The Need to Rename Tech

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Frontmatter

2. Chapter 1. Introduction

   Crystal Chokshi, Robin Mansell

   Abstract

   The technology industry names its products in ways that fool us into thinking they fit naturally, easily, and inconsequentially into our lives. They do not. Technologies often bring about social and political harms, but these harms are concealed by language that obscures and obfuscates. In this collection’s introductory chapter, we elaborate on our collective aim: to subvert Big Tech’s careful branding and to rechristen popular technologies in ways that point explicitly to their problems. We pursue this goal by drawing on a performative-material framework, which holds that what something is has to be understood as what it does; that is, we insist that digital technologies be understood and named as that which they enact, not just as the shiny material objects they appear to be. We argue that the need to rename tech is particularly urgent in our political moment, in which the rise of mis/disinformation, a resurgence in far-right ideologies, and human rights violations are increasingly visible in our digital communication ecosystems. We call for symbolic renaming, a commitment in our own communities to adopting new language that breaks with the values currently encoded by the technology industry: ableism, racism, extractivism, capitalism, and colonialism.

3. Part I

   1. Frontmatter

   2. Chapter 2. Ableist Technology*

      Assistive Technology Melanie Baljko

      Abstract

      ‘Assistive technology’ (AT), which often shows up in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programmes, implies that its users need help—that they are, implicitly, deficient in some way. Digital-technology practitioners developing AT consequently often assume they are ‘helping’ the disabled through activities such as software coding assignments, development projects, and hackathons. This narrative is reproduced in the curricular guidelines for computing degree programmes. As critics have illustrated, however—using concepts such as disability dongle, technoableism, and ableist accessibility—this form of digital technology practice can reproduce and reinscribe ableism. The term AT is a term borne out of ableism. This chapter argues that as a corrective, educators should address ableism more centrally. To help them do so, we need to rename assistive technology as ableist technology.

   3. Chapter 3. AIEEE!*

      Learning Management System Kate Maddalena

      Abstract

      This chapter proposes to rename ‘learning management system’ (LMS) software as Accessible Insidious Extractive Everywhere Education, with AIEEE! as the acronym. It argues that these template digital containers for online course management are tools of surveillance capitalism that have introduced automated culture into higher education, enabling institutions to sell ‘education’ in bulk while reducing the presence of living, embodied teachers and students. These technologies promise accessibility, afford an insidious and inhumane pedagogy, extract labour from teachers and students for the profit of corporations, exercise their power everywhere in students’ and teachers’ lives, and have profoundly altered the conditions of education in the twenty-first century. The chapter describes each of these aspects of AIEEE! technology in turn, and then asks if an escape from their seemingly inevitable hold on higher education is possible.

   4. Chapter 4. HealthcAIre*

      Healthcare Arun Jacob, Christina Boyles

      Abstract

      In contemporary capitalist society, knowledge and wisdom are now entwined with big data, predictive data analytics, and information management. Digital health informatics companies are no exception. They are shaping up to be data tomb raiders, amassing medical information and health data to accrue wealth and morphing into computational powerhouses as public health services deteriorate. They are doing so in an environment where artificial intelligence (AI) is largely unregulated. For these reasons, we propose renaming ‘healthcare’ as healthcAIre, a rhetorical move that highlights the ways in which our health needs are increasingly being addressed by disembodied actors whose large data sets are programmed in opaque and problematic ways. The promise of AI’s application to medicine is its life-saving potential—how it increases the pace with which diagnostics can be done and conclusions can be drawn. The application of these tools, however, often fails to live up to this promise. As such, we ask, what are the sociocultural implications of practising medicine via predictive analytics? And how can we best protect patients’ health and safety in the AI context? Knowing that healthcAIre exists and how it functions helps drive social, organisational, and policy changes that can produce a more equitable healthcare system.

