Katharina Meyer is a historian of technology, an artist, a curator, and a researcher. She examines the relationship of technology and power structures, and she’s a strong proponent of Public Interest Tech and Open Source Software — especially of maintaining both. 

We talked about the importance of historical and artistic perspectives for the development of tech, about the nonsense of the “lone inventor” myth, the benefits of Technikfolgenabschätzung — that’s technology impact assessment for the non-German speakers out there — and why larger goals such as the public interest or sustainable development goals should guide more tech development.

Links

• Follow Katharina on Twitter: @KthrnMeyer
• Protoype Fund
• Open Knowledge Foundation
• Documentary: The Cleaners (IMDB)
• Technikfolgenabschätzung (Wikipedia)

Your hosts

Peter Bihr explores how emerging technologies can have a positive social impact. As an independent advisor he works at the intersection of technology, governance, policy and social impact with foundations, public sector and private sector. He also co-founded ThingsCon, a community of responsible technologists. Follow Peter on Twitter at @peterbihr.

Patrick Tanguay is founder, curator, and publisher of Sentiers Media, which gathers the most interesting ideas to bring context, sense, and understanding. Sentiers helps contextualize the changes in technology and the many ways in which it transforms society. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @inevernu.

This podcast is part of a larger research project about which you can learn more at thewavingcat.com/gettingtechright. This podcast is listener-supported. You can become a member of my Special Projects membership here.