“Loved learning the latest” – A Great Night Celebrating CTSP at Google PAIR
On October 22nd CTSP fellows, alums, past and current Co-Directors, faculty advisors and many members of the Bay Area technology community gathered at Google SF for an evening of talks, posters, and lots of mingling, hosted by Google’s PAIR team. Despite BART delays reminding us the ripple effects of complicated infrastructural breakdowns, we had a magical evening guided by Michelle Carney, CTSP alum and founder of MLUX, in exploring the work CTSP has done, our vision for what’s next, and the broader connections around society, policy, and technology.
We reflected on CTSP’s origins and progress over the last 5 years, exploring how Galen Panger and Nicholas Doty had prescient insight in developing a center that took seriously the politics of sociotechnical systems and recognized the cutting-edge work being done in the I School community and beyond. It has been so energizing to see CTSP fellows go on to become leading faculty, community advocates, policy-makers, and trusted advisors for the tech industry. As Jess Holbrook of PAIR reminded us, we must be wary of the powerful trying to claim expertise in developing solutions and alternatives to the very problems they have enabled, and instead look to those who have long been working collaboratively and carefully on the ground (and in the cloud) for their wisdom and best practices. We are so proud to count CTSP fellows among these experts.
At this event, we got to hear lightning talks from four CTSP project teams and to learn more about another ten projects in posters displayed around the event space. Fellows were thrilled to make connections across cohort years and with those working on a variety of projects inside academia and out. It was especially inspiring to see how some projects have grown and continued over the years. Check out the fantastic posters above!
Thank you to everyone who attended and/or made a poster!