Scoping our project on Trans and AI
Final Major Project blog 01
Week Commencing 15 July, 29 July and 5 August
Image by Courtney Ellis for Magazine Somewhere for Us (2023)
Why Trans and AI?
The trans community is often overlooked in design and policy due to cisnormativity, a term I first came across in Constanza-Chock’s (2018) The Matrix of Domination. Cisnormativity assumes everyone’s gender identity aligns with their birth-assigned sex, favouring gender-conforming individuals (Robinson and Stone 2024).
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AI systems can also exhibit biases as a result of the data they use.
Jer Thorp in Living in Data (2021), explores data biases impact when he notes how gender is often reduced to male and female binaries in data, ignoring the trans experience. Similarly, Rincón et al. (2021) discuss how Voice Activated AI often demonstrates cisgender voices and struggles with transgender questions or vocabulary. These issues present an opportunity to explore how AI can be reshaped to better support the trans community.
Fig. 1 Anomalies highlighted in millimetre wave scanners at airports demonstrating the impact on Trans bodies Constanza-Chock (2018)
Pecha Kucha
We presented our project proposal as a Pecha Kucha to the class. The feedback highlighted our presentation was clear, engaging and succinct. However, our proposal is too broad and it may help to narrow down to a specific AI and context within the Trans community. Additionally, our final design needed more thought. For example, if we created an interactive story, where would it live in the world?
Fig. 2 Pecha Kucha slides
Interview with Feminist Internet
We discovered Syb by Feminist Internet, a Voice AI promoting trans joy by connecting users to queer and trans media, created by a majority Trans and Non-Binary team. Inspired, we interviewed the Co-Founder of Feminist Internet to learn more.
They shared, that the most rewarding aspect was providing a safe space for Trans and Non-Binary people to create and collaborate. I would also like our project to tap into this joy of collective creation. They also discussed the often violent nature of tech development and introduced the concept of "tenderisms," questioning what a caring, nurturing algorithm would look like.
Fig. 3 Findings from interview with Feminist Internet
Finally, our interview with Feminist Internet highlighted how emotive the trans experience is and I realised it will be important for Teddi and I to make participants feel comfortable and safe. Going forward I will be considering how we evolve our interview experience to ensure this, particularly through our use of consent forms.
Readings: Cyborgs and Queer studies
Somerville (2020) in The Cambridge companion to Queer Studies highlights the different values between trans and queer studies. One Trans value is paradox, cis-normative society may suggest the Trans way of being is impossible but nevertheless it is. We would like to explore Trans people’s every day experience of this paradox in our primary research.
Fig. 4 Somerville, S.B. (2020) The Cambridge companion to queer studies. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. PP. 66-78.
Haraway’s (2013) “cyborg’s” fluidity transcends binary identities, helping us rethink our current way of being and consider how technology can be a source of liberation. I am considering how we can utilise the fluidity of the Cyborg to highlight the trans experience. Displayed are Somerville’s Transgender Studies Values and Haraway’s Informatics of Domination I believe the overlap of the two datasets could help us explore how the trans experience and AI connect.
Fig. 5 Haraway, D., 2013. Simians, cyborgs, and women: The reinvention of nature. Routledge. PP. 161
Exploring the Trans experience
Final Major Project blog 02
Week Commencing 12 August & 19 August
Artefact Analysis at Transology Museum
The Transology museum is an archive representing trans, non-binary and intersex people’s lives. Teddi and I selected a mix of objects to explore trans peoples experiences via an artefact analysis. This is a systematic analysis of objects to understand the physical, social and cultural contexts in which the objects live within (Martin and Hanington, 2018).
The objects, acted as a portal into the owners experience, exploring the difficult, joyful and rewarding experience of being trans. For example, the ballet shoes to me demonstrated the importance of hobbies and passions being more than our gender identity.
