The human factor — why data is not enough to understand the world
In a world shaped by one AI, artificial intelligence, we need a second AI, too — anthropology intelligence, writes Gillian Tett in the Financial Times.
Insights curated by Experientia, the international UX consultancy
Insights curated by Experientia, the international UX consultancy
Category Technology (general)
How constant tech is breaking our brains
Fast Company spoke with tech pioneer Jaron Lanier, Microsoft CVP Emma Williams and Stanford professor Jeremy Bailenson.
Lack of partnership with key community members causes ICT4D projects to fail
The main lesson is that even a nearly imperceptible deviation from the full inclusion of all relevant parties in every aspect of the project can result in large deviations from the expected outcomes
[Book] Slow computing
Drawing on the ideas of the "slow movement", Slow Computing sets out numerous practical and political means to take back control and counter the more pernicious effects of living digital lives.
UX designer breaks down the “malicious” design of Trump’s campaign website
While UX designers are trained to be on the side of the user, there are ways that the user experience can be manipulated to be in favor of the "product" in this case, a candidate. UX designer Mary Formanek broke down how this worked in an interview with Salon.
Why computing belongs within the social sciences
This article argues [that] the well-publicized social ills of computing will not go away simply by integrating ethics instruction or codes of conduct into computing curricula. The remedy to these ills instead lies less in philosophy and more in fields…
Security isn’t just a technology problem – it’s about design, too
While it's easy to blame the user, phishing schemes have become incredibly sophisticated and believable. So, instead of blaming the user, we want to instead bring an empathetic lens, and understand more about their needs.
Five short papers on online privacy by Carissa Véliz
Carissa Véliz is a philosopher and ethicist who works on digital ethics, practical ethics more generally, political philosophy, and public policy
Special issue on digital ethnography
This special issue of the Journal of Digital Social Research collects the confessions of five digital ethnographers laying bare their methodological failures, disciplinary posturing, and ethical dilemmas.
The future of digital democracy
The Brussels-based digital participation platform CitizenLab asked 12 digital democracy experts to share their predictions on the future of digital democracy
NYTimes Magazine special issue on the future of the internet
In this special issue, the New York Times Magazine has tried to see the internet and its likely future as best as they can, in the hope that - after decades as imagining it as a utopia, and then a few years as seeing it as a dystopia - we might finally begin to see it for what it is, which is a set of powerful technologies in the midst of some serious flux.
The digital lives of refugees [Research report]
There is growing recognition among donors and humanitarian organisations that mobile technology and mobile network operators (MNOs) have an important role to play in the delivery of dignified aid. This includes providing digital tools that help people affected by crisis…
Ten arguments against algorithmic decision making
Against the Dehumanisation of Decision-Making – Algorithmic Decisions at the Crossroads of Intellectual Property, Data Protection, and Freedom of Information by Dr Guido Noto La Diega, Senior Lecturer in Law at the Northumbria University Law School Published in JIPITEC (Journal…
[Book] The Next Billion Users: Digital Life Beyond the West
The Next Billion Users: Digital Life Beyond the West by Payal Arora Harvard University Press, 2019 280 pages A digital anthropologist examines the online lives of millions of people in China, India, Brazil, and across the Middle East – home…
[Book] Left to Our Own Devices
Left to Our Own Devices: Outsmarting Smart Technology to Reclaim Our Relationships, Health, and Focus Margaret E. Morris MIT Press, 2018 192 pages Unexpected ways that individuals adapt technology to reclaim what matters to them, from working through conflict with…
Intel anthropologist Dawn Nafus interview on the use of data and technology in medical contexts
In an age where we can collect and store (forEVER) every second of every day, how much do we truly need to learn? To react? To do good deeds that benefit society? Assuming we champion that, what does it mean…
[Book] Changing Things: The Future of Objects in a Digital World
Changing Things: The Future of Objects in a Digital World by Johan Redström and Heather Wiltse Bloomsbury Publishing September 2018, 192 pages In their new book, “Changing Things: The Future of Objects in a Digital World”, assistant professor Heather Wiltse…
Sidewalk Toronto has only one beneficiary, and it is not Toronto
Jim Balsillie, former chairman and co-CEO of Research In Motion, doesn’t mince his words in discussing the new Google-affiliated waterfront development Sidewalk Toronto: What happens with Toronto’s waterfront infrastructure will have profound and permanent impacts on the digital rights and…
Videos from the MyData 2018 conference
The MyData 2018 conference took place in Helsinki on August 29-31. The core idea behind the MyData movement is that we, you and I, should have an easy way to see where data about us goes, specify who can use…
[Book] Made by Humans – The AI Condition
Made by Humans – The AI Condition by Ellen Broad Melbourne University Publishing July 2018, 277 pages [eBook link] An Australian data expert challenges the idea of AI being better than humans Who is designing AI? A select, narrow group.…