Technically Human is a podcast about ethics and technology that
asks what it means to be human in the age of tech. Each week, Professor Deb Donig interviews industry leaders, thinkers, writers, and technologists, and asks them about how they understand the relationship between humans and the technologies we create. We discuss how we can build a better vision for technology, one that represents the best of our human values.
The Diversity Challenge: Race, gender, and how the histories of medicine and technology got made
In this week's “22 Lessons on Ethics and Technology" special series, I sit down with Dr. Evelynn Hammonds to talk about how race and gender have shaped the histories of science, medicine, and technological development.
The Future of the Ethical Technology Workforce
For our last episode of the season, I sit down with Rebekah Tweed to talk about the topic that has animated my research for the past year: The future of what I have been calling the new profession of ethical technology. Rebekah Tweed is the creator of the Responsible Tech Job Board, which features roles that are focused on reducing the harms of technology, diversifying the tech pipeline, and ensuring that tech is aligned with the public interest. We talk about the reasons and history behind this growing new profession, what it means for the future of tech, and how workers can leverage their skills into jobs in this sector.
Intercode: Part 2
This week's episode is the second episode of a 2 part series of Technically Human. Over the next two episodes, I speak with the six women/nonbinary/trans individuals of the new collective “Intercode” about their experiences transitioning into the tech industry after leaving established careers. They share their stories about what led them to decide to leave their established careers and retrain as technologists through the Grace Hopper Coding Academy, a program specifically targeting women/nonbinary/trans individuals who want to learn how to code to pursue careers in the tech industry.
Intercode is a collective of voices exploring how the intersection of identity and privilege impacts every facet of the tech industry–including access, culture and the ethics governing the space. Through candid conversation and writing, we work to tackle the ways current DEI efforts can still fall short in fostering inclusive and equitable spaces.
Intercode: A panel discussion about gender and transitioning into tech
This week’s episode is the first of a 2 part series of Technically Human. Over the next two episodes, I speak with six women/nonbinary/trans individuals about their experiences transitioning into the tech industry after leaving established careers. They share their stories about what led them to decide to leave their established careers and retrain as technologists through the Grace Hopper Coding Academy. We talk about what tech represents for those who have been historically excluded from it, and their decision to launch their new collective, ”Intercode,” a platform that seeks to establish a community for Womyn+ in tech to share their stories and forge new connections.
AI for the Developing World
In this episode, I interview Prateek Joshi, Founder and CEO of Plutoshift. We talk about the importance of local and cultural knowledge in a global tech economy, the ethical obligations of technological producers in the West to technological development in developing countries, and how AI transforming the landscape of the developing world.
The Opportunity Trap: tech’s visa problem
In this episode, Dr. Pallavi Banerjee joins me to talk about her new book, The Opportunity Trap: High-Skilled Workers, Indian Families and the Failures of Dependent-Visa Program. We talk about the role of immigrants in American tech culture, the challenges that immigrants coming to the U.S. to work face in the immigration process, and the need to think about what "tech" is, beyond our just technological products.
How Women Work: Gender, digital labor, and (not) getting paid to do what you love
In this episode, I speak with Dr. Brooke Duffy about the structure of digital labor. We talk about Instagram influencers and the people who love to hate them, the double bind that women online face in presenting themselves as both "authentic" and "relatable," and the problem with the advice we so often get, to "do what we love."
A Conversation with Open Dyalog: civil discourse in the digital age
In this week’s episode, we bring you a conversation about, well, how we have conversations, featuring the founder of the Open Dyalog movement, Zahabiya Nuruddin. Listeners of this podcast, students who have taken my class, and anyone who has heard me talk about ethics and technology in public has heard me talk about the importance of civil discourse. In an age of Twitter feuds, Facebook shouting matches, and an online culture of escalating arguments, learning the skills of talking to one another is more important—and less understood—than ever.
Network Technology: Dr. Ethel Mickey explains how networks structure the tech workforce
In this episode of "Technically Human," I talk to Dr. Ethel Mickey about tech's "pipeline problem." We discuss STEM culture in universities, how inequality gets generated through a culture of networking, and Dr. Mickey walks me through the pipeline from campus culture to the tech workforce.