Key topics and approaches
I am interested in large language models, governmental openness, technological openness, readability, and transparency. I enjoy learning about the intersection of technology and government. I would say that I’m neither a tech-optimist nor a tech-pessimist, and I find value in the middle position of casting a critical but interested eye over problems of technology and society.
I am of the view that there are almost always trade-offs one must make, but that in a democratic society we must discuss these in depth with experts in both technology and communications. I believe that communications scholars have a responsibility to learn how technology works (not just critique it from the side) and that technology builders have a responsibility to learn communications theory (to understand why people may have concerns) and to communicate properly about the trade-offs.
I tend to follow a postphenomenological approach in my own work, in that I think the best way to understand technology and its role in our societies is to tinker with specific technologies to see what they do, how they behave, and how others engage with them, and then ask these questions over time as the technologies change. I enjoy a case study approach, I enjoy building and tinkering, and I enjoy mixed-methods. Overall I find that curiosity is one of the most useful personal traits that I hold.
Scholars discussed
I am using the works of the following scholars quite frequently:
- Louise Amoore
- Hannah Arendt
- Don Ihde
- Karl Popper
- Robert Rosenberger
- Peter-Paul Verbeek
To undertake qualitative coding, I recommend The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers by Johnny Saldana. I have the fourth edition and have found it useful at both the Masters and Doctoral level.
How did I learn python?
Great question. In my undergraduate I learned HTML, CSS, and PHP, and these scripting languages gave me a solid understanding of what learning programming might be like. I tried on my own to learn python a few years ago and while I got the project done it was a real slog and the skill didn’t stick around too well after I completed the project. Though I understood how to make my computer do what I wanted, I didn’t really understand why I was doing these things.
For my PhD I used the free resources over at Harvard in their CS50P course, and this time it stuck. I recommend doing both the lectures and the practice exercises as they are well designed and work effectively to demonstrate how the concepts play out.
I worked for about three months both on the CS50P course material and in practicing the skills on my own projects afterward before I used them for my PhD project. I anticipate taking other classes in this area in the future, given my really positive and pleasant experience.
Some books by the scholars listed above
Cloud Ethics, Louise Amoore
The Human Condition, Hannah Arendt
The Open Society and Its Enemies, Karl Popper
The Capacity Contract, Stacy Clifford Simplican
Postphenomenology and Technoscience: The Peking University Lectures, Don Ihde
Heidegger’s Technologies: Postphenomenological Perspectives, Don Ihde
Postphenomenological Investigations: Essays on Human-Technology Relations, Ed: Robert Rosenberger and Peter-Paul Verbeek