Stephen Yang!
@stephenyang.bsky.social
PhDing @USCAnnenberg // studying the techno-politics of time and public life // prev @Cornell @MSFTResearch @CDT // Los Angeles & 臺北人
https://www.stephen-yang.com/
https://www.stephen-yang.com/
Pinned
Stephen Yang!
@stephenyang.bsky.social
· Nov 26
‼️ First single-author pub in iJoC: ijoc.org/index.php/ij...
Through 2 years of fieldwork and 27 interviews, I trace how participants of underground electronic' dance music scenes reconfigured their shared culture of secrecy with the advent of smartphones.
Through 2 years of fieldwork and 27 interviews, I trace how participants of underground electronic' dance music scenes reconfigured their shared culture of secrecy with the advent of smartphones.
Today feels like the first day of class even though it’s already week 3
September 8, 2025 at 11:47 PM
Today feels like the first day of class even though it’s already week 3
but how can we “unbracket” critical computing?
September 7, 2025 at 12:55 AM
but how can we “unbracket” critical computing?
apropos of vibes, but striking when “critical computing” papers make critical points only by citing other ACM papers, particularly when a dozen papers are stacked into a single bracket citation [1, 9, 33, 34, 49, 54, 63, 74]
And yes I too have sinned. Effects of formats (cf. Sterne, 2012), perhaps?
And yes I too have sinned. Effects of formats (cf. Sterne, 2012), perhaps?
September 7, 2025 at 12:54 AM
apropos of vibes, but striking when “critical computing” papers make critical points only by citing other ACM papers, particularly when a dozen papers are stacked into a single bracket citation [1, 9, 33, 34, 49, 54, 63, 74]
And yes I too have sinned. Effects of formats (cf. Sterne, 2012), perhaps?
And yes I too have sinned. Effects of formats (cf. Sterne, 2012), perhaps?
Reposted by Stephen Yang!
Have you noticed that everyone in certain subcultures keeps using the term "first principles"? I explore its origins for Compact magazine: www.compactmag.com/article/how-...
How Engineering Replaced Politics
If an extraterrestrial—or, for that matter, a human being from anywhere else—were to land in Silicon Valley, the traveler would encounter a distinctive dialect of American English.
www.compactmag.com
August 8, 2025 at 5:24 AM
Have you noticed that everyone in certain subcultures keeps using the term "first principles"? I explore its origins for Compact magazine: www.compactmag.com/article/how-...
Reposted by Stephen Yang!
File under "Ego + Capital + Tech ≠ Intellectual Insight." These self-styled tech visionaries are as full of hallucinations as the AI systems they impose on us. At least there's an excuse for the AI. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/26/o...
Opinion | Peter Thiel and the Antichrist
www.nytimes.com
June 26, 2025 at 3:08 PM
File under "Ego + Capital + Tech ≠ Intellectual Insight." These self-styled tech visionaries are as full of hallucinations as the AI systems they impose on us. At least there's an excuse for the AI. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/26/o...
Just got to Denver for #ICA25! Excited to present my work on TikTok's formatting of trendiness at the #DebatingCreatorCulture preconference today
June 11, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Just got to Denver for #ICA25! Excited to present my work on TikTok's formatting of trendiness at the #DebatingCreatorCulture preconference today
Reposted by Stephen Yang!
What makes an industry an industry?
May 24, 2025 at 1:25 AM
What makes an industry an industry?
Check out my colleagues’ and my work on sociotechnical errors published in @ijoc-usc.bsky.social (edited by Mike Ananny and Simogne Hudson)! I found the collection incredibly illuminating in helping me think through how errors are/may be claimed, mobilized, accounted for, and cared for
Re-upping this with better direct link to this @ijoc-usc.bsky.social collection:
annenbergpress.com/2025/04/23/i...
If you've ever been curious abt tech system errors, failures, breakdowns, & mistakes, check out this amazing new collection edited by me & Dr. Simogne Hudson, with fantastic authors.
annenbergpress.com/2025/04/23/i...
If you've ever been curious abt tech system errors, failures, breakdowns, & mistakes, check out this amazing new collection edited by me & Dr. Simogne Hudson, with fantastic authors.
May 20, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Check out my colleagues’ and my work on sociotechnical errors published in @ijoc-usc.bsky.social (edited by Mike Ananny and Simogne Hudson)! I found the collection incredibly illuminating in helping me think through how errors are/may be claimed, mobilized, accounted for, and cared for
Reposted by Stephen Yang!
Hasan Piker detained at the border and questioned for hours over politics. He was asked whether or not he’d interviewed Hamas, Houthis, or Hezbollah members. He was questioned about his opinions on Trump and Israel.
