Call for Papers: The Ninth Annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium on SF, Artificial Intelligence, and Generative AI

A browser window displaying ChatGPT 4o mini. It is being asked, "Can science fiction literature tell us about the promise and peril of Artificial Intelligence?"

Call for Papers:
Science Fiction, Artificial Intelligence, and Generative AI: The Ninth Annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium

Deadline for CFP:
Friday, November 8, 2024

Date and Time of Event:
Tuesday, December 10, 2024, 9:00AM-5:00PM EST

Location:
Academic Building, New York City College of Technology, CUNY

Organizers:
Jill Belli, Wanett Clyde, Jason W. Ellis, Leigh Gold, Kel Karpinski, and Vivian Papp

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“Motive,” the construct said. “Real motive problem, with an AI. Not human, see?”

“Well, yeah, obviously.”

“Nope. I mean, it’s not human. And you can’t get a handle on it. Me, I’m not human either, but I respond like one. See?”

“Wait a sec,” Case said. “Are you sentient, or not?”

“Well, it feels like I am, kid, but I’m really just a bunch of ROM. It’s one of them, ah, philosophical questions, I guess …” The ugly laughter sensation rattled down

Case’s spine. “But I ain’t likely to write you no poem, if you follow me. Your AI, it just might. But it ain’t no way human.”

–McCoy “Dixie Flatline” Pauley conversing with Case in William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984)

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William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984) captures some of the anxiety today regarding AI. Less like Skynet and its cybernetic soldiers in Terminator (1984), the passage above gets the heart of the subtleties of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that we are now confronting with Generative AI (much like McCoy Pauley’s ROM or read only memory construct) and the pursuit of AGI or Artificial General Intelligence (akin to the novel’s Wintermute and Neuromancer). Various forms and degrees of AI are transforming human culture and relationships in ways both obvious (e.g., ChatGPT) and obscure (e.g., facial recognition, credit scoring, policing, and carceral sentencing). And like Gibson’s imagined future, the megarich of today are developing and deploying AI for their own capitalistic and ideological ends. While their motives are challenging enough to decipher, those of the eventual AGI systems they create will be even more so.

It is with these concerns in mind that we convene this year’s Ninth City Tech Science Fiction Symposium on the topic of Science Fiction, Artificial Intelligence, and Generative AI. Science Fiction offers a spectrum of AI perspectives from hopeful to warning. On the one hand there is Murray Leinster’s helpful if mischievous “A Logic Named Joe” (1946), but on the other, there is AM in Harlan Ellison’s “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” (1967). Together, we will examine the many connections between SF and AI: anticipation, caution, education, inspiration, prediction, representation, and more.

We invite proposals for 10-20 minute scholarly paper presentations or 40-60 minute panel discussions related to the topic of Science Fiction, Artificial Intelligence, and Generative AI. Please send a 250-word abstract with title, brief 100-150-word professional bio, and contact information to Jason Ellis (jellis@citytech.cuny.edu) by Friday, November 8, 2024.

Topics with a connection to Science Fiction, Artificial Intelligence, and Generative AI might include but certainly are not limited to:

How is AI represented in SF?
What is the history of AI in SF?
Does AI differ in SF across media (e.g., print, film, television, video games, etc.)?
How does AI affect individuals and society in SF?
How does SF approach AI Ethics including and beyond Asimov’s Laws of Robotics?
What are some of the unintended consequences of AI explored in SF, and what might we learn from those?
What are the utopian and dystopian possibilities of AI in SF?
What examples exist of teaching with AI in SF? Are there lessons for pedagogy today?
How does AI’s energy consumption figure into SF and Climate Fiction?
Are there mundane examples of AI in SF?
What can SF teach AI developers and users?
How is Generative AI depicted in SF?
How is Generative AI disrupting SF work practices (e.g., cover and interior art, writing, production workflows, etc.)?
Can AI make SF?
AI? What, me worry?

The event will be held in person at City Tech in downtown Brooklyn, New York.

Analog Science Fiction and Fact will also announce the winner of their second Analog Award for Emerging Black Voices at this year’s symposium (https://www.analogsf.com/about-analog/analog-emerging-black-voices-award/).

This event is free and open to the public as space permits: an RSVP will be included with the program when announced on the Science Fiction at City Tech website (https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/sciencefictionatcitytech/). Free registration will be required for participation.

The event is sponsored by the School of Arts and Sciences at the New York City College of Technology, CUNY.

