[Infrastructure-readinggroup] Planning remainder 2024 and 2025 // was: Re: planning April 9 - May 21 && next books

[Niels ten Oever]

Hi all,

I hope this email finds you all very well. I am greatly looking forward to discuss chapter 6 of Balkan Cyberia this afternoon with you.

It was great to talk with many of you about the planning from the coming time. Personally, I found it very hard to choose, but I present the following proposal.

I propose we finish what we started, and do a final tour around the world for an analysis of power and telegraph networks. That will allow us to compare the US (Reluctant Power), Europe (News from Germany, Japan (Technology of Empire), India (Telegraphic Imperialism), and a bit of China (The Question Concerning Technology in China and Networking China).

If we then read 'The Apple II Age', that might also allow us to tie a bow around the rise of modern computing networks and personal computing (How Not to Network a Nation, Balkan Cyberia, the Closed World, Inventing the Internet, Open Standards and the Digital Age).

Then we can perhaps return to developing frameworks that allows for the historical and systematic analysis of current communication infrastructures around the world (European Objects, Between Truth and Power, Four Internets).

It is a bit odd to plan until next year, but this way we have a bit of direction and consistency and perhaps we can close a couple of chapters, just so that we can then open new ones.

Finally, I also introduced an experiment: we will be reading books side-by-side for a while and see how that goes. You can find the planning below as well as on the site:

April 16 - May 14 break (suggestion: read The Smartness Mandate)
May 28 - News from Germany & Technology of Empire // Introduction + Chapter 1
June 11 - News from Germany & Technology of Empire // Chapter 2
June 25 - News from Germany & Technology of Empire // Chapter 3
July 9 - News from Germany & Technology of Empire // Chapter 4
July 23 - News from Germany & Technology of Empire // Chapter 5
August 6 - News from Germany & Technology of Empire // Chapter 6
August 20 - News from Germany & Technology of Empire // Chapter 7
September 3 - News from Germany & Technology of Empire // Chapter 8
September 17 - News from Germany & Technology of Empire // Chapter 9
October 1st - News from Germany & Technology of Empire // Chapter 10
October 15th - News from Germany & Technology of Empire // Conclusion
October 29th - Telegraphic Imperialism - Introduction + Chapter 1 // The Apple II Age - Introduction
November 12th - Telegraphic Imperialism - Chapter 2 // The Apple II Age - Chapter 1
November 26th - Telegraphic Imperialism - Chapter 3 // The Apple II Age - Chapter 2
December 10th - Telegraphic Imperialism - Chapter 4 // The Apple II Age - Chapter 3
December 24th - Telegraphic Imperialism - Chapter 5 // The Apple II Age - Chapter 4
January 7th, 2025- Telegraphic Imperialism - Chapter 6 // The Apple II Age - Chapter 5
January 21st - Telegraphic Imperialism - Chapter 7 // The Apple II Age - Chapter 6
February 4th - Telegraphic Imperialism - Chapter 8 + Conclusion // The Apple II Age - Chapter 7
February 18th - The Apple II Age - Inconclusions + Epilogue
March 4th - European Objects - Chapter 1 and 2
March 18th - European Objects - Chapter 3 and 4
April 1st - European Objects - Chapter 5 and 6
April 15th - European Objects - Chapter 7 and 8
April 29th - European Objects - Conclusion

Happy to discuss or just go with it.

Best,

Niels


On 20-02-2024 14:43, Niels ten Oever wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I hope this email finds you all very well. This is a relatively short planning email for after April 2nd (until then everything runs as planned).
> 
>  From April 9 - May 21, I am teaching on Tuesdays. How shall we deal with this:
> 
> - Move the six sessions from April 9 - May 21 to Friday and after that shift back to Tuesday
> - Take a break between April 9 - May 21
> - Continue on Tuesdays w/o Niels for six weeks
> - something else?
> 
> Let me know your preference!
> 
> After April 2nd we will also have to choose a number of new books. Feel free to send emails off-list or on-list with suggestions.
> 
> Books that are currently on my mind are:
> 
> - New from Germany by Heidi Tworek
> - The Smartness Mandate by Orit Halpern and Robert Mitchell
> - The Apple II Age by Laine Nooney
> - Friction by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing
> - European Objects by Brice Laurent
> - The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow
> - Power and Progress by Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson
> - Technology of Empire by Yang
> - Duress by Ann Laura Stoller
> - The Red Rockets' Glare by Asif A. Siddiqi
> - Theories of Ideology by Jan Rehmann
> 
> Please let me know if you love or hate any of these books, as to prevent us from disasters :)
> 
> Best,
> 
> Niels
> 
> 

-- 
Niels ten Oever, PhD
Co-Principal Investigator - critical infrastructure lab - University of Amsterdam
Assistant Professor - Department of European Studies - University of Amsterdam

W: https://criticalinfralab.net
W: https://nielstenoever.net
PGP: 4254 ECD5 D4CF F6AF 8B91 0D9F EFAD 2E49 CC90 C10C