Alum Christo Sims on Disruptive Fixation on KPFA and Databite
Christo Sims is an author, professor, ethnographic research designer, and a BCNM alum. Recently, he presented a lecture at the Data & Society Research Institute in New York City in which he discussed his new book, Disruptive Fixation: School Reform and the Pitfalls of Techno-Idealism (Princeton 2017). Christo's public talk is now available to listen to online!
Christo's book gathers together details from all sorts of media and experts, proving that ethnography can be used to map out and plan the future for our new technological habits.
From the event page:
As historians of science and technology have shown, the philanthropic possibilities of new media technologies are repeatedly idealized even though actual interventions routinely fall short of reformers’ good intentions – often dramatically so. Given this track record, how does enthusiasm for techno-philanthropism manage to faithful renew and what does a given intervention or movement accomplish even as it is largely unable to make good on its aims?
Listen to his presentation here.
You can also listen to Christo discuss his book on the September 7th, 2017 recording of KPFA, here.