Science, Technology, and Society

Science, Technology, and Society

episodes

Interviews with scholars of science, technology and society about their new books.

Brandon R. Brown, "Sharing Our Science: How to Write and Speak STEM" (MIT Press, 2023)

March 18, 2024

Sharing Our Science

Brandon R. Brown
Hosted by Daniel Shea

Listen to this interview of Brandon Brown, Professor of Physics at the University of San Francisco. We talk about factoring in both message-sender and…

Lisa Messeri, "In the Land of the Unreal: Virtual and Other Realities in Los Angeles" (Duke UP, 2024)

March 16, 2024

In the Land of the Unreal

Lisa Messeri
Hosted by Noopur Raval

In the mid-2010s, a passionate community of Los Angeles-based storytellers, media artists, and tech innovators formed around virtual reality (VR), bel…

Once More--What Does It Even Mean for a Machine to be Generative?

March 16, 2024

Once More--What Does It Even Mean for a Machine to be Generative?

Bill Cope, Mary Kalantzis, and James Gee
Hosted by Daniel Shea

Listen to Episode No.9 of All We Mean, a Special Focus of this podcast. All We Mean is an ongoing discussion and debate about how we mean and why. The…

Ruth A. Morgan, "Climate Change and International History: Climate Diplomacy in the Global North and South Since 1950" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

March 16, 2024

Climate Change and International History

Ruth A. Morgan
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Exploring how climate change has configured the international arena since the 1950s, Climate Change and International History: Negotiating Science, Gl…

Peter D. McDonald, "Run and Jump: The Meaning of the 2D Platformer" (MIT Press, 2024)

March 15, 2024

Run and Jump

Peter D. McDonald

How abstract design decisions in 2D platform games create rich worlds of meaning for players.Since the 1980s, 2D platform games have captivated their …

Nick Jones, "Gooey Media: Screen Entertainment and the Graphic User Interface" (Edinburgh UP, 2023)

March 15, 2024

Gooey Media

Nick Jones
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

The Graphic User Interface, or GUI, is the adhesive centre of today’s screen entertainment web. From films and television to apps and videogames, it h…

Eleanor Patterson, "Bootlegging the Airwaves: Alternative Histories of Radio and Television Distribution" (U Illinois Press, 2024)

March 12, 2024

Bootlegging the Airwaves

Eleanor Patterson
Hosted by Pete Kunze

Long before internet archives and the anytime, anywhere convenience of streaming, people collected, traded, and shared radio and television content vi…

Zachary Loeb on the History of the End of the World

March 11, 2024

Zachary Loeb on the History of the End of the World

Zachary Loeb
Hosted by Lee Vinsel

Are you into the end of the world? Well, have we got the guest for you. In this episode, Peoples & Things host Lee Vinsel interviews Zachary Loeb, ass…

Brian Merchant, "Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech" (LIttle, Brown, 2023)

March 10, 2024

Blood in the Machine

Brian Merchant
Hosted by Michael Vann

"Luddite" has become an insult and Brian Merchant wants to change that. Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech (Little, B…

Hsuan L. Hsu, "Air Conditioning" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

March 8, 2024

Air Conditioning

Hsuan L. Hsu
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Air conditioning aspires to be unnoticed. Yet, by manipulating the air around us, it quietly conditions the baseline conditions of our physical, menta…

Christy Spackman, "The Taste of Water: Sensory Perception and the Making of an Industrialized Beverage" (U California Press, 2023)

March 8, 2024

The Taste of Water

Christy Spackman
Hosted by Garrett Broad

Have you ever wondered why your tap water tastes the way it does? The Taste of Water: Sensory Perception and the Making of an Industrialized Beverage …

Mike Duggan, "All Mapped Out: How Maps Shape Us" (Reaktion Books, 2024)

March 7, 2024

All Mapped Out

Mike Duggan
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Maps go far beyond just showing us where things are located. All Mapped Out: How Maps Shape Us (Reaktion, 2024) by Dr. Mike Duggan is an exploration o…

Murray Dick, "The Infographic: A History of Data Graphics in News and Communications" (MIT Press, 2020)

March 7, 2024

The Infographic

Murray Dick

Infographics and data visualization are ubiquitous in our everyday media diet, particularly in news—in print newspapers, on television news, and onlin…

Joanna Crosby, "Apples and Orchards Since the Eighteenth Century: Material Innovation and Cultural Tradition" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

March 5, 2024

Apples and Orchards Since the Eighteenth Century

Joanna Crosby
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Showing how the history of the apple goes far beyond the orchard and into the social, cultural and technological developments of Britain and the USA, …

Robert Charette on Researching the Material World

March 4, 2024

Robert Charette on Researching the Material World

Robert Charette
Hosted by Lee Vinsel

In this episode, Peoples & Thing host Lee Vinsel interviews engineer, businessman, consultant, author, contributing editor at IEEE Magazine, and forme…

Francesca Sobande, "Big Brands Are Watching You: Marketing Social Justice and Digital Culture" (U California Press, 2024)

March 3, 2024

Big Brands Are Watching You

Francesca Sobande
Hosted by Dave O'Brien

Can brands really support positive social change? In Big Brands are Watching You: Marketing Social Justice and Digital Culture (U California Press, 20…

Verity Harding, "AI Needs You: How We Can Change AI's Future and Save Our Own" (Princeton UP, 2024)

March 1, 2024

AI Needs You

Verity Harding
Hosted by Mark Klobas

Artificial intelligence may be the most transformative technology of our time. As AI's power grows, so does the need to figure out what--and who--this…

Carol Beggy, "Pencil" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

February 28, 2024

Pencil

Carol Beggy
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

A cylinder of baked graphite and clay in a wood case, the pencil creates as it is being destroyed. To love a pencil is to use it, to sharpen it, and t…

Sara J. Grossman, "Immeasurable Weather: Meteorological Data and Settler Colonialism from 1820 to Hurricane Sandy" (Duke UP, 2023)

February 28, 2024

Immeasurable Weather

Sara J. Grossman

In Immeasurable Weather: Meteorological Data and Settler Colonialism from 1820 to Hurricane Sandy (Duke UP, 2023), Sara J. Grossman explores how envir…

The Taste of Water: A Conversation with Christy Spackman

February 27, 2024

The Taste of Water

Christy Spackman
Hosted by Lee Vinsel

After WAY too long a hiatus, Peoples & Things is back! GET EXCITED!! In this episode, host Lee Vinsel interviews Christy Spackman, Assistant Professor…