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Alan Jacobs asks Sara Hendren some questions

Proud that @OlinCollege is among the group of academic and industry partners forming http://teachingaccessibility.com . #ADA25 https://twitter.com/ablerism/status/624349671146700800

@ablerism Hey Sara, may I ask you a favor? https://twitter.com/ayjayredux/status/624350803629740032

@ayjayredux Yes of course. https://twitter.com/ablerism/status/624350876874833920

@ablerism Would you be so kind as to direct me to readings that could help me think better about these matters: http://text-patterns.thenewatlantis.com/2015/07/the-blind-mans-stick.html 

@ablerism I would be really grateful. https://twitter.com/ayjayredux/status/624351030331904000

@ablerism {when you have time, of course!} https://twitter.com/ayjayredux/status/624351274855575552

@ayjayredux I will try! It's a little beyond my scope, tbh. Stand by—I have some airport time and will dig a little. https://twitter.com/ablerism/status/624351382858928129

@ayjayredux ps I loved Bateson while in history grad school and have always wanted a re-entry to that text, so thanks. https://twitter.com/ablerism/status/624351524324442112

@ablerism You're very kind. In a way, it's "all tech is assistive tech," yes? But I am conceptually limited and this is going into a book. https://twitter.com/ayjayredux/status/624351669376040960

@ayjayredux If you want to extend/explore blindness as ex, Georgina Kleege has written on this. http://www.amazon.com/Sight-Unseen-Georgina-Kleege/dp/0300076800/ https://twitter.com/ablerism/status/624353633434374144

@ayjayredux I interviewed her on senses and perception and tech. Refs to interesting H. Keller ideas. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/11/the-white-cane-as-technology/281167/ https://twitter.com/ablerism/status/624353830583472128 

@ayjayredux The Prosthetic Impulse is a collection taking apart prosthesis as philosophical/aesthetic metaphor in interesting ways. [ this book? https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/prosthetic-impulse ] https://twitter.com/ablerism/status/624354075916681216

@ayjayredux Like literally taking apart the over-romanticization/simplification/metaphorical registers of these tools. https://twitter.com/ablerism/status/624354210495094784

@ayjayredux More coming in a few; I know there's something else you're working on... https://twitter.com/ablerism/status/624354333803413504

@ayjayredux Do you think Victor Papanek might be useful to you? On open/flexible/appropriate-able tools, neither inherently friend or enemy. https://twitter.com/ablerism/status/624354844489314306

@ablerism Already very helpful! I am pissed that I forgot that interview with Kleege, and glad to be reminded of it. https://twitter.com/ayjayredux/status/624354944871632900

@ablerism I will see! Sounds very helpful. I am trying to articulate something that avoids both naïve voluntarism/instrumentalism and ... https://twitter.com/ayjayredux/status/624355229274783744

@ablerism ... an equally naïve collapsing of categories, in this fashion: http://futureeverything.org/news/infrastructure-cyborgs-part-one/ …. No, I'm not a cyborg b/c I use tech ... https://twitter.com/ayjayredux/status/624355440718024704

@ablerism ... but then neither am I a fully enclosed boundaried person whose "tools" are altogether outside and distinct from me. https://twitter.com/ayjayredux/status/624355620360056832

@ablerism Papanek looks useful for the same reason I asked you! Some empirical, experiential bones for the otherwise too-abstract theory. https://twitter.com/ayjayredux/status/624355956743258112

@ablerism (but because you're theoretically reflective I knew that asking you would be a good idea!) https://twitter.com/ayjayredux/status/624356047860269056

@ayjayredux Right. Right. This is what's in the best of the Prosthetic Impulse. I'm gonna tag you in an old Instagram photo (book excerpt). [ Said Instagram is here: https://instagram.com/p/4UOWtwq2NS/ ] [ this book? https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/prosthetic-impulse ] https://twitter.com/ablerism/status/624356148255158272

@ablerism Thanks! I'm already looking at Sobchak's chapter, which reminds me of what Illich says in Tools for Conviviality about tools ... https://twitter.com/ayjayredux/status/624356522533916672