4. Optimising

   1. Frontmatter

   2. Chapter 5. Spectrumscape*

      Radio Spectrum Gordon A. Gow

      Abstract

      The radio spectrum has long been conceptualised using a spatial metaphor, equating it to land or other rivalrous resources, framing it as a finite asset subject to management and exploitation. Drawing on three cases—the Māori concept of taonga, the Victorian notion of the ether, and the open spectrum movement’s (OSM) ‘supercommons’—this chapter challenges political and cultural assumptions about spectrum allocation. The Māori view of the spectrum as taonga resists privatisation, asserting collective ownership rooted in Indigenous values. Early amateur radio operators referred to the spectrum as the ‘ether’, an ancient term for an all-pervasive medium that made radio possible. The term was revived again in the 1970s to describe the decentralised design of the Ethernet protocol, emphasising its universal accessibility. Similarly, the OSM proposed the term ‘supercommons’, challenging the idea of spectrum scarcity and advocating for an infinitely shareable resource. The chapter proposes Zita Joyce’s term spectrumscape — first used in relation to the ‘space of wirelessness’ in 2007 — as a way to retain the spatial qualities of the underlying metaphor while accommodating contested views on the regulation of radio technology. By invoking spectrumscape, the chapter highlights the need for a term that reflects the historical and cultural context that informs ongoing debates about managing and using the resource that enables wireless communication.

   3. Chapter 6. Technosolutionist Urbanism*

      Smart City Jess Reia, Luã Cruz

      Abstract

      Labelling an urban area as a ‘smart city’ suggests efficiency, resilience, and alignment with the future. Cities strive to avoid being seen as not smart, leading local governments to adopt technologies, rankings, and partnerships that may not reflect residents’ priorities. Our research, focusing on the smart city agenda in Latin America, reveals that companies entice municipalities into adopting ‘smart’ initiatives through unregulated lobbying. Terms such as artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and big data often mask corporate interests, resulting in the privatisation of urban digital infrastructures. This shift leads to proprietary, non-interoperable solutions or one-size-fits-all technosolutionist products, ignoring the unique needs of each city. Our reflections are based on fieldwork in São Paulo, Curitiba, and Rio de Janeiro, participant observation at smart city expos in São Paulo and Curitiba, and policy and legal analysis of master plans, legislation, reports, white papers, policies, investment plans, press releases, procurement processes, and contracts, as well as interviews with policymakers, civil servants, company representatives, and specialists, and Freedom of Information Act-equivalent requests.

   4. Chapter 7. Watching the Well Run Dry: Digital Settler Colonialism*

      Generative AI Harriett Jernigan

      Abstract

      While the companies behind generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Bard, DALL-E, and Midjourney (Big Data) have amassed a flood of enthusiastic users and advocates, they have also prompted a tidal wave of criticism and legal action. Most critics and litigants focus their arguments on the theft, misappropriation, and blurring of individuals’ content, emphasising potential economic threats and the erasure of creativity. Additionally, critics underscore the implicit bias in such tools, due to the homogenous composition of the companies that build them, and how those biases contribute to the perpetuation of systemic oppression. These critiques, however, often neglect exploring the fundamental drive behind the theft, erasure, and implicit bias that characterises generative AI: digital settler colonialism. Settler colonialism still persists to the present day, one of the most significant manifestations being bottled water (Big Water), and harming minoritised folk around the globe. This chapter draws parallels between Big Water and Big Data to illustrate the digital settler-colonialist framework within which Big Data operates and how that framework, if regulatory measures do not keep pace, will place natural resources and human rights in peril.

5. Part III

   1. Frontmatter

   2. Chapter 8. Automated Predeterminations*

      Predictive Technologies Olivier Driessens

      Abstract

      From banal recommendations on what to do or buy next to potentially life-changing automated decision-making by commercial and governmental organisations, predictive technologies increasingly shape our lives and societies. Yet, while much of the future is open and unpredictable, predictive technologies treat it as rather closed and predictable. By so doing, they make it more closed and predictable. They tend to narrow people’s range of options, curtail their freedom, and eliminate possible futures. For these reasons, this chapter argues that predictive technologies should be renamed as automated predeterminations.

