Speaker Series

Upcoming Speakers

Want to drop in and attend?  Get the link from our Speaker Series Coordinator, Joy Ming at jming@infosci.cornell.edu

Find some of the publications from these speakers in our Zotero bibliography here.

2024

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Archive of Past Speakers

2023

  • January 6:  Emily West on Living in an Amazon World: How We Fell in Love With Convenience, Why It Matters, and What Comes Next
  • January 20: Marcin Zarod on Snowden to EU Data Protection Laws: How Hackers and Hacktivists Participated in the Change of EU policy, and How it Changed the Culture and Profession of Information Security. 
  • February 3: Andrea Alarcon on Identity as Safety Net: Re-creating Global Supply Chains in Independent Online Work
  • February 16:  Amrita Pande on her book Birth Controlled: Selective Reproduction and Neoliberal Eugenics in South Africa and India
  • March 3:  Lana Swartz on The Work of Scams
  • March 17:  Janaki Srinivasan on her book The Political Lives of Information
  • March 28:  Valerio De Stefano and Antonio Aloisi on their book Your Boss is an Algorithm
  • April 14:  Allison Pugh on What is a Human for? Interpersonal Workers Face the Automation Frontier
  • April 28:   Melissa Villa Nicholas, Honorable Mention winner of our inaugural Labor Tech Book Award for her book Latinas on the Line 
  • May 8:  Sana Ahmad on Limits of Automation in Content Moderation Work: Evidence from India and Germany
  • June 9:  Karen Levy on her book Data Driven: Truckers, Technology, and the New Workplace Surveillance
  • June 22: Sanna Ali on Walking the Walk of AI Ethics
  • July 17: Samuel Oslund on Grassroots Agricultural Networks and the Possibility of Technologies of Place
  • August 4: Katie Wells on her book Disrupting D.C. : The Rise of Uber and the Fall of the City
  • August 14: Ifeoma Ajunwa on her book The Quantified Worker: Law and Technology in the Modern Workplace
  • September 8: Tamara Kneese on her book Death Glitch: How Techno-Solutionism Fails Us in This Life and Beyond
  • October 6: Shiv Issar on The Social Construction of Algorithms
  • November 2: Anne Kaun and Fredrik Stiernstedt on their book Prison Media:  Incarceration and the Infrastructures of Work and Technology

2022

  • January 14: Hannah Zeavin on The Distance Cure: A History of Teletherapy
  • January 28: Tom Boellstorff and Braxton Soderman on Second-Generation Labor and Videogame Design: Making Games for Intellivision, 1979–1983
  • February 11: Bhumika Chauhan on Offshoring, Deskilling and Global Unevenness in a Transnational Software Firm 
  • February 25:  DigitalSTS Contributors, Laura Forlano, Luke Stark, Christina Dunbar-Hester, Winnie Poster, Juan Salamanca, Daniel Cardoso
  • March 11:  Karina Rider, on ‘Can Tech Still Save the World?’ Working through Disillusionment with Big Tech via Civic Technology
  • March 24:  Rutvica Andrijasevic, Julie Yujie Chen, and Marc Steinberg on their book Media and Management 
  • April 8 (Cancelled): Curtis Marez on Farm Worker Futurism: Speculative Technologies of Resistance
  • April 22:  Hee Rin Lee, on Human Robot Symbiosis in Manufacturing Settings
  • May 6: Elizabeth (Liz) Chiarello on Trojan Horse Technologies: How Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs Help Healthcare Providers Police Patients
  • May 20: Gavin Mueller on his book Breaking Things at Work
  • June 3: Sofya Aptekar, Bhumika Chauhan, Becca Roskill, and Nora Weber on Labor Organizing On and Through Campus  
  • July 22:  Mara Mills on Overload: Switchboard Operators and Disability in the History of Automation
  • August 17: Joy Ming on Designing for Worker In/Visibility in Two Frontline Health Contexts
  • Sept 2: Robert Dorschel on The Subjectivity of Tech Workers
  • Sept 13: Albert Fox Cahn, Executive Director, Surveillance Technology Oversight Project
  • Sept 30: Sarah Gram, Repairing Relationships: Navigating Technology and Surveillance at the Genius Bar
  • Oct. 14: Kelly Bronson on Immaculate Conception of Data: Agribusiness, Activists and Their Shared Politics of the Future 
  • Oct. 28:  Inauguration of our East or Inter-Asia Hub, with a spotlight on Rolien Hoyng and Gladys Pak Lei Chong’s book Critiquing Communication Innovation:  New Media in a Multipolar World
  • Nov. 11:  Murali Shanmugavelan on his Critical Caste and Technology Studies Syllabus 
  • Dec. 9:  Inauguration of our Latin America Hub, with a panel discussion on our core themes of labor, technology, feminism, decolonialism, and anti-racism in the context of Latin America, led by Paola Ricaurte, Liliana Gil, and Verónica Uribe del Aguila

