Pursuing the Quantum Imaginary: Esoteric Knowledge Production and the Future of Telecommunications Masterclass [Oct 14th @12]

Pursuing the Quantum Imaginary: Esoteric Knowledge Production and the Future of Telecommunications [Online and in person, Oct 14th, 12-2pm]. University of Galway Centre for Creative Technologies.

This masterclass is part of a series run by the Centre for Creative Technologies at University of Galway. The next of this semester’s Masterclass Series is with Nadia Armstrong, a visual artist and practice-based PhD fellow with NCAD and CONNECT, Research Ireland’s Centre for Future Networks and Communications.

Through an artist-ethnographic and cyborg feminist lens, Nadia Armstrong’s practice-based PhD research examines the systems of knowledge that underpin quantum communication technologies.

This masterclass will:

  1. take you through Armstrong’s practice-based research methodologies, and
  2. endeavour to explore how the field of quantum communications is understood through broader histories of science, technology, belief systems and culture – tracing the entanglements of bodies, machines, and knowledge systems to create what Armstrong calls the Quantum Imaginary.

Through this research and practice framework, Armstrong parafictions a techno-feminist horizon, using digital processes to conjure imagined phenomena that might help us resist technocracy and emerging forms of techno-feudalism.

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Through an artist-ethnographic and cyborg feminist lens, Nadia Armstrong’s practice-based PhD research examines the systems of knowledge that underpin quantum communication technologies. This masterclass will take you through Armstrong’s practice-based research methodologies, and endeavour to explore how the field of quantum communications is understood through broader histories of science, technology, belief systems and culture – tracing the entanglements of bodies, machines, and knowledge systems to create what Armstrong calls the Quantum Imaginary. Through this research and practice framework, Armstrong parafictions a techno-feminist horizon, using digital processes to conjure imagined phenomena that might help us resist technocracy and emerging forms of techno-feudalism. This masterclass is part of a series run by the Centre for Creative Technologies at University of Galway. Further information about the series can be found at: https://buff.ly/oJKIuoR About Nadia Nadia J. Armstrong is a visual artist and practice-based PhD fellow with NCAD and CONNECT, Research Ireland’s Centre for Future Networks and Communications. Her current artistic research harnesses the socio-technical imaginary to analyse systems of knowledge in the field of quantum communications. Armstrong’s installations act as interfaces to alternative realities, enveloping audiences in emancipatory parafictions that deconstruct appearances of “natural order.” She creates XR environments through which esoteric forms of knowledge become rituals for contemporary survival. Armstrong’s newest work GIRLHERO (2025) was commissioned by the Luan Gallery, Athlone for their exhibition SYSTEM ARMING curated by Aoife Banks.

The exhibition runs till November 16th. Armstrong’s full bio and more information about her work is available at: nadiajarmstrong.com

CONNECT – CONNECT is the world leading Research Ireland Centre for Future Networks and Communications.

DARIAH’s Visual Media & Interactivity Working Group – Workshop on audiovisual corpora annotation [Oct 22nd, in person & online]

Workshop on audiovisual corpora annotation

October 22nd, 2025 [in person and online]

DARIAH’s Visual Media & Interactivity Working Group is participating in a one-day workshop on audiovisual corpora annotation, which will take place on October 22 during the 5th DARIAH-HR International Conference  (University of Osijek, Croatia). The workshop can also be followed remotely. Below is the link to the workshop presentation and to the registration form. 

https://dhh.dariah.hr/2025/workshops

The Consortium for Annotation, Analysis and Archiving of Video Applied to Scientific Activities (Canevas) is accredited since 2022 by the French research infrastructure for Digital Humanities Huma-Num. Since April 2025, this consortium has been receiving European EOSC-OSCARS funding for a period of 24 months, which has given rise to the OASIS project (Open Audiovisual Science Innovation Scheme). The aim of Canevas and OASIS is to facilitate research in the humanities and social sciences involving audiovisual corpora by facilitating actions such as archiving, annotating, commenting, analysing, and sharing videos. To do this, the members of the Canevas consortium have created two tools, Celluloid (for annotating corpora on media studies and media literacy) and e-spect@tor (for annotating corpora on the performing arts, especially theater), which enable collaborative annotation of videos for research or teaching purposes. These are free and open source tools (https://github.com/celluloid-camp/) that comply with open science and FAIR data standards, while leveraging AI to promote the intelligibility of videos and the interactions that result from them.

As part of the OASIS project, the Canevas Consortium is organising a workshop during the pre-conference day of the 5th DARIAH-HR International Conference, which will take place on Wednesday 22 October 2025. This workshop will be divided into two 3-hour sessions. The first will take place on Wednesday morning and aims to introduce participants to the PeerTube technology, developed by the French education-oriented video network Framasoft to offer an alternative to the services provided by the GAFAM, and particularly the online video hosting platform Youtube, and thus promote digital empowerment. The second session, on Wednesday afternoon, will be devoted to learning how to use the Celluloid and e-spect@tor tools. We invite you to discover collaborative annotation through your own audiovisual corpus, enabling you to develop new skills adapted to the changes of media practices and the epistemological issues that come with them. During this second session, we will focus on specific features provided by these tools: some are automated using AI, such as audio transcription and video segmentation into chapters, while others can be done manually and allow users to enrich their viewing experience through the traces they leave behind.

