In this lecture, Dr. Heather Suzanne Woods examines the far-reaching consequences of proliferating domestic data-sensing environments—smart homes—in the United States of America. Drawing on findings from her recent book „Threshold: How Smart Homes Change Us Inside and Out“, Woods argues that smart homes (literally and figuratively) architect a future in which every moment of every day is mediated by surveillant technologies. Highlighting her extensive fieldwork at smart homes throughout the USA, Woods demonstrates that these data environments (and connected technologies more broadly) are now so ubiquitous that it is difficult to “be outside” of them. Although her book focuses on the domestic sphere, for Woods smart homes are only one point of arrival in the broader context of a new social, political and economic condition called “living in digitality.” Living in digitality names the technoliberal condition in which technology becomes environmental, expansive, and omnipresent. Troubling late-capitalist and neoliberal narratives of user choice and agency, Woods argues that individual agents need not “opt-in” to smart technologies to be affected by them. Partnering with the collective intelligence of the audience, Woods suggests forms of collective action to resist living in digitality—reformatting our technological future for a common good.

About the lecturer

Heather Suzanne Woods, PhD is Director of the A.Q. Miller School of Media and Communication at Kansas State University. Woods is a scholar, teacher and higher ed leader who helps people understand the social impacts of technology so we can build a more just future. She is the author of two books: the first, “Make America Meme Again: The Rhetoric of the Alt-Right” explained how memes influence political elections; the second, “Threshold: How Smart Homes Change Us Inside and Out” examines how connected, immersive technologies shape how we live. Her research on smart homes, AI, chatbots, algorithms and platforms has been featured in The New York Times, Wired, The Atlantic, CBC’s Spark, The Washington Post, The LA Times, and more.

All events take place in hybrid form (on site and via Webex). If you would like to attend on site, no registration is required. To attend the lecture online via Webex, please register here.

About the lecture series