The map and the territory

As more data is collected, stored, and computed, there's a gold rush on for applications of real-world data in both trivial and critical fields. Whether it's accuracy of delivery robots or facial recognition, we must remember not to heed our own maps at the expense of the territories they represent.

Coping 9: Magpie time

Coping is short posts on Fridays about coping methods for doing creative and focused things in an unfocused world. In Coping 9, collecting shiny ideas.

Reading “The Ethnography of Infrastructure”

The first in a periodic series called "Reading," today's text covers a seminal academic article you might like, but find long and dense. I break down Susan Leigh Star's 1999 article, "The Ethnography of Infrastructure" and explain why it matters.

Friday bonus: Slide decks

Today's Friday bonus describes how I've (partially out of spite) automated my process for making slide decks. All with good, old-fashioned, artisan Linux tools.

The vegan who serves your steak (a parable about work, technology, and morality)

The work we do may not always be entirely consistent with our own morals. How do we draw the lines of what's acceptable and what needs to change? And what do institutional software choices have to do with meat?

Coping 8: Language and identity

Coping is short posts on Fridays about coping methods for doing creative and focused things in an unfocused world. In Coping 8, the power of language to feel like one's self.

Software is political

Software use and purchasing decisions are often seen as purely technical or functional. This hides the reality that software is loaded with politics. It's essential to attend to the politics of software when making choices about its use.

Bookpile 7: Fiction

Bookpile is short posts on Fridays about what I’m reading now and what I’m liking about it. This week, it’s a love letter to the joys of reading fiction.

Companion to “The Replacement of geography by standards and what to do about it”

What is the relationship between standards and global flows of movement? This essay explains the replacement of geography by standards, bringing work I did in 2014 up to date, and laying out why you should care.

Coping 7: Being multiple

Coping is short posts on Fridays about coping methods for doing creative and focused things in an unfocused world. In Coping 7, the importance of being multiple.

Understanding work (part 2)

In part two of "Understanding work," a brief trip into productivity; the Luddites were onto something; and half the world now works in the tertiary sector. What happens when the quest for higher productivity comes for the service jobs? (Spoiler: it already has.)

Bookpile 6: Participatory Research in More-than-Human Worlds

Bookpile is short posts on Fridays about what I’m reading now and what I’m liking about it. This week, it’s Participatory Research in More-than-Human Worlds, edited by Michelle Bastian, Owain Jones, Niamh Moore, and Emma Roe.