Who Is a Technology Critic?

Question 3: Who is recognized as a technology critic and where is technology criticism published? Who else could be recognized as a critic and what work do they do?*

So far I have assessed the state of technology coverage, and I have diagnosed the state of mainstream technology criticism including its problematic styles, tactics, and assumption. This section takes up the question of categorizing and classifying the set of writers contributing to a wider critical discussion about technology, understanding the nature of their work, and the venues where such work is published.

Through my interviews and reading, I find that a wider circle of journalists, bloggers, and academics are contributing to a critical discourse about technology by contextualizing, historicizing, and giving readers tools for understanding our relationship to technologies in our everyday lives. And yet these writers are reluctant to be associated with “criticism” because of the negative connotations and destructive tactics described above.