2021

  • Jan 15 – Rafa Grohmann – Platform Labor in Brazil
  • Jan 28 – Darren Byler – Digital Enclosure of Turkic Muslims
  • Feb 12 – Katie Pine and Claus Bossen on The Data Work of Clinical Documentation Integrity Specialists
  • Feb 26 – Silvia Lindtner – Prototype Nation
  • March 12 – Precarity Lab – Technoprecarious
  • March 26 – Cait McKinney – Information Activism
  • April 8 – Heather Berg – Porn Work / Sex, Labor, and Late Capitalism
  • May 7 – Anne Jonas on Chasing Data Tensions of Teaching in Virtual Schools
  • May 21 – Michael Siciliano on The Platformed Alienation of Judgment in Digital Content Production
  • June 4 – Ben Shestakofsky and Shreeharsh Kelkar on Making Platforms Work
  • June 18 – Dan Greene – The Promise of Access / Technology, Inequality, and the Political Economy of Hope
  • July 2 – Claire Ma and Tanika Raychaudhuri, Political Socialization at Work / Asian Americans in the Tech Sector Workplace
  • July 16 – Yovanna Pineda, Diana Montano, and Sonia Robles – History of Technology in Africa and the Americas
  • Aug 13 – Katie Helke and Winnie Poster – MIT Book Series on Labor and Tech
  • Aug 27 – Dylan Mulvin on his book Proxies: The Cultural Work of Standing In
  • Sept 10 – Katie Wells on Low Expectations: The Rise of Uber and the Fall of the City
  • Sept 24 – Erin Hatton on her book Coerced: Work Under Threat of Punishment
  • Oct 15 – Anna Lauren Hoffman, Mariam Asad, Pat Garcia, Stefanie Dunning, and Natalia Smirnov with Steph Jordan in a Conversation on Engaging Refusal
  • Oct 29 – Rida Qadri on Platform Labor in Indonesia
  • Nov 12 – Jovan Lewis on Criminal Repair in the Jamaican Lotto Scam
  • Dec 10 – Lindsey Cameron and Hatim Rahman on Expanding the Locus of Resistance: Understanding the Co-Constitution of Control and Resistance in the Gig Economy

2020

  • Jan 3 – Tarangini Sriraman on Refugees and Their Displaced Documents of Identity
  • Jan 17 –  Linnet Taylor on What does data justice have to say about social justice
  • Jan 31 – Brainstorm Session – Labor Tech Next Stage?
  • Feb 14 – Noopur Raval and colleagues on the Gig Economy in India
  • Feb 28 – Morgan Ames on The Charisma Machine
  • March 20 – Peer Support Discussion – Tech, Gig, and Teaching Work Under Coronavirus
  • March 24 – Seda Gurses and colleagues on Protective Optimization Technologies
  • April 17 – Nataliya Nedzhvetskaya and JS Tan on their Public Repository of Collective Actions in Tech
  • May 1 – Christina Dunbar-Hester on Hacking Diversity
  • June 5 – Tammy Katsabian on Labor, Technology and the Liquid Modernity
  • June 19 – Sayak Valencia on Gore Capitalism
  • July 16 – Thao Phan on Siri’s Gendered Labor
  • July 28 – Alexandrea Ravenelle on Hustle and Gig
  • Aug 17 – Eileen Buckholtz – Queens of Code
  • Sept 4 – Angele Christin and Melissa Valentine – Algorithms at Work
  • Sept 25 – Simanti Dasgupta on Sex Work, HIV/AIDs, Anti-Trafficking in India
  • Oct 23 – Liz Chiarello on Policing Patients
  • Oct 9 – Leah Horgan on Smart Cities and Surveillance
  • Nov 9 – Noura Howell on Biosensing, Biopolitics, Design
  • Nov 16 – Cecilia Aragon on her book Flying Free
  • Dec 17 – Freeform Discussion – Researching and Coping in a Pandemic
  • Dec 4 – Debora Leal – Lessons from the Edge of Capitalism

