Trying something new this week! We wanted to highlight some of the cool work our community is doing — and also hear from you, our readers. We’d love if you replied to this thread with a few sentences about what you’re working on or thinking about, any way the other folks here can help, and/or shout out other projects you’re excited by!
I asked members of our discord the same question — here are some of their answers! Feel free to reach out if you’re interested in their work. (Discord waitlist here!)
Anh Pham is working on a disability justice online course / workshop for young students in their home country with some friends, inspired by Design Justice! The curriculum is still very much under works, but if anyone wants to chat or has recommendations and advice, reach out to Anh!
Adriana Ceric is working on a platform to connect youth to city-building opportunities in their community (e.g. design consultation with local firm, urban garden project). It’s an effort from Urban Minds to make our cities more equitable through youth participation. Adriana shouted out a favorite project, My Parking Day, which fits with the participatory design theme. (You can reach out to Adriana via Twitter or email adriana.ceric@gmail.com!)
💝 some closing notes
We’ve had a lot of folks ask for an archive or guide to past Reboot content, so we spent three hours manually adding and categorizing 70 Reboot newsletter essays, interviews, and book reviews — take a peek here!
Also — hope to see you tonight at the live Q&A (tonight — 5p PT/ 8p ET) with Audrey Watters! Sign up here and read our review here.
Again, reply here with what you’re working on — don’t be shy! This is the time for self promotion and/or embarrassing a friend who is too humble to self-promote!!
my org, the DISCO Network, is having a super panel with our PIs (Lisa Nakamura, Rayvon Fouché, Remi Yergeau, André Brock, Stephanie Dinkins, and Catherine Knight Steele) to address current trends and challenges relating to race, gender, disability, and technology. We're taking questions from the public. Register and ask questions here: https://www.disconetwork.org/disco-events/disco-summer-launch-super-panel :)
Mar 24, 2022·edited Mar 24, 2022Liked by jessica dai
i'm doing a bunch of planning work thinking about reboot's next year (e.g. kernel magazine issue two + one more chance to buy issue one!) and for my day job, working on supporting the substack app (http://substack.com/app)
to shout something else out: kevin sent this to the reboot discord — some lovely reflections and creative/political projects from logic school's first cohort! https://school.logicmag.io/yearbook-2021
am working on coops + governance and web3 research :-) some topics of interest include coops, governance, profit sharing, local currencies, funding models, public goods, the commons, ubi/ubs, and more!
Hi everyone! I'm working on building Simply Neuroscience (https://simplyneuroscience.org/), a non-profit organization focused on increasing early access to interdisciplinary neuroscience education. Currently on working on launching our "brain" ambassador community!
Outside of non-profit work, I'm curiously exploring the neuroethics <> neurotech space -- lot of really amazing developments taking place right now! Would love to connect with folks involved in STEM outreach / EdTech and anything brain-related :)
i'm getting more undergrads into biotech! i'm one of the cofounders of Nucleate Dojo (https://nucleate.xyz/dojo/) which enables undergrads towards the broader field of life sciences through education, community, and capital.
we're opening up regional hubs across the world to teach biotech to undergrads to expose them to an alternate pathway away from premed/academia into biotech. we're looking for talent so if you're interested, feel free to reach out to me: brandonoliveryu@gmail.com :)
i'm building a community for undergraduates who are questioning how we build algorithms with integrity, called u:wait! we're having our first forum, that hopes to offer a platform for equal discussion between speakers and students on the topics of algorithmic integrity and data protection, on march 30th at 5:30 PM EST. we'd love to see you there! tinyurl.com/is-tech-broken
- finishing up / closing out the student fellowship
- writing! have a story I reported but need to pitch, a piece I wrote for a class but need to pitch still, something I accepted/pitched but need to write a draft of (by friday!) and trying to finish an update for my personal newsletter that i've been in the middle of for several months
- catching up on school—have about three weeks of work to catch up on LOL (computer systems/computer vision particularly have proven to be quite a difficult recovery) but there's incredible off-cycle disadvantage re working with others in school so this feels useful
- trying to rest! and do things not instrumentally! I think i've gotten super behind (on email, side projects, etc) partially because I have not taken sufficient time to be not occupied / am less productive as a result, and trying to recharge somewhat before I go back down the rabbit hole
Woww, everybody is so smart and interesting :)) I don't even write, but I had to defend the honour of digital fashion, since I think it's a pretty cool step for the industry: https://bit.ly/3wG0cLH
And I got a new job as a volunteer coordinator at the Human Rights Center, so the DISCO's panel that Veronica mentioned, is just up my alley!
Have recently started a project called Vending Machine. We’re a group of friends that genuinely enjoy working together who build products with ~gumption~ in the pursuit of Quality.We are currently looking for clients in need of design, strategy, and/or marketing work within the next 3 months. https://vendingmachine.cargo.site/
I call it a zine because I focus on imagery, and trying to find the patterns and recurring themes among these topics. I often write about Solarpunk news items.
