All events will be held in Benjamin Franklin Hall, 427 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA

Thursday, June 6

5:30-7:00pm Opening reception and keynote featuring Dr. Augustin Chaintreau, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Columbia University

"A Sneak Peek at Big Data's Shadow Text" (Click Here To Watch)

The unprecedented effort to collect data about our everyday behavior — from our location at every moment to the rhythm at which we feed the web with inquiries and stimulate social media — is both fascinating and unnerving. Scholars were quick to distinguish between social media’s *first text* and its *shadow text*. The dissemination of knowledge in the first text is familiar to everyone: our tweets, shares and explicit digital interaction to exchange information among ourselves. The shadow text contains all information collected about us, augmented with analytics and prediction tools, that are seen and leveraged by others in support of their operation, including advertisers, information brokers and data mining firms. The image where the shadow text is the magician or puppet master behind the metaphorical curtain played by the first text is repeatedly used to highlight the need for better transparency in our online lives.

What information is exchanged and disseminated in the shadow text, for better or worse? Are we even named and identified in it? What are the ground for moral hazards? What are recourses and counterweights that exist today for all those concerned by this information asymmetry? In this talk, we will briefly survey together what a decade of works from the computer science research community have highlighted to answer those questions. The ultimate goal of the talk is to foster more connections between disciplines needed together to progress on those.

Friday, June 7

8:30-9:00am: Conference registration, light breakfast, and coffee at APS

9:00-9:30am Welcome
Patrick Spero, Director of the Library
American Philosophical Society

9:30-10:45am Panel 1: Social Networks (Click Here To Watch)

“Science, Skepticism, and Societies: the Politics of Knowledge Creation in the Early Republic”
George Oberle, George Mason University

“Who You Know: How Social and Educational Networks Fostered Professional Identity Among American Doctors, 1780-1815”
Sarah Naramore, The University of the South

“Benjamin Smith Barton's Natural History Network: Local Knowledge and Atlantic Community”
Peter Messer, Mississippi State University

“Planting the Seeds of Empire: Botanical Gardens and Correspondence Networks in Antebellum America”
Alicia DeMaio, Harvard University

Comment: Andrew Shankman, Rutgers University, Camden

10:45-11:15am Coffee Break

11:15-12:15pm Panel 2: Reconstructing Networks (Click Here To Watch)

“Spatial Expansion and State Power in the Nineteenth-Century United States”
Cameron Blevins, Northeastern University

“Intertribal Networks in the Colonized American West, 1870-1895”
Justin Gage, University of Arkansas

“Mapping the Networks of African North Americans Hidden in U.S. Government Records: Cases from Pension Files and the Census”
Adam Arenson, Manhattan College

Comment: Maeve Kane, SUNY Albany

12:15-1:30pm Lunch

1:30-2:15pm Panel 3: Special Project Demonstrations (Click Here To Watch)

"Benjamin Franklin Postal Records"
Bayard L. Miller and Cynthia Heider, Center for Digital Scholarship, American Philosophical Society

"The Cybernetics Thought Collective Initiative"
Bethany Anderson, University of Virginia, and Christopher Prom, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

2:15-3:00pm Panel 4: Reproducing Networks (Click Here To Watch)

“Plagiarism as Dialogue: The Loyalist Historians as Transatlantic Mediators”
Eileen Cheng, Sarah Lawrence College

“Worlds of Wonder: Tracing Reproductions of Microscopy Illustrations in the Nineteenth Century”
Lea Beiermann, Maastricht University

Comment: Richard John, Columbia University

3:00-3:15pm Break

3:15-4:30pm Panel 5: Networks and Nodes (Click Here To Watch)

“From Brussels to Europe: Building a Big Data Set in the Nineteenth Century”
Kevin Donnelly, Alvernia University

“Visualizing 19th and 20th Century Women in Science”
Serenity Sutherland, SUNY Oswego

“The Cybernetic Effect: Soviet Mind Research in the 1960s and 70s”
Ekaterina Babintseva, University of Pennsylvania

“Organizations and Knowledge Networks”
Janet Vertesi, Princeton University

Comment: Robert M. Hauser, Executive Officer, American Philosophical Society

4:30pm Wrap up and Departures

Register for "Networks: The Creation and Circulation of Knowledge from Franklin to Facebook" through the link on the left-hand side of the page. Please indicate your name, address, institutional affiliation, and whether you plan to attend both days of the conference. You will not receive a confirmation email but you should be directed to a confirmation message once you submit the form.

Old City Hotels:

There are several hotels within walking distance as well as many within a short ride by public transit, taxi, or Uber. Addresses and contact information are below. The hotels listed here represent accommodations in Old City, Philadelphia. There are many additional options in other areas of the city including Center City and Rittenhouse Square. Philadelphia is also served by Airbnb and other accommodation sharing sites.

Renaissance Philadelphia Downtown Hotel (Marriott)
401 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Reservations: 215-925-0000

Hotel Monaco (Kimpton)
433 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Reservations: 855-295-BELL
Hotel: 215-925-2111

Wyndham Philadelphia Historic District
400 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215-923-8660

Sheraton Philadelphia Society Hill Hotel
1 Dock Street (Between 2nd and Walnut Streets)
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215-238-6000

Best Western The Independence Park Hotel
235 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215-922-4443

Holiday Inn Express Philadelphia-E.Penns Landing
100 North Christopher Columbus Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19106
1-800-405-4329

APS Addresses: The symposium will take place in the APS’s Franklin Hall, located at 427 Chestnut Street. The Library is located at 105 South Fifth Street, and the APS Museum is housed across the street from the Library, in Philosophical Hall at 104 South Fifth Street.

Planes: The Philadelphia International Airport is 12 miles from the American Philosophical Society and is served by most major domestic and many international airlines. Philadelphia is a regional hub for American Airlines.

Ground Transportation from Airport: The airport is connected to Philadelphia through a network of public transit, rental cars, taxis, and private car services. In addition, Uber services can be booked for transport to and from the airport. More information on specific modes of transport can be found on the airport’s website.

Trains: Philadelphia has an Amtrak station and is on the busy Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington, D.C. Both Northeast Regional and Acela trains stop at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. In addition, the Keystone, an east-west Amtrak route, stops several times a day in Philadelphia.

Automobiles: The American Philosophical Society is easily reached by I-95, 676, and the 76/Schuylkill Expressway.

Parking: There are several parking garages within a convenient distance from the APS. The Bourse Garage is the closest facility, at 4th and Ranstead Streets. Additionally, there are garages at the Independence Visitor Center and the National Constitution Center.

Buses: Many bus companies in the Northeast serve the Philadelphia area including Bolt Bus, Mega Bus, and Greyhound. Bolt Bus and Mega Bus arrive at 30th Street Station, which is a short ride away from the APS. The Greyhound station is between 12th and 13th Streets, just behind the Jefferson Station SEPTA stop.

Public Transportation in Philadelphia: The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is the major public transportation provider in the Philadelphia region. SEPTA runs Regional Rail lines through the city to the outlying suburbs and the airport. The Market-Frankford Line stops every couple of streets in Center City and runs out to West Philadelphia, by the University of Pennsylvania. SEPTA also runs trolley lines and buses throughout the city. Schedules, maps, fares, and additional information about the public transit system in Philadelphia can be found on their website.

"Networks: The Creation and Circulation of Knowledge from Franklin to Facebook" is co-sponsored by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library.