#insolventbook — Public Fediverse posts

I'm giving this talk on Wednesday at Nexa (11am ET/5pm CET) and I look forward to the extended discussion. https://nexa.polito.it/mercoledi-171 #InsolventBook

My book INSOLVENT was selected one of two finalists in the AAP PROSE Awards category "Engineering and Technology". https://ischool.utoronto.ca/news/prof-christoph-beckers-book-insolvent-makes-finals-at-2024-prose-awards/ 🎈 #Books #InsolventBook

Lovely to see my book INSOLVENT "Highly recommended" as 'a rich discussion of the many alternative perspectives and intellectual practices currently shaping computing' for "all readership levels". #books #InsolventBook #computing

https://www.choice360.org/choice-pick/editors-picks-for-january-2024/

@edsu Sure! The old syllabi are already here: https://ischool.utoronto.ca/course/just-sustainability-design/ - I'll make sure to share the new one too. Now that #InsolventBook is out it's high time for an update :)

The paper emphasizes that "To decide the solution is to decide the stakes". In #InsolventBook, I argue that the stakes are often decided even before: in the articulation of the problem to be solved. #solutionism relies on #problemism even without solutions. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14668.003.0009

Chock full of great references, the paper combines environmental justice concepts with Social-Ecological-Technological systems. It outlines an evaluation framework of guiding questions for #AI audits and advocates for broader boundaries and perspectives. Very generative and full of ideas, lots to think about in resonance with #InsolventBook.

The only trouble is that my reading list after finishing the paper than before is longer than before 😏. Full paper link: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2305.05733.pdf

@dawnnafus @danmcquillan @zgtcooper @Aepasek Thanks for mentioning #InsolventBook here! The Limits workshop is a great place for this question.
And I also fully agree with all of your comments @danmcquillan. These are excellent and so clearly stated. 🙏

If you are reading my book Insolvent or teach with it: I have been working on a reading and discussion guide plus glossary. Far from purrfect but here it is. Please comment so it gets better! #InsolventBook #Books https://docs.google.com/document/d/13cO77afDaQMm0vsTq9HOUpBxgNY1TiOJkEUjW9IoPag/edit

How do we technologists "wake up" to social reality and responsibility? How do we learn to see through our glasses *and* the glasses at the same time? Today I #AmReading "Critical Technical Awakenings" by Maya Malik & @mominmalik 🔥: a helpful analysis of *how* critical consciousness arises in people w/ technical training (like me, see #InsolventBook). Building on Agre & Freire, the article links personal 'perspective transformation' to critical social theory. 💡 📚 🙏
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9698152

I had the best time today speaking to a group of students in Sweden about “computing in times of extinction” (what a great course title!), their thoughts on #InsolventBook and what we can do next. If you’re teaching classes like that and are reading Insolvent, I’m more than happy to zoom in! #ClimateAction

Competing priorities… I am trying to finish my slides but my cat has other plans. Will I be ready on time for my @sigcas talk about #InsolventBook: “How to reorient computing for Just Sustainability” tomorrow? Only one way to find out: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sigcas-wip-insolvent-how-to-reorient-computing-for-just-sustainability-tickets-633954273297

Don"t miss this!! On Sept 27 at 10-11 am PDT /1-2 pm EDT Christoph Becker will discuss the role of computing in sustainability, and what has to change @ACM @sigcas - online & free. but registration is required. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sigcas-wip-insolvent-how-to-reorient-computing-for-just-sustainability-tickets-633954273297 #InsolventBook #sustainability #computing #JustSustanability

It's possible to fuse critical perspectives with work in computer science, showing new and fruitful directions for computing professionals and researchers to pursue.

