Elliott Hauser
The University of Texas at Austin, School of Information, Faculty Member
- Duke University, Art, Art History, and Visual Studies, AlumnusDuke University, Center for Documentary Studies, Department MemberUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Information and Library Science, Graduate Studentadd
- Information Studies, Philosophy Of Language, Knowledge organization, Science and Technology Studies, Information Ethics, Philosophy of Science, and 27 moreResearch Informatics, Informatics, Information Science, Information Policy, Wittgenstein, Metadata, Information Systems, Business Information Systems, Art Market, Punctuated Equilibria, Interaction Ritual Theory, Douglas Walton, Huw Price, Philosophy of Language (Humanities), Argumentation, History and Philosophy of the Human Sciences, Information Theory, Jacques Derrida, Infrastructure studies, Library and Information Studies, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Brian Cantwell Smith, Theories Of Truth, Certainty, Critical Studies in Library and Information Science, Critical Information Studies, and Postmodern Ethicsedit
- I study the ways information systems condition social reality. I research sites and situations where human and nonhum... moreI study the ways information systems condition social reality. I research sites and situations where human and nonhuman actions are taken because of information and information systems. In 2021, I helped begin Living and Working with Robots, a long-term transdisciplinary research project funded by Good Systems, a UT Grand Challenge. I employ theoretical, qualitative, and sociotechnical methods in my work.
My teaching interests include organization of information, foundations of information studies, and technical skills such as software product management, research cyberinfrastructure, and Python programming.edit - Ryan Shawedit
BACKGROUND Various technological interventions have been proposed and studied to address the growing demand for care of residents in assisted living facilities, in which a preexisting shortage of professional caregivers has been... more
BACKGROUND Various technological interventions have been proposed and studied to address the growing demand for care of residents in assisted living facilities, in which a preexisting shortage of professional caregivers has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Care robots are one such intervention with the potential to improve both the care of older adults and the work life of their professional caregivers. However, concerns about efficacy, ethics, and best practices in the applications of robotic technologies in care settings remain. OBJECTIVE This scoping review aimed to examine the literature on robots used in assisted living facilities and identify gaps in the literature to guide future research. METHODS On February 12, 2022, following the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) protocol, we searched PubMed, CINAHL Plus with Full Text, PsycINFO, IEEE Xplore digital library, and ACM Digital Library using ...
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What is the thermal conductivity of copper? This straightforward question leads to a fascinating instance of the production of scientific facts through documentation practices. Ho, Powell and Liley's 1974 The Thermal Conductivity of the... more
What is the thermal conductivity of copper? This straightforward question leads to a fascinating instance of the production of scientific facts through documentation practices. Ho, Powell and Liley's 1974 The Thermal Conductivity of the Elements: A Comprehensive Review is examined as an artifact of scientific reference data production, and its answer to the initial question is traced to modern-day search engine results. A short history of the Center that produced the book and some initial research into its authors is provided.
Kuhn's concepts of normal science and normic lexical structures are utilized to clarify the Comprehensive Review's functioning within the broader scientific fields in which it is utilized. Bowker's concepts of memory practices and the jussive Archive help identify the forgetting embedded in the production of reference data, producing what Star called global certainty. Far from impugning the internal validity of these scientific facts, this forgetting is shown to be licensed by scientific rigor.
This paper presents a novel historically informed investigation of how documentation practices produce scientific facts, and connect these activities to modern-day knowledge graph information retrieval. The theoretical analyses provided show how scientifically licensed forgetting is a key mechanism of fact production, what Hayles termed constrained constructivism.
Kuhn's concepts of normal science and normic lexical structures are utilized to clarify the Comprehensive Review's functioning within the broader scientific fields in which it is utilized. Bowker's concepts of memory practices and the jussive Archive help identify the forgetting embedded in the production of reference data, producing what Star called global certainty. Far from impugning the internal validity of these scientific facts, this forgetting is shown to be licensed by scientific rigor.
This paper presents a novel historically informed investigation of how documentation practices produce scientific facts, and connect these activities to modern-day knowledge graph information retrieval. The theoretical analyses provided show how scientifically licensed forgetting is a key mechanism of fact production, what Hayles termed constrained constructivism.
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A prototype interface design for organizing interdisciplinary scholarly reading groups intended to expose the "intellectual graph" not apparent from citation networks alone. This is a 4 page extended abstract to support a poster... more
A prototype interface design for organizing interdisciplinary scholarly reading groups intended to expose the "intellectual graph" not apparent from citation networks alone. This is a 4 page extended abstract to support a poster presentation at CSCW.
