We all know that the global data economy relies on the ongoing collection, exchange and use of massive amounts of our data – from personal information, to what we do online, to algorithmic forecasts about what we might to do in the future. But what about children’s data? Although there are special laws in place to protect children’s privacy in many regions around the world, huge amounts of their data are still being collected by a growing of devices and applications. In this episode, Dr. Sara Grimes (Director of the KMDI) chats with Dr. Veronica Barassi, Professor in Media and Communication Studies at the University of St. Gallen, in Switzerland, about her research and theories of how childhood itself is being transformed by the production and manipulation of personally identifying digital data. The discussion is focused on key arguments and findings found in Dr. Barassi’s new book, Child Data Citizen: How Tech Companies Are Profiling Us from Before Birth, which outlines key trends contributing to a “datafication” of children and the troubling implications this has for their rights and futures. Type of research discussed in today’s episode: anthropology; ethnography; digital ethnography; communication studies; civic rights and democracy studies.Keywords for today’s episode: data citizen; datafication; data flows; data economies; big data; digital participation; democracy; consent; data justice. For more information and a full transcript of each episode, check out our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/Send questions or comments to: [email protected]

There is incredible diversity in children’s relationships with digital technologies, which introduce a range of opportunities and challenges for their rights, learning, and wellbeing. Kids on the spectrum, however, must also contend with popular stereotypes and misinformation about autism and technology, which impact them in complex ways. In this episode, Dr. Sara Grimes (Director of the KMDI) chats with Dr. Meryl Alper, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Northeastern University Lab, about her ongoing research on the role of media and digital technologies in the lives of disabled children and their families. The discussion is focused on key findings and ideas found in Dr. Alper’s forthcoming book, Kids Across the Spectrums: Growing Up Autistic in the Digital Age, which challenges enduring myths about kids on the spectrum and reveals the cultural, social, and sensorial dimensions of how some of these kids use and relate to media and digital technologies in their everyday lives.Type of research discussed in today’s episode: communications studies; disability studies; children’s studies; science and technology studies (STS); ethnography; qualitative research.Keywords for today’s episode: autism spectrum; sociality; intersectionality; cultural belonging; social repertoires; senses/sensory. For more information and a full transcript of each episode, check out our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/Send questions or comments to: [email protected]

From sourdough starters and "covid gardens," to homemade face masks and Sea Shanty TikToks, the pandemic has inspired a boom in crafting, making, artistic expression, and everyday creativity. In this episode, Dr. Sara Grimes (Director of the KMDI) chats with Dr. David Gauntlett, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Creativity in the School of Creative Industries at Ryerson University (Toronto, ON) and founder of the Creativity Everything Lab, about his research on the creative process, the cultures that emerge around making and sharing creative content, and the benefits of engaging in both hands-on and digital creative activities. The discussion is focused on ideas and themes found in Dr. Gauntlett’s upcoming book, Creativity: Seven Keys to Unlock Your Creative Self, which proposes an expanded and deeply inclusive definition and approach to creativity, which argues that creativity is above all “a thing that you do.”Type of research discussed in today’s episode: practice-based research; creative practice; play studies; media studies; psychology.Keywords for today’s episode: creativity; identity; creative practice; material culture; digital culture; creative professionals; everyday creativity.   For more information, check out our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/Send questions or comments to: [email protected]

Digital gaming is a vital source of fun, relaxation, learning and social connection for kids and adults alike. But people don’t always “play nice” and games can also become the sites of interpersonal conflict, trolling, and seriously harmful behaviours. In this episode, Dr. Sara Grimes (Director of the KMDI) chats with Dr. Kelly Boudreau, a professor at the Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, about her fascinating and timely research on problematic and toxic gameplay; the roles of these practices within gaming subcultures, and their sociological function as forms of boundary keeping. This discussion is focused on Dr. Boudreau’s contribution to the ground-breaking new edited collection Transgression in Games and Play (2019, The MIT Press): a nuanced, multi-disciplinary exploration of transgressive game content and boundary-crossing player practices.Type of research discussed in today’s episode: game studies; sociology; (sub-)cultural studies.Keywords for today’s episode: problematic play; toxic player behaviour; gamer (sub)culture; transgressive play; trolls/trolling; boundary keeping; identity.  For more information, check out our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/Send questions or comments to: [email protected]

