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Janet Vertesi

@cyberlyra@mastodon.social

mastodon 4.8.0-nightly.2026-10-06

Sociology Prof @PrincetonU; Science, Technology & Society; NASA teams; critical HCI; remote work. Longtime data economy resistor. Co-editor MIT Infrastructures. www.optoutproject.net

156 Followers

419 Following

10 Posts

Joined April 06, 2022

How to Get Off the Platforms:

https://www.optoutproject.net

Bio & Publications:

https://janet.vertesi.com

Janet Vertesi @cyberlyra@mastodon.social

· 47mo ago

Replying to

@mergerson@mastodon.social I’ve done a bunch of work and thinking about anti-racist systems and one thing that frustrates me is this system where the person who is harassed is required to do the reporting. I saw a lot of, “hey human who has been harassed, that’s bad, you should report it to the server moderator!” We need mechanisms for protection and community policing that don’t require victims to carry more burdens. What inspiration can we take from bystander intervention, or other forms of allyship?

Janet Vertesi @cyberlyra@mastodon.social

· 40mo ago

I would like you to imagine
That every “service” and app you’ve been using on the internet
Every platform for “information” and “community”
Every “futuristic” device that made you feel “connected”
Was just there to collect
Your data
All along

Collate it, analyze it,
Segment and sell it
Carve you into a market segment
Deepening divides
Corner your biometrics
To train facial recognition
Colonize your habits and home
To develop an “AI” product

To sell to investors
And increase shareholder value

Janet Vertesi @cyberlyra@mastodon.social

· 48mo ago

I have started writing more about my Opt Out experiments. A labor of love for the past ten years. It's time to share the love. Follow along https://www.optoutproject.net

optoutproject.net

Janet Vertesi @cyberlyra@mastodon.social

· 43mo ago

Replying to

@QasimRashid@mastodon.social "Then there's this: Insert unrelated comments that make it sound like only board members with specific minority backgrounds have no relevant skills or expertise. I'm not saying I'm a dogwhistle racist, misogynist and homophobe, but I may have been distracted by the profitable taste of techbro Kool-Aid and the rise of mainstream facism."

Janet Vertesi @cyberlyra@mastodon.social

· 39mo ago

Replying to

@CynthesisToday @inquiline@union.place "Science and Technology Studies." It's the academic field for the study of scientists, engineers, and ther relationship between technology and society or science and society, etc. A specialist form of inquiry that brings together history, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, and communication.

Janet Vertesi @cyberlyra@mastodon.social

· 40mo ago

@andresmh@hci.social Yep, being critical isn’t critique. Well structured critique can help you figure out what to build instead, differently.
Also bandwagons clearly are a thing.

Janet Vertesi @cyberlyra@mastodon.social

· 40mo ago

@cwebber@octodon.social FORTRAN’77?

Janet Vertesi @cyberlyra@mastodon.social

· 43mo ago

Replying to

@geomblog Yes totally! Professional email at Princeton, please! I'd love to hear more.

Janet Vertesi @cyberlyra@mastodon.social

· 39mo ago

@inquiline@union.place I think it depends on whether you are attracting a scholar to sts or someone outside the field and/or academia. Some of the classic pieces I use invoke the whole, wow I never thought of it that way response. Emily Martin’s egg and sperm, parts of Latour on sociology of mundane artifacts, Star on infrastructure…

Janet Vertesi @cyberlyra@mastodon.social

· 40mo ago

@fcktheworld587@social.linux.pizza you are right, it is a rhetorical statement. (Edit: but I felt it was relevant because only now are most people waking up to this fact, and this is a drum I’ve been beating for ten years….)