This special issue, guest edited by Martin Hand (editorial advisory board member) and Ashley Scarlett, is on: ‘Machine Vision in Context: Politics and Practices of Computational Seeing’. The papers take stock of the importance of newer technologies over recent decades. An introductory discussion by the guest editors on contemporary machine vision technologies, politics and practices, frames and contextualises the six articles that follow through addressing the reciprocal influences of photographic thinking and practices on computational seeing, and vice versa. The authors suggest key themes and areas of analysis that are helping to frame critical engagement at the intersection of photography and machine vision that are more fully addressed through the various contributions included.
The issue responds to an invitation to members of our Editorial Board for proposals for themed issues that resulted in two special issues engaging with online practices, 16.1 on everyday photography and on-line mourning, and 16.2 on machine vision. Each issue was generated through an open call for papers, circulated widely courtesy our editorial board members and published on the journal website, where future such calls will also be posted. www.tandfonline.com/action/newsAndOffers?journalCode=rpho20.
We would like to thank our guest editors for their work in circulating a call for papers and fostering the development of this special issue as well as those who acted as independent peer reviewers for the articles.