How we can enact meaningful change in tech to meet the urgent need for sustainability and justice? It will take a village and some critical friendships. I will talk about my book INSOLVENT on September 27, online, register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sigcas-wip-insolvent-how-to-reorient-computing-for-just-sustainability-tickets-633954273297 #JustSustainability #JustSustainabilityDesign #InsolventBook

On Sept 27 at 10am PDT / 1pm EST I will talk about the role of computing in sustainability, and what has to change, at @ACM @sigcas - online of course. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sigcas-wip-insolvent-how-to-reorient-computing-for-just-sustainability-tickets-633954273297 #InsolventBook #sustainability #computing #JustSustanability

I enjoyed the conversation with Lev Craig for this interview on the role of tech in climate, our social responsibilities as tech workers, and how to figure out what to do! https://www.techtarget.com/sustainability/feature/The-role-of-tech-in-climate-change-and-climate-justice (or https://web.archive.org/web/20230908202443/https://www.techtarget.com/sustainability/feature/The-role-of-tech-in-climate-change-and-climate-justice for an open version :) #sustainability #climate #tech #technology #computing #InsolventBook #TechTarget

The entries of the Devil's Dictionary of #Computing are developed throughout #InsolventBook. Because we need some dark humor to make sense of the mess we're in :)
https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262545600/

I had fun developing a satirical “Devil’s Dictionary of #Computing” in #InsolventBook, inspired by the ‘Devil’s dictionary’ published by A. Pierce a century ago with gems like “PLAN: To bother about the best method of accomplishing an accidental result.” and by @karenhao ‘s great https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/04/13/1022568/big-tech-ai-ethics-guide/
#DevilsDictOfComputing 🧵

BOOK TIP: @[email protected] - Insolvent:
How to Reorient Computing for Just Sustainability #InsolventBook #SocialJustice #ict4d #CommunityInformatics

https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262545600/insolvent/

(also #OpenAccess version downloadable)

So @pecuellar went to get a copy of #InsolventBook and this happened 🙂
please shelve it in both locations! As many locations as you want, in fact... #SortingThingsOut #TransDisciplinary #Books #libraries

The #OpenAccess edition for #InsolventBook is now online! Find it at https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14668.003.0021

If you're in the United States, PUBDAY30 gets you a 30% discount on #InsolventBook but only today: https://mitpress.mit.edu/discount-codes/

#InsolventBook is #OpenAccess (the link at https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/insolvent should go online today) but please consider getting a copy from your local bookstore - it's meant to be read! - and suggest it to your library ;)

And Bonnie Nardi wrote about #InsolventBook "Becker provides rich ideas for reframing computing as an expression of the current political economy rather than a neutral set of tools.” 🙏🏻

Andrew Feenberg wrote about #InsolventBook: “Offering an alternative perspective to the intellectual practices shaping computing, Insolvent marks a watershed in the growing literature on the world created by computer technology.” 🙏🏻

@amyjko wrote about #InsolventBook: "In a forceful and epically transdisciplinary critique, Becker deconstructs the rationalist, objectivist myths that undergird computing culture, demonstrating how they stand in the way of progress, sustainability, and justice." 🙏🏻

Mark Coeckelbergh wrote about #InsolventBook: "Insolvent hits the nail on the head. Timely, uncomfortable, and pointing in the right direction, Becker's book is compulsory reading for engineers, designers, and everyone interested in thinking about technology." 🙏🏻

#Sustainability and justice urge us to change the direction of computing. #InsolventBook argues that the hegemonic mainstream of #computing is incapable of doing that. It is insolvent: unable to pay the debts owed to the planet and its societies. It is stuck in ill-conceived assumptions (myths) about the nature of problems, the workings of the human mind, and the politics of technology.

🔔 Today is #PublicationDay for my #InsolventBook so here is a 🧵! Insolvent is the story of how #computing got stuck in its way of thinking, how a group of fields I call its critical friends can help it get unstuck, and how that would help it play a more genuinely helpful role in the quest of our societies to become more sustainable and more just. The book is for everyone who cares about #sustainability, #SocialJustice, #Technology, and #Design. #OpenAccess
https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/insolvent

If you're at #ica2023, you can check out #InsolventBook at the #MITpress stand! https://twitter.com/nicole_s_cohen/status/1662525740334628868

It exists!! My book really has been printed 👀 #InsolventBook appears June 6
at MIT Press. If you care about #Sustainability, #SocialJustice and #Technology #Design, it's written for you. Please consider preordering or ask your library to order a copy🙏🏻 https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/insolvent