ArtBizTech - an incubator specialised in finding new formats for artists and creatives to share research and ideas in accessible forms. The projects we select combine multidisciplinary research to make the most creative and sensitive use of technology — both existing and emerging. https://artbiztech.com/incubator
Wow, what an exciting project! I will definitely be reaching out as my current project is designing the novel of the future. Based on the research I’ve been doing on the publishing industry, my plan is to write and publish a “concept novel” using modern technologies. The hope is to imagine a future in which reading is as natural as scrolling social media, and as a result, writers earn a living from their craft. Can’t wait to learn more about what you are doing!
Hi all! Zac here... I'm an HCI designer/researcher specializing in AI-intensive enterprise applications. I help startups get their ideas from "back-of-the-napkin" into working prototypes. Current clients include startups in lab automation, augmented analytics, industrial IoT and other verticals. I'm also a grad student at Georgia Tech where I work on human-centered AI applications, especially causation and explanation. Just wrapped up 3 exciting days at the AAAI Spring Symposium at Stanford!
woah, question with my academia hat on -- any hot takes on causality and explainability? and from what you've seen do folks at startups care much about these things?
Hi Jessica. Thanks for your interest! My view on causality/explanation is that it arises from interaction and should be informed by the social sciences. Post-hoc explanations in AI are mostly intended for professional data scientists and are nearly worthless to anyone else (I wrote a lot about this: https://uxdesign.cc/practical-ux-for-human-centered-ai-31cc936e7cfd)
There's a lot of interest in explainability (i.e. "XAI") among companies working on AI especially in regulated spaces. I think it's definitely entered the AI hype cycle. I think more and more people are realizing it's also necessary for widespread adoption so companies are starting to compete on it.
I work for the Center for Humane Technology. We just publicly launched our free, online course – "Foundations of Humane Technology" – to introduce product developers and technologists of all stripes to the "core tenets" of humane technology. You can enroll today at humanetech.com/course.
My job is to build a thriving global community of practice around the course; come hang out with me and hundreds of others from around the world in our weekly events, affinity groups, and discussion forums!
Hi everyone, and many thanks to Jessica for opening up introductions and discussions like this one. I’m writing about music and working hard to grow readership over at Zappagram. I started off unsure of my niche, but last year definitely settled on music as my chosen topic of focus. If anyone has a deep love of music, I’d love the chance to entertain and/or inform through my writing. Thanks!
I'm creating/co-hosting a podcast about tech & society from an intersectional feminist perspective, called The Intersection of Things - https://www.theintersectionofthings.com/
(so many cool things in this thread I'm going to check out!)
my org, the DISCO Network, is having a super panel with our PIs (Lisa Nakamura, Rayvon Fouché, Remi Yergeau, André Brock, Stephanie Dinkins, and Catherine Knight Steele) to address current trends and challenges relating to race, gender, disability, and technology. We're taking questions from the public. Register and ask questions here: https://www.disconetwork.org/disco-events/disco-summer-launch-super-panel :)
this is so cool + Lisa Nakamura is such an OG, I didn't know she was involved w/ DISCO
i'm doing a bunch of planning work thinking about reboot's next year (e.g. kernel magazine issue two + one more chance to buy issue one!) and for my day job, working on supporting the substack app (http://substack.com/app)
to shout something else out: kevin sent this to the reboot discord — some lovely reflections and creative/political projects from logic school's first cohort! https://school.logicmag.io/yearbook-2021
am working on coops + governance and web3 research :-) some topics of interest include coops, governance, profit sharing, local currencies, funding models, public goods, the commons, ubi/ubs, and more!
mood board of topics and discord here:
- mood board: https://www.rileynwong.com/blog/2022/3/2/coops-and-governance-mood-board
- coops + gov, web3 discord: http://discord.gg/GsXZZX7KJS
Hi everyone! I'm working on building Simply Neuroscience (https://simplyneuroscience.org/), a non-profit organization focused on increasing early access to interdisciplinary neuroscience education. Currently on working on launching our "brain" ambassador community!
Outside of non-profit work, I'm curiously exploring the neuroethics <> neurotech space -- lot of really amazing developments taking place right now! Would love to connect with folks involved in STEM outreach / EdTech and anything brain-related :)
i'm getting more undergrads into biotech! i'm one of the cofounders of Nucleate Dojo (https://nucleate.xyz/dojo/) which enables undergrads towards the broader field of life sciences through education, community, and capital.
