Critical Technology

Games, memes, and parodies are increasingly used by extremist groups to spread misinformation and to lower the barriers to entry into extreme ideologies. But is there a deeper strategy at work? And if so, what's the end game? In Part 2 of this special two part interview, Dr. Sara Grimes chats with three researchers from the Reactionary Digital Politics Research Group, a multi-disciplinary collaboration based in the UK that has spent the past five years tracking the rise and spread of extremist and alt-right political ideologies, rhetorics, and aesthetics online.  Dr. Alan Finlayson is a Professor of Political and Social Theory at the University of East Anglia, in Norwich England, and the author of Making Sense of New Labour  (Lawrence and Wishart, 2003). Dr. Robert Topinka is a Senior Lecturer in Transnational Media and Cultural Studies at Birkbeck, University of London, and the author of Racing the Street: Race, Rhetoric and Technology in Metropolitan London, 1840-1900 (University of California Press, 2020). And Dr. Rob Gallagher is a Lecturer in Film and Media in the Department of English at Manchester Metropolitan University and author of Videogames, Identity and Digital Subjectivity (Routledge, 2017). In this episode, the Reactionary Digital Politics team discusses findings and arguments advanced in Dr. Topinka's recent article, entitled "Back to a Past that was Futuristic: The Alt-Right and the Uncanny Form of Racism," published in b2o: an online journal in 2019. Type of research discussed in today’s episode: rhetorical analysis, discourse analysis, media studies, content analysis, critical analysis.Keywords for today’s episode: reactionary politics, extremism, alt-right, cultural (re)appropriation, reactionary racism, insider/outsider identity, identity politics.For more information and a full transcript of each episode, check out our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/ Send questions or comments to: criticaltechpod.kmdi@utoronto.ca

Digital technologies are increasingly used as ideological weapons of misinformation, manipulation, propaganda, and radicalization. But how exactly are social media platforms and memes used by ideological extremists? And what are they trying to achieve? In this episode, Dr. Sara Grimes (Director of the KMDI) chats with three researchers from the Reactionary Digital Politics Research Group, a multi-disciplinary collaboration based in the UK that has spent the past five years tracking the rise and spread of extremist and "alt-right" political ideologies, rhetorics, and aesthetics online.  Dr. Alan Finlayson is a Professor of Political and Social Theory at the University of East Anglia, in Norwich England, and the author of Making Sense of New Labour  (Lawrence and Wishart, 2003). Dr. Robert Topinka is a Senior Lecturer in Transnational Media and Cultural Studies at Birkbeck, University of London, and the author of Racing the Street: Race, Rhetoric and Technology in Metropolitan London, 1840-1900 (University of California Press, 2020). And Dr. Rob Gallagher is a Lecturer in Film and Media in the Department of English at Manchester Metropolitan University and author of Videogames, Identity and Digital Subjectivity (Routledge, 2017). In the first of a special two part series, the Reactionary Digital Politics team discusses some of their findings, as well as key arguments advanced in Dr. Finlayson's recent article, entitled “Neoliberalism, the Alt Right and the Intellectual Dark Web," published in Theory, Culture & Society in 2021.  Type of research discussed in today’s episode: rhetorical analysis, discourse analysis, media studies, content analysis, critical analysis.Keywords for today’s episode: reactionary politics, extremism, alt-right, cultural influencers, ideological entrepreneurs, the dark web, inequality, intertextuality. For more information and a full transcript of each episode, check out our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/ Send questions or comments to: criticaltechpod.kmdi@utoronto.ca 

While Dall-E, Stable Diffusion, and other popular AI-image systems have rekindled the debate about the future of creative work in the digital age, many cultural industries are already heavily reliant on machine learning and automation to produce content traditionally created by artists and designers. A key example is the digital games industry, where game engines, procedural content generation, and AI systems play an increasingly prominent role. In this episode, Dr. Sara Grimes (Director of the KMDI) chats with Dr. Aleena Chia, Lecturer in the Media, Communications and Cultural Studies Department at Goldsmiths, University of London, about her research on the ongoing transformation of creative work in the digital games industry. The discussion is focused on two of Dr. Chia’s recent articles: “The Artist and the Automaton in Digital Game Production,” published in Convergence (2022); and "The Metaverse, but not the way you think: Game engines and automation beyond game development," published in Critical Studies in Media Communication (2022). Type of research discussed in today’s episode: political economy of communication research; digital game studies; ethnography; labour studies.Keywords for today’s episode: procedural generated content (PCG); game engines; creative work; affective labour; automation; outsourced labour; racial capitalism; human-in-the-loop.For more information and a full transcript of each episode, check out our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/Send questions or comments to: criticaltechpod.kmdi@utoronto.ca

