معرفی
Ben Dalton is a Principal Lecturer at Leeds Beckett University, affiliated with the Leeds School of Arts and the Leeds Arts Research Centre (LARC). Their academic work bridges art, design, and technology, focusing on communication design and critical infrastructure studies within digital publics.
Ben Dalton's educational background includes training at prestigious institutions:
- MIT Media Lab (design, ubiquitous computing, and mobile sensor networks)
- Arhus University Electron-Molecular Interaction group
- University of Leeds Spintronics and Magnetic Nanostructures lab
- Jim Henson's Creature Shop, London
Ben's research explores identity design and critical infrastructure through diffractive methodologies, feminist science and technology studies, and material-discursive agential realism. Their work investigates identity performance in digital public spaces, developing prototype apps and services that explore contemporary identity experiences. They have examined identity construction in workplace and social spaces through collaborative projects with partners including the BBC and international art institutions. Their research extends to digital public space as a growing field encompassing critical infrastructures, personal data stores, networked commons, and construction of sustainable digital publics. Ben has developed numerous interactive media applications with commercial and government partners, including urban big screen interactions, mobile city geolocation games, and festivals.
Ben Dalton's publication record demonstrates a consistent focus on the intersection of identity, digital infrastructure, and public space. Their work spans from early investigations into audio-based self-localization and spin mixing to recent explorations of queer joy as a digital good and collaging against women's invisibility in climbing magazines. A notable trend across their publications is the use of artistic and design methodologies to critically examine digital infrastructure and identity politics. Their research often employs diffractive approaches that blend technical, social, political, and aesthetic perspectives on identity in networked environments.
Ben has secured significant research funding for their work, including:
- ESRC Network funding for "Queer Joy as a Digital Good"
- AHRC Creative Exchange Knowledge Exchange Hub
- Two EPSRC-funded research projects on visualizing pedestrian usage patterns and wearable computing sensors
- Hewlett-Packard funding for GPS music city archive app development
- VERDIKT (Research Council of Norway) funding for the "Data is Political" project
As an academic and artist, Ben Dalton has led numerous collaborative projects and workshops internationally, including presentations at ESA Convention House, FACT Liverpool, MAP University of Regina, DUB University of Washington, Chaos Communication Congress, and many other venues worldwide. Their work often involves interdisciplinary teams and combines academic research with artistic practice to explore the political dimensions of digital infrastructure.
