CASTAC

@castac.bsky.social

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Committee for the Anthropology of Science, Technology, and Computing, part of the GAD of the American Anthropological Association | castac.org |

A landscape with a foregrounded forest and background mountains covered in forests.
An image of a protected landscape area, the Czech Karst. It shows limestone rocks, light open deciduous woods and forest-steppes with flowering rocks and the canyon valley of Berounka River.
Close-up of stacked gold and silver coins on various currency notes, symbolizing wealth and savings.
A white waste truck moves across a vast, layered slope of accumulated refuse at Mumbai's Deonar dumping ground. Mountains of compacted waste rise in the background against a hazy sky.
Two lenticular clouds resembling lens-shaped discs hover over a rocky, snow-covered landscape at Arctowski Station.
Three samplers collecting sediment samples using green gloves and plastic sampling cores in a muddy coastal environment.
Flyer for the SANDS Disabled Grad Student Meet Up, featuring a pastel blue-and-white wavy checkerboard background, announcing an online gathering for disabled and neurodivergent graduate students.
Book cover titled "Common Circuits: Hacking Alternative Technological Futures" by Luis Felipe R. Murillo, featuring a pink and orange circuit board design.
The image shows two young women, seated at a table, each smelling a piece of clothing.
A health clinic lobby features a sign promoting slimming and wellness programs, with packages and free consultations. A plant and coat rack are nearby.
The PVR Anupam multiplex building. People in groups of 2-5 members are standing around the building and chatting.
A white mushroom with multiple delicate branches and a lace-like structure. The background shows areas of dense white mycelium.
abandoned concrete buildings overgrown with vegetation, with a motorcycle parked near the entrance of one structure. The weathered, moss-covered walls and surrounding dense greenery suggest long-term neglect.
A photograph of four overlapping printed photographs laid on a wooden table. The photos document a pig burial pit, one shows several people standing near an excavated area, another shows a fenced pit or trench, and the bottom photo shows a large number of pig carcasses piled together in a pit.
A herd of bison buffalo grazes across an open grassland landscape.
A french chateau in the countryside with a hot air balloon rising over it.
This is a collage with a triangle in between and a photo of a man in the center. The man's photo has been divided into four parts. There are splashes of yellow, blue, and red in the background. There is an orbit drawing on one side of the triangle and a crown on another side.
Translucent anatomical heart model with tube-like connectors displayed against a dark background.
A wooden table with different kinds of cheese cut and displayed
Three young girls in a rural setting gather around a smartphone, closely watching content on the screen together.
A gallery view screenshot of a Zoom meeting showing nine participants. Four participants have their video feeds turned on: Lilly Irani, Natalia Orrego, David Nemer (whose video tile has a green border, indicating he is the active speaker), and Kalpana Shankar. The remaining five participants have their cameras turned off, displaying only their names on black backgrounds: Felipe Eduardo Trujillo Bilbao, Angela VandenBroek, Kim Fernandes, Katherine M Hendy, and Megan Tracy. Several participants have their organizational roles, such as "CASTAC PR" or "Panelist", and pronouns listed in their display names.
A Zoom meeting screenshot displaying David Nemer in the main speaker view. He is a man with a beard and dark-rimmed glasses, wearing a grey suit jacket and a white shirt, and he appears to be speaking. The background behind him shows a bright office environment with glass partitions. Along the top of the screen is a row of smaller video thumbnails showing other participants, including Natalia Orrego, Lilly Irani, and Kalpana Shankar, alongside nameplates for participants without video enabled.
A Zoom meeting screenshot displaying a presentation slide titled "Good Tech for Good Jobs: Strategies for Building Worker Power in the Age of AI". The slide text outlines workshops and an unconference for workers and union leaders to introduce concepts, build community, and brainstorm action. The layout includes two promotional flyers for sessions on digital security and movement power alongside three photographs of in-person workshop activities featuring participants presenting, discussing in a circle, and reviewing a flipchart. The top edge shows video thumbnails of meeting participants and panelists, including Natalia Orrego, Lilly Irani, David Nemer, and Kalpana Shankar.
Screenshot of an slide by Lilly Irani entitled "Liberatory Education about AI: Thinking with David Hakken"
Promotional graphic for CASPR 2026 — CASTAC in the Spring. The image features a vintage botanical illustration of two platypuses on a branch surrounded by orange and pink flowers on a cream background. Text reads: "Labor and Technoscientific Worlds: Historical Encounters and New Directions in the Field. Friday, May 29, 2026, 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM (Central). Join us for a roundtable presentation and breakout Q&A discussions with panelists Kalpana Shankar (University College Dublin), David Nemer (University of Virginia), and Lilly Irani (UC San Diego) in memory of David Hakken. Register: caspr2026.eventbrite.com."
A colorful hammock, with red tones, is centered in the image and tied between two trees, in a forest setting, with a green hill and a blue sky with white clouds in the background.
An old building with colorful lights projected on its façade.
