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<p class="MsoNormal">Re: No such thing as liberationtech [Was: Deep Divers]</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">After Doug Schuler chimes in, I have to follow, and thanks Aram, Winograd and Flores were among my early influences in this discourse. Winograd’s Bringing Design to Software was an important update
in the field, and Fernando Flores continued in this direction with Disclosing New Worlds (with Dreyfus and Spinoza).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">These discussions just starting on embedded values in technology and appropriate design have decades of insight and literature, from social critics Jacques Ellul and Ivan Illich, designers Victor
Papanek and John Chris Jones, and systems scientists Wiener, Mumford, Boulding, and others like Özbekhan and Winner. In Participatory Design and HCI we saw Batya Friedman, Peter Kahn’s program on values-sensitive design. And Rob Kling’s work in the 90’s on
appropriate technology design. He headed up Indian U Informatics back then and died fairly young, but you need to see esp. Computerization and Controversy
<a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=rob+kling&btnG=">
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=rob+kling&btnG=</a> <o:p>
</o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">There are the brilliant ethical and industry muckrakers Jaron Lanier and Evgeny Morozov.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">My doctorate explored embedded values in processes and practices in innovation processes at software firms. Nothing about Google’s practices or other Silicon Valley organizations surprises me - I
spent a lot of energy in attempt to design better practices and organizations, and the sociology of values in practice never became influential. And I no longer work with startups or big tech.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">These are the issues I had always hoped the list would explore, not so much breaking news on encryption and open source projects. I’m concerned about how we design for new technologies with complex
outcomes, how they are financially supported, the backstage business models of data use, the interaction models that maintain addictive behavior, the lack of competitiveness among alternative platforms, our total consent to 5 Big Firms in the network era.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">There are signs of hope and interest, as a participant in the IEEE Ethically-Aligned Design for prioritizing human well-being in Autonomous / Intelligent Systems (for IEEE Standard 7010) we witnessed
hundreds of discussions about appropriate design for problematic autonomy and AI. The standard was just officially announced May 1:
</span><a href="https://standards.ieee.org/content/dam/ieee-standards/standards/web/documents/other/ead1e.pdf" target="_blank">https://standards.ieee.org/content/dam/ieee-standards/standards/web/documents/other/ead1e.pdf</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">There is a budding and active Humane Technology group formed in Toronto, perhaps one of the most active outside the SF/SV center:
<a href="https://humanetech.com/">https://humanetech.com/</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Lets see some other rants. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Yours truly, Peter<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">PETER JONES, PH.D.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">OCAD UNIVERSITY<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><a href="http://designdialogues.com"><span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">http://designdialogues.com</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><a href="http://slab.ocadu.ca"><span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">http://slab.ocadu.ca</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">E <a href="mailto:pjones@ocadu.ca">
<span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">pjones@ocadu.ca</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">T 416.799.8799<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">From:
</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">LT <<a href="mailto:lt-bounces@lists.liberationtech.org">lt-bounces@lists.liberationtech.org</a>> on behalf of Yosem Companys <<a href="mailto:ycompanys@gmail.com">ycompanys@gmail.com</a>><br>
<b>Date: </b>Tuesday, May 5, 2020 at 7:58 AM<br>
<b>To: </b>Aram Sinnreich <<a href="mailto:aramsinnreich@gmail.com">aramsinnreich@gmail.com</a>><br>
<b>Cc: </b>LT <<a href="mailto:lt@lists.liberationtech.org">lt@lists.liberationtech.org</a>><br>
<b>Subject: </b>Re: [liberationtech] No such thing as liberationtech [Was: Deep Divers]<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I will just note that historically speaking, Liberationtech was born out of a human-centered perspective in computer science, political science, sociology of technology, and STS.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Co-founder Terry Winograd's foundational treatise for the field of HCI is one of our foundational texts: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Computers-Cognition-Foundation-Design/dp/0201112973">https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Computers-Cognition-Foundation-Design/dp/0201112973</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Co-founder Larry Diamond's seminal book on liberationtech emphasized that liberationtech is really "liberationtech" because the worthiness and ethics/morality of technology depend both on values and use such that they
may be used for liberation and/or oppression: <a href="https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/books/liberation-technology/">https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/books/liberation-technology/</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Following the sociology of technology and STS, my own research on liberationtech based on the history of the netroots movement suggests that the values and use of technology are historically imprinted and socially constructed: <a href="https://is.gd/urBnHn">https://is.gd/urBnHn</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Finally, I will note that in terms of values we always tried to abide by the UN Declaration of Human Rights in terms of both our research and highlighting of activists around the world doing tech for good. (That said,
sometimes values that are considered good within that framework pose contradictory demands, so there is no easy answer.) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">YC<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">On Tue, May 5, 2020 at 7:39 AM Aram Sinnreich <<a href="mailto:aramsinnreich@gmail.com">aramsinnreich@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<blockquote style="border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">What do you make of Langdon Winner's work, arguing that sociotechnical artifacts have inherent "politics?"<br>
<br>
Sent from my iPhone<br>
<br>
> On May 5, 2020, at 10:33 AM, grarpamp <<a href="mailto:grarpamp@gmail.com" target="_blank">grarpamp@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> <br>
> Technology is but an agnostic tool.<br>
> There is no such thing as a liberation tech,<br>
> only applied tech via paths toward something.<br>
> One cannot apply a tech toward liberation<br>
> without first considering what a state of being<br>
> of actual liberation might variously be about,<br>
> to know where to go, what to make with the tech.<br>
> Democracy being nothing more than a<br>
> decentralized form of the murderous dictators<br>
> many claim to be liberating themselves or people from,<br>
> both forms hardly a state of liberation at all,<br>
> yet worshipped and profferred by all too many,<br>
> we therefore continue this random series<br>
> on path choices...<br>
> <br>
> How to be a tyrant. Sound Familiar?<br>
> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4LtEciQUF8" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4LtEciQUF8</a><br>
> <br>
> Deep Divers, let the balloon go!<br>
> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbX-Bvb2u_w" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbX-Bvb2u_w</a><br>
> <br>
> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U3lEc-IFr8" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U3lEc-IFr8</a><br>
> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWLntHoTgDA" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWLntHoTgDA</a><br>
> <br>
> -- <br>
> Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable from any major commercial search engine. Violations of list guidelines will get you moderated:
<a href="https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/lt" target="_blank">https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/lt</a>. Unsubscribe, change to digest mode, or change password by emailing
<a href="mailto:lt-owner@lists.liberationtech.org" target="_blank">lt-owner@lists.liberationtech.org</a>.<br>
<br>
-- <br>
Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable from any major commercial search engine. Violations of list guidelines will get you moderated:
<a href="https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/lt" target="_blank">https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/lt</a>. Unsubscribe, change to digest mode, or change password by emailing
<a href="mailto:lt-owner@lists.liberationtech.org" target="_blank">lt-owner@lists.liberationtech.org</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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