Critical Making & Media Studies
In my last semester of undergraduate, I did an independent study with Mark Olson where we read selected texts around the broad themes of critical making and media studies. While in total we only went through ~9 texts, the readings and discussion with Mark has significantly impacted how I think about my work as an human computer interaction researcher and technologist. Even now, I still seek out work related to media theory, critical making/design, etc. and see it inform my research in many ways.
Here, I list the texts we explored and other texts that have since been similarly influential. I share with hopes that I can recommend cool texts and also receive recommendations for other texts I can read!
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Program or Be Programmed - Douglas Rushkoff
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The Human Condition - Hannah Arendt
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Design Noir: The Secret Life of Electronic Objects - Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby
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Adversarial Design - Carl DiSalvo
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Tactical Media (Introduction) - Rita Raley
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How a Prototype Argues - Alan Galey & Stan Ruecker
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Wicked Problems in Design Thinking - Richard Buchanan
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Reassembling the Social (Introduction + Part 1) - Bruno Latour
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What Things Do: Philosophical Reflections on Technology, Agency, and Design - Peter-Paul Verbeek
Other texts that drive my research:
- A Cyborg Manifesto - Donna Haraway
- Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene - Donna Haraway
- A Symbiotic View of Life: We Have Never Been Individuals - SF Gilbert
- Design Fiction: A Short Essay on Design, Science, Fact and Fiction - Julian Bleecker
