invenção

Authors:		Cox, Geoff; Rodrigues, Chris
Title:		Agent Provocateur: questions of human-machine agency and on-line ethnographic arts practice
Keywords:		agent - agency - ethnography - subjectivity - reflexivity
Keywords:		click here to download the full paper
Abstract:		The proposal arises from a research project and work-in-progress to produce an 'intelligent' retrieval agent that operates as an ethnographer of online environments. The intention of the overall project is to 'tailor' an agent in such a way that some of the associated methodological problems of ethnographic data-gathering will be acknowledged within its make-up. By applying artificial intelligence, the plan is that the agent will 'learn' from its experiences and develop a reflexive working practice that draws upon the rich critical tradition of artistic practices that recognise the associated problems of observing the 'other' without considering processes of subjectivity. In the essay "The Artist as Ethnographer", Hal Foster calls for a reflexivity that "attempts to frame the framer as he or she frames the other" (in, The Return of the Real). But it is not simply a question of employing existing methodologies as "one of the consequences of online ethnography is that these heterogeneous materialities and localities are excruciatingly hard to see..." writes the anthropologist Mizuko Ito (in, "Virtually Embodied", in, David Porter, ed., Internet Culture). The central concern for the proposed paper will be that the terms 'agents' (persons with the power to act) and 'agency' (the action, the power or operation) remain seemingly contradictory especially when an interdisciplinary approach is taken; and certainly contested when subjectivity, according to Mark Poster (in, The Second Media Age), is being produced differently as a result of the decentralisation inherent in a communication system of networks within networks. On the Net, non-human artificial intelligence programs are referred to as 'agents' that are increasingly widely employed. In acting on the user's behalf, the agents clearly have little or no agency in themselves but the question remains whether they promote agency in the user? Given that the Internet cannot simply reproduce embodied exchange however sophisticated the 'agent', could the human agent be stripped of agency too? It appears timely to draw attention to the materiality of the online agent and corresponding issues of agency; perhaps especially so in the context of Brazil that has been the subject of so much anthropological study in itself.

John Bayne pellis@plymouth.ac.uk University of Plymouth www.camerawork.net/crowd is an anthropologist who has a PhD from SOAS, the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and until recently was working at the University of Hangzhou, China. His research interests lie in visual anthropology and the politics of representation. Geoff Cox geoffcox@excite.com University of Plymouth, www.camerawork.net/crowd is an artist and project organiser, until recently, he worked at Camerawork Gallery, London. He is presently Senior Lecturer in Media Arts across the School of Humanities and School of Computing at the University of Plymouth. Following postgraduate studies at the Royal College of Art, his current research interests lie broadly in the connections between arts practices, mass culture and digital technologies; and in particular around deferred authorship through the possibilities presented by technology to produce participatory and auto-generative work. Chris Rodrigues pellis@plymouth.ac.uk University of Plymouth, www.camerawork.net/crowd is Senior Lecturer in Media Arts at University of Plymouth and former Film and Video Officer for South West Arts. He has a postgraduate diploma from the Slade School of Fine Art and is currently researching the poetics and politics of background proxemics in film and digital technologies. Phaedra Stancer pellis@plymouth.ac.uk University of Plymouth, www.camerawork.net/crowd is an artist and Lecturer in Electronic Arts at University of Plymouth. She has a MA in digital arts from Middlesex University, has been involved in research projects exploring the use of digital networks within the arts and is currently researching representations of collectivity on the internet. All three above are currently involved in a research project at the University of Plymouth, entitled 'the digital crowd' that raises issues around the Internet and sociality [for further detail, see www.camerawork.net/crowd ]. A paper "The Digital Crowd: some questions on globalisation and agency" was recently presented at the 'Vision plus4' symposium 'The Republic of Information', Carnegie Mellon University, that will soon be published in an issue of the journal 'Design Issues', MIT Press. declaration: One of the five persons contributing to the writing of this paper will attend the event on behalf of the project team.