In his critically acclaimed new book, Distributed Blackness: African American Cybercultures (2020, New York University Press), Dr. Andre Brock Jr, professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, positions Blackness at the very centre of Internet culture. In so doing, Brock uncovers the complex ways that race and racism, but also joy and humour, have always shaped how digital technologies are designed, used, depicted, and envisioned. In this episode, Sara chats with Dr. Brock about his important new book, his methodologically ground-breaking framework for researching technology and society, and his ongoing work on race, identity, libidinal economy, and social connection on (and beyond) Black Twitter. Type of research discussed in today’s episode: a deeply interdisciplinary combination of critical race theory, critical discourse analysis, science and technology studies, and historical research.Keywords for today’s episode: Black Twitter, Black informational identity, libidinal economy, cultural commonplaces, ratchetry, racism, respectability, technoculture. For more information, check out our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/Send questions or comments to: [email protected]

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) across our devices, information systems, and built environments is reshaping the design and function of the technologies that surround us. From AI-generated designer chairs to smart cities, this shift introduces a range of new relationships, possibilities, and risks into our lives. In this episode, Sara chats with Dr. Beth Coleman, a professor at the University of Toronto and the lead investigator of the City as Platform project: an interdisciplinary research collaboration aimed at understanding existing smart technology infrastructures, and working with municipal, industry, and civic actors to enable a transformation from techno-centric to human-centered design.Type of research discussed in today’s episode: A combination of science and technology studies (STS), policy analysis, ethnography, philosophy of technology, and action research.Keywords for today’s episode: AI, machine learning, generative design, algorithmic aesthetics, poesis, data markers, human-centered design, The Bauhaus.For more information, check out our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/Send questions or comments to: [email protected]

Educational technologies and online learning have received a lot of attention lately, as schools worldwide shifted to remote delivery. But for children and youth in refugee camps, access to education has long been embedded in digital technologies, presenting unique opportunities, and big challenges, for teaching and learning.  In this episode, Dr. Sara Grimes (Director of the KMDI) chats with Dr. Negin Dahya, a professor at the University of Toronto, and the lead investigator on the Portraits of Education Change: Redefining Pedagogy & Technology in Refugee Camps project: an international research collaboration examining how technologies are being used by students, teachers, and communities in refugee camps to mediate, facilitate, and support teaching and learning in varied, social, and peer-to-peer ways. Type of research discussed in today’s episode: education studies, media studies, feminist research methods, critical race theory, postcolonial theory.Keywords for today’s episode: educational technologies, ecological systems model, learning contexts, youth as information mediators. For more information, check out our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/Send questions or comments to: [email protected]

As the media and cultural industries have shifted to digital platforms (like Facebook, Apple, and Amazon), massive changes in how cultural content is made, distributed, and consumed have unfolded. In this episode, Dr. Sara Grimes (Director of the KMDI) chats with Dr. David Nieborg, a professor at the University of Toronto, and one of the lead investigators on the Platforms and Cultural Production project: a multi-year, international research initiative that examines how the rise and spread of digital platforms is changing the cultural industries, and the implications this has on our shared cultural experience. Type of research discussed in today's episode: A combination of political economy of communication, media studies, and cultural studies. Keywords for today's episode: Platformization, cultural production, platform evolution, and boundary resources. For more information, check out our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/Send questions or comments to: [email protected]

A new series from the Knowledge Media Design Institute (KMDI) and Director/Professor Sara Grimes, featuring interviews with Prof. David Nieborg, Prof. Negin Dahya, Prof. Beth Coleman and other experts on the intersections of digital technology and society. Premieres Fall 2020.