Deb Donig's guest appearances

Deb Donig

Jewish History Matters

Tech Stands Up

Before It Happened

OwlTail

Technology isn’t neutral: all technologies were created with a purpose, says Dr. Deb Doing a literature professor at Cal Poly whose work focuses on the intersection between technology and human rights. What does it mean to be human in the age of tech? How does technology shape our future on a day-to-day basis? And most importantly, what about ethics and how we behave through technological tools? In an age where we depend so heavily on technology, Deb says we need to look further and ask developers to think more critically and act more ethically when developing their technologies.Before any world-changing innovation, there was a moment, an event, a realization that sparked the idea before it happened. This is a podcast about that moment — about that idea. Before IT Happened takes you on a journey with the innovators who imagined — and are still imagining — our future. Join host Donna Loughlin as her guests tell their stories of how they brought their visions to life. JUMP STRAIGHT INTO:(02:31) - Deb Donig on growing up and being encouraged to serve others - "I had instilled in me from a very young age that women can do everything, that our interventions are important, that we're valuable as professionals.”(04:03) - Deb's mother's life growing up in South Africa during the apartheid - "In that tight period between the end of WWII and the beginning of the official institutionalized apartheid system, Jews weren't really either black nor white. They were in this indeterminate, intermediate space."(07:17) - How Deb fell in love with literature, and her fascination for the non-human world -  "Sometimes I like to say that I will sit down to work and have my lap dog on one side and my laptop on the other side. I like to think about the symbiosis between those."(09:25) - Deb’s Jewish heritage and her love of literature - “There's a saying that because Jews have historically been exiled and lived around the world, it’s said that Jews come together around shared textuality. For me, it's an intuitive part of who I am."(12:48) -  Going back to her South African roots almost by accident - “I discovered a part of myself and a part of my family that I had never really encountered as an adult. I came back from South Africa, directed the New England Holocaust Memorial for a couple of years, and discovered there was a question about narrative. How do we remain, how do we tell the story?"(15:16) - The intersection of technological innovation and human rights - “We’re talking about questions of whether our democracy was being ruled by algorithm; about questions of free speech on online platforms. All of those were human rights issues and tech is right at the center of it.” (21:18) - Can we build this… or should we? How Deb teaches young people ethics in technology as an English literature professor -   “I’m still trying to figure out the answer myself. What I say to them is that before we can build anything, we first have to imagine it. It matters how we imagine.”(24:59) - Deb explains why some people struggle with the ‘ethical technology’ movement - “When we talk about ethics we’re not talking about laws and regulation. There shouldn’t be an ethical technology movement. There should be laws.”(27:25) - On ‘ethics washing’ - “It doesn't matter how many ethical actors you have. It doesn’t matter how many people you hire. It's a matter of who the CEO is and what kind of priorities your company has built into it. You can’t put an ethical prosthetic on your company.” (32:13) - The dichotomy between how technology can support and hurt us  - “A phone can be a distraction and it can be an attention suck, but it can be a life-saving mode of connection at times, both in terms of our mental and physical health.”EPISODE RESOURCES:Connect with Deb Donig on Twitter and LinkedInListen to Deb’s podcast Technically HumanLearn more about Deb’s work Listen to Deb’s interview on the ‘Jewish History Matters’ podcast: Ethical Technology and the Holocaust with Deb DonigThank you for listening! Follow Before IT Happened on Instagram and Twitter, and don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share the show wherever you listen to podcasts! Before IT Happened is produced by Donna Loughlin and StudioPod Media with additional editing and sound design by nodalab. The Executive Producer is Katie Sunku Wood and all episodes are written by Jack Buehrer.

Technology isn’t neutral: all technologies were created with a purpose, says Dr. Deb Doing a literature professor at Cal Poly whose work focuses on the intersection between technology and human rights. What does it mean to be human in the age of tech? How does technology shape our future on a day-to-day basis? And most importantly, what about ethics and how we behave through technological tools? In an age where we depend so heavily on technology, Deb says we need to look further and ask developers to think more critically and act more ethically when developing their technologies.Before any world-changing innovation, there was a moment, an event, a realization that sparked the idea before it happened. This is a podcast about that moment — about that idea. Before IT Happened takes you on a journey with the innovators who imagined — and are still imagining — our future. Join host Donna Loughlin as her guests tell their stories of how they brought their visions to life. JUMP STRAIGHT INTO:(02:31) - Deb Donig on growing up and being encouraged to serve others - "I had instilled in me from a very young age that women can do everything, that our interventions are important, that we're valuable as professionals.”(04:03) - Deb's mother's life growing up in South Africa during the apartheid - "In that tight period between the end of WWII and the beginning of the official institutionalized apartheid system, Jews weren't really either black nor white. They were in this indeterminate, intermediate space."(07:17) - How Deb fell in love with literature, and her fascination for the non-human world -  "Sometimes I like to say that I will sit down to work and have my lap dog on one side and my laptop on the other side. I like to think about the symbiosis between those."(09:25) - Deb’s Jewish heritage and her love of literature - “There's a saying that because Jews have historically been exiled and lived around the world, it’s said that Jews come together around shared textuality. For me, it's an intuitive part of who I am."(12:48) -  Going back to her South African roots almost by accident - “I discovered a part of myself and a part of my family that I had never really encountered as an adult. I came back from South Africa, directed the New England Holocaust Memorial for a couple of years, and discovered there was a question about narrative. How do we remain, how do we tell the story?"(15:16) - The intersection of technological innovation and human rights - “We’re talking about questions of whether our democracy was being ruled by algorithm; about questions of free speech on online platforms. All of those were human rights issues and tech is right at the center of it.” (21:18) - Can we build this… or should we? How Deb teaches young people ethics in technology as an English literature professor -   “I’m still trying to figure out the answer myself. What I say to them is that before we can build anything, we first have to imagine it. It matters how we imagine.”(24:59) - Deb explains why some people struggle with the ‘ethical technology’ movement - “When we talk about ethics we’re not talking about laws and regulation. There shouldn’t be an ethical technology movement. There should be laws.”(27:25) - On ‘ethics washing’ - “It doesn't matter how many ethical actors you have. It doesn’t matter how many people you hire. It's a matter of who the CEO is and what kind of priorities your company has built into it. You can’t put an ethical prosthetic on your company.” (32:13) - The dichotomy between how technology can support and hurt us  - “A phone can be a distraction and it can be an attention suck, but it can be a life-saving mode of connection at times, both in terms of our mental and physical health.”EPISODE RESOURCES:Connect with Deb Donig on <a href="https://twitter.com/debsta4?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/deb-donig-0128b94/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>Listen to Deb’s podcast <a href="https://www.etcalpoly.org/the-technically-human-podcast" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Technically Human</a>Learn more about <a href="https://debdonig.wordpress.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Deb’s work</a> Listen to Deb’s interview on the ‘Jewish History Matters’ podcast: <a href="https://www.jewishhistory.fm/ethical-technology-and-the-holocaust-with-deb-donig/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Ethical Technology and the Holocaust with Deb Donig</a>Thank you for listening! Follow <a href="https://www.beforeithappened.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Before IT Happened</a> on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/beforeithappenedshow/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/TheBIHShow" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, and don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share the show wherever you listen to podcasts! Before IT Happened is produced by Donna Loughlin and <a href="https://www.studiopodsf.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">StudioPod Media</a> with additional editing and sound design by <a href="https://nodalab.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">nodalab</a>. The Executive Producer is Katie Sunku Wood and all episodes are written by Jack Buehrer.

