Day 1
Links to look up:
https://www.recurse.com/
Waves of feminism:
Open question:
- Why is the Black Rights Movement not a part of the second wave of feminism?
Transfeminist technologies:
Place to start: Be on your own body. Be in the place you inhabit.
Situation: Grant unrestricted access to information
Object: Belt
Value: Corporation
Homework:
The Future is TransFeminist
https://deepdives.in/the-future-is-transfeminist-from-imagination-to-action-6365e097eb22
What is the author/authors' main argument?
- Joana Varon wants to show that a Feminist Technological Future is necessary. They describe their own childhood being fascinated by technological devices while seeing them as very heteronormative and full of gender cliches. Additionally, the access to them was a question of class and support network. This problematic traits of tech didn't change over time as they mention many examples where current AI is still full of -isms. By naming examples of the Oracle for Transfeminist Futures, the author shows that changes are thinkable and possible even though they still remain futuristic for the moment.
- [To be honest, I do not see one main argument. For me, the article is split in multiple parts.]
What concepts came up that are new to you? And what do you think they mean? Look them up, please write down the definitions in your pad, after looking them up did you confirm your knowledge or did something change?
- Matrix of domination: A concept to show different aspects of oppression and the intersection of these
- Data colonialism: It means that colonial structures still exist in the way data is collected, used and sold.
What references in this text are familiar to you? How does this author pick them up, or not?
- I already knew a lot of the given examples of problematic AI even though it still shocks me to see them put together in one article. I also already know Sara Ahmed and Cathy O'Neil.
- I liked that the concept of sexual consent was transferred to data and the way we share and protect our data.
What kind of world do you think this text wishes we lived in? What would be different?
- It wishes that we live in a world where we have feminist AI and have the power to decide what happens with our data. It seems like the author also wants people to dream more of a feminist future and to stand up for it.
How do you feel after reading this text?
- I am still a little bit shocked of reading all the given examples but I also feel empowered. I really liked the comparison of sexual consent and consent to data sharing.
Queer OS: A User's Manual
https://dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/read/untitled/section/e246e073-9e27-4bb2-88b2-af1676cb4a94#ch05
What is the author/authors' main argument?
- The main argument is that a feminist and queer Operating Systems could be possible as there are a lot of problems in the current OS. They state that the capitalist logic behind apps for example doesn't work as the world is to complex and changing so that an application is never done.
What concepts came up that are new to you? And what do you think they mean? Look them up, please write down the definitions in your pad, after looking them up did you confirm your knowledge or did something change?
- Solutionism: to think that a solution for every problem is available and it only needs an App to solve the problem.
What references in this text are familiar to you? How does this author pick them up, or not?
- There weren't any references who were familiar to me.
What kind of world do you think this text wishes we lived in? What would be different?
- We would have a total different internet and understanding of technology as it would be designed to help us, to have multiple identities, anonymity as well as the complexity of the world would be inside of the OS.
How do you feel after reading this text?
- To be honest, I am very confused. I hardly understood the text. Somehow I feel optimistic about what was described and how the Internet could look like. Somehow I feel sad as I rarely understood what they want to tell me :D
Texts from the Cyberfeminist Index
Namaste, Viviane K. Invisible Lives: The Erasure of Transsexual and Transgendered People. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
- It is available in the WiSo Bib in Göttingen
Nakamura, Lisa. Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet. New York: Routledge, 2002.
- Also available via the Uni Göttingen
“Why Are the Digital Humanities So White? or Thinking the Histories of Race and Computation.” In Debates in the Digital Humanities, ed. Matthew K. Gold, 139–60. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2012.
Dean, Tim. Unlimited Intimacy: Reflections on the Subculture of Barebacking. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009.
Serres, Michel. The Parasite. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007.
- In the bib of Göttingen, online PDFs but my computer tells me there might be a virus inside
Chosen Text:
What is the name of the text you chose? Who are the authors? Who published it? Where? When?
- Tara McPherson - “Why Are the Digital Humanities So White? or Thinking the Histories of Race and Computation.” In Debates in the Digital Humanities, ed. Matthew K. Gold, 139–60. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2012.
How did you get access to this text? What tools did you use? Did you need to ask for help? What pathways did you take? Write about the experience of finding this text.
- Finding this text was quite easy as it is open source. For other texts, I had to google them, check if there are available online for free, if the PDF is avalaible on git hub or if the university has access to them. Suprisingly, the university had them.
What is the author talking about? In what context? What are the concepts they work with?
- They are talking about the intersection of Race and the interest in Computation.
How does this text relate to the Queer OS text? What concepts does it bring up that are similar? What concepts does it bring up that are different?
- I don't know. I haven't understood the Queer OS text.
How do you feel after reading this text?
Image 1:
arrow, butterfly or shamrock
heart breaking, seperate, harsh
human, computer with screen, sign paywall, hidden text,
sad, depressing
book, pages, table, open,
overwhelming, exhausting,
An arrow, coming out of a small box, splitts a shamrock brutally into two seperate parts.
An arrow splits a shamrock rutally into two parts, symbolizing the missing luck.
https://sickwomantheory.tumblr.com/post/187188672521/hedvas-disability-access-rider
https://dialog-in-hamburg.de
https://brownstargirl.org/fragrance-free-femme-of-colour-genius/
feminist cyborg manifesto
- Cyborgs = we are all cyborgs
- calculations from the computers for military reasons
- technologies we have today aren't innocent
What did you learn from the text?
