Carl Disalvo
Biographic Data
| ID | 355832 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Carl Disalvo |
| GIVEN NAMES | Carl |
| FAMILY NAME | Disalvo |
| SIGNATURE | DISALVO C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Georgia Institute of Technology |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7344-8741 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 25 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 81 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Humility as Antidote: Mitigating the US Technolibertarian Cybernetic Influences on Data Science and AI with Cyberfeminism
The problems we see with data science and AI are not new; rather, they are inherent to any technical system employed to abstract over human experiences and populations. Stepping back from critiques of individual data science and AI systems, we study these systems as incantations of the long-forgotten cybernetics, or the practice of command-and-control systems based on self-correcting biological systems. Data science and AI represent second- and t…
Accompaniment in Design Research
Scholars and practitioners alike have long been concerned with how design might contribute to social and political change. Much of that work has looked at the outcomes of design, the things made by designers. In this paper, we shift the view to look at how we—as design researchers—work with others. We offer the concept and practice of accompaniment to think about and do design research differently, with a focus on the character of the relationshi…
Introduction: Notes on Culture and Design
Futures in Things: Locating the Promise of Infrastructures in Public Libraries
Public libraries in the U.S. and around the world are rapidly changing due expanding technological and social needs of their communities. The Covid-19 pandemic has intensified the debates about the future of public spaces and public services. In this paper, we report on a qualitative study of librarians in a U.S. urban public library system. The focus of the study was to understand how the concept of "the future of library" is constructed and con…
Victor Margolin: A Testament
The Irony of Drones for Foraging: Exploring the Work of Speculative Interventions
This chapter provides a bit of specificity regarding such design methods, while also reflecting more generally on speculative interventions as a mode of inquiry. It presents a speculative intervention—one involving foraging and drones. Within design anthropology, the phrase speculative intervention has gained prominence. It is a useful phrase for expressing exploratory engagements with futures, which blend together designerly concerns ‘what might…
DigitalSTS: A Field Guide for Science & Technology Studies
A.I. Among Us: Agency in a World of Cameras and Recognition Systems
This paper reports on the use and perceptions of deployed A.I. and recognition social‐material assemblages in China and the USA. A kaleidoscope of “boutique” instantiations is presented to show how meanings are emerging around A.I. and recognition. A model is presented to highlight that not all recognitions are the same. We conclude by noting A.I. and recognition systems challenge current practices for the EPIC community and the field of anthropo…
The social impact of open government data in Hong Kong: Umbrella Movement protests and adversarial politics
While there has been much anticipation that open government data (OGD) would increase the inclusion of marginalized groups in government decision-making processes, researchers have found little evidence of it. Such findings or lack of findings of social impact have led researchers to call for critical review of present notions of OGD’s impact and also for better theoretical frameworks. In response to these calls, we develop a theoretical framewor…
More-than-human participation: Design for Sustainable Smart City Futures
In this forum we highlight innovative thought, design, and research in the area of interaction design and sustainability, illustrating the diversity of approaches across HCI communities. --- Roy Bendor, Editor
Grassroots resource mobilization through counter-data action
In this paper, we document the counter-data action and data activism of a grassroots affordable housing advocacy group in Atlanta. Our observation and insight into these data activities and strategies are achieved through ethnographic and engaged research and participatory design. We find that counter-data action through community-collected data is rooted in a legacy of Atlanta's black activism and black scholarship; that this data activism enabl…
Civic design
Community + Culture features practitioner perspectives on designing technologies for and with communities. We highlight compelling projects and provocative points of view that speak to both community technology practice and the interaction design field as a whole. --- Christopher A. Le Dantec, Editor
Issue-oriented hackathons as material participation
In recent years, intensive design and development events known as hackathons have become increasingly common. Issue-oriented hackathons are a subset of this trend that bring together ad hoc groups under the auspices of conceiving and prototyping technologies to address social conditions and concerns. In this article, we present ethnographic accounts of a set of issue-oriented hackathons that took place in the United States between 2012 and 2013, …
The need for design history in HCI
No abstract available
Building belonging
Community + Culture features practitioner perspectives on designing technologies for and with communities. We highlight compelling projects and provocative points of view that speak to both community technology practice and the interaction design field as a whole. --- Christopher A. Le Dantec, Editor
Critical Making as Materializing the Politics of Design