The Annual City Tech Symposium on Science Fiction is held in celebration of the City Tech Science Fiction Collection, an archival holding of over 600-linear feet of magazines, anthologies, novels, and scholarship. It is in the Archives and Special Collections of the Ursula C. Schwerin Library (Library Building, L543C, New York City College of Technology, 300 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201). More information about the collection and how to access it is available here: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/sciencefictionatcitytech/librarycollection/.

September 23, 2024September 23, 2024

Banned Books September 22-28, 2024

This week starts Banned Books Week, a week long event celebrating the right to read, and access to free and open information for all. This year’s theme is “Freed Between the Lines,” in which the American Libraries Association(ALA) highlights the “freedom to explore new ideas and different perspectives is under threat, and book bans don’t just restrict access to stories—they undermine our rights.”

February 6, 2024February 6, 2024

Stream Oscar Winners and Nominees through Swank

The library has updated it’s streaming collection through Swank.

The following Academy Award nominees and winners can be streamed to currently enrolled City Tech students:

August: Osage County

Barbie (restricted; contact Prof. Junior Tidal)

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Brokeback Mountain

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Oppenheimer

Taxi Driver

The Godfather

There are many other films beyond these that are available for streaming.

For questions & more information, contact Prof. Junior Tidal.

January 31, 2024December 20, 2023

Love Comics and Graphic Novels? We Have Them!

Book cover for Wake : the hidden history of women-led slave revolts. Hall, Rebecca.

City Tech library has a large comics and graphic novels collection, over 400 print books, which you can browse online before coming to the library. Our graphic novels are located under the central staircase on the 4th floor of the library (the floor where users enter). Graphic novels can be borrowed for the same 8 week period like other circulating books.

We also have a large collection available online in Underground & Independent Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels. Log in with your CUNY ID and password from off-campus.

Is there a book you’d like us to buy? Just email me at monica.berger11@citytech.cuny.edu. Please include as much information as possible but feel free to send a link to Amazon or a publisher’s website if that’s easier for you. Note that we do not buy individual comic books that do not have a spine.

July 17, 2023July 17, 2023

City Tech Library Awarded American Libraries Association Building Library Capacity Grant

turntable — “Turntable” by Andrew Malone is licensed under CC BY 2.0

The Ursula C. Schwerin Library was one of 17 libraries nationwide awarded an American Libraries Association (ALA) Building Library Capacity Grant. The $10,000 grant is intended to “improve technology access “broaden technology access, develop collections, provide digital instruction, increase staffing, and expand outreach, or maintaining or amplifying other existing service strategies or adding new ones.” Prof. and Interim Chief Librarian Anne Leonard, Prof. Monica Berger, and Prof. Junior Tidal co-wrote the grant proposal.

The grant will provide the City Tech community access to equipment that they can borrow. The focus is primarily on audio technology, including podcasting kits, a podcasting booth, for students and faculty to create their own podcasts, portable turntables to listen to the library’s vinyl LP collection, as well as funding to add more albums to the collection. The library is planning to collect student input for album recommendations, as to reflect the broad diversity of the City Tech community.

ALA has provided a list of grant awardees and projects.

For more information, contact either Profs. Anne Leonard, Monica Berger, or Junior Tidal.

June 29, 2023June 29, 2023

The Ursula C. Schwerin Library is Accessible For All

The City Tech Library has revamped their Libguide collection making it more accessible for everyone.

The Ursula C. Schwerin Library is committed to developing equitable online spaces and included an accessibility focus within their June initiatives. According to the American College Health Association, 12% of undergraduate students reported having a disability, and recent data found that almost 13% of the U.S. population has a disability. While improving accessibility directly benefits those with disabilities, web accessibility benefits all users by removing restrictions on who can access information. This inclusive approach broadens access, increases participation, and promotes usability.

A library’s Libguide collection would ideally follow WCAG guidelines and offer resources that are user friendly, accessible, well designed, and findable. The City Tech Libguide Collection includes over fifty research guides on relevant subjects.

Adjunct librarians working in the library tackled this initiative through an assessment process that focused on accessibility aspects like alt text and screen reader capability. To conduct an audit of the Libguides, code inspection tools were utilized, rendering valuable information on accessibility errors. Two separate inspection tools found over 200 errors across ten guides. These errors ranged from low contrast, and missing corresponding labels, to dozens of images that were missing alt text.

