense of events. This offers a space for self-reflection: 
what narratives do we use, and how do they shape our understanding of 
technology? Are Fritz Haber and J.R Oppenheimer also tragic characters, 
should Bhopal or Fukushima be remembered as tragedies? Does the form of 
tragedy always require an element of divine transcendence, should we 
conceive of “tragedy” in a mundane or secular way? The dualism of 
"mastery over the world" versus "inevitable downfall" thus urges us to 
consider narratives beyond such binaries. – The special issue on 
“Technology as Tragedy” investigates both, the concept of tragedy in 
light of the technology, as well as the framing of technology as a 
potential tragedy. For this, we invite researchers from different 
fields, such as technology assessment, science and technology studies, 
but also literature, cultural and media studies, as well as 
practitioners from fields such as science communication and the arts. We 
particularly welcome contributions that adopt non-Western cross-cultural 
perspectives. (guest editors: Wenzel Mehnert and Oliver Schlaudt) For an 
extended version of the call, see https://soctech.spbstu.ru/en/news/

Other open calls (shortened):

#mediaopera. Recomposing Agency (the deadline has just about passed), 
guest editor: Cheryce von Xylander. The word „opus“ refers to a 
technically or artfully produced work. The plural form „opera“ refers to 
an art-form that draws together many artists and technicians - 
musicians, singers, dancers, architects and builders of the space, 
costume and light designers, and then writer(s) and composer(s), 
conductor(s) and stage-director(s) who bring all this together. Not only 
the cinema has been transformed by video which is now routinely 
incorporated in opera stagings and, most recently, spawned a whole new 
genre of „mediaoperas“ - such as „Einstein and Margarita,“ „Theremin’s 
Last Secret,“ or „Pink Mouse“ by Iraida Yusupova. Akin to the medieval 
and renaissance Cathedral, modern opera and cinema enable assembly — and 
the „Gesamtkunstwerk“ finally constellated is arguably never completed. 
— We invite contributions from history, art theory, media studies, data 
science, sociology, philosophy, and related fields to consider more 
generally the configuration of aesthesis in social space: How are 
technical media and sensory modalities organised in spectacular 
art-forms which herald the historical changes they exemplify?

For the June 2025 issue of Technology and Language there is once again a 
general call for contributed papers (deadline March 15, 2025). All 
papers at the intersection of technology and language will be considered 
for any and all issues, of course. This is a chance also to submit small 
groups of papers, e.g., from workshops, conferences, summer schools, 
research projects. This issue can exhibit a great variety of themes: on 
the language of things, on human and machine voice, on resonance, on 
technology and tragedy – or comedy or farce. And much more.

„The Language and Poetics of Machines“ (Deadline: June 5, 2025, guest 
editors: DENG Pan and Kevin Liggieri) — The intelligibility of 
mechanical processes lends a peculiar expressive power to the machine. 
This became explicit when engineering scientists articulated a 
compositional grammar of mechanical elements. To construct a machine 
became a way of expressing an idea and promoting cultural development, 
thus implicated in labor and gender relations and questions of power. We 
welcome papers from the point of view of philosophy, culural and 
literary studies, (art) history, or engineering - expanding the 
discussion to machine theories in western, islamic, and chinese 
contexts, moving also from mechanical to organic or cellular machinery 
and the mechanics of digital language processing. The poetics of 
machines in the works of Lars Gustafsson, Jean Tinguely, or Rube 
Goldberg might also be considered. — Selected texts from this special 
issue may be invited for subsequent inclusion in a special issue of the 
Chinese journal Academia Ethica.

Beyond these calls for special topics, any submitted paper and 
interdisciplinary exploration at the interface of technology and 
language is always welcome. The next deadline for submitted papers in 
English or Russian is April 10, 2025.

“Technology and Language” is a quarterly journal: international, peer 
reviewed, Scopus listed, online, open access, academic (no fees). 
Queries, suggestions, and submissions can be addressed to 
soctech@spbstu.ru or to Daria Bylieva (bylieva_ds@spbstu.ru) and Alfred 
Nordmann (nordmann@phil.tu-darmstadt.de).

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