A reading group for hopeful technologists

​A gentle, shared space to come together as an act of hopeful resistance and solidarity building. This is an experiment, and if it's a success perhaps we can do it once a month.

​Who's it for?
People who work in, make, study or just spend too much time thinking about technology, who want to build and shape equitable alternatives to the techno-optimistic AI brotopia.

​What will we do?
For this first one, let's make it a reading group - come along having read Ruha Benjamin's Imagination: A Manifesto https://www.ruhabenjamin.com/imagination-a-manifesto and we'll spend an hour talking about the book. Perhaps come with an idea of something else you'd recommend to the group. It might be another reading, a piece of music, a work of art, a video, but it's not a competition.

​How will it be organised?
Who knows how many people will want to come, but if we have more than 12 then let's go into break out groups. If you just want to be quiet and listen then that will be fine.

​Places you can buy the hardback book: Afrori Books | Blackwell’s (where it is weirdly much more expensive) Update there aren’t many hardback books left ahead of the paperback release later in March, but if you use an e-reader you can get the book from Kobo.

There are many excellent prompts in this discussion guide https://cdn.wwnorton.com/marketing/college/misc_marketing_assets/NORTONSHORTS_Imagination_ResourceGuide.pdf and inspiration for play and discovery in the Imagination Playbook by Dr Ariana Brazer https://www.imaginationplaybook.com/. If you want to lead a group through some virtual play, let us know!

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UPDATE (11 March)
A few logistical things by way of preparation:
If you can no longer make it, please return your ticket so that someone else can come. There are 49 people on the waiting list, and so one simple bit of admin could create a place for someone else to come along. 

​Come along prepared to be patient, curious, and helpful. There are 150 people signed up to attend this book club (the capacity of our Google Meet account) and so it's going to be a bit of an experiment. On Friday, we'll create small break out groups of 10-15 people, but it will take a couple of minutes to get that to work. This should be a wonderful moment of solidarity and shared reflection, but there may also be some technical hitches. 

​Captions. A few people have requested captions; it looks like we can only have captions in the main room rather than in every breakout rooms (if you know about this, get in touch! I'd appreciate support!) - setting this up and making sure people are in the correct room might take an additional minute or so on the day. 

​Gentle self-organising. I've asked a few people to more actively host a breakout room, but if everyone turns up it is likely that some of the groups will need to be self-organising. Expect to spend about 45 minutes in a breakout room, in conversation with others, about Ruha Benjamin's Imagination: A Manifesto, and the possibilities of imagination. Come along with questions and thoughts you are happy to share, but also be prepared to create space and listen to others. There is a very comprehensive discussion guide here - taking inspiration from that, here are a few prompts that might guide your conversation on the day, but each group discussion will inevitably head in a different direction. 

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1. What is your response to the book? How did reading it make you feel? 

​2. Are there any passages of the book that resonated with you? Feel free to read out a short extract and reflect on it together. 

​3. What comes to mind when you think of the word “innovation”? How does it relate to your own individual and your community’s collective imaginations? How should we judge “innovation”—as products, services, movements, institutions, or something else entirely? (Question 10)

​4. Some well-known technology figures in the field of technology are aligned with what Benjamin terms the "eugenics imagination" (Ch 3); the consequences of that are playing out now in the US government. What can we do collectively to move beyond that, and make other imaginations central to the development of technologies? 

​5.  What does "emancipatory social change" look like in the field of technology? (based on Q8) 

​6. What drives liberatory transformation? What impedes it? Share different scenarios that build toward a truly emancipatory future. Don’t hold back on your array—share both your most optimistic/aspirational and pessimistic/pragmatic predictions. (Based on Project Prompt 8)

​Code of Conduct. 

​In attending this online reading group, you agree to: 
- Act respectfully and inclusively towards others 

​- Share knowledge

​- Respect one another's privacy 

​- Show self-awareness and make space for others 

​Looking forward to Friday. If this one goes well, maybe we can do it again in a couple of months.