Photograph of a building corner showing extensive wall damage with large cracks and exposed underlying material. The white exterior wall has multiple vertical and horizontal fractures, with visible rust stains and deterioration near the base.
The image shows thin white lines on a black background, resembling overlapping star constellations. Small dots at the end of the lines contain the letters j, u, s, t, i, c, and e. When viewed more closely, the word "justice" appears in different configurations.
An artificial embankment of black tarpaulin stretches across the image, against an arid gray landscape. The water level is low and white streaks are visible against the black tarpaulin.
A cameraperson from the film crew records the CyberKnife radiation therapy system inside the treatment room. The machine and other clinical equipment sit beneath the blue ceiling displaying drifting clouds.
The image is a photomicrograph, taken through a microscope. It shows a hookworm larva.
Black and white dog standing behind a barbed wire fence, looking directly at the camera, with a blurred green rural background.
An individual stands outside of an off-white building that reads ShanghART with Cantonese characters below it. The individual is holding a piece of paper in their right hand and a mobile phone to their ear with their left. On both sides of the large entrance to the building, posters for art exhibits are prominently featured.
It is a three-dimensional network generated in TouchDesigner, where connecting the software to sound signals allows the image to react in real time, transforming its structure and movement according to variations in the audio.
Digitally retraced and colour coded 1996 Reference Man Blood Circulation Model with brief musings from the author. Reworked model by author.
a balck and white photo of a bearded old man
Promotional graphic for CASPR 2026 — CASTAC in the Spring. The image features a vintage botanical illustration of two platypuses on a branch surrounded by orange and pink flowers on a cream background. Text reads: "Labor and Technoscientific Worlds: Historical Encounters and New Directions in the Field. Friday, May 29, 2026, 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM (Central). Join us for a roundtable presentation and breakout Q&A discussions with panelists Kalpana Shankar (University College Dublin), David Nemer (University of Virginia), and Lilly Irani (UC San Diego) in memory of David Hakken. Register: caspr2026.eventbrite.com.
Elevated view of the Tanger-Ville fishing port. Port facilities and docks are enclosed by a sea wall. Beyond is a container ship sailing through the Strait of Gibraltar. The Spanish coast is visible in the distance. Photo taken by the author.
A screenshot of an official, public notification from the Gazette of India announcing the enforcement date of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021. The text is in English and Hindi, and describes the source of the notification (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Department of Health Research, Government of India), and states that the provisions of the Act will come into force on January 25, 2022.
book cover of the author's second monograph — Data Borders: How Silicon Valley Is Building an Industry Around Immigrants (UC Press, 2023)
Screenshot of a tweet from AIGWU - All India Gig Workers Union (@aigwu_union) announcing a digital campaign from 3–11 July with the hashtags #UrbanCompanyExposed and #UCPartnersFightBack, and an “All India Protest Day” on 12 July in front of Urban Company offices across 17 cities. The tweet calls on people to stand with workers and demand action from tagged company leaders. Below the text is a four-panel graphic in red, black, and white featuring silhouettes of raised arms holding tools. Each panel reads “All India UC Partners’ Fight Back! 3–11 July 2023” and “UC Partners’ National Protest Day – 12 July 2023,” with additional text in different Indian languages calling for an end to ID blocking and worker exploitation. The tweet shows it was posted at 8:50 pm on 3 Jul 2023 and has 652 views.
Conceptual diagram with curved connecting lines linking key terms. On the left "indexicality" and "inclusive AI systems" connect to "incompleteness" and (queering) bridging". These central ideas link to "building" and "text" at the bottom. ON the rightv"incompleteness" also coneccts to "large image models," which relate to "fabulating" and "convivial GPT." All elements are interconnected, suggesting a network of relationships between AI systems, language, and interpretive processes.
A detailed black-and-white map of a 19th century London neighborhood, showing square dots that indicate cholera cases, which concentrate around Broad Street.
A view of Kudankulam`s sea shore. In the foreground of the image, waves tocuh the shore where traditional wooden boats, painted in red and blue, are moored on beach sand. In the background, is the tomb of KKNP`s nuclear containment.
An artistic illustration of computer servers with patterns of white and blue connected through lines that converge into a single line at the extreme left side
An animated peanut with a bowler hat and a white beard sits on one side of a campfire, opposite three smaller peanuts grinning back at him adoringly. Amid the chirping crickets and the crackling of the fire, the older peanut calls out: "Gather round my little legumes, it´s story time!"
A collage of three photos. One is a zoomed out image of buildings in New York City, one is a shadow of a pillar of the Golden Gate Bridge, and the final one is an intricate iron window grille with palm tree visible through the window
A navy-blue graphic with a repeating pattern of small orange platypus icons. In the center there is a large orange platypus illustration. Curved white text above reads “Meet the 2026 team!” and large white text below reads “Platypus the CASTAC blog.”