Critical Technology Folgen

In his critically acclaimed new book, Distributed Blackness: African American Cybercultures (2020, New York University Press), Dr. Andre Brock Jr, professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, positions Blackness at the very centre of Internet culture. In so doing, Brock uncovers the complex ways that race and racism, but also joy and humour, have always shaped how digital technologies are designed, used, depicted, and envisioned. In this episode, Sara chats with Dr. Brock about his important new book, his methodologically ground-breaking framework for researching technology and society, and his ongoing work on race, identity, libidinal economy, and social connection on (and beyond) Black Twitter. Type of research discussed in today’s episode: a deeply interdisciplinary combination of critical race theory, critical discourse analysis, science and technology studies, and historical research.Keywords for today’s episode: Black Twitter, Black informational identity, libidinal economy, cultural commonplaces, ratchetry, racism, respectability, technoculture. For more information, check out our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/Send questions or comments to: criticaltechpod.kmdi@utoronto.ca

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) across our devices, information systems, and built environments is reshaping the design and function of the technologies that surround us. From AI-generated designer chairs to smart cities, this shift introduces a range of new relationships, possibilities, and risks into our lives. In this episode, Sara chats with Dr. Beth Coleman, a professor at the University of Toronto and the lead investigator of the City as Platform project: an interdisciplinary research collaboration aimed at understanding existing smart technology infrastructures, and working with municipal, industry, and civic actors to enable a transformation from techno-centric to human-centered design.Type of research discussed in today’s episode: A combination of science and technology studies (STS), policy analysis, ethnography, philosophy of technology, and action research.Keywords for today’s episode: AI, machine learning, generative design, algorithmic aesthetics, poesis, data markers, human-centered design, The Bauhaus.For more information, check out our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/Send questions or comments to: criticaltechpod.kmdi@utoronto.ca

Educational technologies and online learning have received a lot of attention lately, as schools worldwide shifted to remote delivery. But for children and youth in refugee camps, access to education has long been embedded in digital technologies, presenting unique opportunities, and big challenges, for teaching and learning.  In this episode, Dr. Sara Grimes (Director of the KMDI) chats with Dr. Negin Dahya, a professor at the University of Toronto, and the lead investigator on the Portraits of Education Change: Redefining Pedagogy & Technology in Refugee Camps project: an international research collaboration examining how technologies are being used by students, teachers, and communities in refugee camps to mediate, facilitate, and support teaching and learning in varied, social, and peer-to-peer ways. Type of research discussed in today’s episode: education studies, media studies, feminist research methods, critical race theory, postcolonial theory.Keywords for today’s episode: educational technologies, ecological systems model, learning contexts, youth as information mediators. For more information, check out our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/Send questions or comments to: criticaltechpod.kmdi@utoronto.ca