Dystopian edtech and the future of software supply chain security

Getting the middle finger from your audience isn’t typically a desired outcome for a talk, but it was exactly the type of reaction I was hoping for during…

Towards a Software of the Oppressed: A Freirean Approach to Surveillance Capitalism

I’m excited to share an open access version of my chapter “Towards a a Software of the Oppressed: A Freirean Approach to Surveillance Capitalism.” The chapter was recently…

def tech_liberation():

#teaching agency in a programmed world From our living rooms to the workplace, digital surveillance and control are on the rise.  How did computing become so scary, and…

Open access in an age of surveillance technology

Fighting for ground in the public imagination This post is adapted from a talk I gave at the University of Victoria on October 21, 2019 as the Honorary…

Ten weird tricks for resisting surveillance capitalism in and through the classroom . . . next term!

(Cross-posted on HASTAC) Greetings, educators! Are you watching in sheer terror as BigTech’s four horsemen Surveillance, Exploitation, Manipulation, and Cataclysmic Hubris gallop wildly down the information superhighway, downloading…

exciting news!

I’m thrilled to announce that I’m joining the UC San Diego Library as the Digital Scholarship Librarian. After two and half years of working in a variety of…

UCSD Race and Oral History Project

UC San Diego’s Race and Oral History Project gives students a central role in documenting the histories of the diverse communities that make up our city.

#SocialDiss

To what extent can the general public participate in and benefit from the production of a dissertation? How might the private and anxiety-ridden processes of education be transformed into a public good and social joy?

Design@Large talk: Networks for us, by us

Networks for us, by us: Participatory design for a San Diego Digital Commons It’s often taken for granted that everyday users should have little say in the design…

#SocialDiss Recap #1: The delightful crowd in the dissertation’s margins

What happens when you invite the public to review your messy dissertation drafts? About four months ago, I launched #SocialDiss, an experimental project in which I’ve committed to “socializing”…

Social Paper: Retooling Student Consciousness

A global commons for students to network in-progress writing and feedback across disciplines, institutions, and publics. The following is a grant proposal written in October 2015 soliciting funding from…

Announcing #SocialDiss: Transforming the dissertation into networked knowledge production

To what extent can the general public participate in and benefit from the production of a dissertation? How might the private and anxiety-ridden processes of education be transformed into a public good and social joy? Are the imperfect artifacts of learning to be hidden and disposed of as shameful wasteor might they provide fertile soil for the cultivation of a global learning community? Could the form of the dissertation itself blossom into something more vibrant and responsive to today’s world in the process?

participatory infrastructure: why we need the masses in the control room

I use “participatory infrastructure”  here to signify digital infrastructure whose mechanisms are transparent to its user community, whose user community is able to critically assess the ways in which it affects and mediates their community, and which is designed to invite continued development by that user community. Participatory infrastructure requires open technical protocols and social organization that encourages all users, regardless of expertise, to participate in discussions regarding that infrastructure’s ongoing development.

Social Paper: Retooling Student Consciousness

A global commons for students to network in-progress writing and feedback across disciplines, institutions, and publics. The following is a grant proposal written in October 2015 soliciting funding from…

Social Paper

In an age when “sharing” is as easy as pushing a button, student papers are still largely written for the audience of a single professor. By denying students…