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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