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Miriam E. Sweeney, PhD

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It's official! Book contract with Polity Press

12/21/2022

 
I'm excited to announce that I have officially signed a book contract with Polity Press for a critical project about voice assistants, surveillance capitalism, issues of design, ethics, and the future of voice as a ubiquitous interface. The book is provisionally titled, Voice Assistants, until I find that catchy, sexy title that eludes me at the moment. A brief summary of the book contents for those interested:

This book traces the development of voice assistant technologies melding technical, social, and political-economic perspectives to consider issues such as: the underlying big data infrastructures that voice assistants both depend on and shore up; the design and marketing of voice assistants as domestic/caregiving technologies; how ideologies of gender, race, and class are embedded in the design of voice assistants; the imagined uses (and futures) of voice assistants by the tech companies that design them; the extended data-gathering and reach of voice assistants both within and outside of the home; the ethical and privacy implications of voice assistants; the political economic landscape that frames voice assistants as ideal technological solutions for personal and home management; and the possibilities for reimagining and resisting voice assistants and the paradigm of surveillance capitalism they are imbricated in.

Stay tuned for updates on the project!

C&IS Board of Visitors Award for Teaching Excellence

4/29/2022

 
Picture of Dr. Sweeney against UA logo reading: C&IS Board of Visitors Award of Teaching Excellence
C&IS BOV Teaching Excellence Award
I was honored to be awarded the 2022 C&IS Board of Visitors Award for Teaching Excellence. This award is given annually to a C&IS faculty member who is innovative and effective in teaching a wide range of courses, prioritizes diversity in teaching, and demonstrates a commitment to student engagement and mentorship beyond the classroom. 

This was a special award for me. I love the students here at the University of Alabama and making meaningful connections with them is some of the most rewarding work I get to do. Thank you to the award committee and, of course, to all of the students who go out in the world and do the hard work with their communities. 

New article out in American Quarterly

4/4/2022

 
I'm excited to announce that Melissa Villa-Nicholas and I have a new article published in American Quarterly: "Digitizing the 'ideal' Latina Information Worker." This research represents the evolution of our thinking through issues related to interface design and labor histories throughout several collaborative works. I want to thank my co-author for being the most generous and brilliant collaborator, and the editors and reviewers who helped us improve the paper throughout the publication process. Please consider reading, assigning, and citing this research!



Latina AVA installed at Long Beach airport, pictured in Airus Media’s brochure.
Latina AVA installed at Long Beach airport, pictured in Airus Media’s brochure.
Abstract:
Recent examples of virtual assistant technologies designed as Latina information service workers are noteworthy objects of study for their potential to bridge analyses of Latinas’ labor history and information technology. Latinas in the United States have traditionally worked in blue-collar information technology sectors characterized by repetitive labor and low wages, such as electronics manufacturing and customer service. Latina information service workers, though fundamental to technoscience, have been largely invisible in histories of computing. Latina virtual assistants mark a shift in this labor history by relying on the strategic visibility of Latina identity in/as the technology interface. Our research explores Latina virtual assistants designed by Airus Media and installed as airport workers in airports along the southwestern border of the United States. We situate the technocultural narratives present in the design and marketing of these technologies within the broader histories of invisible Latina information labor in the United States. We find continuities between the ways Latinas have historically been positioned as “ideal” information workers and the use of Latina identity in the design of virtual assistants. We argue that the strategic visibility of Latina virtual assistants is linked to the oppressive structures of invisibility that have traditionally organized Latina information service workers.

Cite as: Sweeney, M. E., & Villa-Nicholas, M. (2022). Digitizing the “Ideal” Latina Information Worker. American Quarterly, 74(1), 145–167. https://doi.org/10.1353/aq.2022.0007. (Pre-print available at http://ir.ua.edu/handle/123456789/7549.) 

Uncertain Archives (MIT Press) is available!

2/9/2021

 
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I was so thrilled to receive a copy of Uncertain Archives: Critical Keywords for Big Data in the mail a few weeks ago. This compilation edited by Nanna Thylstrup, Daniela Agostinho, Annie Ring, Catherine D'Ignazio, and Kristin Veel features  critical entries on big data from a wide range of prominent and upcoming media scholars, arranged glossary style. (And, what a beautiful cover!)

The volume contains my own entry, "Digital Assistants", and critically explores the  "commonsense" design practices of smart digital assistants and related technologies.

A pre-print of my chapter is available if you can't get your hands on this excellent book. Otherwise, I recommend taking the time to read through these provocative essays that provide a snapshot of the big data environment and suggestions for our data futures.

Thank you to the editors and authors whose time, labor, and generosity crafted this wonderful resource!

