Mind the tragic gap
Lenna Forsen, the real human behind the Lenna image that had been widely disseminated and used in the male dominated engineering and computer science field, asks for her image to be retired in the documentary ‘Losing Lena’: “I retired from modelling a long time ago. It’s time I retired from tech, too. We can make a simple change today that creates a lasting change for tomorrow. Let’s commit to losing me.” In the Pudding article, it was apparent that "the crux of the Lenna story is how little power we have over our data and how it is used and abused." Furthermore, "this threat seems disproportionately higher for women who are often overrepresented in internet content, but underrepresented in internet company leadership and decision making. Given this reality, engineering and product decisions will continue to consciously (and unconsciously) exclude our needs and concerns."
READING IN MY TABS
- How to read with love. Also I love this Austin Kleon's post on referring to his son's stutter as "our stutter" so that they could "listen with more love" and there is no "yet" (to discourage him from speaking), because "If we keep doing what we’re doing and we do it right, there is no ‘yet.’"
- A very comprehensive breakdown on understanding network shutdowns– the technicalities, why it was imposed, what it would affect, and what countermeasures could be taken.
- "[...] how an organisation negotiates the return to the office is how they approach everything. You might be fine with that. But it’s worth seeing it, and its red flags, clearly." 🚩🚩🚩
- Meh of course the big corp is co-opting the existing methods of communities and hackers, and in this case of Meta/Facebook, young children.
- Also, Facebook is acting like a hostile foreign power; it’s time we treated it that way.
- Note: Surveillance systems, no matter the intention, will always exist to serve power.
- "This is why it’s important to not just be self-aware when posting pictures online, it’s also important to understand the language of manipulation."
- TIL the phenomenon of 'parachute kids' in diaspora families – "[...] kids dropped off by their parents in a foreign country in order to learn—usually in some Anglophone country like Australia, the Philippines, the US, New Zealand, Ireland, England. Usually the home country is some Asian country, like China, South Korea, Taiwan, India." The whole interview with Min Jin Lee, author of Pachinko, is itself a delight – "How do I make this interesting? How do I make joy from the fact that I’m allowed to play in these pages?"
- Also TIL the tragic gap – "the gap between the hard realities around us and what we know is possible — not because we wish it were so, but because we’ve seen it with our own eyes.”
- Superhero stories have a disability problem (among others).
- See what three degrees of global warming looks like.
- "... call the people you’ve been thinking about calling. do the things your pummeling heart says do. let the lessons forming lesions be less real to you than children. make room."
RESOURCES AND TOOLKITS
- What to consider before building digital tools in social justice organisations.
- Minderoo Centre for Technology & Democracy has published a collection of provocations on the relationship between technology and the climate crisis .
- A People’s Archive of Sinking and Melting is a collection of materials contributed by people living in places that may disappear because of the combined physical, political, and economic impacts of climate change, primarily sea level rise, erosion, desertification, and glacial melting.
- For plant parents (¡atención Liy!): How Many Plants is a wonderful resource to answer the questions to which plants are easier to deal with for some of us who tend to be forgetful? Which ones require more care, and if so, what does it usually involve?
- United Nations Space Law Treaties and Principles.
STATUS BOARD
- Reading: Alaa Abd El-Fattah's You Have Not Yet Been Defeated.
- Listening: This is the week for Alena Murang, a Malaysian singer from the Dayak tribe of Borneo. This particular song called Re Lekuah (Oh Dear) is in old, almost endangered Kelabit language, making it almost untranslatable.
- Watching: Hannah Gadsby's commencement speech: "I don't know how it's possible not to be anxious in this world in this moment unless you're dead inside, and we don't want that."
- Food & Drink: Made ayam masak merah for lunch.