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Phoebe Sengers - Critical Technical Practicewriting

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  • Author: Phoebe Sengers
  • Institutional Affiliation: Originally CMU, now Cornell University (Professor in Information Science and Science & Technology Studies)
  • URL: https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~phoebe/CriticalTechnicalPractice/
  • Current site: https://sengers.infosci.cornell.edu/
  • Note: The original CMU URL redirects through Cornell CS to Sengers' current Cornell page. The original CTP-specific page content is no longer directly available at this URL.

    • Content

    Phoebe Sengers is a leading figure in extending Philip Agre's concept of Critical Technical Practice (CTP) into the fields of Human-Computer Interaction and reflective design. Her work bridges cultural studies, STS, and technical systems development.

    Critical Technical Practice Definition

    According to Agre's formulation, which Sengers develops further, a critical technical practice is "a way of actually doing AI which incorporates a level of reflexive awareness of the kind espoused by science studies." This may include awareness of the technical work's sociocultural context, its unconscious philosophies, or the metaphors it uses.

    Sengers' Extension: Reflective HCI

    Sengers co-authored "Reflective HCI: towards a critical technical practice" (CHI EA '04, 2004) with Paul Dourish, J. Finlay, and Peter C. Wright, which presented CTP as "critical reflection dialectically linked with technical research through the researcher's reflection on his or her own work." They also proposed "reflective design" as extending reflection beyond researchers to users.

    Current Research

    Sengers' current work at Cornell integrates ethnographic and historical analysis of technology's social implications with design methods to explore alternative futures. Her research emphasizes centering people, places, and values typically marginalized in mainstream technology design, with projects including infrastructure studies in rural communities and farm networking.

    Guiding Question

    Her work is organized around the question: "What worlds are we creating through technology design, and what worlds might we want to create?"