Hasan Piker detained at the border and questioned for hours over politics
"They straight up tried to get something out of me that I think they could use to basically detain me permanently"
www.usermag.co
May 12, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Hasan Piker detained at the border and questioned for hours over politics. He was asked whether or not he’d interviewed Hamas, Houthis, or Hezbollah members. He was questioned about his opinions on Trump and Israel.
thank you Aram! Would love to hear your thoughts on this
April 30, 2025 at 6:30 PM
thank you Aram! Would love to hear your thoughts on this
Looking beyond live music culture, what if we took this ethics seriously across domains? What would it mean to design algorithmic systems—not to eliminate errors—but to anticipate, establish shared expectations, and repair them together?
April 30, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Looking beyond live music culture, what if we took this ethics seriously across domains? What would it mean to design algorithmic systems—not to eliminate errors—but to anticipate, establish shared expectations, and repair them together?
But as real-time algorithmic techniques like quantization, looping, and tempo correction become embedded in performance, we need a different frame. I argue that liveness is no longer defined against machines, but with them—through a shared dance with the possibility of failure.
April 30, 2025 at 6:21 PM
But as real-time algorithmic techniques like quantization, looping, and tempo correction become embedded in performance, we need a different frame. I argue that liveness is no longer defined against machines, but with them—through a shared dance with the possibility of failure.
In live music, liveness is often defined negatively: it’s what machines can’t do. A performance feels live when there’s risk—when the artist might mess up, improvise, or push the limits of their craft.
April 30, 2025 at 6:21 PM
In live music, liveness is often defined negatively: it’s what machines can’t do. A performance feels live when there’s risk—when the artist might mess up, improvise, or push the limits of their craft.
Very grateful to @mikeananny.bsky.social and Simogne Hudson for their editorial vision! Please check out my brilliant colleagues' work on the topic of sociotechnical errors.
The Failing Media Conference also further pushed me to rethink this in a new light: voices.uchicago.edu/failingmedia/
The Failing Media Conference also further pushed me to rethink this in a new light: voices.uchicago.edu/failingmedia/
Failing Media – 20th Cinema and Media Studies Graduate Student Conference | University of Chicago
voices.uchicago.edu
April 30, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Very grateful to @mikeananny.bsky.social and Simogne Hudson for their editorial vision! Please check out my brilliant colleagues' work on the topic of sociotechnical errors.
The Failing Media Conference also further pushed me to rethink this in a new light: voices.uchicago.edu/failingmedia/
The Failing Media Conference also further pushed me to rethink this in a new light: voices.uchicago.edu/failingmedia/
How can live music culture help us rethink the ethics of algorithms when their operations are indeterminate in real time?
This past weekend, I explored this question at the Failing Media Conference in Chicago.
Part of this work was just published in IJOC: ijoc.org/index.php/ij...
This past weekend, I explored this question at the Failing Media Conference in Chicago.
Part of this work was just published in IJOC: ijoc.org/index.php/ij...
April 30, 2025 at 6:21 PM
How can live music culture help us rethink the ethics of algorithms when their operations are indeterminate in real time?
This past weekend, I explored this question at the Failing Media Conference in Chicago.
Part of this work was just published in IJOC: ijoc.org/index.php/ij...
This past weekend, I explored this question at the Failing Media Conference in Chicago.
Part of this work was just published in IJOC: ijoc.org/index.php/ij...
?
The smartphone is a prosthetic extensions of self, enabling new forms of interaction while altering perception.
April 25, 2025 at 7:51 PM
?
Is there a difference between solo dates and romanticizing life
April 3, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Is there a difference between solo dates and romanticizing life
Reposted by Stephen Yang!
gotta recalibrate what matters
March 13, 2025 at 1:09 AM
gotta recalibrate what matters
Reposted by Stephen Yang!
Celebrating the 1-year pub date of "In the Land of the Unreal" with talks in SoCal. Finally returning to the place that inspired this book. Catch me at USC tomorrow and UC-Irvine on Wednesday.
In the Land of the Unreal
Book
www.dukeupress.edu
March 10, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Celebrating the 1-year pub date of "In the Land of the Unreal" with talks in SoCal. Finally returning to the place that inspired this book. Catch me at USC tomorrow and UC-Irvine on Wednesday.
Reposted by Stephen Yang!
Tomorrow is 228 Peace Memorial Day, which commemorates the February 28 Incident, which was a massacre against Taiwanese people by the ruling KMT. In this guide, we will tell you the importance of this holiday, and how it is celebrated in Taiwan. taiwantravelblog.com/228-peace-me...
228 Peace Memorial Day Holiday Guide – What to do and Best Historical Places to Visit (228和平紀念日指南)
228 Peace Memorial Holiday is a holiday to remember the February 28 Incident in 1947, in which a massacre against innocent Taiwanese people was started by the ruling KMT. It is a day to remember that ...
taiwantravelblog.com
February 27, 2025 at 3:53 AM
Tomorrow is 228 Peace Memorial Day, which commemorates the February 28 Incident, which was a massacre against Taiwanese people by the ruling KMT. In this guide, we will tell you the importance of this holiday, and how it is celebrated in Taiwan. taiwantravelblog.com/228-peace-me...