The notion of “critical making” suggests a new form of design, through which the political qualities of an issue are materialized by participatory means. In this essay I trace and describe this process through the Growbot Garden project—a design project directed at reimagining agricultural technologies to support small-scale agriculture. Through a discussion of this project I draw out the ways that politics were actively projected onto and throug…
Infrastructuring and the formation of publics in participatory design
Of late, there has been a renewed and reinvigorated exchange of ideas across science and technology studies and participatory design, emerging from a shared interest in ‘publics’. In this article, we explore the role of participatory design in constituting publics, drawing together recent scholarship in both science and technology studies and participatory design. To frame our discussion, we present two case studies of community-based participato…
Adversarial Design
An exploration of the political qualities of technology design, as seen in projects that span art, computer science, and consumer products. In Adversarial Design, Carl DiSalvo examines the ways that technology design can provoke and engage the political. He describes a practice, which he terms “adversarial design,” that uses the means and forms of design to challenge beliefs, values, and what is taken to be fact. It is not simply applying design …
Rediscovering the City with UrbanRemix
UrbanRemix is a collaborative and locative sound project. Participants record geo-tagged sounds on their mobile devices, explore and remix them through a web-based interface, and share them with professional DJs for live performances. This article discusses the background and goals of the project, its design and implementation, and its realization at several workshops and public events
Community and conflict
Community + Culture features practitioner perspectives on designing technologies for and with communities. We highlight compelling projects and provocative points of view that speak to both community technology practice and the interaction design field as a whole. Tad Hirsch, Editor
Navigating the terrain of sustainable HCI
research-article Share on Navigating the terrain of sustainable HCI Authors: Carl DiSalvo Georgia Institute of Technology Georgia Institute of TechnologyView Profile , Phoebe Sengers Cornell University Cornell UniversityView Profile , Hrönn Brynjarsdóttir Cornell University Cornell UniversityView Profile Authors Info & Claims InteractionsVolume 17Issue 4July + August 2010pp 22–25https://doi.org/10.1145/1806491.1806497Published:01 July 2010Publica…
Assistive Robotics and an Ecology of Elders Living Independently in Their Homes
For elders who remain independent in their homes, the home becomes more than just a place to eat and sleep. The home becomes a place where people care for each other, and it gradually subsumes all activities. This article reports on an ethnographic study of aging adults who live independently in their homes. Seventeen elders aged 60 through 90 were interviewed and observed in their homes in 2 Midwestern cities. The goal is to understand how robot…
All robots are not created equal: The Design and Perception of Humanoid Robot Heads
This paper presents design research conducted as part of a larger project on human-robot interaction. The primary goal of this study was to come to an initial understanding of what features and dimensions of a humanoid robot's face most dramatically contribute to people's perception of its humanness. To answer this question we analyzed 48 robots and conducted surveys to measure people's perception of each robot's humanness. Through our research w…
Blinded ... as I Stared into the Sun
August 01 1999 Blinded ... as I Stared into the Sun Carl DiSalvo Carl DiSalvo Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information Carl DiSalvo Online ISSN: 1530-9282 Print ISSN: 0024-094X © 1999 ISAST1999 Leonardo (1999) 32 (4): 253. https://doi.org/10.1162/leon.1999.32.4.253 Cite Icon Cite Permissions Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables…
Philosophy and Visual Representation: Imaging the Impossible
Visualization techniques used in science and the arts for the advanced analysis of information and theories can and should be similarly used in the humanities. Within the discipline of philosophy there are both the possibility and the necessity to examine and present ideas using visualization techniques. The author created a CD-ROM entitled Blinded ... in an attempt to use visualization techniques to analyze and represent a metaphysical action pr…
Infrastructuring and the formation of publics in participatory design
Of late, there has been a renewed and reinvigorated exchange of ideas across science and technology studies and participatory design, emerging from a shared interest in ‘publics’. In this article, we explore the role of participatory design in constituting publics, drawing together recent scholarship in both science and technology studies and participatory design. To frame our discussion, we present two case studies of community-based participato…
More-than-human participation: Design for Sustainable Smart City Futures
In this forum we highlight innovative thought, design, and research in the area of interaction design and sustainability, illustrating the diversity of approaches across HCI communities. --- Roy Bendor, Editor
Grassroots resource mobilization through counter-data action
In this paper, we document the counter-data action and data activism of a grassroots affordable housing advocacy group in Atlanta. Our observation and insight into these data activities and strategies are achieved through ethnographic and engaged research and participatory design. We find that counter-data action through community-collected data is rooted in a legacy of Atlanta's black activism and black scholarship; that this data activism enabl…
Issue-oriented hackathons as material participation
