[Petit Fours #386] On problematisation, planned obsolescence, and nyttosvenska
Hi, everyone! As I’m digesting last week’s avalanche of paper reviews from DIS and CSCW (the good, the bad, and the ugly…), here’s what I’ve got for you:
#1 Naja Holten Møller & Marisa Leavitt Cohn have written an insightful book chapter, entitled Another Rant About Technology. Here’s the abstract: “Ethnographic studies are typically understood to make a significant, even foundational, contribution to contextual design. Nevertheless, even when participatory principles are brought to bear, there are sometimes situations where a more ‘critical’ lens is required, one which focuses on the political backdrop to design decisions. In this chapter, we discuss the notion of ‘problematisation’ as a strategy for challenging the assumptions that underpin many decisions and our own reactions to being confronted with challenges that were largely beyond our control.”
#2 I’ve also been reading and quite enjoying The Feminist Killjoy Handbook by Sara Ahmed. It revisits many of the ideas in Living a Feminist Life, but the handbook is written for a popular audience so I’ve found it much easier to dig in.
#3 Last week, our research group had the pleasure of hosting Minna Vigren. Sy Taffel’s journal article AirPods and the earth: Digital technologies, planned obsolescence and the Capitalocene offered one entryway for discussions about sustainability and the challenges of imagining and creating alternative futures.
#4 I love the notion of nyttosvenska which denotes practical and useful Swedish. Jussi Aumo’s language tips are one of the many things I miss (and miss out on) by no longer spending time on X: Jussi Aumo flyttade tillbaka till Borgå från Sverige – vill lyfta fram nyttosvenska och nyansera Sverigebilden
-A