- The difference between Crip Technoscience and Disability Technoscience and the importance that disabled people can decide on their own what they want from Technoscience
- Disability justice: intersection of race and disability, how can we reformulate the world to meet the requirements of disabled people?
- not to force disabled people to be productive and to adapt to the society
What was interesting to you?
- The ways disabled people help themselves and invented Technologies
How do you define disability or crip?
- Disability is a circumstance where the society doesn't give somebody the chance to participate due to a health impairment or neurodiversity
- Crip is a term which was originally used to insult disabled people and is now reclaimed. Crip also implies some sort of empowerment.
In what ways can you make your work/field of study accessible to disabled people - please be specific.
- When hosting events or meetings, ask friends/colleges/participants what they need to participate
- Write alt texts behind images
- While designing apps, invite disabled people to the programming team so that Apps are more accessible
For the next time:
Read the text:
Moving at the Speed of Trust
After engaging with Disability Justice and Transformative Justice through this video what have you learned? Are these concepts familiar to you? What is new?
- I have already heard about Disability Justice as well as Transformative Justice but have never studied these concepts in more details. I mainly heard about Transformative Justice in the context of the Black Lives Matter Movement.
- Disability Justice is a intersectional framework and centers the issues of disabled trans, Black, brown and queer people. They want to show how ableism is connected to capitalism, racism and other forms of oppression.
- Transfomrative Justice is a way to create justice, grant safety and support for survivors of violence. They want to achieve that without being dependent of the police or other official institues as they don't guarantee the safety of the people as they are often very rascist. This shows the amount of people being killed or arrested after calling the police themselves.
What relationship do you think Disability Justice currently has with technology? What relationship do you think it could have (here is a moment to dream!)?
- I think Disability Justice and technology are highly connected as a lot of AIs discriminate both disabled and BIPOC and I assume that they discriminate the intersection even more.
What relationship do you think Transformative Justice currently has with technology? What relationship do you think it could have (here is a moment to dream!)?
- I think technology could help to gain more justice as for example there could be an AI which is some kind of legal advisor who helps people when they are facing a difficult situation with the police.
Do any projects that you have worked on or heard about come up for you as references when thinking about these movements?
- So far, I don't remember anything.
Reflect: what have you learned in the course so far? What questions are still left unanswered for you? What is emerging as important for you to continue to learn about after these two days together?
- I've learned many things. What really inspired me was the view of alt texts as poetry as I have already written some alt texts. I directly had to speak about this point of view with my roommate. As I am studying gender studies, there were not so many new learnings regarding the history of feminism or different needs for accessaibility, but the presented projects really inspired me. I often feel alone while learning about the intersection of diversity issues and Computer Science, so it was amazing to see all these projects and learn about the people working on this topic. As I am disabled, I also knew a little bit about the Disability Studies, but to learn about the Concept of Crip Technoscience and Disability Justice was new to me. I would love to learn something about Computer Science and racism and I am looking forward to read the text about (non)binary and technological infrastructures hoping that it deals with the matter of being non-binary in a internet defining gender as a binary variable.
Homework
Text: https://dl.acm.org/doi/fullHtml/10.1145/3461778.3462033
What situation does the author move through? In what context?
Being non-binary, they want to know at what situation they reach the boundaries of gender binary and are not able to indicate their gender correctly. They are using web-formulars they meet in their daily life. Everytime this happens to them, they document it and note their emotions. They contact the platform, company or institution to draw their attention to this matter.
What did you learn new?
I find the answers from the companies very interesting as they tell they would have a need for discussion or find this complain attentive and thoughtful. I was suprised how many companies do not change their system even though I often get this response as well.
What was new to me was the matter of crossing boarders and the problem that most of the states worldwide do not recognition this gender identity as valid.
Final Project:
Technoscience and (Anti-)Racism
Text who defines technoscience:
Text who defines (anti-)racism:
https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-anti-racism-5071426
Project at the intersection:
1:
2:
3:
Principles of Disability Justice:
Re-imagine these project:
What would change?
What would stay the same?
Under what conditions would these projects be made/manufactured/produced?
video 1 :)
- social of disability: disability is socially constructed and created
- meeting the access needs can limit barriers coming from physical impairments
- not the body is oppressive but the system
- people are seen as 'less than'
video 2:
-there's a need for a politicized understanding of ableism.
- system favors able-bodies people
- three dimensions of ableism: interpersonal ableism, institutional ableism and systemic ableism
Upcoming event:
- university exam
- possibility to write in a separate room to have a more quiet environment
- ALS translation -> if not provided from the university or state, we need funding
- change mode of exam: switch from a written
university exam
- possibility to write in a separate room if needed
- ASL translation -> if not provided from the university or state, we need funding and support where we can get a translator
- live captions ?
- change the system of exam: for example from a written exam into an oral exam
- possibility to use a dictionairy or computer
- allowing assistance dogs to enter university buildings
- extend deadlines
- - possibility to take breaks
- - wheelchair accessible
- - written materials must be large enough
- - online exams provide the possibility to change the font size
- - provide the possibility to get more information and help, for example walkie-talkies or visual signs
- - genderneutral bathrooms, bathrooms for disabled
- - access information given early enough from the teachers, maybe even before the course starts
- - provided child care