Ethics and Human Rights in Tech with Deb Donig

Join our community on Facebook | Join our mailing list In this episode, Deb Donig joins us for a conversation about the intersection between contemporary technology and culture and the lessons of history. Listen in as we dive into ethical technology, the Holocaust, and what it means to learn from the past as we think about the present and future. Deb Donig is an Assistant Professor of English Literature at Cal Poly. She is the co-founder of the Cal Poly Ethical Technology Initiative, the incoming Director of the Center for Expressive Technologies, and the host of “Technically Human,” a podcast where she talks with major thinkers, writers, and industry-leading technologists about the relationship between humans and the technologies that we create. She has taught and published on a wide variety of areas including human rights, Holocaust memory, science fiction, ethical technology, and more. Thanks so much for listening to our conversation, which we hope will spark more discussions about why studying the past matters as we look at the world around us.

<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/JewishHistoryMatters/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Join our community on Facebook</a> | <a href="https://www.jewishhistory.fm/join-our-mailing-list/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Join our mailing list</a> In this episode, Deb Donig joins us for a conversation about the intersection between contemporary technology and culture and the lessons of history. Listen in as we dive into ethical technology, the Holocaust, and what it means to learn from the past as we think about the present and future. Deb Donig is an Assistant Professor of English Literature at Cal Poly. She is the co-founder of the Cal Poly Ethical Technology Initiative, the incoming Director of the Center for Expressive Technologies, and the host of “<a href="https://dmdonig.podbean.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Technically Human</a>,” a podcast where she talks with major thinkers, writers, and industry-leading technologists about the relationship between humans and the technologies that we create. She has taught and published on a wide variety of areas including human rights, Holocaust memory, science fiction, ethical technology, and more. Thanks so much for listening to our conversation, which we hope will spark more discussions about why studying the past matters as we look at the world around us.

83: Ethical Technology and the Holocaust with Deb Donig

Deb Donig is a professor at Cal Poly where she teaches digital humanities, ethical technology, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Deb also co-leads the Ethical Technology Project and hosts the Technically Human Podcast where she explores the relationship between humans and the technologies we create. Today we discuss what role the humanities should play in the development of the products we build, how we can build more diverse and inclusive teams, and what role science fiction has played in shaping the world we live in today. Show Notes:Deb Donig Bio at Cal Poly Technically Human PodcastStar Trek Next Generation S02E09: The Measure of a ManStar Trek Deep Space Nine S6E13: Far Beyond the StarsConsequentialism vs DeontologicalThe Trolley ProblemWired: Five years of Diversity Reports -- and little progress

Deb Donig is a professor at Cal Poly where she teaches digital humanities, ethical technology, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Deb also co-leads the Ethical Technology Project and hosts the Technically Human Podcast where she explores the relationship between humans and the technologies we create. Today we discuss what role the humanities should play in the development of the products we build, how we can build more diverse and inclusive teams, and what role science fiction has played in shaping the world we live in today.  Show Notes:<ul><li>Deb Donig <a href="https://english.calpoly.edu/faculty/donig" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Bio at Cal Poly </a></li><li><a href="https://www.etcalpoly.org/the-technically-human-podcast" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Technically Human Podcast</a></li><li>Star Trek Next Generation S02E09: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Measure_of_a_Man_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Measure of a Man</a></li><li>Star Trek Deep Space Nine S6E13: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_Beyond_the_Stars" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Far Beyond the Stars</a></li><li><a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consequentialism/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Consequentialism</a> vs <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-deontological/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Deontological</a></li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_problem#:~:text=The%20trolley%20problem%20is%20a,to%20save%20a%20larger%20number.&amp;text=There%20is%20a%20runaway%20trolley,up%20and%20unable%20to%20move." rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Trolley Problem</a></li><li>Wired: <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/five-years-tech-diversity-reports-little-progress/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Five years of Diversity Reports -- and little progress</a></li></ul>