Our audit-based suggestions included solutions to improve usability and ensure future accessibility errors do not occur. Improved guides were designed to mitigate and address accessibility issues pertaining to readability and inconsistency with navigation. The following Libguides have been coded and redesigned for inclusivity and accessibility:

Our Libguide collection offers an extensive catalog covering various topics and subject matters. Libguides are typically developed by academic librarians to help staff and students navigate resources and find information. Academic libraries have a responsibility to withhold accessibility standards for everyone’s access. This process is an ongoing endeavor that requires libraries to proactively address current content and responsively create new and accessible content. If you’re interested in seeing more Libguides- be sure to check out the full collection here.

June 20, 2023June 20, 2023

The Library’s First Video Display – College Assistant Picks

The City Tech Library has a new display curated by College Assistants working in the library this summer. Films on the display are available for check out, and is located at the main entrance of the Ursula C. Schwerin Library.

There are a variety of films in the display, from major theatrical releases to independent documentaries, and everything in between.

The collection was developed under the guidance of Profs. Nora Almeida, Jen Hoyer, and Junior Tidal.

For more information, feel free to contact Prof. Junior Tidal.

May 3, 2023May 3, 2023

Books for Asian American Pacific Islander Month

Shisma, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

May is Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. Originally designated as a week by President Carter in 1978 and observed the following year, President George H. W. Bush designated it as a month in 1992.

The Ursula C. Schwerin Library has a book display to celebrate the month long observance. You can view the display in the coming weeks which features a variety of books from the library’s collection, including non-fiction, fiction, cookbooks, and more. Until then, the City Tech community may view the available books through this digital collection, which was curated by Prof. Junior Tidal and implemented by Jen Hoyer.

Additionally, the library has a streaming video collection that celebrates AAPI month, and the City Tech AAPI Faculty and Staff Association are hosting a number of events , including a film screening, a bystander intervention training to combat anti-Asian violence, and an art exhibit, to mark the occasion.

May 3, 2023May 3, 2023

Streaming Films for Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month

May is AAPI month. City Tech students, staff, and faculty can celebrate with these streaming film selections:

Blue Bayou
As a Korean-American man raised in the Louisiana bayou works hard to make a life for his family, he must confront the ghosts of his past as he discovers that he could be deported from the only country he has ever called home.

Blue Bayou trailer

Boogie

Alfred “Boogie” Chin is a talented high school basketball player from Queens, New York, who dreams of playing in the NBA. His parents, however, have a different plan for him: they want him to focus on getting a scholarship to an elite college instead. While already burdened with high expectations, he finds himself struggling more as he tries to navigate high school, a new girlfriend, and fierce on-court rivals.

Boogie trailer

Crazy Rich Asians

“Crazy Rich Asians” follows native New Yorker Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) as she accompanies her longtime boyfriend, Nick Young (Henry Golding), to his best friend’s wedding in Singapore. Excited about visiting Asia for the first time but nervous about meeting Nick’s family, Rachel is unprepared to learn that Nick has neglected to mention a few key details about his life. It turns out that he is not only the scion of one of the country’s wealthiest families but also one of its most sought-after bachelors. Being on Nick’s arm puts a target on Rachel’s back, with jealous socialites and, worse, Nick’s own disapproving mother (Michelle Yeoh) taking aim. And it soon becomes clear that while money can’t buy love, it can definitely complicate things.

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Grappling with the onset of middle age, a Chinese immigrant discovers that she can traverse across time and space. Teaming up with her alternate lives, the unlikely allies realize that they alone possess the power to protect the world from calamity, plunging them into the midst of an outlandish quest.

Everything Everywhere All At Once Trailer

Rising Against Asian Hate: One Day in March

Following the aftermath of the March 2021 mass shootings at three spas in Atlanta, this film chronicles how the Asian American community came together to fight back against hate. Offering a conversation about race, class and gender, the film takes a deep dive into this critical moment of racial reckoning, exploring the struggles, triumphs and achievements of AAPI communities.

Good Americans

This series traces the story of Asian Americans, spanning 150 years of immigration, racial politics, and cultural innovation. It is a timely look at the role that Asian Americans have played in defining who we are as a nation. During the Cold War years, Asian Americans are simultaneously heralded as a Model Minority, and suspected as the perpetual foreigner. It is also a time of ambition, as Asian Americans aspire for the first time to national political office.

March 28, 2023March 28, 2023

Need a laptop? Check one out in the library!

*Coding Javascript* by Christaan Colen is licensed under CC-BY SA.

The library offers laptop loans to all enrolled City Tech students! Stop by the library’s Multimedia Resource Center. It is located on the 4th floor, to the left of the library’s entrance.

Laptops can be borrowed for 1 week from the library. You can check one out with your City Tech ID.

For questions or concerns, contact Prof. Junior Tidal, Web Services & Multimedia Librarian.

Category: Collections