In recent years, intensive design and development events known as hackathons have become increasingly common. Issue-oriented hackathons are a subset of this trend that bring together ad hoc groups under the auspices of conceiving and prototyping technologies to address social conditions and concerns. In this article, we present ethnographic accounts of a set of issue-oriented hackathons that took place in the United States between 2012 and 2013, …
The social impact of open government data in Hong Kong: Umbrella Movement protests and adversarial politics
While there has been much anticipation that open government data (OGD) would increase the inclusion of marginalized groups in government decision-making processes, researchers have found little evidence of it. Such findings or lack of findings of social impact have led researchers to call for critical review of present notions of OGD’s impact and also for better theoretical frameworks. In response to these calls, we develop a theoretical framewor…
Critical Making as Materializing the Politics of Design
The notion of “critical making” suggests a new form of design, through which the political qualities of an issue are materialized by participatory means. In this essay I trace and describe this process through the Growbot Garden project—a design project directed at reimagining agricultural technologies to support small-scale agriculture. Through a discussion of this project I draw out the ways that politics were actively projected onto and throug…
A.I. Among Us: Agency in a World of Cameras and Recognition Systems
This paper reports on the use and perceptions of deployed A.I. and recognition social‐material assemblages in China and the USA. A kaleidoscope of “boutique” instantiations is presented to show how meanings are emerging around A.I. and recognition. A model is presented to highlight that not all recognitions are the same. We conclude by noting A.I. and recognition systems challenge current practices for the EPIC community and the field of anthropo…
Blinded ... as I Stared into the Sun
August 01 1999 Blinded ... as I Stared into the Sun Carl DiSalvo Carl DiSalvo Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information Carl DiSalvo Online ISSN: 1530-9282 Print ISSN: 0024-094X © 1999 ISAST1999 Leonardo (1999) 32 (4): 253. https://doi.org/10.1162/leon.1999.32.4.253 Cite Icon Cite Permissions Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables…
Philosophy and Visual Representation: Imaging the Impossible
Visualization techniques used in science and the arts for the advanced analysis of information and theories can and should be similarly used in the humanities. Within the discipline of philosophy there are both the possibility and the necessity to examine and present ideas using visualization techniques. The author created a CD-ROM entitled Blinded ... in an attempt to use visualization techniques to analyze and represent a metaphysical action pr…
All robots are not created equal: The Design and Perception of Humanoid Robot Heads
This paper presents design research conducted as part of a larger project on human-robot interaction. The primary goal of this study was to come to an initial understanding of what features and dimensions of a humanoid robot's face most dramatically contribute to people's perception of its humanness. To answer this question we analyzed 48 robots and conducted surveys to measure people's perception of each robot's humanness. Through our research w…
Assistive Robotics and an Ecology of Elders Living Independently in Their Homes
For elders who remain independent in their homes, the home becomes more than just a place to eat and sleep. The home becomes a place where people care for each other, and it gradually subsumes all activities. This article reports on an ethnographic study of aging adults who live independently in their homes. Seventeen elders aged 60 through 90 were interviewed and observed in their homes in 2 Midwestern cities. The goal is to understand how robot…
Navigating the terrain of sustainable HCI
research-article Share on Navigating the terrain of sustainable HCI Authors: Carl DiSalvo Georgia Institute of Technology Georgia Institute of TechnologyView Profile , Phoebe Sengers Cornell University Cornell UniversityView Profile , Hrönn Brynjarsdóttir Cornell University Cornell UniversityView Profile Authors Info & Claims InteractionsVolume 17Issue 4July + August 2010pp 22–25https://doi.org/10.1145/1806491.1806497Published:01 July 2010Publica…
Community and conflict
Community + Culture features practitioner perspectives on designing technologies for and with communities. We highlight compelling projects and provocative points of view that speak to both community technology practice and the interaction design field as a whole. Tad Hirsch, Editor
Adversarial Design
An exploration of the political qualities of technology design, as seen in projects that span art, computer science, and consumer products. In Adversarial Design, Carl DiSalvo examines the ways that technology design can provoke and engage the political. He describes a practice, which he terms “adversarial design,” that uses the means and forms of design to challenge beliefs, values, and what is taken to be fact. It is not simply applying design …
Rediscovering the City with UrbanRemix
UrbanRemix is a collaborative and locative sound project. Participants record geo-tagged sounds on their mobile devices, explore and remix them through a web-based interface, and share them with professional DJs for live performances. This article discusses the background and goals of the project, its design and implementation, and its realization at several workshops and public events
Infrastructuring and the formation of publics in participatory design
Of late, there has been a renewed and reinvigorated exchange of ideas across science and technology studies and participatory design, emerging from a shared interest in ‘publics’. In this article, we explore the role of participatory design in constituting publics, drawing together recent scholarship in both science and technology studies and participatory design. To frame our discussion, we present two case studies of community-based participato…
The need for design history in HCI
