Critical Technology

Ongoing debates about how digital technologies impact children’s health and well-being often frame sports as the opposite  or even antidote to sedentary screen time. For centuries, children’s sports have served as a symbol of a “good” childhood -- one that privileges some children while historically excluding many others, especially girls, Black children, and children of colour. In this episode, Dr. Sara Grimes (Director of the KMDI) chats with Dr. Samantha White, Assistant Professor of Sport Studies at Manhattanville College (New York), about her work on children’s sporting cultures at the intersection of race and gender, and how mapping the history and politics of children and sports is crucial for understanding contemporary ideas about childhood. The discussion focuses on two of Dr. White’s recent articles, “Ebony Jr! and the Black Athlete: Meritocracy, Sport, and African-American Children’s Media” (Journal of Sport History, 2020), and “Black Girls Swim: Race, Gender, and Embodied Aquatic Histories” (Girlhood Studies, 2021).

Type of research discussed in today’s episode: sports studies; historical research; archival research; textual/media analysis; communication studies; Black studies; gender studies; children’s studies.

Keywords for today’s episode: Black girl athletes; child athletes; children’s sporting culture; media representation; meritocracy; spectacular sports; embodied respectability.

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]

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 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. 

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 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. 

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]

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 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.

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]