Reading Groups

Princeton TechSoc Reading Group

The Princeton TechSoc Reading Group is dedicated to exploring the interrelationships between technology and society, with an emphasis on IT policy issues. Subscribe here to the email list.

Meetings are posted on the CITP event page . For additional information and the Zoom link for meetings please contact Monica Greco at or Jakob Mokander at

Spring 2023 – Meetings are from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. in 306 Sherrerd Hall unless otherwise noted.

Tuesday, February 7:  Ranjit Singh, ‘Give Me a Database and I Will Raise the Nation-State’.
Tuesday, February 21: Dave Lauer, ‘You cannot have AI ethics without ethics’.
Tuesday, March 7: Peter Pomerantsev, ‘Russia’s genocidal propaganda must not be passed off as freedom of speech’.
Tuesday, March 21: Krippner & Kirschman, ‘The person of the category’. Meeting will be held in 008 Sherrerd.
Tuesday, April 4: Ben Hayes, ‘Mapping Surveillance Technology Exports in Migration Deals’. (TBC)
Tuesday, April 11: Soshana Zuboff, ‘Big other: Surveillance Capitalism and the Prospects of an Information Civilization’.

Please note that this is a preliminary schedule and that both dates and readings may be subject to change. Confirmation emails will be sent to everyone on the TechSoc reading list one week before each session.

 

Fall 2022

Tuesday, November 29 – 2 p.m. – 306 Sherrerd Hall – Elena Esposito – Artificial Communication

Spring 2022

Our theme this semester is Tech and the Environment. We’ll also be spotlighting local environmental news each to ground our meetings in the communities around us, so please check out this resource too:

Thursday, February 10

This week, our theme is Indigenous People and the Environment — We’ll be discussing how communities have used technology in the fight against environmental degradation, while also complicating our understandings of “environmentally friendly tech”. We’ll be centering Indigenous voices in our discussion, and welcome you to consider the histories and legacies of colonialism in NJ history, while also uplifting indigenous resistance, joy, and futures.

Here are some suggested readings to review prior to the discussion:

Local News:

Fall 2021

  • Tuesday, October 26 – The theme of the meeting will be labor and workers.
  • Tuesday, November 9 – We’ll be discussing the role of users as stakeholders in tech.
  • Tuesday, December 7

Spring 2021

Fall 2020

Spring 2020

Fall 2019

    • September 24 – Discussion regarding ethical and policy questions around data brokers, including the proposed Data Broker List Act of 2019.
    • October 8 – Competition and Big Tech, hosted by Mihir Kshirsagar.
    • October 22 – Dr. Seth Lazar will join us for a discussion of his scholarship on the social value of explanation in AI.
    • November 5 – Smart Cities
    • November 19 – Dr. Finn Brunton will join us to discuss his book Digital Cash: The Unknown History of the Anarchists, Utopians, and Technologists Who Created Cryptocurrency.
    • December 3 – Privacy, Surveillance, and Data Governance in Education

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