2019

  • Jan 11 – T.L. Taylor on Watch Me Play
  • Jan 25 – Virgina Eubanks on Automating Inequality
  • Feb 8 – Ellie Harmon and Janine Berg from the ILO on “Digital Labour Platforms and The Future of Work”
  • Feb 22 – Megan Finn on Heroic Repair
  • March 8 – Mel Gregg on Counterproductive
  • March 22 – D’Ignazio and Klein on Data Feminism
  • April 5 – Freeform Discussion – Ethical Dilemmas of Writing about Resistance
  • April 19 – Seyram Avle on Technology #MadeInAfrica
  • May 3 – Jenny Rhee on The Robotic Imaginary
  • June 7 – Sai Englert on the Fairwork Project
  • August 2 – Michael Palm on The New Economy and Ecology of Music on Vinyl
  • August 16 – Soumyo Das on Datafying Antipoverty Programs
  • Sept 20 – Niels van Doorn on Varieties of Platform Labor 
  • Oct 4 – Zsuzsa Gille on Waste Labor
  • Oct 18 – Danny Spitzberg on Tech Workers Coalition
  • Nov 8 – Sarah Fox on Interrogating the Smart Washroom
  • Nov 22 – Mira Wallis, Manuela Bojadzijev, and Moritz Altenried on Platform Mobilities
  • Dec 6 – Lilly Irani on Chasing Innovation
  • Dec 16 – Smarika Lulz on Interrogating the Politics of Data Governance

2018

  • Jan 12 – Chris Benner on Inequality in the Labor Market of Silicon Valley
  • Jan 26 – Sarah Roberts on Commercial Content Moderation
  • Feb 16 – Luke Stark on Emotion and Race in Digital Animate
  • Feb 26 – Michelle Ruiz – Towards a ‘Smart Citizenry’?
  • March 16 – Virtual Ability – Meet on Second Life
  • March 30 – Diana Montano on Electro-domesticas
  • April 13 – Carolina Bank Munoz on her book Building Power from Below
  • April 27 – Ilana Gershon on her book Down and Out in the New Economy
  • May 11 – Jen Kagen and Yana Calou on Coworker.org
  • May 25 – Eleanor Marchant on Kenyan IT entrepreneurs
  • June 8 – Leon Morenas on Demonetization and eMoney
  • June 22 – Maggie Jack on Ridehailing apps for drivers in Cambodia
  • July 15 – Write Comments on Mary Gray’s book manuscript – Post on Google Doc
  • July 20 – Hamid Ekbia and Bonnie Nardi on Heteromation
  • Aug 3 – Jack Qiu on China’s Digital Working Class
  • Sept 7 – Nick Seaver on his book The Making of Algorithmic Music Recommendation
  • Sept 27 – Julia, Alexandra, and Alex on Carework Gig Economy
  • Oct 19 – Freeform Discussion – Open Science, Abolish Peer Review
  • Nov 9 – Madison Van Oort – The Emotional Labor of Surveillance
  • Nov 30 – Kate Miltner on Learn to Code Discourse 
  • Dec 14 – Asli Telli Aydemir on P2P Platforms for solidarity

2017

  • Jan 27 – Sareeta Amrute on Encoding Race
  • Feb 24 – Julie Chen on Laboring for Big Data Production
  • March 24 – Lilly Nguyen on Ethnic Platforms
  • April 14 – Marie Hicks on Programmed Inequality
  • April 28 – Luke Stark on Animated GIFs
  • May 12 – Aneesh on System Identities
  • June 9 – David Golumbia on The Politics of Bitcoin
  • June 23 – Zeynep Gursel on Image Brokers
  • Aug 23 – Frank Pasquale on Platform Capitalism
  • Sept 8 – Steph Jordan on Sexual Harassment in the Scientific Workplace
  • Sept 21 – Tom Boellstorff on Disability and the Digital Entrepreneur
  • Oct 6 – Sreela Sarkar on Passionate Producers
  • Oct 27 – Michael Palm on The New Old, Vinyl Records in a Digital Age
  • Nov 17 – Brooke Erin Duffy on her book Not Getting Paid to do What You Love 
  • Dec 6 – Geeta Patel on Risky Bodies & Techno-Intimacy

