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Guest Talk with Kazys Varnelis | The City as Communications System

Talk Kazys Varnelis

Kazys Varnelis discusses the city as a communications system and infrastructure protocol, drawing on his decades of research on network urbanism and how digital technology has fundamentally restructured urban space. He explores concepts like the infrastructural city through case studies (particularly Los Angeles) and examines how digital networks have changed the role and function of cities over the past two decades.

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Guest Talk with Renee DiResta | A Troll's Guide to the Internet

Renee DiResta discusses human behavior in the digital built environment, arguing that the internet is no longer a wild space but rather a constructed ecosystem where users adapt their behaviors—similar to how animals adapt to urban environments. DiResta draws on her decade-plus of research studying digital manipulation tactics, algorithmic amplification, and coordinated networks (exemplified by her work on anti-vaccine movements) to frame online phenomena as products of designed systems rather than natural behavior.

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Guest Talk w/ Christina Dunbar-Hester | Directing Signals: Of Politics and Protocols

Christina Dunbar-Hester, faculty in Science and Technology Studies at USC, discusses the intersection of politics and protocols through her research on technology and social systems. Drawing on her books including 'Low Power to the People' and 'Hacking Diversity,' she explores how protocols encode political values and social choices, examining the materiality of technological systems alongside their governance implications.

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Protocol Town Hall with Venkatesh Rao | Formulating a Protocol Pill

Venkatesh Rao, Summer Protocols program lead, synthesizes research findings from the Summer of Protocols program and discusses efforts to shift the program's center of gravity from internal Discord/Telegram conversations to public forum-based discussion. The talk introduces the 'Protocol Pill' concept while addressing community engagement strategies and the publication of protocol research.

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