   3. Chapter 9. Fabulation*

      Hype Gillian Russell, Frédérik Lesage

      Abstract

      Tech metaphors shape societal perceptions of technology, often reinforcing power structures and limiting possibilities. This chapter critiques Silicon Valley’s ‘hype’ culture where metaphors such as ‘autonomous vehicles’ and ‘the cloud’ obscure the political and social implications of technology. Hype frames speculative futures as inevitable, using terms like ‘bubbles’ and ‘life cycles’ to mask the subjective nature of tech forecasting. While clarity and specificity are critical to challenging hype, such approaches often exclude non-experts. To democratise tech imaginaries, the authors advocate for fabulation, a storymaking method that dismantles hype and fosters alternative visions. Fabulation emphasises relationality, situatedness, and critical engagement, moving beyond predictive approaches. To illustrate how this method can be implemented, Fables for Imagining, an initiative they helped design as part of the Imaginative Methods Lab, is introduced. This work invites participants to create collaboratively techno-social fables by analysing and reimagining metaphors. Combining archetypal storytelling with lived realities, this process empowers non-experts to critique and reshape technology’s cultural narratives. By crafting alternative stories, the initiative demystifies technological hype and encourages diverse, inclusive imaginaries. Fabulation emerges as a vital tool for resisting dominant tech discourses, fostering critical thinking and envisaging equitable, context-sensitive futures through collective storytelling.

   4. Chapter 10. Hypothetical Images*

      AI Photographs Eryk Salvaggio

      Abstract

      Photographs and illustrations made by artificial intelligence (AI) systems can create digital files that resemble images. These images mark an enormous turn in the history of photography and creative expression. In this chapter, I argue that anchoring the name of these digital artefacts in their statistical origins can create a more critical frame for evaluating their meaning. Each of these images is drawn from a statistical analysis of a dataset, and the images therefore represent a plausible example, inferred from that data, of an image that might exist in a spectrum of noise within the model. Because these images are, in essence, a proposal of an image, I suggest they be called hypothetical images: still images, but images made to suggest the existence of something that has not yet been created.

6. Saving

   1. Frontmatter

   2. Chapter 11. Access Gatekeeper*

      Firewall Anran Wang

      Abstract

      This chapter critically examines the ‘firewall’ metaphor in network security discourse, challenging its effectiveness and accuracy. Employing similarity theory and the salience imbalance hypothesis, the firewall metaphor is shown to emphasise danger prevention and to obscure sociopolitical aspects of the technology, such as the power relations at work in its filtering and monitoring functions. Discourse from two major firewall vendors is analysed to show how the metaphor plays a role in stifling critical discussion about network security, constraining a comprehensive understanding of ‘firewall’ technology’s societal implications. Access gatekeeper is proposed as a way of encouraging a more nuanced dialogue and ethical consideration of network security technologies.

   3. Chapter 12. Altman’s Golem*

      ChatGPT Nathaniel Laywine, Victoria Simon

      Abstract

      The rapid proliferation of generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, particularly large language models (LLMs) such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, has captivated global attention. These AI systems enable users to generate text-based responses to complex prompts, offering capabilities such as creative writing, translation, and interactive conversation. The pace of their development, however, has sparked a competitive ‘arms race’ among tech giants, raising concerns about their power, potential misuse, and sociocultural impacts. This chapter draws parallels between the mythical Jewish figure of the golem and contemporary chatbots, framing the golem as a historical precursor to generative AI technologies. While golems were designed to serve and protect, their autonomy often caused unintended harm to the very populations they were designed to assist. We trace this lineage from folkloric tales such as the Rabbi of Prague to modern AI pioneers such as cybernetic theorist, Norbert Wiener, and OpenAI’s founder and CEO, Sam Altman. We highlight ChatGPT’s limitations, such as its failure to generate accurate, culturally specific humour or address intersectional identities, thereby risking the perpetuation of stereotypes and cultural erasure. We argue for renaming ChatGPT as Altman’s Golem, emphasising the ethical responsibility of its creators to mitigate its potential risks.

   4. Chapter 13. Servants of Capitalism*

      Angel Investors Gemma Milne

      Abstract

      ‘Angel investors’ are wealthy individuals who provide funding and advice for small growing companies. It is understandable why advocates of entrepreneurship revere angel investors, but are they ‘angelic’? Investing early means getting a piece of a potentially prosperous pie, and providing resources for projects that align with a specific vision of the future means exercising material power that very few people have. Such benefits make early-stage investing rather self-serving, and a sober renaming could reflect that reality. But if the opportunity to rename presents itself, we can do more than simply knock investors off potentially unearned pedestals. The power of the ‘angel’ metaphor provides a smokescreen for the system that investors both prop up and are propped up by: in reality, angel investors only exist because the status quo capitalist process of creating high-growth companies requires them. If we are to believe there are other better ways of bringing new technologies into the world, we must reckon with, and directly address, our lack of disenchantment with growth-at-all-costs market capitalism. To do this, we can point directly to the role of the angel as depicted in religious texts: a servant of a higher power. Instead of ‘angel investor’, why not servant of capitalism?