2016

  • Feb 5 – Discussion – Border as Method
  • April 15 – Discussion – Digital Housewife
  • May 5 – Discussion – LA Times Series on Digital Humanities
  • June 2 – Rolien Hoyng on “From Infrastructural Breakdown to Data Vandalism”, and others
  • June 15 – Aouragh and Chakravartty join us for “Infrastructures of Empire”
  • July 6 – Discussion – Lilly Nguyen and colleagues’ Feminist Hacking / Making
  • August 11 – Tom Boellstorff joins us for “Theorizing the Digital Real”
  • August 24 – Discussion – Precarious Creativity
  • Sept 15 – Ned Rossiter joins us for Software, Infrastructure, Labor
  • Oct 6 – Discussion – Labors of Maintenance
  • Oct 28 – Ergin Bulut presents on Video Game Development as Labor of Love
  • Nov 10 – Noopur Ravel presents on Ridesharing in India
  • Dec 15 – Cathy O’Neil discusses her book Weapons of Math Destruction

2015

  • January 26 – Lilly Nguyen presents on Ethnic Platforms in Vietnam
  • February 12 – Discussion Part 1 – Productive Body
  • February 23 – Discussion Part 1 – Seizing the Means of Production – Part 1 – Intro
  • March 12 – Discussion Part 2 – Productive Body
  • April 20 – Discussion Part 2 – Seizing the Means of Production – Ch. 4 and others
  • April 30 – Discussion on Bodily Labor, Feminist Theory and Infrastructure
  • May 11 – Itty Abraham presents on Technology Czars in India
  • May 28 – Meeting Hosted at Boğaziçi University, Istanbul – Why How Collaborate
  • June 8 – Discussion – Zachariah on postcolonial theory
  • July 9 – Discussion – Gillian Hart, Anna Tsing, and others
  • July 20 – Lilly Irani presents the Intro chapter of her book Chasing Innovation
  • Sept 3 – Discussion – Vibrant Matter – recommended chapters 2 and 7
  • Sept 17 – Mel Gregg tells us about her article “Circuits of Labor”
  • Oct 2 – Discussion – Digital Resistance – The Exploit, and Terranova chapter
  • Oct 13 – Luke Stark and Alex Rosenblat present on their research on Uber work
  • Nov 13 – Meetup at 4S, Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science and Technology
  • Dec 4 – Michael Palm presents on The History of Dialing as Consumer Labor

2014

  • Feb 6 – Discussion – Surveillance, resistance, regulation
  • Feb 27 – Marisa Cohn Presents on “Success is Holding On”
  • March 13 – Winnie Poster presents on Multi-surveillance
  • March 27 – Discussion – Affect
  • April 25 – Discussion – Race and Labor
  • May 9 – Luke Stark presents on Emotional Context of Information Privacy
  • June 6 – Discussion – Gender, Sexuality, Tech
  • June 20 – Discussion – Late 20th Century Political Economy – Brand, Ferguson, White
  • August 1 – Discussion – Digital Dead End
  • August 18 – Discussion Part 1 – Arendt – Labor and Work
  • August 29 – Discussion Part 2 – Arendt – Action
  • Sept 12 – Lilly Irani presents on Hackathon Coding Politics
  • Oct 6 – Karl Mendonca on “New Media, Old Networks”
  • Oct 31 – Steph Jordan presents on Anticipation Work
  • Nov 20 – Discussion – Speculate This

2013

  • Oct 25 – Discussion – What is work and labor – Sanyal, Starr, Suchman
  • Oct 29 – Kavita Philip presents on Postcolonial Piracy, Nima Yolmo presents on Money, Technology and Society
  • Nov 8 – Discussion – Care and reproduction
  • Nov 15 – Lilly squared! Nguyen on Evangelism and Translation in Open Software; Irani on Microwork
  • Nov 19 – Discussion – Capital and political economy
  • Nov 26 – Alberto Morales on Situating Capital; Norma Mollers on Research in the Context of Video Surveillance
  • Dec 3 – Eclectic Discussion – Elyachar, Huws, Jackson, Traweek