Reflections · Social Justice · Technology and Society

Technology Education and Social Justice

Technology education at all levels is inherently political. Knowledge of the world is socially constructed within specific historical and social contexts that are fundamentally mediated by power relations. Cyberlibertarianism and its underlying foundational frameworks can be understood, then, as a pivotal factor mediating political relations by becoming a core foundational design inspiration for, and means for reifying neoliberal influences and power relations through, our technologies. A critical lens complements a sociotechnical systems approach by exposing ways in which technology artifacts are socially constructed, intentionally and unintentionally, to reinforce exploitation, marginalization, and cultural imperialism.

Miscellaneous

Printing a fabric poster

A colleague, Aiko Takazawa, was telling me about a wonderful new services she had discovered — printing posters on fabric. In researching it further, I came across a post regarding different fabric poster options on the American Society for Cell Biology website. Following their recommendations, I placed my order with Spoonflower.com September 10th. The poster arrived today, September… Continue reading Printing a fabric poster

Community Technology Centers · Social Justice · Teaching · Technology and Society

Labor Day and Digital Literacy for ALL Learners

The following is a post I just made to our project page for a project I am leading called “Digital Literacy for ALL Learners, funded by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity through their Eliminate the Digital Divide program. We are working at five public computing centers to teach basic computer and digital literacy skills… Continue reading Labor Day and Digital Literacy for ALL Learners