we're opening up regional hubs across the world to teach biotech to undergrads to expose them to an alternate pathway away from premed/academia into biotech. we're looking for talent so if you're interested, feel free to reach out to me: brandonoliveryu@gmail.com :)
Jasmine already posted it but my project w/ Mapping Feminist LA is on the Logic School yearbook: https://school.logicmag.io/yearbook/mapping-feminist-la :)
i'm building a community for undergraduates who are questioning how we build algorithms with integrity, called u:wait! we're having our first forum, that hopes to offer a platform for equal discussion between speakers and students on the topics of algorithmic integrity and data protection, on march 30th at 5:30 PM EST. we'd love to see you there! tinyurl.com/is-tech-broken
I'm working on:
- finishing up / closing out the student fellowship
- writing! have a story I reported but need to pitch, a piece I wrote for a class but need to pitch still, something I accepted/pitched but need to write a draft of (by friday!) and trying to finish an update for my personal newsletter that i've been in the middle of for several months
- possibly starting an interview series about the little magazine movement, following a project to get Brown's library to archive [Hermenaut](http://linguafranca.mirror.theinfo.org/9910/inside.html), an old culture zine
- catching up on school—have about three weeks of work to catch up on LOL (computer systems/computer vision particularly have proven to be quite a difficult recovery) but there's incredible off-cycle disadvantage re working with others in school so this feels useful
- trying to rest! and do things not instrumentally! I think i've gotten super behind (on email, side projects, etc) partially because I have not taken sufficient time to be not occupied / am less productive as a result, and trying to recharge somewhat before I go back down the rabbit hole
Woww, everybody is so smart and interesting :)) I don't even write, but I had to defend the honour of digital fashion, since I think it's a pretty cool step for the industry: https://bit.ly/3wG0cLH
And I got a new job as a volunteer coordinator at the Human Rights Center, so the DISCO's panel that Veronica mentioned, is just up my alley!
Reviving Tamsin Bowles' Weatherpixie as a personal homage. So far mostly visible as an irregular Twitter stream, https://twitter.com/PixieReport
adorable!
Have recently started a project called Vending Machine. We’re a group of friends that genuinely enjoy working together who build products with ~gumption~ in the pursuit of Quality.We are currently looking for clients in need of design, strategy, and/or marketing work within the next 3 months. https://vendingmachine.cargo.site/
I'm writing a zine about the intersection of aesthetics, technology, and culture: https://aescult.substack.com/
I call it a zine because I focus on imagery, and trying to find the patterns and recurring themes among these topics. I often write about Solarpunk news items.
ooh love this, love the post titles, just subscribed
Thank you! I do feel like we share a techno-optimistic worldview often ^__^
Subbed! Aesthetics are everything....
ArtBizTech - an incubator specialised in finding new formats for artists and creatives to share research and ideas in accessible forms. The projects we select combine multidisciplinary research to make the most creative and sensitive use of technology — both existing and emerging. https://artbiztech.com/incubator
Wow, what an exciting project! I will definitely be reaching out as my current project is designing the novel of the future. Based on the research I’ve been doing on the publishing industry, my plan is to write and publish a “concept novel” using modern technologies. The hope is to imagine a future in which reading is as natural as scrolling social media, and as a result, writers earn a living from their craft. Can’t wait to learn more about what you are doing!
Hi all! Zac here... I'm an HCI designer/researcher specializing in AI-intensive enterprise applications. I help startups get their ideas from "back-of-the-napkin" into working prototypes. Current clients include startups in lab automation, augmented analytics, industrial IoT and other verticals. I'm also a grad student at Georgia Tech where I work on human-centered AI applications, especially causation and explanation. Just wrapped up 3 exciting days at the AAAI Spring Symposium at Stanford!
woah, question with my academia hat on -- any hot takes on causality and explainability? and from what you've seen do folks at startups care much about these things?
Hi Jessica. Thanks for your interest! My view on causality/explanation is that it arises from interaction and should be informed by the social sciences. Post-hoc explanations in AI are mostly intended for professional data scientists and are nearly worthless to anyone else (I wrote a lot about this: https://uxdesign.cc/practical-ux-for-human-centered-ai-31cc936e7cfd)
There's a lot of interest in explainability (i.e. "XAI") among companies working on AI especially in regulated spaces. I think it's definitely entered the AI hype cycle. I think more and more people are realizing it's also necessary for widespread adoption so companies are starting to compete on it.
My start-up LearnerShape is building the world's first AI-based, open-source learning infrastructure. We describe what that means at https://www.learnershape.com/blog/using-ai-to-build-worlds-best-open-source-learning-infrastructure. Among other projects, we are doing some cool stuff with the Cardano blockchain (https://www.learnershape.com/blog/learnershape-cardano-universal-skills-authentication) and we recently won the CogX Award 2022 for Best Innovation | Open Source Technology (https://www.cogxfestival.com/news-cogx-awards-2022).
I work for the Center for Humane Technology. We just publicly launched our free, online course – "Foundations of Humane Technology" – to introduce product developers and technologists of all stripes to the "core tenets" of humane technology. You can enroll today at humanetech.com/course.
My job is to build a thriving global community of practice around the course; come hang out with me and hundreds of others from around the world in our weekly events, affinity groups, and discussion forums!
Hi everyone, and many thanks to Jessica for opening up introductions and discussions like this one. I’m writing about music and working hard to grow readership over at Zappagram. I started off unsure of my niche, but last year definitely settled on music as my chosen topic of focus. If anyone has a deep love of music, I’d love the chance to entertain and/or inform through my writing. Thanks!
I'm creating/co-hosting a podcast about tech & society from an intersectional feminist perspective, called The Intersection of Things - https://www.theintersectionofthings.com/
(so many cool things in this thread I'm going to check out!)
omg genius title