Andy Miah
Biography
I am interested in the aesthetic, ethical, cultural and policy issues arising from emerging technology. I have spent considerable time researching the Internet along with human enhancement technologies. This includes the implications of pervasive wireless connectivity and the convergence of technological systems and the modification of biological matter through nanotechnology and gene transfer. Many of these studies are increasingly transdisciplinary and being characterised as NBIC (nano-bio-info-cognitive) inquiries. Recent work has particularly examined the role of art and design in an era of biotechnology, often described as bioart or transgenic art.
I have published over 100, solo-authored academic articles in refereed journals, books, e-zines, and national media press, recently including Bioethics and Film, Medical Enhancement and Posthumanity, and Politics and Leisure. I also write for leading newspapers, including The Washington Post, The Guardian, Le Monde, the Times Higher Education Supplement. I have also had profile pieces published on my work by The Scotsman, The Times and the Independent. I am also a photographer and nearly all of the photography on this website is my own.
I am on the Editorial Boards for three major journals: Studies in Ethics, Law and Technology, ‘Genomics, Society & Policy and Health Care Analysis (Springer) and Second Nature. I have also refereed submissions for the AHRC and The Wellcome Trust.
My major publications are ‘Genetically Modified Athletes’ (Routledge, 2004) and ‘The Medicalization of Cyberspace’ (Routledge, 2008), Human Futures: Art in an Age of Uncertainty, and another titled ‘A Digital Olympics: Digital Games, Ethics & Cultures’ (The MIT Press, 2010).
I am frequently invited to speak about the implications of new technologies for humanity (the individual) and society (the collective), particularly ethical issues related to new media, biopolitics and public engagement.
I am also involved with various projects that study various non-sporting aspects of the Olympic movement and have been working in this area for 10 years. I have undertaken primary data collection at the last 6 Olympic Games. The next phases of this research takes me to Vancouver for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. In relation to this work, I am also co-editor of the online, academic serial ‘Culture at the Olympics’.
I am a member of various academic associations and working groups, including the Royal Institution of Great Britian, Yale University Bioethics working group, the Society of Applied Philosophy, the British Society for Ethical Theory, the International Association of Bioethics, and the Media, Communications and Cultural Studies Association, the Society for Social Studies of Science.
In 2009, I was on the Executive Committee for the International Symposium for Electronic Art (ISEA, Belfast) and is working with Abandon Normal Devices (AND), the festival of New Cinema and Digital Culture and in 2011 am Co-Chair of RE:Wire, conference of the Media Art History society.
PS: Since 1998, I have been designing websites, which have been built with Macromedia & Adobe products. I’ve been blogging on Blogger and WordPress since 2005 and use photography and graphic packages throughout my environments. Most of the photography on this site is by me. I think most exceptions are apparent. My reason for designing websites is mainly to maintain a creative outlet other than my writing, but also because I remember reading, a long time ago, that academic journal articles are read, on average by 6 people. As a result, I became committed to reaching more people with my research and this compels me towards doing publicity and engaging with the media and with media. Some of my published research talks about this need and I’ve also helped to setup others online, to advance these commitments. That said, I really just enjoy learning how to do new stuff with technology and this is a good in itself that is my primary motivation to play online
Books
- MEDICALIZATION OF CYBERSPACE (2008)
- HUMAN FUTURES (2008)
- GENETICALLY MODIFIED ATHLETES (2004)
