Abstract
This paper discusses the role of technology under the framework of
Critical Technical Practice specifically in the form of constructing
artefacts and deconstructing tools in order to produce what Philip Agre
would describe as “reflexive work of critique” (Agre, 1997). By
presenting the activities and methods used in the teaching and shaping
of undergraduate courses, this paper aims to show how technical objects,
such as data, datasets, application programming interfaces and machine
learning models, can be considered as discursive subjects, demonstrating
pedagogical understanding across fields.
The courses operate in the humanities tradition and take critical
technical practice as a didactic approach, insofar as software and data
are understood and manipulated on an instrumental level, while
encouraging critical engagement and embodied reflection that bridge the
technical and social/cultural domains. Within this pedagogical approach,
critical is not only understood as a paradigm of rationality or
quantitative, data-driven argumentation, but as adopting a critical
position –i.e. to research and reflect on the social structures and
cultural phenomena entangled with digital objects, bodies, tools,
methods and software production.
By embracing work-in-progress and reflexive exploration, we aim to
extend the notion of critical technical practice by unfolding how
(de)constructing machines can be achieved beyond thinking of technology
as neutral instrumentalisation. The challenge is how to find a balance,
not only as researchers but as educators, unfolding aspects of both
formality and functionality as well as questioning and understanding
technology at a discursive and critical level. We argue that learning
technical practice in an educational setting is not an end, but rather a
means to question existing technological structures and create further
changes in socio-technical systems.