NSF Grant funded

8/16/2020

 
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I'm excited to share the news that I have received a $299,997 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for an interdisciplinary project that I am a co-PI on: “Using Problem-Based Learning to Increase the Ethical Reasoning Skills of Electrical and Computer Engineering Students”

The grant will kick off a three-year study that 
explores how engineering students’ perceptions of social responsibility (used in this work to describe the obligation that professional engineers have to act with the welfare and interests of society at large) changes after participation in this ethics focused course, the persistence of these changes over time, and compare these perceptions against engineering students from other disciplines without the freshman ethics focus. 

We'll be integrating critical information and data perspectives in the training of engineering students to leverage inter-disciplinary skillsets that are often siloed outside of STEM and not represented in engineering ethics training.

Faculty investigators are Todd Freeborn (PI, Engineering), Claire Major (co-PI, Education), and myself (co-PI, Library and Information Sciences). 
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Joining the C2i2's Scholar's Council

8/16/2020

 
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The Center for Critical Internet Inquiry (C2i2), led by Dr. Safiya Umoja Noble and Dr. Sarah T. Roberts, announced the exciting news that they have received a $2.9M Award to launch the multi-year Minderoo Initiative on Technology and Power initiative:
“This initiative will critically investigate the social impact of digital technologies on communities and the broader public good. It will create new paradigms for the public to understand the harms of tech platforms, predictive technologies, advertising-driven algorithmic content, and the work of digital laborers.”
Congratulations to C2i2 for receiving this award; I'm so excited to be joining C2i2 as a part of their Scholar's Council, which comprises a team of "scholars, artists, activists, and leader who share a commitment to standing up to unjust technologies and systems." 

I'm looking forward to working with this amazing group of people to support the development of a better future. Stay tuned!

Interview with Radical AI podcast

6/17/2020

 
I had the absolute pleasure of talking with Jess and Dylan, the hosts of the Radical AI podcast, about the ethics of chatbots, virtual assistants, and emoji design. They were really gracious and fun to talk with, and I can't say enough good things about the quality of their podcast. I highly recommend subscribing to the Radical AI podcast and soaking up all of the wisdom from their conversations with leading scholars in technology and media studies. (A great podcast to use in class and assign for students as well!)

Subscribe or listen to the episode here!
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New article out about USCIS's Latina virtual assistant "Emma"

7/25/2019

 
My collaborator, Dr. Melissa Villa-Nicholas, and I are proud to announce that our new article,
"Designing the "good citizen" through Latina identity in USCIS's virtual assistant "Emma", is now published in the online issue of Feminist Media Studies!

This paper marks the first of three projects interrogating various cultural, political, and social aspects of Latina AI. Stay tuned for updates on this research!

*You can learn more about Dr. Melissa Villa-Nicholas's pioneering research on Latinx information histories and practices here!
Screenshot of
Abstract:
​Virtual assistants are increasingly integrated as “user-friendly” interfaces for e-government services. This research investigates the case study of the virtual assistant, “Emma,” that is integrated into the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website. We conduct an interface analysis of Emma, along with the USCIS website, and related promotional materials, to explore the cultural affordances of Latina identity as a strategic design for this virtual assistant. We argue that the Emma interface makes normative claims about citizenship and inclusion in an attempt to “hail” Latinx users as ideal citizens. We find that the “ideal” citizen is defined through the Emma interface as an assimilated citizen-consumer that engages with digital technologies in ways that produce them as informationally “legible” to the state.
Cite as: ​Melissa Villa-Nicholas & Miriam E. Sweeney (2019) Designing the “good citizen” through Latina identity in USCIS’s virtual assistant “Emma”, Feminist Media Studies, DOI: 10.1080/14680777.2019.1644657

New article out: "You're So Sensitive!"

10/3/2018

 
Cover image for the journal The Library Quarterly.
I'm pleased to announce that my latest publication with co-author Nicole Cooke, “You’re So Sensitive! How LIS Professionals Define and Discuss Microaggressions Online,” is now available in the October 2018 issue of The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy. Check out the abstract below!
​This study analyzes a lengthy online discussion thread about racial microaggressions in a social media group for librarians to find out how library and information science (LIS) professionals define and discuss microaggressions through informal conversation. The findings reveal that there are multiple and conflicting understandings of microaggressions, along with significant gaps in knowledge regarding how microaggressions relate to larger systems of power and privilege. This research has implications for LIS educators and for the professional development of LIS practitioners, underscoring the further need to actively teach about microaggressions in the context of power and privilege in the LIS classroom and in continuing education settings.
Cite as:
Sweeney, M.E & Cooke, N.A. (2018). You’re So Sensitive! How LIS Professionals Define and Discuss Microaggressions Online. The Library Quarterly Information, Community, Policy, 88(4), 375-390.   

Teaching for Justice, available now!

2/1/2017

 
"Teaching for Justice: Implementing Social Justice in the LIS Classroom," co-edited by Nicole A. Cooke and myself, is available for purchase now! We are so excited to see this book come to press and appreciate the time and effort of all of the authors who made it possible.
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