Sebastian Kawanami-Breu, Johan Malmstedt: The Similarity Engine. Steps Towards a Media History of Vector Modeling

Our project revolves around the historical epistemology of vector space models, which we attempt to situate within a larger history of the human quest to measure, quantify, and analyze “similarity”. Starting with current applications and classic works such as Salton’s definition of vector models (Salton 1975, 1989), we will explore the technological history of similarity, the media, and the epistemic practices that gave rise to these models.

Scatterplots, multidimensional models, and various forms of similarity metrics and clustering techniques began to materialize in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when the search for complex, multivariate forms of order – pursued in fields such as biometrics, criminal anthropology, and computational taxonomy – ran up against the limits of paper technology and the human sensorium. Our project aims to show how the scientific obsession with measuring degrees of familial similarity and finding geometric order within natural order ended up rewriting our own ability to experience similarity, as well as the idea of natural order itself.

Johan Malmsted ist Doktorand an der Universität Umeå im Bereich Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften und Mitglied der interdisziplinären Forschungsinfrastruktur Humlab. Er erforscht sonische Medien mit computergestützten und ideengeschichtlichen Methoden.

Sebastian Kawanami-Breu ist Kurator des Signallabors und wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Lehrstuhl Medientheorien an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. In seinem Dissertationsprojekt erforscht er kybernetische Neuronenmodelle aus medien- und wissenschaftsgeschichtlicher Perspektive.

Vortrag im Rahmen des „Digital History“-Forschungskolloquiums
Zeit: Mittwoch, 3. Juli 2024, 16-18 Uhr
Ort: Zoom-Konferenz (Zugang auf Anfrage oder via Mailingliste)

---

---