Rewired
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JANUARY 2021
Disruption Will Not Save Us
Too many public officials buy the Valley’s marketing and mythology at face value.
Tracing Our (Mis)steps: What Covid-19 Contact Tracing Apps Reveal About Competing Values
Why aren’t more people using COVID-19 apps, and why does it matter?
“So Much Cooking” — and Digital Reading
My definition of reading has long since moved to encapsulate more than print-only paradigms.
How Covid-19 Can Help Us Build Better Scientific Communities
Immediate publicity for Covid-19 science has become imperative.
Portraits of the Corporate Bay Area: A Review of Randall Mann’s “Proprietary”
Proprietary shuttles us into San Francisco, the so-called “technical mouth / of the bay.”
Reanimating the Digital Zombie
Warm Bodies is not alone in using the zombie genre to critique our dependence on technology.
The Office Online
Social media platforms are effectively bringing the worst parts of the office online.
How Building in Public is Fueling a New Class of Content Creation
Launch House is a way of tapping into a new class of founder-influencers.
Viral
With the pandemic rippling through communities and media permeating digital networks, Viral interrogates the intricate, dynamic, and unexpected connections that technology makes possible.
Let There Be Light: Radar in the Second World War
Without radar, the outcome of the war could have been radically different.
OCTOBER 2020
Acquiring Real Estate in the Electromagnetic Spectrum
“What is the role of the government in regulating the frequency spectrum?”
Data-Driven Diplomacy: China’s Growing Surveillance Industrial Complex
“As more authoritarian countries implement Chinese surveillance technologies and imitate Chinese surveillance practices, many citizens’ hopes for democratic governance could be diminished.”
SEPTEMBER 2020
Pandora’s Bots: Cheaper than Free Speech?
Do traditional speech theories hold up against new speech technologies?
Black Voters Matter
Black Voters Matter is centered around the people because we believe that there are a lot of folks that care about Black votes, but don’t care about Black voters.
A Second Look at Second Life
The responsible and rational thing to do on the internet is to ‘wear a mask’ against social plagues as well.
Data and Discretion: Why We Should Exercise Caution Around Using the COMPAS Algorithm in Court
What is at stake here is the direct future of individual lives as well as the integrity of a judge’s unique discretion.
137 Questions: Criminal Risk Assessment Algorithms as a Case Study for Data Ethics
In a world where 137 questions can change one’s life, governments ought to orient themselves toward a more equitable future, rather than cling to a flawed past.
Technology and Government: A Q&A with Congresswoman Eshoo
I worry most about the role of social media in spreading misinformation and disinformation, especially with respect to our elections.
What Can Computer Algorithms Tell Us About Literature?
What can computer algorithms reveal about Romantic poetry and the Victorian novel that a human reader cannot?
Resisting the “Facebook-ization” of Our Public Spaces
Digital systems now control everything from our energy grid to transportation systems, educational venues to hospitals, manufacturing practices to elections.
Transgender Robots: Some Reflections on “Her”
At its heart, science-fiction dreams up ideal worlds as expressions of our innermost desires. This film is an alternative to the many visions of struggle, binaries, finality, and fear.
Smart Solutions, Not Just Smart Cities: Proposing Design Thinking for 21st-Century Urban Planning
Cities need a more holistic approach to solving problems: one that includes citizens’ voices and takes into account the smart city solutions as well as the “non-smart” ones.
Deepfakes Versus Democracy
Deepfakes can render elections meaningless while also dismantling the accountability and governance structures that are central to a vibrant democracy.
An Old Dance with New Moves: Modern China’s Digital Civil Society
China’s attitudes towards its digital civil society is merely an old dance with new moves.
AUGUST 2020
Governance
Our inaugural issue, Governance, explores the potential for technology to govern our lived experiences and those of our communities. It challenges us to consider how we govern technology and how technology, in turn, governs us.