Alex Taylor

“Remaking Digital Futures” — BDFI Panel

Alex Taylor — Wed, 19 Jan 2022 09:00:25 +0000

How will digital technology disrupt traditional patterns of innovation? Discuss and explore at our symposium on 19 Jan #DisruptInnovation #DriveTechnology Please register https://t.co/hjxx3RIii4 @Dsimeo @susanjhalford @JeremyS1 pic.twitter.com/2vCVoo0mmt

— Bristol Digital Futures Institute (@DigiFutures) December 22, 2021

Next up Panel 1 for #digifutures22 “Remaking Digital Futures” pic.twitter.com/fysLukHG83

— Bristol Digital Futures Institute (@DigiFutures) January 19, 2022

Panelist on “Remaking Digital Futures”, Bristol Digital Futures Institute’s inaugural symposium.

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IX Magazine: (un)making democracy

Alex Taylor — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 11:01:27 +0000

(Un)making democracy
Incredibly important questions being asked of (digital) democracy and the shaping forces from/on tech in the latest @interactionsMag issue. Humbled by the impeccable work from @UpFromTheCracks and @suchetaghoshal as guest editors. /n pic.twitter.com/gzED8wTjer

— Alex Taylor (@alxndrt) November 19, 2021

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Video: Ecological Reparation & Blockchain Food Imaginaries

Alex Taylor — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 13:08:25 +0000

Under what technoscientific conditions might the scarcity of food be understood as contingent on heterogeneous actors? And how might the possibilities of food abundance be approached as a reparative project of valuing their manifold relations? Blockchain promises to be an infrastructure that presents both productive imaginaries and also challenges to such restorative and sustainable work (Seidler et al 2017; Rozas et al, 2018).

In a series of workshops, we critically experimented with these possibilities and challenges. Working with diverse participants including community growers, organisers, artists, and technologists we used a variety of playful methods to act out fictional scenarios set in 2025, when all of London had been transformed into a city farm. For organisations and participants, reparation meant working in the aftermath of social and environmental collapse to bring into being more-than-human-value systems that radically decentred human knowledge and experience.

Checkout our new video w @ecobruja @CIMethods @WarwickEHN & D Papadopoulos @NottmSTS in conversation w @Lara_Houston @CreaturesEu @saralara_heit @alxndrt @CityUniLondon @cityuni_hcid on @spitz_cityfarm #blockchain #Food #foodimaginaries #urbanfoodcommons https://t.co/KJQ0uZMVEt

— Ecological Reparation (@EcoReparation) October 27, 2021

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IX Magazine: Engaging Race

Alex Taylor — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 16:12:02 +0000

Engaging Race in HCI –
Yet another issue that we’re so very proud of at @interactionsMag. We owe a very special thanks to Christina Harrington @adapperprof, as guest editor, and to our generous authors who made such important contributions.https://t.co/PonAzuIgH7 pic.twitter.com/truxXil4aH

— Alex Taylor (@alxndrt) September 16, 2021

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Workshop CSCW 2021: Global Labours of AI and Data Intensive Systems

Alex Taylor — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 12:57:27 +0000

Excited to announce #CSCW2021 workshop: “Global Labours of AI and Data Intensive Systems”.
Will provide opportunities to discuss hidden labours behind AI + set the stage for critical modes of inquiry.

Texts, pictorials, tik-tok vids, etc. due 15 Sep.
See: https://t.co/EsVXAAGhPX pic.twitter.com/YJlrKHSF7A

— Alex Taylor (@alxndrt) August 16, 2021

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IX Magazine: Tech Labor

Alex Taylor — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 14:22:13 +0000

Thrilled to be putting the spotlight on #LaborTech in the latest issue of @interactionsMag.

Fab work engaging with the theme from @tetisheri @seyramavle @perhaxis @qadrida @SareetaAmrute @kamela_hr @katjungnickel pic.twitter.com/4VX3gjbOct

— Alex Taylor (@alxndrt) July 12, 2021

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Panel talk: Prototyping AI ethics futures—Rights, access and refusal

Alex Taylor — Sun, 20 Jun 2021 11:47:51 +0000

Panel talk at 1:00pm–2:30pm, 23 June 2021 (BST), in association with Ada Lovelace Institute, The British Academy and The Arts and Humanities Research council.