By renewing interactions and collaborations with these digital tools, this workshop aims to introduce participants, from all disciplines and all levels of video expertise, to our research methods while allowing to acquire new skills to foster a convergence culture around video archiving and annotations. These can then be deployed in various educational or research contexts, which can be enhanced, for instance, with group work in the classroom, or in research carried out by researchers in training (Masters, PhD) or more experienced researchers. 

The workshop will be led (in English) by:

  • Michael Bourgatte, Professor at the University of Lorraine (France)
  • Cécile Chantraine-Braillon, Professor at the University of La Rochelle (France)
  • Anatole Grimaldi, OASIS project engineer
  • Laurent Tessier, Professor at the Catholic University of Paris

NB: to get the most out of this workshop, please bring your own computer. It is also possible to follow this workshop with one computer for several people. Moreover, if you want to explore part of one of your corpora, you can send us one of your videos. All video formats are welcome. 

Culture, Data and the Humanities in the Age of AI – Seminar (Dublin)

The use of machine learning to study patterns of cultural and social change has developed very rapidly in the last decade and the insights from this kind of research are urgently needed in a context where AI tools are rapidly proliferating, raising issues of ethics, trust and epistemology. In this context, this half day colloquium will reflect on the experience of collaborative research between data science and the humanities and the potential it offers for new insights, resources and methodologies. It will hear from researchers on two milestone projects, reflecting on the nature of their collaboration, lessons for future research and reflecting with Irish researchers on the collaborative path forward.

The Ed Ruscha Streets of Los Angeles Archive at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles brought together an international team of art historians, media analysts, architects, urban planners, information specialists and software engineers with Getty staff to document, interpret, and debate the Streets of Los Angeles Archive, which was created by the artist Ed Ruscha beginning in 1965 and continuing over the subsequent fifty years.

Living with Machines was a flagship collaborative humanities and science research initiative at the Alan Turing Institute, bringing together historians, data scientists, geographers, computational linguists, library professionals, and curators to examine the human impact of industrial revolution. Developing new tools, methods and resources it exemplifies the capacity to analyse at scale and produce new insights and analysis through such collaboration.

Speakers: Eric Rodenbeck (Stamen), Dr. Emily Pugh (Getty Research Institute), Prof. Mark Shiel (King’s College London), Dr. Katherine McDonough & Dr. Daniel Wilson (The Alan Turing Institute)

More information:

This event is co-organised by the UCD Centre for Cultural Analytics and Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics, and will feature visiting speakers from the Getty Research Institute and the Alan Turing Institute.

Venue: UCD Conway Lecture Theatre (B039), University College Dublin
Date: 7th March 2025
Time: 12.00-16.30

Registration here.

Doing AI Differently – Workshop (UK)

The Doing AI Differently initiative challenges traditional approaches to AI development by positioning humanities perspectives as integral—rather than supplemental—to technical innovation.

London Workshop, Date & Venue:

  • Date: Thursday, 13 March 2025, 10am-4pm
  • Location: The Royal Academy of Engineering (Prince Philip House), London SW1
  • Working group sessions: continue on Friday, 14 March 2025, 10am-4pm
  • Aligned with the Alan Turing Institute’s major annual conference (AIUK) on 17-18 March

The workshop is an early opportunity to discover and help to refine the research vision and topic scope for an Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC–UKRI) International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) funding call launching April 2025. This call will focus on UK, US and Canadian collaborations.

Core Challenges

1. Developing Interpretive Technologies.

Leveraging current AI architectures to implement deeper interpretive capabilities, developing approaches to represent multiple perspectives and capture semantic depth while maintaining computational tractability.

2. Exploring Alternative AI Architectures.

Exploring fundamentally new approaches to AI design that move beyond current limitations in foundation models and gradient-based learning to enable more pluralistic and culturally adaptive AI systems.

3. Advancing Human-AI Ensembles

Moving beyond simple substitution or assistance models, to foster new relationships between human and artificial intelligence, each contributing unique capabilities to achieve outcomes neither could accomplish alone.

Initiative Objectives:

1. Develop pilot projects demonstrating humanities-driven technical advances in AI

2. Establish funding mechanisms fostering interdisciplinary partnerships

3. Create scalable pathways for humanities scholars to participate in large-scale AI projects

Expected Outcomes:

– New paradigms for addressing complex, context-dependent tasks in AI

– Enhanced AI tools for deep contextual analysis across disciplines

– AI systems better aligned with societal values and ethical considerations

The rapid advances in increasingly sophisticated AI systems makes this timing critical, and we seek to develop inclusive, research-led ideas that will provide practical ways to address some of the recommendations set out in the recent UK Government AI Opportunities Action Plan. This initiative adds the opportunities for research and innovation in AI – artificial intelligence – in the UK (see Transforming our world with AI).

More Information:

  • View our complete vision statement: doingaidifferently.org
  • To attend please complete an expression of interest HERE by 17 February 2025. We will be in touch to confirm your attendance by 19 February 2025.
  • A limited number of bursaries are available to support travel costs for participants who do not have other institutional support. See expression of interest form for details.
  • Capacity for the in-person workshop is limited. The workshop will also be available to stream online, with some opportunities for interaction for remote participants. 
  • A list of recommended hotels is available on request.