whysel Those of you interested in artists’ collaborative spaces may find the Dada.art platform unique. I found it while pondering the connection between NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) and Dadaism, an early 20th century, anti-capitalist art movement “expressing nonsense, irrationality, and anti-bourgeois protest in their works.” (I wondered to myself, half seriously, whether anyone had made NFTs from … Read more
THE OCCASIONAL MENTOR is a semi-regular column based on questions I’ve answered on line in forums, and other career advice I’ve given over the prior month. Feel free to add your experience or challenge me in the comments, if you have had a different experience. Asking a Question on Zoom A great way to engage … Read more
On May 5, 2022, I participated in the California Privacy Protection Agency’s (CPPA) stakeholder meeting, making a public statement about “dark patterns” which I urged them to redefine as “harmful patterns,” and suggested changes to their definitions of “Consent” and “Intentional Action.” As Jared Spool says, we should be looking at the UX outcome of … Read more
Zsofi Lang’s Sketchnotes from my talk “Safe Tech Audit: IA as a Framework for Respectful Design” from The Information Architecture Conference 2022:
Background The Me2B Alliance is a standards development organization comprised of software engineers, policy analysts, UX experts, business and philanthropic leaders who are committed to giving individuals more say in how technology treats people. We are setting up a rigorous independent testing and certification program for websites, apps and connected devices. The Me2B Alliance is … Read more
Watch me and Internet pioneer Vint Cerf discuss the future of the Metaverse at Disruptive Technologists NYC.
During the Winter 2022 intercession, I took part in the Living Lab General Education Seminar which is described on its website as follows: The seminar is designed to make General Education more visible in our classrooms and courses. We will build an engaging environment for learning through exploration, implementation, and assessment of a variety of proven teaching practices using Oral … Read more
Note: this article was originally published as Designing Respectful Tech: What is your relationship with technology? at Boxes and Arrows on February 24, 2022 You’ve been there before. You thought you could trust someone with a secret. You thought it would be safe, but found out later that they blabbed to everyone. Or, maybe they … Read more
THE OCCASIONAL MENTOR is a semi-regular column based on questions I’ve answered on Quora, heard on Slack groups, and other career advice I’ve given over the prior month. Feel free to challenge me in the comments, if you have a different experience. Kill Your Darlings I am working on a project with a friend who … Read more
In the research I’ve been doing on respectful technology relationships at the Me2B Alliance, it’s a combination of “I’ve got nothing to hide” and “I’ve got no other option”. People are deeply entangled in their technology relationships. Even when presented with overwhelmingly bad scores on Terms of Service and Privacy Policies, they will continue to … Read more
