Face Cage #2, 3D render. Zach Blas, 2013.

The internet has brought forth a multitude of new questions to explore in terms of race, class and gender. The internet is also altering ideas about privacy, and what is possible in terms of surveillance. There are a number of scholars doing work in this area including Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, who wrote a number of pieces that re-think race in the age of the internet such as “Race and/as a Technology.”

In the same vein as digital pedagogy, technology also brings forth important questions about access. While technologies such as the computer are widely available, they are more available to people who have the resources (especially financial) to access them.

In terms of gender and access, groups like FemTechNet are coming together to engage thinking about feminist technology studies. Girls Who Code is a non-profit that works to undo gender inequality in the technology field by exposing women to computer science at a young age.

Scholars: Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Simone Brown, Lisa Nakamura, Alexander Galloway

Fields: Sociology, Psychology, Gender and Feminist Studies

Resources:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation

Eileen Green and Alison Adam, Virtual Gender: Technology, Consumption, and Identity

Paul C. Gorski, “Privilege and Repression in the Digital Era: Rethinking the Sociopolitics of the Digital Divide.” Race, Gender & Class 10.4 (2003): 145.

Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, “Introduction: Race and/as Technology; or, How to Do Things to Race.” (essay) 

Check out artist Zach Blas’ work on technology and identity, as depicted in the photo above.