Reposted by Stephen Yang!
If you are a Cornell Alum, you can vote in the upcoming Alumni Trustee Election.
This vote is important - two of the candidates are right-wing attorneys who will work to enact their political agenda on the university's administration.
See alt text for more info.
vote.yeselections.com/cornell/
This vote is important - two of the candidates are right-wing attorneys who will work to enact their political agenda on the university's administration.
See alt text for more info.
vote.yeselections.com/cornell/
![• J. Kennerly (Ken) Davis Jr., a leader within the Federalist Society, the far-right conservative and libertarian organization that advocates for a textualist and originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. He is also active with the Alumni Free Speech Alliance and the Cornell Free Speech Alliance, which oppose anti-racist DEI efforts, and which promote the nebulous idea of “viewpoint diversity” — the idea that all opinions should be represented in classrooms, regardless of their academic, scholarly, or scientific merit.
• Cindy Crawford, an attorney for the Koch brothers’ primary political advocacy group, Americans for Prosperity Foundation, which advocates to end government regulations of environmental and safety issues, to end public education as a universal good, and to promote other policies that make it easier for the ultra-rich to become richer and to control public life.
What do these candidates believe? In their own words:
Of his student days in the 1960s, Davis wrote: “[T]he devastation wrought upon … all of Cornell by the shameful capitulation of President James Perkins to the armed occupation of Willard Straight Hall by campus radicals taught me forever that constitutionally compliant enforcement of the law and rule-based order is absolutely essential to protecting and preserving the integrity of the academic enterprise and, indeed, all of civil society.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:rwbqyvmee43mq76h5hxmfe6t/bafkreiadnrm2ad75j2u66n7vprihw2sgvsmrh64wpvll7xc5ngumq34mdu@jpeg)
![Apparently referring to campus protest and movements for greater equity and justice, Crawford wrote: “[W]e are at a tipping point in which all elite universities, and Cornell in particular, must decide whether they will remain beacons of learning or acquiesce to demands for censorship, conformity, and political activism. It is relatively easy to pay homage to free expression and diversity of thought. But it can be difficult to uphold those values when confronted by aggressive attempts to shout down (or shut down) that support. I have dedicated my professional life to those issues, and I can guide and defend an incoming administration that is going to face severe challenges and tough decisions that will inevitably spawn outrage, whether real or feigned.”
(Crawford's professional life has been inside Koch-network organizations that seek to support billionaires and to undermine environmental regulations, public education, taxation on wealth, and other functions of civil society and the public good.)
Neither candidate has a significant volunteer history with the university, unlike the CATN-endorsed candidates. This means that they have not built up the same kind of knowledge of the operations of the university as the CATN-endorsed candidates, and it appears that their interest in sitting on the board of trustees is primarily for the purpose of enacting a right-wing political agenda on the university's administration.
The Cornell Free Speech Alliance and other organizations are organizing their constituencies to vote in this election. Since voter turnout is usually low, they can have a big impact.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:rwbqyvmee43mq76h5hxmfe6t/bafkreieotxntrec3tuut2xmprzx64qap6lbiyv6dhw2fogtn6u2qh3jxk4@jpeg)
February 6, 2025 at 7:48 PM
If you are a Cornell Alum, you can vote in the upcoming Alumni Trustee Election.
This vote is important - two of the candidates are right-wing attorneys who will work to enact their political agenda on the university's administration.
See alt text for more info.
vote.yeselections.com/cornell/
This vote is important - two of the candidates are right-wing attorneys who will work to enact their political agenda on the university's administration.
See alt text for more info.
vote.yeselections.com/cornell/
HUH?????
I'm not gonna lie, I'm floored that a university would call off a Lunar New Year event open to everyone because it might be "DEI"
MSU college abruptly cancels Lunar New Year event, citing Trump DEI orders - The State News
MSU cancelled an annual Lunar New Year celebration following new executive orders targeting DEI and concerns from students.
statenews.com
January 30, 2025 at 7:26 PM
HUH?????
Is the campus getting bigger or am i walking slower
January 30, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Is the campus getting bigger or am i walking slower
Reposted by Stephen Yang!
The first part of the Participatory AI Research & Practice Symposium (PAIRS25) is coming up on 30th Jan from 2pm - 4pm UTC via Zoom. 10+ presentations of cutting edge and critical perspectives on democratic public inputs to AI development and governance. Info and registration: pairs25.notion.site
January 17, 2025 at 11:08 AM
The first part of the Participatory AI Research & Practice Symposium (PAIRS25) is coming up on 30th Jan from 2pm - 4pm UTC via Zoom. 10+ presentations of cutting edge and critical perspectives on democratic public inputs to AI development and governance. Info and registration: pairs25.notion.site