Doing Justice to Stories: On Ethics and Politics of Digital Storytelling

Researchers and activists are increasingly drawing on the practice of collecting, archiving, and sharing stories to advance social justice, especially given the low cost and accessibility of digital technologies. These practices differ in their aims and scope yet they share a common conviction: that digital storytelling is empowering especially when curating and disseminating life stories of marginalized groups. In this paper, I question this conviction and ask: is it possible that such practices take away from what is found to be meaningful and worthwhile in practices of storytelling and listening, and, if so, how? To answer this question, I argue for a renewed attentiveness to story scenes, highlighting the inherently relational nature of storytelling and listening. I examine this relational nature through a fictional account that exemplifies storied encounters and demonstrates the ethical issues they entail through three themes—reciprocity, responsiveness, and communion—borne out of the plurality of philosophical positions on what it means to relate to another. I explain each of these themes as a starting point for thinking through how digital storytelling may be just, with implications for participatory methods in science and technology studies, design studies, and human-computer interaction inclusive of participatory design, co-design, ethnographic research, and participatory action research

Epistemic Injustice in Technology and Policy Design: Lessons from New York City's Heat Complaints System

This paper brings attention to epistemic injustice, an issue that has not received much attention in the design of technology and policy. Epistemic injustices occur when individuals are treated unfairly or harmed specifically in relation to their role as knowers or possessors of knowledge. Drawing on the case of making heat complaints in New York City, this paper illustrates how both technological and policy interventions that address epistemic injustice can fail or even exacerbate the situations for certain social groups, and individuals within them. In bringing this case to the workshop, this paper hopes to provide another generative and critical dimension that can be utilised to create better technologies and policies, especially when they deal with diverse and broad range of social groupsComment: Design X Policy Workshop, CHI '2

Quantum games and interactive tools for quantum technologies outreach and education

We provide an extensive overview of a wide range of quantum games and interactive tools that have been employed by the quantum community in recent years. We present selected tools as described by their developers, including "Hello Quantum, Hello Qiskit, Particle in a Box, Psi and Delta, QPlayLearn, Virtual Lab by Quantum Flytrap, Quantum Odyssey, ScienceAtHome, and the Virtual Quantum Optics Laboratory." In addition, we present events for quantum game development: hackathons, game jams, and semester projects. Furthermore, we discuss the Quantum Technologies Education for Everyone (QUTE4E) pilot project, which illustrates an effective integration of these interactive tools with quantum outreach and education activities. Finally, we aim at providing guidelines for incorporating quantum games and interactive tools in pedagogic materials to make quantum technologies more accessible for a wider population. (C) The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.Peer reviewe

Look Up and Smile! Seeing through Alexa’s Algorithmic Gaze

Echo Look is one latest product by Amazon built on the artificial intelligence agent Alexa designed to be a virtual fashion assistant. This paper draws on feminist theory to critically engage with the premises and promises of this new technology. More specifically, I demonstrate how the introduction of Echo Look is an occasion to think through ethical and political issues at stake in the particular space it enters, in this case no less than what is perceived of (women’s) bodies and what fashion is and does. In addition, the specific domain helps us see this category of technology anew, illuminating its taken-for-granted assumptions. More specifically, it serves as yet another reminder of what algorithms cannot do and of their oppressive potency

Mess and Making Matters in Feminist Teaching

How do materials and making come to matter in the messy practices of feminist  teaching? This Lab Meeting shares examples of interdisciplinary work in feminist making and teaching across a range of contexts (AI portraiture, printmaking, quilting, musical performance, game design, theater, storytelling, and more) to extend the discussion of materials in feminist thought, a topic of long-standing importance in the field. As a group of theorist-practitioners, the contributors to the Lab Meeting share an interest in bridging the conceptual and material via a scrappy mode of making and inquiry that does not seek to remediate chaos but rather engage it, in all its complexities. Each contributor captures multiple interpretations of mess, making, storytelling, and education from a feminist perspective. Together, they offer insights into the liberatory promise of material engagements. CC BY-NC-NDCatalyst is a Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S) affiliated journal.</p

Mess and Making Matters in Feminist Teaching

How do materials and making come to matter in the messy practices of feminist  teaching? This Lab Meeting shares examples of interdisciplinary work in feminist making and teaching across a range of contexts (AI portraiture, printmaking, quilting, musical performance, game design, theater, storytelling, and more) to extend the discussion of materials in feminist thought, a topic of long-standing importance in the field. As a group of theorist-practitioners, the contributors to the Lab Meeting share an interest in bridging the conceptual and material via a scrappy mode of making and inquiry that does not seek to remediate chaos but rather engage it, in all its complexities. Each contributor captures multiple interpretations of mess, making, storytelling, and education from a feminist perspective. Together, they offer insights into the liberatory promise of material engagements. CC BY-NC-NDCatalyst is a Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S) affiliated journal.</p

Comparison of bone mineral density in young patients with breast cancer and healthy women

BACKGROUND: Almost 1 in 8 women will have breast cancer during their lifetime. Several risk factors were identified; however, 70% of females with breast cancer have no risk factors. Many risk factors are associated with sex steroid hormones. Some studies have been focused on identification of the indices of cumulative exposures to estrogen during the patients’ life. One of these indicators is bone mineral density (BMD). Our aim was the comparison of BMD in young patients with and without breast cancer, and finding a relationship between breast cancer and bone density. METHODS: In this case-control study, 120 people were enrolled; 40 patients with breast cancer and 80 normal healthy persons as control group. Measurement of BMD was performed in both groups and compared. RESULTS: Both groups were matched in age, weight, age at menarche, age at first marriage and first pregnancy, number of pregnancies over 32 weeks and lactation period, and taking supplemental calcium and vitamin D. However, there was a significant difference between the two groups in terms of estrogen intake, family history of breast cancer, and history of breast masses (P = 0.03, P = 0.03, P ≤ 0.01, respectively). A significant difference was found between BMD, bone mineral content (BMC), and t-scores of lumbar spine of the two groups; they were higher in the control group (P = 0.08, P ≤ 0.01, P = 0.06, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that bone mineral density of young patients with breast cancer is not higher than normal similar age females; thus, BMD is not directly a risk factor for breast cancer