Issue 28
the Week of October 12, 2015
In this issue, we explore how ableism functions in higher education, and what art, the gallery and patronage look like in the digital age. We discuss game play and exercise theory, and debunk the pseudo-psychology deployed against victims of online harassment. We confront the devaluation of social media workers in tech and media; plus, an interview on hardware, seed funding and team-building with the founder of a new woman-led wearables startup. Photo CC-BY Emma Jane Hogbin Westby, cropped and filtered.
Interview With Aniyia Williams, Founder of Tinsel
We spoke to Aniyia about the wearable tech market, raising seed funding, building your founding team and where Tinsel is going.
Better Online Living through Content Moderation
Anti-content control rhetoric supplants widely-available psychological and sociological facts for misinformed opinions that are not only insufficient for helping others manage their own mental state, but offer wholly inadequate solutions for online abuse.
The Labor Theory of Exercise: Long Live Dance Dance Revolution
DDR didn’t teach me to work myself into oblivion, propelled by shame and chalky smoothies. DDR taught me to get some water, sit down, talk to a friend, send a text, lean on that rail. For DDR, exercise wasn’t some frantic tailspin toward some punishing end.
How Tech Devalues Social Media Workers
Social media jobs may not involve coding. They may not involve debugging. They may not involve writing a novel or reporting. But they’re still analytical as fuck, with a measure of art in there.
Ableism and the Academy: What College Has Taught Me About My Disabled Body
College campuses can, and should, do a better job of advocating for their students, staff and faculty with disabilities.
The Entrepreneurial Artist of the Twenty-First Century
We may be persuaded that “art is for everyone”; the Internet finally democratizing its creation, its distribution, and its valuation. And yet, the democratization of art argument is necessarily laced with issues of means, access and opportunity.
This issue is made possible in part by some of our generous readers: Julie Pagano, Jordan Kay, Josh Lucas, Lydia Damon and Luis Bruno.