Fig. 6 Findings from artefact analysis at Transology museum
The artefact analysis led me to think of the objects as storytellers that foster human connection. I’d like to take this thought into ideation to see how objects could shape our experience and bring people together.
Recruitment
We decided to engage the trans community to gather their thoughts on Artificial Intelligence. I contacted businesses and charities supporting the trans community, while Teddi started to create a poster linking to a survey to place in trans spaces. This highlighted the importance of thoughtful recruitment and dedicating time and effort to it
Fig. 7 Social enterprises contacted and email template used
Trans in the city interview
Trans in the City CEO agreed to a 30 minute interview with us, they are a charity that provides training to business about the Trans+ community and mentorships for Trans+ individuals. I planned a discussion guide with three key aims, drawing inspiration from the interview guide in Rincón et al (2023) study Speaking from experience: Trans/non-binary requirements for voice-activated AI, to structure our interview.
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The interview highlighted an AI to support the trans community must authentically represent the trans community and must protect the communities data at conception not as an after thought. Demonstrating the need to consider the role of data within AI, what this data includes and doesn’t, how it is structured, presented and protected.​
Fig. 8 Findings from interview with Trans in the City
Reflection:
This interview reminded me of the Library of Missing Datasets installation (2019) which explores the blank spots in otherwise overly saturated datasets. It seems the authentic experience of trans people is a blank spot in generalised AI datasets. How could we draw attention to this in our experience?
Fig. 9 Image on right: Onuoha, M. (2019) The Library of Missing Datasets [Exhibition or Online exhibition]. ZKM Centre for Media and Arts, Germany. 1 September 2018 - 2 June 2019. Available at: https://zkm.de/en/artwork/the-library-of-missing-datasets (Accessed: 26 August 2024).
Readings: Anatomy of AI & Voice Activated AI
Kate Crawfords (2018) Anatomy of an AI system and Taller Estampa’s Cartography of generative AI (2024) reveals the hidden labor and environmental impact involved in creating AI systems. They embody AI in the human experience and physicalises it with real resources and labour. I wonder if physicalising AI could help the trans community feel more empowered to gain control over AI's influence in their lives.
Finally, Rincon et al (2023) research emphasises the depth within Voice-Activated AI alone, suggesting it may be more productive for us to focus on one aspect of AI rather than trying to address it broadly.
Fig. 10 Crawford, K. and Joker, V. (2018) Anatomy of an AI system. Available at: https://anatomyof.ai/ (Accessed: 31/08/2024).
References
Costanza-Chock, S., 2018. Design justice, AI, and escape from the matrix of domination. Journal of Design and Science, 3(5), pp.1-14.​
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Crawford, K. and Joker, V. (2018) Anatomy of an AI system. Available at: https://anatomyof.ai/ (Accessed: 31/08/2024).
Estampa (2024) Cartography of AI. Available at: http://cartography-of-generative-ai.net/ (Accessed: 26 May 2024).
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Haraway, D., 2013. Simians, cyborgs, and women: The reinvention of nature. Routledge.
Rincón, C., Keyes, O. and Cath, C., 2021. Speaking from experience: Trans/non-binary requirements for voice-activated AI. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 5(CSCW1), pp.1-27.
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Robinson, B.A. and Stone, A.L., 2024. Trans family systems framework: Theorizing families' gender investments and divestments in cisnormativity. Journal of Marriage and Family, 86(5), pp.1205-1227.
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Russell, L., 2020. Glitch feminism: A manifesto. Verso Books.
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Somerville, S.B. (2020) The Cambridge companion to queer studies. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Thorp, J. (2021) Living in data. New York: MCD, Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Martin, B. And Hanington, B. (2019) Universal methods of design. Beverly: Rockport Publishers.
Onuoha, M. (2019) The Library of Missing Datasets [Online exhibition]. ZKM Centre for Media and Arts, Germany. 1 September 2018 - 2 June 2019. Available at: https://zkm.de/en/artwork/the-library-of-missing-datasets (Accessed: 26 August 2024).