7. Part V

   1. Frontmatter

   2. Chapter 14. Antiagora*

      Facebook Brooks DeCillia, Gabriela Perdomo

      Abstract

      Mark Zuckerberg famously called Facebook ‘the digital equivalent of a town square’, akin to the gathering place or agora of the ancient Greek city-states. Echoing the philosopher Jaron Lanier’s description of social media as privately owned digital meeting arenas made rich by unpaid or marginally paid labour, we propose that Facebook has become an antiagora: the supposed town square has morphed into the opposite of the idealised democratic meeting ground into a space of surveillance capitalism, information asymmetry, manipulation, and anti-democratic impulses. In recent years, Zuckerberg has signalled a metaphorical shift from a social network where users broadcast information to groups of people—a town hall—to a more private living room filled with smaller trusted groups. This new metaphor is also misleading. Using the Meta news ban in Canada, which blocked life-saving information from wildfire evacuees in this northern country in the summer of 2023, this chapter argues that it is time to reframe Facebook for what it is and what it does. We reject Facebook’s troubling metaphors—the town square as much as the living room—arguing that the figure of speech obscures the troubling communicative, material, and anti-democratic reality of the social media platform.

   3. Chapter 15. Parts & Labours*

      Momfluencers and Momification Evangeline Holtz-Schramek

      Abstract

      This chapter deconstructs the labels of ‘momfluencer’ and the analogous ‘momification of the Internet’ as used by Neetzan Zimmerman to advance a renaming of these terms that more accurately denotes what ‘momfluencers’ and ‘momification’ mean. I put forward parts & labours, a label that offers more complexity, more nuance, and a more faithful depiction of activities occurring in the online mothering realm. I ask, what is happening just below the surface of what is commonly called momfluencing? Is it medical misinformation, white supremacy, or the evisceration of feminist footholds? Creators using digital platforms to spread malicious and uninformed content under the mantle of momfluencer aesthetics are using the ‘parts’, here, the affordances of the platform technologies, to enact dubious ‘labours’, even more deceptively than the selling of untested products. While the dark arts of conspiracy theory dissemination and white supremacist values are brought under the big tent of ‘momfluencers’ and ‘momification’, however, so, too, are the honest, radical efforts of online parent creators denigrated. There is much online mothering work that seeks to make visible the discrete entities of feminist care work, the domestic, affective, and child-rearing practices that, by design under capitalism, go unseen and unpaid.

   4. Chapter 16. Xtreme Streaming*

      The Internet Zach Pearl

      Abstract

      In this chapter, I propose a tactical renaming of the internet and the rapidly growing Internet of Things (IoT) as xtreme streaming in a rhetorical move that is feminist materialist and anticolonial. Drawing upon a lineage of authors who have sought to theorise and problematise patriarchal and imperialist narratives of technological progress with ecological conceptions of media and information (Ursula Le Guin, Donna Haraway, Elizabeth Grosz, N. Katherine Hayles, and, more recently, Legacy Russell), this chapter positions embodied experiences of networked communication as akin to being submerged in a fast-flowing and all-encompassing stream, absent clear boundaries and replete with porous bodies (of information). To stress the role of language and narrative in this expanded conception of networked media, much of the chapter is a work of fictocriticism, which intentionally interweaves theory and fiction and collapses subjective and objective voices to mine the epistemological gaps that emerge between. I employ formal strategies of fragmentation, textual collage, and citational writing to evince the felt experience and affective properties of living in a post-internet environment. The fictocritical portion is followed by a traditionally written conclusion that summarises and ‘translates’ the former into an academic argument.

   5. Chapter 17. Conclusion

      Crystal Chokshi, Robin Mansell

      Abstract

      This book has aimed to reframe technologies—and the prevailing myths around them—by displacing hegemonic language. Our motivation for doing so has been twofold: to better understand the incursions of technologies into our lives and, importantly, to make visible the ways in which technologies subjugate minoritised groups. We propose that renaming technologies is one way for people in dominant groups to do the work of allyship: to prompt reflection on our own complicity with harm-marking symbols and, ultimately, to participate in discursive practices that can bring emancipatory relations into being. Rather than continue to think of ourselves as technology ‘users’, we invoke the term ‘operative’, signalling resistance to the language and practices of Big Tech while thinking towards a reclaiming of agency.

8. Backmatter