Many of us are thinking more deeply about our relationships with the land these days. Through land acknowledgements inspired by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action.  In response to the growing urgency, and immediacy, of climate change and its impacts. But what about our digital technologies and online cultures? How does the concept of Indigenous land-based relations help us to better understand the information society, its politics, and its processes?  In this episode, Dr. Sara Grimes (Director of the KMDI) chats with Dr. Jeffrey Ansloos, author of The Medicine of Peace: Indigenous Youth Decolonizing Healing and Resisting Violence,Associate Professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, a Registered Psychologist in the Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development, and the Canada Research Chair in Critical Studies in Indigenous Health and Social Action on Suicide, at the University of Toronto. Professor Ansloos is Nehiyaw (Cree) and English and a member of Fisher River Cree Nation (Ochekwi-Sipi; Treaty 5), who was born and raised in Treaty 1 territory in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and now resides in Tkaronto. The discussion is focused on Dr. Ansloos’s research into land-based relations within social media platforms and other digital technologies, Indigenous STS and decolonizing methodologies, and working with Indigenous youth to tackle mental health issues, social violence, and systematic oppression. It is centred on three of his recent articles: “Surviving in the cracks: a qualitative study with Indigenous youth on homelessness and applied community theatre” co-authored with Amanda Wager, published in the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education in 2020;  “Our spirit is like a fire: Conceptualizing intersections of mental health, wellness, and spirituality with Indigenous youth leaders across Canada,” co-authored with Elissa Dent, and published in the Journal of Indigenous Social Development in 2021; and “Indigenous sovereignty in digital territory: a qualitative study on land-based relations with #NativeTwitter,” co-authored with Ashley Caranto Morford, and published in AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples in 2021.Type of research discussed in today’s episode: decolonizing methodologies, Indigenous Science and Technology Studies (STS), arts-based research, participatory research, thematic analysis.Keywords for today’s episode: land-based relations, #NativeTwitter, mental health, Indigenous youth, Settler colonialism in cyberspace, decolonization, Indigenous sovereignty, cyber-justice.For more information and a full transcript of each episode, check out our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/

Although computing technologies are now ubiquitous in much of the West and other parts of the world, there are still significant inequalities when it comes to who has access to computer science education. Powerful cultural stereotypes about who is or can become a coder persist, leading to the underrepresentation of girls and children of colour from a crucial form of digital literacy. In this episode, Dr. Sara Grimes (Director of the KMDI) chats with Dr. Deborah Fields, Associate Research Professor in the Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Department at Utah State University, about her research on the relationship between identity, motivation and learning how to code among tweens and teens, and how to break down stereotypes about who can code and how. The discussion is focused on Dr. Fields’s recent article in the British Journal of Educational Technology: “Debugging by design: A constructionist approach to high school students' crafting and coding of electronic textiles as failure artefacts,” co-authored with Dr. Yasmin B. Kafai, Luis Morales-Novarro, and Justice T. Walker (2021). Type of research discussed in today’s episode: education research; pedagogy design and innovation; workshops; computer science education; participatory research; action research.Keywords for today’s episode: constructionism; software bug; computer coding; e(lectronic)-textiles; equity in education; STEM (science technology engineering math); mischievousness; socially meaningful failure artifacts; productive failure; creativity; aesthetics first.For more information and a full transcript of each episode, check out our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/Send questions or comments to: criticaltechpod.kmdi@utoronto.ca

How, where, and what kids and teens learn about safe sex, substance use, and other health-related topics is incredibly important. Especially for young people who are already dealing with higher risk factors, such as neighbourhood poverty and violence--a  disproportionate number of whom are young people of colour, specifically Black, Latinx or Indigenous youth.  In this episode, Dr. Sara M. Grimes (Director of the KMDI) chats with Dr. Robin Stevens, Associate Professor at University of Southern California (USC) Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and the Director and founder of the Health Equity and Media Collab, about her research on Black, Latinx and LGBTQ+ youth's use of social media, and the implications for their health and well-being. The discussion is focused on two of Dr. Stevens's articles: “The digital hood: Social media use among youth in disadvantaged neighborhoods,”  published in 2017 in New Media and Society; and “#digitalhood: Engagement with risk content in Social Media among Black and Hispanic Youth,” published in the Journal of Urban Health in 2019.Type of research discussed in today's episode: health communication; digital epidemiology; community-engaged research; interdisciplinary research; youth studies; qualitative research.Keywords for today's episode: digital neighbourhood/hood; risk-related content; Black youth culture; Latinx youth culture; technological determinism; content creation; invisible visibility. For more information and a full transcript of each episode, check out our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/ Send questions or comments to: criticaltechpod.kmdi@utoronto.ca 

