DPA’s Technology and Democracy and Data Feminism Programs, in collaboration with Eureka, recently hosted the workshop “Feminist Futures: Reimagining Technology and AI” at four prestigious events in Brazil: Cryptorave (São Paulo), FIB – Fórum da Internet no Brasil (Curitiba), ACM FAccT Conference 2024 (Rio de Janeiro), and the Global Digital Development Forum (GDDF) (held online). This workshop critically examines technology and AI through an intersectional feminist lends during a hands-on session that utilizes a unique methodology developed for the Eureka platform while also leveraging our work as organizers of the Book and Movie Club “Technology Through Feminist Lenses”. Discover more about this innotive initiative by reading ahead!
About the Workshop
From January to April 2024, DPA and Eureka ran the trilingual Book and Movie Club “Technology Through Feminist Lenses”, attracting over 700 participants. This club offered a curated selection of books and movies, fostering discussions on gender, race, and our digital future. Through this initiative, we created a space for participants to engage deeply with these critical themes.
During our “Feminist Futures: Reimagining Technology and AI” workshops, participants had the chance to experience a condensed 1.5-hour version of the Book and Movie Club. By using excerpts from the discussed content, we facilitated critical and meaningful discussions about how technology can both advance and hinder feminist causes. We also explored the types of futures we aspire to create in the face of rapid technological progress.
Books and Movies Utilized by the Workshop
The excerpts of movies chosen to the workshops were taken from:
- The documentary “Coded Bias” (2020), directed by Shalini Kantayya, that sheds light on MIT’s researcher Joy Buolamwini’s discovery of racial bias within facial recognition algorithms.
- The documentary “Another Body” (2023), directed by Sophie Compton and Reuben Hamlyn, which focuses on the rising danger of deep-fake pornography by exploring a survivor’s case and its wide implications.
- The sci-fi movie “The Artifice Girl” (2022), directed by Franklin Ritch, which follows the story of Cherry, an AI created to serve as a tool to protect children from harmful individuals on the internet that begins to question her own existence and desires.
For the books, we chose excerpts from:
- Misoginia na Internet [Misogyny on the Internet] (2023), by Mariana Valente, that covers Brazil’s legislation concerning misogyny and online gender-based violence.
- Colonialismo Digital [Digital Colonialism] (2023), by Deivison Faustino and Walter Lippold, which addresses the contemporary phenomenon where digital technologies wield disproportionate power over individuals and communities worldwide, often perpetuating inequalities and oppressions reminiscent of past colonial systems.
- Little Eyes (2018), by Samanta Schweblin, which describes a fictional world in where human relationships are mediated by “Kentukis”, technological devices that allow people to connect with strangers around the world through cameras and microphones embedded in stuffed animals.
CryptoRave is an annual event which features a variety of activities over 24 hours, focusing on security, cryptography, hacking, anonymity, privacy, and online freedom. Inspired by a global, decentralized movement, the event aims to disseminate and democratize knowledge and basic concepts of cryptography and free software. The free event was held in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, from May 11 to May 12.
The Fórum da Internet no Brasil (FIB) aims to encourage debate on issues related to the consolidation and expansion of an increasingly diverse, universal, and innovative Internet in Brazil, reflecting the principles of freedom, human rights, and privacy. The event was held in the city of Curitiba, Brazil, from May 21 to 24, 2024.
ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (ACM FAccT) is an interdisciplinary conference dedicated to bringing together a diverse community of scholars from computer science, law, social sciences, and humanities to investigate and tackle issues in fairness, accountability, and transparency in socio-technical systems. The event was held in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from June 3rd to June 6th, 2024.
The 2024 Global Digital Development Forum provides a place to discuss new and thoughtful ways to surface challenges, discuss solutions, and forge partnerships that drive innovation. The event was held online, from June 12 to June 13, 2024.
Eureka Moments
By the end of each workshop, participants were empowered to capture and share their vision of a feminist future, along with other insights and reflections from the books and movies explored during the session, in an image format. Using the Eureka Platform‘s generative AI feature, they created images based on prompts that described their insights in various graphic styles. These visual representations, or “Eureka Moments,” provided a unique and creative way for participants to express their understanding and vision. Explore some of the Eureka Moments created during the workshops below.
Learn More About Our Work
You can learn more about our upcoming workshops, Book and Movie Clubs, and events by following our social media accounts.