Join us this Wednesday 23th at 1pm BST for the@justainet panel on “Rights, Access and Refusal” with @crystaljjlee @alxndrt and @maramills. Response from @sarahchander and chaired by @anthroptimist and @_louhicky https://t.co/3UUdNNzOsf

— JUST AI Network (@justainet) June 19, 2021

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CSCW 2021 conference paper

Alex Taylor — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 09:31:44 +0000

A CSCW conference paper from this year.

Beatrice Vincenzi, Alex S Taylor, Simone Stumpf (2021) Interdependence in Action: People with Visual Impairments and Their Guides Co-Constituting Common Spaces, Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 5(CSCW1), New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery, pdf, doi:10.1145/3449143

Abstract
Prior work on AI-enabled assistive technology (AT) for people with visual impairments (VI) has treated navigation largely as an independent activity. Consequently, much effort has focused on providing individual users with wayfinding details about the environment, including information on distances, proximity, obstacles, and landmarks. However, independence is also achieved by people with VI through interacting with others, such as in collaboration with sighted guides. Drawing on the concept of interdependence, this research presents a systematic analysis of sighted guiding partnerships. Using interaction analysis as our primary mode of data analysis, we conducted an empirical, qualitative study with 4 couples, each made up of person with a vision impairment and their sighted guide. Our results show how pairs used interactional resources such as turn-taking and body movements to both co-constitute a common space for navigation, and repair moments of rupture to this space. This work is used to present an exemplary case of interdependence and draws out implications for designing AI-enabled AT that shifts the emphasis away from independent navigation, and towards the carefully coordinated actions between people navigating together.

Interdependence in Action, CSCW 2021 (362 downloads)

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CHI 2021 conference papers

Alex Taylor — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 08:58:56 +0000

Two papers at the CHI conference this year.

Sara Heitlinger, Lara Houston, Alex Taylor, Ruth Catlow (2021) Algorithmic Food Justice: Co-Designing More-than-Human Blockchain Futures for the Food Commons, Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery, pdf, doi:10.1145/3411764.3445655

Abstract
The relationships that constitute the global industrial food system tend towards two dominant values that are creating unsustainable social and environmental inequalities. The first is a human-centered perspective on food that privileges humans over all other species. The second is a view of food as a commodity to be traded for maximum economic value, rewarding a small number of shareholders. We present work that explores the unique algorithmic affordances of blockchain to create new types of value exchange and governance in the food system. We describe a project that used roleplay with urban agricultural communities to co-design blockchain-based food futures and explore the conditions for creating a thriving multispecies food commons. We discuss how the project helped rethink algorithmic food justice by reconfiguring more-than-human values and reconfiguring food as more-than-human commons. We also discuss some of the challenges and tensions arising from these explorations.

Algorithmic Food Justice, CHI 2021 (286 downloads)

Cecily Morrison, Edward Cutrell, Martin Grayson, Anja Thieme, Alex Taylor, Geert Roumen, Camilla Longden, Sebastian Tschiatschek, Rita Faia Marques, Abigail Sellen (2021) Social Sensemaking with AI: Designing an Open-Ended AI Experience with a Blind Child, Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery, pdf, doi:10.1145/3411764.3445290

Abstract
AI technologies are often used to aid people in performing discrete tasks with well-defined goals (e.g., recognising faces in images). Emerging technologies that provide continuous, real-time information enable more open-ended AI experiences. In partnership with a blind child, we explore the challenges and opportunities of designing human-AI interaction for a system intended to support social sensemaking. Adopting a research-through-design perspective, we reflect upon working with the uncertain capabilities of AI systems in the design of this experience. We contribute: (i) a concrete example of an open-ended AI system that enabled a blind child to extend his own capabilities; (ii) an illustration of the delta between imagined and actual use, highlighting how capabilities derive from the human-AI interaction and not the AI system alone; and (iii) a discussion of design choices to craft an ongoing human-AI interaction that addresses the challenge of uncertain outputs of AI systems.

Social Sensemaking with AI, CHI 2021 (198 downloads)

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IX Magazine: Global Mobilities

Alex Taylor — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 17:24:10 +0000

We’ve been steering the ship at @interactionsMag for just over a year. For me this month’s issue engaging w/ #globalmobilities is one of the most exciting results.

Content exposes the frictions & complications in labouring on, designing and living w/ technology, globally. pic.twitter.com/4KRUTeR5Vs

— Alex Taylor (@alxndrt) March 8, 2021

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