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In this paper, I attempt to build a bridge between language-action and critical approaches to algorithms by considering them as components and constituents of social ontology (Searle, 2010). Expanding on recent work by Paul Beynon-Davies... more
In this paper, I attempt to build a bridge between language-action and critical approaches to algorithms by considering them as components and constituents of social ontology (Searle, 2010). Expanding on recent work by Paul Beynon-Davies (particularly Beynon-Davies, 2016a), I examine
algorithms as devices that produce institutional facts, which Searle defines as those true by virtue of human agreement. Following propositional logic, such facts serve as the truth-grounds for propositions about them, but are not themselves truth apt; instead, they simply are. This seemingly roundabout construction actually announces the stakes of this investigation for information studies: if it is correct, then algorithms and those who define them have power over some part of what is real, socially.
algorithms as devices that produce institutional facts, which Searle defines as those true by virtue of human agreement. Following propositional logic, such facts serve as the truth-grounds for propositions about them, but are not themselves truth apt; instead, they simply are. This seemingly roundabout construction actually announces the stakes of this investigation for information studies: if it is correct, then algorithms and those who define them have power over some part of what is real, socially.
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This paper examines the three entangled systems of the UNIX time data format, the UTC time standard, and the various administratively defined datetimes used to give specific moments in time names. Due to the increasing prevalence of Linux... more
This paper examines the three entangled systems of the UNIX time data format, the UTC time standard, and the various administratively defined datetimes used to give specific moments in time names. Due to the increasing prevalence of Linux and Unix-based systems, a large majority of computing devices, from phones to Web servers, utilize these interlocking systems to structure time. The assemblage as a whole is briefly described, from UNIX time integers to the empirical measurements of atomic vibrations and the earth's rotation within its celestial frame, to the open source Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) maintained time zone database, which declares a distinct name for each instant within the hundreds of administrative time zones world wide. Three theoretical concepts of jussivity, prolepsis and incorrigibility are operationalized to distinguish each system's contribution to the computational assemblage of modern timekeeping. Bowker's conception of the jussive Archive is used to frame the inquiry, foregrounding the things that these timekeeping practices help us exclude and forget. Calendrical prolepsis is examined as what Siegert calls a cultural technique, one that enables each of these systems to extend its reach into the past and condition our conception of any possible future. Each of these systems utilizes the unique and under-appreciated abilities of digital systems to enact a kind of incorrigibility, which I argue is inextricably linked with what Hayles has called the cognitive nonconscious. By better understanding the jussive, proleptic, and incorrigible powers deployed in the massive cognitive assemblage that arrays vibrations of atoms alongside celestial mechanics to locate our present, past and future, we open up new possibilities for intervening in these technics. Understanding these dynamics may allow future temporal information systems to therapeutically influence our cognition and our consciousness of time. This paper is intended to provide theoretical support for such efforts.
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This paper aims to augment a domain-independent conception of information processes developed by Losee (2011) such that it is philosophically pluralistic as well. If successful, I will provide a conception of information that can more... more
This paper aims to augment a domain-independent conception of information processes developed by Losee (2011) such that it is philosophically pluralistic as well. If successful, I will provide a conception of information that can more easily be utilized across fields without requiring specific ontological or epistemological commitments unique to realism and empiricism. The information concepts of epidata and episemantics are introduced and operationalized in this context to bridge information processing and knowledge. These new concepts are related to Guattari's hybrid semantics. Finally, I detail the relationship between these concepts and disciplinary and professional values of pluralism as described by prior thinkers. This work is intended to support scholars and professionals who engage with academic disciplines which view themselves as incommensurable with others.
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As presented at the 15th annual Social Informatics Research Symposium at ASIS&T 2019 in Melbourne, Australia
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As presented at the 15th annual Social Informatics Research Symposium at ASIS&T 2019 in Melbourne, Australia.
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As presented at the Good Systems: Ethical AI for CSCW workshop at ACM Computer Supported Cooperative Work conference in Austin, TX
More info available here:
https://sites.utexas.edu/GoodSystemsCSCW/
More info available here:
https://sites.utexas.edu/GoodSystemsCSCW/
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As presented at the 9th Philosophy of Information Workshop in Brussels, Belgium. See my paper "What is the Thermal Conductivity of Copper?" in the 2021 ASIST Annual Meeting proceedings for citeable versions of these ideas.
As presented at the 7th Biennial Conference of the Society for the Study of the Philosophy of Science in Practice in Ghent, Belgium, Summer 2018. See my paper "What is the Thermal Conductivity of Copper?" in the 2021 ASIST Annual Meeting... more
As presented at the 7th Biennial Conference of the Society for the Study of the Philosophy of Science in Practice in Ghent, Belgium, Summer 2018. See my paper "What is the Thermal Conductivity of Copper?" in the 2021 ASIST Annual Meeting proceedings for citeable versions of these ideas.
As presented at the International Society for Knowledge Organization meeting 2018 in Porto, Portugal. See also the conference paper, which is the proper thing to cite.
As ASIS&T looks to the future, all community members are invited to contribute to a shared vision for information science. As a program of the SIG for History and Foundations (SIG-HFIS), this alternative event focuses on developing a... more
As ASIS&T looks to the future, all community members are invited to contribute to a shared vision for information science. As a program of the SIG for History and Foundations (SIG-HFIS), this alternative event focuses on developing a vision for conceptual, philosophical, theoretical and historical work in information science. This event will provide a participatory platform to investigate questions such as: What is the domain of history and foundations? How does it relate to other research areas in the information field? The event will involve panelist interviews with diverse scholars, small-group discussions of big questions for history and foundations, and the presentation of a new idea-sharing platform, the HFIS Wishlist. This event will be a locus for participation and inspiration regarding historical and foundations work in information science as part of formulating a future vision for SIG-HFIS, ASIS&T, and the information field more broadly.
