"Opening Up the In-Between: Interdisciplinary Reflections on Science, Technology and Social Change," University of Ghent, January 19, 2009.

Keynote speaker: Don Ihde (State University of New York) Circling around the work of Don Ihde, this one-day workshop will dwell on "in-between" aspects of science, technology and social change from a multiplicity of perspectives: (post-)phenomenology, media studies, architecture, sustainability. . . . In the work of Don Ihde, the relation between human beings and their world takes centre stage and are viewed as mutually constituting each other: human beings are what they are thanks to the ways in which they are situated in their world. In our contemporary society, this relation increasingly happens ‘through’ technological artefacts: on the one hand, artefacts mediate how human beings are present in their world, by shaping their actions and existence; and on the other, they mediate how the world is present to human beings, by shaping human experiences and interpretations of reality. Thinking in terms of the mutual constitution of human and non-human clears the way to dwell on the in-between of these human/non-human poles, rather than always already falling back to either of both sides, be it subject/object, knowledge/power, fact/value or social/technical. Further contributions by Filip Kolen, Helena De Preester, Wim Christiaens, Robrecht Vanderbeeken, Søren Riis and Erik Paredis. Visit the workshop webpage here: http://users.telenet.be/gertgoeminne/Site/In-between_2009.html.