As smart toys, virtual assistants, and machine learning apps spread across our homes and schools, an increasing number of children are now living, learning, and growing up around artificial intelligence or “AI”. Yet, we still know very little about children’s relationship with AI, how they feel about the seemingly knowledgeable voices coming out of their electronic devices, or how AI responds to children’s feelings. In this episode, Dr. Sara Grimes (Director of the KMDI) chats with Dr. Andrew McStay, Professor of Digital Life at Bangor University (Wales, UK) and Director of the Emotional AI Lab about the ethics and impacts of AI technologies designed to read and respond to our emotions, and their growing presence in children’s lives.  The discussion is focused on two of Dr. McStay’s recent articles in the journal Big Data & Society: “Emotional artificial intelligence in children’s toys and devices: Ethics, governance and practical remedies,” co-authored with Dr. Gilad Rosner (2021), and “Emotional AI, soft biometrics and the surveillance of emotional life: An unusual consensus on privacy” (2020).[Please Note: The news story described at the very start of the intro happened in late 2021, not 2020. With apologies for the error and any resulting confusion!]Type of research discussed in today’s episode: mixed-method research; social science; media/communication studies; philosophy of technology; ethics; law/policy research.Keywords for today’s episode: artificial intelligence (AI); emotion; empathy; feeling into; soft biometrics; emotoys; generational unfairness; technological ambivalence; governance; data protection and privacy; children’s rights. For more information and a full transcript of each episode, check out our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/Send questions or comments to: criticaltechpod.kmdi@utoronto.ca

Ongoing debates about how digital technologies impact children’s health and well-being often frame sports as the opposite  or even antidote to sedentary screen time. For centuries, children’s sports have served as a symbol of a “good” childhood -- one that privileges some children while historically excluding many others, especially girls, Black children, and children of colour. In this episode, Dr. Sara Grimes (Director of the KMDI) chats with Dr. Samantha White, Assistant Professor of Sport Studies at Manhattanville College (New York), about her work on children’s sporting cultures at the intersection of race and gender, and how mapping the history and politics of children and sports is crucial for understanding contemporary ideas about childhood. The discussion focuses on two of Dr. White’s recent articles, “Ebony Jr! and the Black Athlete: Meritocracy, Sport, and African-American Children’s Media” (Journal of Sport History, 2020), and “Black Girls Swim: Race, Gender, and Embodied Aquatic Histories” (Girlhood Studies, 2021). Type of research discussed in today’s episode: sports studies; historical research; archival research; textual/media analysis; communication studies; Black studies; gender studies; children’s studies.Keywords for today’s episode: Black girl athletes; child athletes; children’s sporting culture; media representation; meritocracy; spectacular sports; embodied respectability.For more information and a full transcript of each episode, check out our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/Send questions or comments to: criticaltechpod.kmdi@utoronto.ca

We all know that the global data economy relies on the ongoing collection, exchange and use of massive amounts of our data – from personal information, to what we do online, to algorithmic forecasts about what we might to do in the future. But what about children’s data? Although there are special laws in place to protect children’s privacy in many regions around the world, huge amounts of their data are still being collected by a growing of devices and applications. In this episode, Dr. Sara Grimes (Director of the KMDI) chats with Dr. Veronica Barassi, Professor in Media and Communication Studies at the University of St. Gallen, in Switzerland, about her research and theories of how childhood itself is being transformed by the production and manipulation of personally identifying digital data. The discussion is focused on key arguments and findings found in Dr. Barassi’s new book, Child Data Citizen: How Tech Companies Are Profiling Us from Before Birth, which outlines key trends contributing to a “datafication” of children and the troubling implications this has for their rights and futures. Type of research discussed in today’s episode: anthropology; ethnography; digital ethnography; communication studies; civic rights and democracy studies.Keywords for today’s episode: data citizen; datafication; data flows; data economies; big data; digital participation; democracy; consent; data justice. For more information and a full transcript of each episode, check out our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/Send questions or comments to: criticaltechpod.kmdi@utoronto.ca