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This dissertation identifies and explains the phenomenon of the production of certainty in information systems. I define this phenomenon pragmatically as instances where practices of justification end upon information systems or their... more
This dissertation identifies and explains the phenomenon of the production of certainty in information systems. I define this phenomenon pragmatically as instances where practices of justification end upon information systems or their contents. Cases where information systems seem able to produce social reality without reference to the external world indicate that these systems contain facts for determining truth, rather than propositions rendered true or false by the world outside the system. The No Fly list is offered as a running example that both clearly exemplifies the phenomenon and announces the stakes of my project. After an operationalization of key terms and a review of relevant literature, I articulate a research program aimed at characterizing the phenomenon,its major components, and its effects. Notable contributions of the dissertation include: • the identification of the production of certainty as a unitary, trans-disciplinary phenomenon; • the synthesis of a sociolin...
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This is an early summary of my dissertation research, as submitted to the 2018 ASIST Doctoral Colloquium. Please do not cite, but feel free to contact me with any questions.
Python for Everybody is designed to introduce students to programming and software development through the lens of exploring data. You can think of the Python programming language as your tool to solve data problems that are beyond the... more
Python for Everybody is designed to introduce students to programming and software development through the lens of exploring data. You can think of the Python programming language as your tool to solve data problems that are beyond the capability of a spreadsheet. Python is an easy to use and easy to learn programming language that is freely available on Macintosh, Windows, or Linux computers. So once you learn Python you can use it for the rest of your career without needing to purchase any software. This book uses the Python 3 language. The earlier Python 2 version of this book is titled "Python for Informatics: Exploring Information". There are free downloadable electronic copies of this book in various formats and supporting materials for the book at www.pythonlearn.com. The course materials are available to you under a Creative Commons License so you can adapt them to teach your own Python course.
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Over the course of the fifteenth century easel paintings edged out tapestries, frescoes and wood inlay pictures on the walls of private dwellings. Millions of such paintings were produced in the period 1450-1800, in all shapes and sizes,... more
Over the course of the fifteenth century easel paintings edged out tapestries, frescoes and wood inlay pictures on the walls of private dwellings. Millions of such paintings were produced in the period 1450-1800, in all shapes and sizes, and across the whole range of prices. Who bought them? How were they distributed? What place did they occupy among other "luxury" possessions? Such questions seem to require that visual culture be treated as an integral part of family spending and commercial pursuits. This volume is the outcome of a four-year collaboration between art historians, economists, social historians and museum professionals from the US, Australia and Europe; its aim was to map the new ground identified by these and related questions, in local contexts, but with comparative and longitudinal concerns constantly in mind. The result is an entirely new matrix of the business and artistic interactions through which visual cultures in early modern Europe were formed.
The editors, Neil De Marchi and Hans J. Van Miegroet, an economist and an art historian, have collaborated across their disciplines for ten years. Here they have interspersed participants' essays with brief connecting observations, to produce a text that respects disciplinary expertise while making connections across locations and across time. Much has been written about European paintings; but how markets in paintings emerged, who they served, what roles and institutions were developed that enabled them to function effectively, and how exchange affected visual preferences, have not been studied in such a deliberately wide-angled, comparative way. Mapping Markets is not only a book about paintings, but a compendium of cross-disciplinary methods and insights. It charts the state of research in this trans-disciplinary field, identifies gaps, and poses questions for scholars and students wishing to pursue further the issues raised here.
"Il ne fait nul doute que par l'ampleur des questions traitées et la nouveauté des éclairages qu'il propose, ce volume apporte une contribution majeure à l'histoire protéiforme des marchés de l'art de l'Europe moderne." (S. Raux dans Annales, Histoires, Sciences Sociales, 63e année, n°6, novembre-décembre 2008, p. 1427-1430)
The editors, Neil De Marchi and Hans J. Van Miegroet, an economist and an art historian, have collaborated across their disciplines for ten years. Here they have interspersed participants' essays with brief connecting observations, to produce a text that respects disciplinary expertise while making connections across locations and across time. Much has been written about European paintings; but how markets in paintings emerged, who they served, what roles and institutions were developed that enabled them to function effectively, and how exchange affected visual preferences, have not been studied in such a deliberately wide-angled, comparative way. Mapping Markets is not only a book about paintings, but a compendium of cross-disciplinary methods and insights. It charts the state of research in this trans-disciplinary field, identifies gaps, and poses questions for scholars and students wishing to pursue further the issues raised here.
"Il ne fait nul doute que par l'ampleur des questions traitées et la nouveauté des éclairages qu'il propose, ce volume apporte une contribution majeure à l'histoire protéiforme des marchés de l'art de l'Europe moderne." (S. Raux dans Annales, Histoires, Sciences Sociales, 63e année, n°6, novembre-décembre 2008, p. 1427-1430)