Knowledge Machines and Beyond: Digital Transformations of Scholarship
Eric T. Meyer
In 2015, Eric Meyer and Ralph Schroeder published Knowledge Machines: Digital Transformations of the Sciences and Humanities. The book was “an examination of the ways that digital and networked technologies have fundamentally changed research practices in disciplines from astronomy to literary analysis.” The book summarizes the e-research and e-science era in the U.K., U.S., and elsewhere which dominated from roughly 2000-2010, and the shift toward ‘big data’ in the first half of the 2010s.
This talk will present a summary of that work, but also reflect on more recent changes wrought by machine learning, LLMs, and other advanced computational techniques that continue to shape scholarship. Participants wishing to read the book can access the e-book through the MIT Press Backfile via the UC Berkeley libraries.
This seminar will be held both online & in person. You are welcome to join us either in South Hall or via Zoom.
For online participants
Online participants must have a Zoom account and be logged in. Sign up for your free account here. If this is your first time using Zoom, please allow a few extra minutes to download and install the browser plugin or mobile app.
Speaker
Eric T. Meyer is dean of the UC Berkeley School of Information, which he joined in 2024. His research looks at the changing nature of knowledge creation in science, medicine, social science, arts, and humanities as technology is embedded in everyday practices, as described in his 2015 book with co-author Ralph Schroeder Knowledge Machines: Digital Transformations of the Sciences and Humanities. His research has included both qualitative and quantitative work with blockchain developers, marine biologists, genetics researchers, physicists, digital humanities scholars, social scientists using big data, medical doctors, theater artists, librarians, and organizations involved in computational approaches to research. Dr. Meyer was previously dean of the School of Information at UT Austin (2018–2024) and professor of social informatics at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford (2007–2018).
Contact
If you have questions about this event, please contact Michael Buckland.
