I'm back stateside after a remarkable 12-day trip in Palestine with a group of nine other incredible and amazing scholars. During that time, I visited five Palestinian universities, met numerous professors and students and administrators, went to several incredible research and cultural organizations, met with people in their homes, visited amazing holy sites such as… Continue reading A Visit to Palestine
Author: Sarah R.
Interview on CBC Ontario Morning
On April 1st, I was interviewed on CBC's Ontario Morning radio program by host Wei Chen. During the 7-minute live interview, Chen asked me about my work on commercial content moderation (CCM) and the workers that do it. It was my pleasure to share an overview of this work, and its implications, with Ontario Morning… Continue reading Interview on CBC Ontario Morning
FIMS CLA-SLA 2014 Conference: Humans of New Librarianship
Many, many thanks to those wonderful FIMS students who created and participated in the joint CLA-SLA conference today, Humans of New Librarianship. I greatly enjoyed presenting my talk, "Human Traces: Searching for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Digital System" to this group of engaged future leaders of the field. In this talk, I encouraged… Continue reading FIMS CLA-SLA 2014 Conference: Humans of New Librarianship
CCM at UCLA: Feb. 20th talk at GSEIS
It was my great pleasure to visit UCLA to deliver a talk on February 20th. The invitation from the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies (GSEIS) could not have come at a better time, in the midst of this brutal Canadian winter. A good combination of students, faculty from GSEIS and Labor Studies, gracious co-sponsorsof… Continue reading CCM at UCLA: Feb. 20th talk at GSEIS
Exciting CFP: DIGITAL LABOR: SWEATSHOPS, PICKET LINES, AND BARRICADES, the New School, NYC, NOVEMBER 14-16, 2014
Call for Proposals DIGITAL LABOR: SWEATSHOPS, PICKET LINES, AND BARRICADES To be held at The New School, a university in New York City NOVEMBER 14-16, 2014 #dl14 The third in The New School's Politics of Digital Culture Conference Series Sponsored by The New School and The Institute for Distributed Creativity Digital Labor: The Internet as… Continue reading Exciting CFP: DIGITAL LABOR: SWEATSHOPS, PICKET LINES, AND BARRICADES, the New School, NYC, NOVEMBER 14-16, 2014
Resist Mass Surveillance
Today global civil society and privacy advocates draw attention to the mass surveillance that digital life and tools - and the complicity of corporate entities - has engendered. The NSA and Edward Snowden scandals are just the latest revelations in a crisis that has been growing for years; witness this Wired article that discusses whistleblower… Continue reading Resist Mass Surveillance
Learning to Love: Human-Machine Affect in Spike Jonez’ “Her”
I saw Her about two weeks ago, and it’s been on my mind. Particularly, I’ve been pondering whether Theodore, Amy, and all the users of OS1 are actually in love with themselves. Isn't it the ultimate narcissism? Given that the OS is predicated on machine learning, based on stored data and personal interactions with the… Continue reading Learning to Love: Human-Machine Affect in Spike Jonez’ “Her”
The Turning Tide: The ASA and Call for Academic Boycott of Israel
I have followed with great interest the events of the past several weeks, as the American Studies Association put forward its historic resolution to honor calls from Palestinian civil society for an academic boycott of Israel. The process underwent more democratic engagement of membership than any other in that body’s history; while the resolution passed the ASA Council… Continue reading The Turning Tide: The ASA and Call for Academic Boycott of Israel
Mr. Mandela
My mother grew up with brutality of the Vietnam war airing each evening on the nightly news. In my generation, the nightly news broadcast brutality and atrocities from Reagan's Central America, the Pinochet regime in Chile, and, of course Apartheid-era South Africa. I recall watching thousands upon thousands of Black South Africans linked arm and… Continue reading Mr. Mandela
Pix or It Didn’t Happen: It’s on You to Prove Your Abuse
I came across a disturbing case from the Languedoc region of France today, while perusing headlines on Salon.com. A 14 year-old girl who had been repeatedly victimized sexually by her father had reportedly caught the abuse by employing her computer's webcam. The key to the most disturbing aspects of this extremely upsetting story lies in… Continue reading Pix or It Didn’t Happen: It’s on You to Prove Your Abuse