Creative Speculation: Computer Science Taps Science Fiction

Host Kirsten Martin is joined by Casey Fiesler, an assistant professor in the Department of Information Science (and Computer Science, by courtesy) at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research currently focuses on big data research ethics, ethics education, ethical speculation in technology design, technology empowerment for marginalized communities, and broadening participation in computing, with much of this work supported by the National Science Foundation, Mozilla, and Omidyar. Casey came on the show to talk about a paper she authored in the Colorado Technology Law Journal titled “Innovating Like an Optimist, Preparing Like a Pessimist: Ethical Speculation and the Legal Imagination.” Kirsten and Casey begin with the notion of unanticipated consequences in the development of new technology and Casey’s efforts, drawing on both legal education and science fiction, to get computer science and information science students thinking creatively about problems that could arise after a design has been deployed. They also discuss why critiquing technology is not the same thing as being against it, with Casey pointing to her love of tech as the reason she’s so invested in ways to make it better.