@ablerism ... that require our bodies to generate the energy necessary for them to work. https://twitter.com/ayjayredux/status/624356618621194240

@ayjayredux Yeah, I wondered what you're making of Illich. Eager to hear. https://twitter.com/ablerism/status/624356596756275200

@ablerism Well, he's pretty much my hero in these matters, but some of his arguments need updating. https://twitter.com/ayjayredux/status/624356734304321536

@ayjayredux Glad to hear you say that! I always want to intro students and others to him but fear they'll find him hopelessly 70s. https://twitter.com/ablerism/status/624356943646175232

@ayjayredux In general I think you could use the political critique of the too-naive-cyborg in disability studies to find language for https://twitter.com/ablerism/status/624357175750606848

@ayjayredux ...complexity more broadly. Maybe search sdsquarterly online for Haraway and cyborg and such. Or follow Sobchack paper trail. https://twitter.com/ablerism/status/624357368378232833

@ablerism Will do! Current thoughts, super-brief: cheap cyborg rhetoric tends to elide the fact that the tech you say is "part of you" is... https://twitter.com/ayjayredux/status/624357659974610944

@ablerism ... often built by large corporations for their profit. Anything but "convivial"! I have the same problem with people who ... https://twitter.com/ayjayredux/status/624357851603992576

@ablerism ... fetishize the algorithmic — as though algorithms aren't written by humans, typically in order to please their bosses! https://twitter.com/ayjayredux/status/624358001596497920

@ayjayredux Dude. Yes. Please write this book and make haste! https://twitter.com/ablerism/status/624358238478176256

@ablerism Fred Appel, my editor at Princeton UP, asked if I'd write a brief aphoristic expansion of my 79 theses: http://iasc-culture.org/THR/channels/Infernal_Machine/2015/03/79-theses-on-technology-for-disputation/  https://twitter.com/ayjayredux/status/624358599137976320

@ablerism Like I could say no to that. But, importantly: it means a lot that all this doesn't sound stupid to you. https://twitter.com/ayjayredux/status/624358818424598528

@ayjayredux Whoa! Such good pedagogical material here. And such good entry for disability-tech critique... https://twitter.com/ablerism/status/624359912160673792

@ayjayredux asking: How else, how else, how ELSE might selves & bodies be mediated? Without romance or dystopia. With supple dimensionality. https://twitter.com/ablerism/status/624360196261806080

@ablerism Well, thanks! though I really need to improve the stuff that touches on disability & the "assistive," which is why I bugged you. https://twitter.com/ayjayredux/status/624360352709394432

@ablerism Exactly! And thwarting our conventional categories rather than pressing us to choose one of them to (simplistically) guide us. https://twitter.com/ayjayredux/status/624360657677213696

@ablerism Which is precisely why I think the "blind man's stick" thought-experiment is so valuable. And the debate between Rorty and Eco... https://twitter.com/ayjayredux/status/624360831304626176

@ablerism ... about how far one can go in "redescribing" a screwdriver. https://twitter.com/ayjayredux/status/624360926594994176

@ayjayredux The instagram excerpt is from Jos Boys's new book, which might also be helpful. Will report, just starting but theory-rich. https://twitter.com/ablerism/status/624361122280312832

[ Said Instagram is here: https://instagram.com/p/4UOWtwq2NS/ ]

@ablerism Thanks so much. so much to learn ... but that's where the action is, yes? https://twitter.com/ayjayredux/status/624361442607632384

@ayjayredux Yes. (...she said, preparing to try to speak intelligently about physics for bio-inspired fall studio projects). Talk soon! https://twitter.com/ablerism/status/624362899553660928

@ayjayredux (Ok last thing. Soon my Eyeo talk will be online & these ideas are resonant there. Please watch your humble former student?) https://twitter.com/ablerism/status/624364926337847296

@ablerism With pleasure! I'll keep both eyes open for it! https://twitter.com/ayjayredux/status/624365202914410496

@ablerism @ayjayredux 🙇🏻 https://twitter.com/rogre/status/624412229899788288



last updated july 2015