There is incredible diversity in children’s relationships with digital technologies, which introduce a range of opportunities and challenges for their rights, learning, and wellbeing. Kids on the spectrum, however, must also contend with popular stereotypes and misinformation about autism and technology, which impact them in complex ways. In this episode, Dr. Sara Grimes (Director of the KMDI) chats with Dr. Meryl Alper, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Northeastern University Lab, about her ongoing research on the role of media and digital technologies in the lives of disabled children and their families. The discussion is focused on key findings and ideas found in Dr. Alper’s forthcoming book, Kids Across the Spectrums: Growing Up Autistic in the Digital Age, which challenges enduring myths about kids on the spectrum and reveals the cultural, social, and sensorial dimensions of how some of these kids use and relate to media and digital technologies in their everyday lives.Type of research discussed in today’s episode: communications studies; disability studies; children’s studies; science and technology studies (STS); ethnography; qualitative research.Keywords for today’s episode: autism spectrum; sociality; intersectionality; cultural belonging; social repertoires; senses/sensory. For more information and a full transcript of each episode, check out our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/Send questions or comments to: criticaltechpod.kmdi@utoronto.ca

From sourdough starters and "covid gardens," to homemade face masks and Sea Shanty TikToks, the pandemic has inspired a boom in crafting, making, artistic expression, and everyday creativity. In this episode, Dr. Sara Grimes (Director of the KMDI) chats with Dr. David Gauntlett, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Creativity in the School of Creative Industries at Ryerson University (Toronto, ON) and founder of the Creativity Everything Lab, about his research on the creative process, the cultures that emerge around making and sharing creative content, and the benefits of engaging in both hands-on and digital creative activities. The discussion is focused on ideas and themes found in Dr. Gauntlett’s upcoming book, Creativity: Seven Keys to Unlock Your Creative Self, which proposes an expanded and deeply inclusive definition and approach to creativity, which argues that creativity is above all “a thing that you do.”Type of research discussed in today’s episode: practice-based research; creative practice; play studies; media studies; psychology.Keywords for today’s episode: creativity; identity; creative practice; material culture; digital culture; creative professionals; everyday creativity.   For more information, check out our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/Send questions or comments to: criticaltechpod.kmdi@utoronto.ca

Digital gaming is a vital source of fun, relaxation, learning and social connection for kids and adults alike. But people don’t always “play nice” and games can also become the sites of interpersonal conflict, trolling, and seriously harmful behaviours. In this episode, Dr. Sara Grimes (Director of the KMDI) chats with Dr. Kelly Boudreau, a professor at the Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, about her fascinating and timely research on problematic and toxic gameplay; the roles of these practices within gaming subcultures, and their sociological function as forms of boundary keeping. This discussion is focused on Dr. Boudreau’s contribution to the ground-breaking new edited collection Transgression in Games and Play (2019, The MIT Press): a nuanced, multi-disciplinary exploration of transgressive game content and boundary-crossing player practices.Type of research discussed in today’s episode: game studies; sociology; (sub-)cultural studies.Keywords for today’s episode: problematic play; toxic player behaviour; gamer (sub)culture; transgressive play; trolls/trolling; boundary keeping; identity.  For more information, check out our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/Send questions or comments to: criticaltechpod.kmdi@utoronto.ca

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

As the media and cultural industries have shifted to digital platforms (like Facebook, Apple, and Amazon), massive changes in how cultural content is made, distributed, and consumed have unfolded. In this episode, Dr. Sara Grimes (Director of the KMDI) chats with Dr. David Nieborg, a professor at the University of Toronto, and one of the lead investigators on the Platforms and Cultural Production project: a multi-year, international research initiative that examines how the rise and spread of digital platforms is changing the cultural industries, and the implications this has on our shared cultural experience. Type of research discussed in today's episode: A combination of political economy of communication, media studies, and cultural studies. Keywords for today's episode: Platformization, cultural production, platform evolution, and boundary resources. For more information, check out our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/Send questions or comments to: criticaltechpod.kmdi@utoronto.ca

A new series from the Knowledge Media Design Institute (KMDI) and Director/Professor Sara Grimes, featuring interviews with Prof. David Nieborg, Prof. Negin Dahya, Prof. Beth Coleman and other experts on the intersections of digital technology and society. Premieres Fall 2020.