Hello AoIR, I thought this might be of interest. In addition to what I wrote below I wanted to add: The artifacts that I expect to be described in this talk (like the Embodisuit or the kindle highlight algorithm / romance novel social network commemorative plate collection) make very interesting class discussion material if you teach about technology or social networks. The recording will also be available later if you wish to assign part of it to a class. Christian ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Christian Sandvig <csandvig@umich.edu> Date: Thu, Feb 25, 2021 at 10:52 AM Subject: TOMORROW: Sophia Brueckner -- Sci-Fi Prototyping and Critical Optimism (Friday 8pm ET) To: ESC Center <esc-center@umich.edu> Dear ESC enthusiasts, I am so happy to report that Sophia Brueckner will appear tomorrow night to provide an overview of her artistic practice. Brueckner, accomplished artist, computer scientist, and former Googler (Google employee), is relentlessly critical of the tech world as it stands today, but her compelling perspective asks: What would a more positive vision of computing look like? Brueckner's art questions surveillance, control and dehumanization with computers by creating projects that offer alternative visions of telepresence, wearables, content curation algorithms, and more. She is also dedicated to opening debates about the ethics of technology to those without a technological background. I hope you can join us. This event is open to the public. Please feel free to forward this e-mail as appropriate. Christian *************************************************** HOW TO PARTICIPATE This is a scheduled video event. At the time stated above, watch via webcast on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYn2vukv4gk This video will be simulcast by Detroit Public Television at dptv.org/pennystamps. A recording of the event may be available at a later date after a delay for processing. Discussion is possible via the comments on the Penny Stamps Speaker Series Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/PennyStampsSeries/ TITLE Sci-Fi Prototyping and Critical Optimism SPEAKER Sophia Brueckner, University of Michigan DATE / TIME / LOCATION Online via YouTube Friday, February 26, 2021 8:00pm - 9:00 pm Eastern Time ABOUT THE SPEAKER Inseparable from computers since the age of two, Sophia Brueckner believes she is a cyborg. As a software engineer at Google, she designed and built products used by tens of millions. At the Rhode Island School of Design and the MIT Media Lab, she researched the simultaneously empowering and controlling aspects of technology with a focus on tangible and social interfaces. Since 2011, Brueckner has taught Sci-Fi Prototyping, a course combining science fiction, extrapolative thinking, building prototypes, and technology ethics at MIT, Harvard, RISD, Brown, and the University of Michigan. Both the class itself as well as the students’ individual projects received international recognition and were featured by The Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, Wired, NPR, Scientific American, Fast Company, and many others. Creating new ways to apply science fiction to the design process, Brueckner prototypes alternatives to the tech industry’s limited visions for how we live with technology. She makes both physical and digital artifacts combining software programming, digital fabrication, and electronics with traditional media. These projects challenge the norms of the tech community, whose work has enormous impact on our day-to-day lives, as well as translates the problems in ways that are understandable to the everyday user. She invites others to embody an attitude of “critical optimism” and to imagine what technological futures they might prefer for themselves. Brueckner is the founder and creative director of Tomorrownaut, a creative studio focusing on speculative futures and sci-fi-inspired prototypes. Brueckner’s work has been featured by Artforum, SIGGRAPH, the Peabody Essex Museum, Portugal’s National Museum of Contemporary Art, Leonardo, Eyeo, ISEA, TEDx, the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, and more. She was an artist-in-residence at Autodesk Pier 9 and is now an artist-in-residence at Bell Labs Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.). She is currently an assistant professor at the Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan. Her ongoing objective is to combine her background in design and engineering with the perspective of an artist to inspire a more positive future. <https://esc.umich.edu/event/hannah-zeavin-auto-intimacy-algorithmic-therapies-and-care-of-the-self/> NOTES Link to this event on the Web: https://esc.umich.edu/event/sophia-brueckner-sci-fi-prototyping-and-critical... More information about ESC: The Center for Ethics, Society, and Computing: http://esc.umich.edu/ This event is part of the Penny W. Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series. The 2020-2021 Series is brought to you with the support of Detroit Public Television and PBS Books. -------- LOOKING AHEAD TO OUR NEXT ESC EVENT: <https://esc.umich.edu/event/sophia-brueckner-sci-fi-prototyping-and-critical-optimism/> Michael Zimmer: Data Ethics During a Pandemic Thursday, March 11, 2021 at 1pm ET https://esc.umich.edu/event/michael-zimmer/ -------- ESC is generously supported by the School of Information; the Center for Political Studies at the Institute for Social Research; and the Department of Communication & Media in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at the University of Michigan.