No abstract available
Building belonging
Community + Culture features practitioner perspectives on designing technologies for and with communities. We highlight compelling projects and provocative points of view that speak to both community technology practice and the interaction design field as a whole. --- Christopher A. Le Dantec, Editor
Critical Making as Materializing the Politics of Design
The notion of “critical making” suggests a new form of design, through which the political qualities of an issue are materialized by participatory means. In this essay I trace and describe this process through the Growbot Garden project—a design project directed at reimagining agricultural technologies to support small-scale agriculture. Through a discussion of this project I draw out the ways that politics were actively projected onto and throug…
Issue-oriented hackathons as material participation
In recent years, intensive design and development events known as hackathons have become increasingly common. Issue-oriented hackathons are a subset of this trend that bring together ad hoc groups under the auspices of conceiving and prototyping technologies to address social conditions and concerns. In this article, we present ethnographic accounts of a set of issue-oriented hackathons that took place in the United States between 2012 and 2013, …
Civic design
Community + Culture features practitioner perspectives on designing technologies for and with communities. We highlight compelling projects and provocative points of view that speak to both community technology practice and the interaction design field as a whole. --- Christopher A. Le Dantec, Editor
Grassroots resource mobilization through counter-data action
In this paper, we document the counter-data action and data activism of a grassroots affordable housing advocacy group in Atlanta. Our observation and insight into these data activities and strategies are achieved through ethnographic and engaged research and participatory design. We find that counter-data action through community-collected data is rooted in a legacy of Atlanta's black activism and black scholarship; that this data activism enabl…
DigitalSTS: A Field Guide for Science & Technology Studies
A.I. Among Us: Agency in a World of Cameras and Recognition Systems
This paper reports on the use and perceptions of deployed A.I. and recognition social‐material assemblages in China and the USA. A kaleidoscope of “boutique” instantiations is presented to show how meanings are emerging around A.I. and recognition. A model is presented to highlight that not all recognitions are the same. We conclude by noting A.I. and recognition systems challenge current practices for the EPIC community and the field of anthropo…
The social impact of open government data in Hong Kong: Umbrella Movement protests and adversarial politics
While there has been much anticipation that open government data (OGD) would increase the inclusion of marginalized groups in government decision-making processes, researchers have found little evidence of it. Such findings or lack of findings of social impact have led researchers to call for critical review of present notions of OGD’s impact and also for better theoretical frameworks. In response to these calls, we develop a theoretical framewor…
More-than-human participation: Design for Sustainable Smart City Futures
In this forum we highlight innovative thought, design, and research in the area of interaction design and sustainability, illustrating the diversity of approaches across HCI communities. --- Roy Bendor, Editor
Victor Margolin: A Testament
The Irony of Drones for Foraging: Exploring the Work of Speculative Interventions
This chapter provides a bit of specificity regarding such design methods, while also reflecting more generally on speculative interventions as a mode of inquiry. It presents a speculative intervention—one involving foraging and drones. Within design anthropology, the phrase speculative intervention has gained prominence. It is a useful phrase for expressing exploratory engagements with futures, which blend together designerly concerns ‘what might…
Futures in Things: Locating the Promise of Infrastructures in Public Libraries
Public libraries in the U.S. and around the world are rapidly changing due expanding technological and social needs of their communities. The Covid-19 pandemic has intensified the debates about the future of public spaces and public services. In this paper, we report on a qualitative study of librarians in a U.S. urban public library system. The focus of the study was to understand how the concept of "the future of library" is constructed and con…
Accompaniment in Design Research
Scholars and practitioners alike have long been concerned with how design might contribute to social and political change. Much of that work has looked at the outcomes of design, the things made by designers. In this paper, we shift the view to look at how we—as design researchers—work with others. We offer the concept and practice of accompaniment to think about and do design research differently, with a focus on the character of the relationshi…
Introduction: Notes on Culture and Design
Humility as Antidote: Mitigating the US Technolibertarian Cybernetic Influences on Data Science and AI with Cyberfeminism
The problems we see with data science and AI are not new; rather, they are inherent to any technical system employed to abstract over human experiences and populations. Stepping back from critiques of individual data science and AI systems, we study these systems as incantations of the long-forgotten cybernetics, or the practice of command-and-control systems based on self-correcting biological systems. Data science and AI represent second- and t…
Sociology (14 works) · Computer Science (13 works) · Innovative Human-Technology Interaction (12 works) · Political science (8 works) · Engineering (7 works) · Politics (7 works) · Public relations (6 works) · Law (5 works) · Psychology (5 works) · Art (4 works)