vérité and the critique of the hermeneutics of the self amidst the struggles for decolonization; and Miss Vietnam, a project on feminist mediation, which reframes technological reproducibility via the framework of reproductive labor, focusing on the paradigmatic shift from photography to video. Research and teaching topics include: modern and contemporary art; art and labor; photography, film and media theory; Marxism, critical theory and political philosophy; feminism and queer theory.
Genevieve Yue Genevieve Yue is an assistant professor of culture and media at Eugene Lang College, The New School. She is a co-editor of Discourse: Journal for Theoretical Studies in Media and Culture, and she contributes regularly to Film Comment, Reverse Shot, and the Times Literary Supplement.
Mushon Zer-Aviv Design the Future of the Networked Workplace Hackathon
Browser extensions like Turkopticon show that interface hacking is a practice ripe with opportunities for worker intervention in the digital workplace. Turkopticon’s thousands of users prove that such interventions are indeed appreciated, but are still too rare and limited to become a force to reckon with. Looking to cross the boundaries of academic discussion, this workshop/hackathon would invite participants to modify the interfaces of crowdsourcing platforms and other online sites of digital labor. Through this hands-on session we will suggest enhancements, amendments and challenges to the dominant interfaces of production and control. Borrowing Silicon Valley terminology such as ‘beta,’ ‘user centered design,’ ‘hackathon,’ ‘rapid innovation’ and even the term ‘crowdsourcing’ itself, we would set the ground for an experiment in political imagination. The positive and proactive framing of the hackathon could also serve as a opportunity to engage workers, unions, academics, designers, technologists and even companies such as AMT in the debate. The results of this session would be browser extensions, hacks and prototypes which could potentially begin to carve some space for worker solidarity, political organization and the unionization of the networked workforce. 86
How Interfaces Demand Obedience
The internet, once associated with openness and decentralization, is increasingly understood in terms of the control exerted by government agencies (like the NSA) and advertising (targeted ads). What is less commonly discussed is how this subliminal control is embedded in interface design. In this talk I argue that web interfaces demand our silent obedience with every page load and I try to offer tactics and strategies for challenging the politics of the interface. This talk ties in with the Saturday launch of AdNauseam, the browser extension that clicks on all the ads and the digital labor intervention hackathon that would take place on Sunday morning. Mushon Zer-Aviv is a designer, an educator and a media activist. His work and writing explores the boundaries of interface and the biases of technoculture as they are redrawn through politics, design and networks. Among Mushon’s collaborations, he is the CO-founder of Shual.com design studio; YouAreNotHere.org—a tour of Gaza through the streets of Tel Aviv; Kriegspiel—a Situationist computer game; the Turing Normalizing Machine— exploring algorithmic prejudice; the CollaborativeFutures.org collaboratively authored book; and multiple civic hacking initiatives with the Public Knowledge Workshop; Mushon is an honorary resident at Eyebeam. He teaches digital media as a senior faculty member of Shenkar School of Engineering and Design and previously taught at NYU and Parsons. Read him at Mushon.com and follow him at @mushon.