Hello this is Kayla. It's been a minute, but I wanted to do a one-take update because it's my birthday—I'm 28 today—and I was doing some journaling. I wanted to reflect on a theme I noticed, and when I made the decision to reflect, I thought I'd turn it into a full overview update, especially since I haven't shown my face here in a while. So thanks for being here.
I'll start with a reflection.
When I was a kid, I coveted electronics. Like, I studied iPhones—every version that came out. I had Google alerts on. I wanted to know what features would be there. I was obsessed with apps, with music, with music devices. I saved up for my Nintendo DS and was just so particular about the sort of version and color that I got, and the games that I could play.
The apex of my obsession with tech as a kid was probably getting my first iPod touch in, I think, the sixth or seventh grade. If you don't know what an iPod touch is, it's an iPhone without any calling features. It was literally just games and apps and music, of course.
I jailbroke my iPod. And jailbreaking—this was back in 2010, 2011—was what you would do if you wanted to be able to customize your iPod. So rather than having a black background and a black screensaver, you could put a photo there, or change the colors of the apps. These are things that are standard features for current iPhones. But at the time, you couldn't do it unless you downloaded software that would erase or reset the factory settings of your iPod or iPhone, and then install a new operating system that would let you get free apps from the App Store—or download apps that weren’t available in the App Store—and do all these customization things.
I loved figuring out ways to hack my iPod.
What's interesting about jailbreaking, though, is that you could very easily ruin your whole entire device. That was always a risk. So the kids who jailbroke were ones who were diligent and determined enough—and patient enough—to understand how the iPhone worked. They'd scrub and scroll through hundreds and hundreds of internet forums that explained how to do things, what to do when things went wrong, how to troubleshoot. But it also took a kid who was curious enough and determined enough to express themselves through their device—or do something different or new—or not pay for the latest Temple Run or Cut the Rope. What else was I playing? Angry Birds.
That sort of dichotomy—of diligence and attention to detail, alongside curiosity and hope and creativity—is one... (oh, my phone's ringing)... is one where—I think—is super, super relevant to where I'm sitting now in my career and what I’ve found really, really pays off in my work.
I'm going to use this as the segue into my updates. So there are two main avenues.
I'm always jailbreaking.
If you know me, if you're here, you probably know me. But if you're a person who's seen me...
(Phone call)
Hello, my dear. Sorry, can I call you back in a second? Okay, thanks. I'll call you back in a few. Bye.
Where was I? Yeah—two avenues.
The first is my PhD. I'm in year two. I'm obsessed with how decisions show up in collaborative contexts.
What does that mean?
In tech research, there has been incredible work over the years about how ethics shows up in the ways that people design technologies—the way that people configure the models they're building in AI and machine learning. Every day it becomes more urgent to know how we’re thinking about ethics, and how our ethics actually manifest as practice in how technology exists in the world.
One qualm I’ve had with a lot of this work over the past few years has been the assumption that we know when we’re making an ethical decision.
So my work essentially argues that when we’re talking about ethical and responsible AI research or practice—by research I mean, say, a lab that is building an algorithm that translates one language to another—there are ethical decisions that don’t appear on anyone’s radar as ethical. On top of that, there are decisions that don’t even appear on our radar as decisions.
And so my work is not aiming to solve any problem, but to sort of raise consciousness among my peers—primarily in human-computer interaction (HCI) —that if we care about more responsible, socially productive and beneficial technologies, we have to be honest with ourselves about our own ability to notice when there is another choice we could make when we're designing something.
I would give an example, but I don’t really feel like it. And I don’t want this to get too long. I’ll write about this inevitably—I mean, I’m always writing about it; that’s my job. But I’ll share more. If you want to know more, just reach out to me.
The second arena in which I’m jailbreaking is with Hauswarm.
Hauswarm is my company that has sort of existed as a concept for over a year now, but more recently—particularly with the catalyst that is CreateX, an accelerator at Georgia Tech—it’s become a product. Many people, probably close to a hundred people now, have experienced Hauswarm in different ways.
We design conversations. And our designs are in the medium of physical artifacts and materials—so conversation cards, primarily. But we also consult with people who host. We’ll spend an hour with you on the phone, if you’re planning a small group conversation for your… I did this recently for a young adult Bible study. And we’ll say, “Okay, these are the things you really want people to talk about, but you cannot for the life of you get them to talk about. How can we create an atmosphere for people to share things, or ask questions, that they would either feel afraid, awkward, or inappropriate to bring up—even though you want them to?”
I love doing all of this work.
There are plenty of connections between my PhD and what Hauswarm does in terms of the awareness of how our perception of reality affects what we see and don’t see, which then informs what decisions we even know we have. And then there are implications for the decisions we make, right? We have to know there is another option before we can choose that option—or even consider it.
So why does this tie into jailbreaking?
Well, what’s beautiful about all of my projects right now is that my ability to configure a situation, or a team, or a social gathering is the same combination of diligence and willingness to learn all of the mechanics and rules of a system—right now, social systems. When I was 13 or 14, it was the iPod touch. But also: an unrelenting curiosity to transfigure and transform what’s there—and break the rules in ways that aren’t catastrophic.
So… that’s 10 minutes. Thanks for listening. Yay.
Sorry for the phone call half. Why am I apologizing? It’s my birthday. And this is my Substack. And if you’re here, something is keeping you here. Not my business what it is.
But yeah—really grateful for this past year of Substacking. Still can’t have a consistent rhythm because of all the things. But when I do post, it’s straight from my heart. And because it’s straight from my heart, it means so much when I get responses from you guys.
So thanks for being here.
Bye.
Share this post