Thinking again about new concepts of agency in a genAI reality. And notions from last week’s news.
Hi, y’all! Thanks for reading this week’s observations and thoughts
Slowly, we are moving into the holiday season. Nevertheless, there is enough happening. Last week, there were sessions on new research programs (transparency in AI). Also, a great initiative was to discuss the “lunch buddy” program to fight child poverty in Utrecht. A so-called transition table connected potential partners and stakeholders in two short brainstorming rounds. The five tables delivered different angles to tackle different issues.
It was also very pleasant to attend another great two-hour Cocktail Party with lovely guests, organized by Monique, and to visit some lovely work at the NXT museum as part of it.
On Wednesday, I learned what the four student teams that worked on the Wijkbot-based project created in the Interactive Technology Design course at Delft University of Technology. It was nice to see how each team took a different approach and came to different interpretations of urban robots as neighborhood navigators; one we specifically liked. However, they chose a rather different approach. Find more on Wijkbot.nl 🙂
Triggered thought
Degrowth. Agency. Citizens assemblies. Move away from the profitable debate; need private production. I listened to this interesting edition of the “Tech won’t save us”-podcast with guest Jason Hickel, and these were some words that came to mind.
“We should recognize degrowth not as an ecological proposition but as a global justice proposition, an anti-imperialistic proposition.” was one of Jason’s beliefs. “From the world system view, ecological is the parallel effect.”
If you are interested in this, check out the podcast.
Kottke shared this beautiful earlier museum work of Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler on Calculating Empires, “a genealogy of technology and power since 1500 that gives you different perspectives, too. It shows how power structures change.
In the two sessions I attended last week and some earlier workshops too, a returning thought arose: how the agency needs a new structure. Human agency in relation to AI, but also towards the societal context. At our “transition table” we concluded that unlocking and connecting the power of the neighbourhood is crucial in succeeding the lunch-buddy concept (Lunchmaatjes), and we need to create “kindkracht”, what could be translated as “Agency for the Child”. As a background, there is a growing problem with child poverty, and there are every day at every school, almost a few kids do not have any lunch with them. The initiative is creating a place to make your own lunch, provided by partners. These are not fixed packages but are more self-created by the children. It is clever to deconstruct the lunch from its portions so you feel less isolated. And designing a system that is built around the agency of the child.
The civic agency was crucial for shaping future AI systems in the other session on new research programs into transparent AI. How can we take a different approach from a civic starting point, building systems that are not only transparent but also fairer representation, adding agency to individuals and communities?
Design plays a crucial role here. It involves understanding, deconstructing, and rebuilding structures. Design that does not focus on the output but creates agency for the community members. It includes tools meant to build communities and roles in communities, not the design itself. Especially since we live together with these new generative things we need to find the right exchange of agency.
Continue reading the full newsletter, with
- Notions from last week’s news on Human-AI partnerships, Robotic performances, Immersive connectedness, and Tech societies
- Paper for the week “Melting Down Identity: Towards a Pedagogy of Complexity”
- Looking forward to events to visit
I started blogging ideas and observations back in 2005 via Targetisnew.com. Some years ago, I started a weekly update with links to the news and reflections. I always capture news on tech and societal impact from my perspective and interest. In the last few years, it has focused on the relationship between humans and tech, particularly AI, IoT, and robotics.
The notions from the news are distributed via the weekly newsletter, which is also archived online here. Every week, I reflect more on one topic, a triggered thought.
I share that thought here on LinkedIn and redirect it to my newsletter for an overview of news, events, and more.
Please reach out if you would like to know more, need inspiration for the future with human-AI partnerships, or would like to know more about the activities of Cities of Things, Wijkbot, or ThingsCon.
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