E-Waste and Political Economy / Ecology [Google Slides Link]
A 15-minute presentation on an article that extends upon the readings and topic of that day's lecture. The readings covered the energy impacts of data storage, cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence, as well as the extractive and exploitative roots of modern technology.
I focused on electronic waste as an offshoot of the topic of ecology in order to bring an embodied understanding of the effects of technology to our class discussion that continued from production and use to waste. In attempt to work outside my humanities-based comfort zone, I explored an article that used quantitative methods. During my presentation, I noticed I was about to go over time and decided to ignore certain slides. These are now hidden in the Google Slides link above. Finally, I concluded the presentation with concrete ways to manage personal e-waste as a means to manage climate anxiety and give myself and classmates actionable next steps to takeaway from the presentation.
Feedback Received Jun. 23, 2024
22.5/25 (90%)
Excellent presentation and addition to the class readings and to the course in general as we look at the life cycle of design, implementation, and usage of information objects. The presentation provides a clear and concise overview of the key points of the article and Theis' main argument. I appreciate the elaboration on how the article contributes to the course, what its limits are, how it connects to your personal interests, and especially the pointers on what we can do at the moment to reduce e-waste (the iSchool will take used batteries as well).