Expert Talk - Jackie / Andrea Ida Malkah Klaura "Feminist Technoscience"

***** Talk
What is Feminist STS and how could a feminist technoscience approach improve security & privacy in our tools and organisations?

Science & technology studies (STS) is a relatively young field, which grew up alongside the field of IT security. While the latter left academia after its teens in the 1990ies due to the spread of viruses and other threats, the former mostly stayed on an academic track, sometimes consulting grand R&D governance contexts and trying to wave some notes of caution from the sidelines of the industrial technoscience race towards faster, higher, stronger.

One of the main goals of STS ist to shed a light on how science and technology are actually done - in concrete sociotechnical practice, with all its human flaws and contingencies. And sometimes it also points out flaws that should be fixed in our technoscientific practices. As is always the case when someone tries to give “neutral” advice, not only those receiving the advice might become sceptical and defensive, but also those with a more critical stance on our collective world-making will demand that technoscience be done “better” - meaning better not only for those profiting most, but for all people affected by all our technoscientific inventions and products.

This is where feminist STS, or feminist technoscience studies comes in, and where a feminist technoscience practice could continue to improve our world and our technoscientific research, tools and gadgets better for all of us. Or as Donna Haraway has put it: “The goal is better accounts of the world, that is, ‘science’.” And I would add: the goal is better tools and technologies for the world.

While all of this might seem rather generic in our privacy & security contexts, I will try to lead from a short intro to feminist technoscience studies over to a discussion of what a feminist technoscience perspective can do for and with our security practices and frameworks, especially when it comes to such (important) buzzwords like “holistic” perspectives and approaches.

***** About the speaker
Andrea Ida Malkah Klaura, going by jackie in her daily life, has backgrounds in computer science with a little bit of IT security sprinkled on top and science & technology studies. Currently working as an open source engineer at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, she also tries to engage art students with web based game prototyping and machine learning through courses at the Angewandte. Apart from that she tries to introduce digital innovation master students at the FH Wien to the Python programming language and software engineering practices (struggling to also squeeze in some security and SDLC considerations in the little time we have there) and teaches a course about feminist technoscience studies at the TU Wien - her personal highlight, because so many different people and perspectives come together there. One of her pastimes is hacking gender and technology with and through each other. As a co-facilitator of the Feminist Linux Meetup Vienna she tries to Do-It-Together with women and non binary techno-curious folks.

***** Agenda
17:30 Welcome
17:40 Expert Talk & Q&A
19:30 Drinks & Snacks

Looking forward to seeing you there!