The Data Fix with Dr. Mél Hogan

In this episode, I got to walk through a recent report called “the high stakes of tracking menstruation” with its author, Stefanie Felsberger, a sociologist of tech & gender. I cannot express enough how much there is to learn from this topic that can help us understand the bigger landscape of tech promises and harms. Recorded Oct 23, 2025. Released Nov 24, 2025.The High Stakes of Tracking Menstruation - MCTD Cambridgehttps://www.mctd.ac.uk/femtech-high-stakes-tracking-menstruation/ https://www.mctd.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/The-High-Stakes-of-Tracking-Menstruation_Accessible.html Menstrual apps harvest data that ‘puts women’s safety at risk’https://www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcare/article/menstrual-apps-harvest-data-that-puts-womens-safety-at-risk-bd0srb8mt? Period: The Real Story of Menstruation (by Kate Clancy)https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691191317/period? Websitehttps://www.stefaniefelsberger.com

In this episode, I speak with Justin Hendrix, the CEO and Editor of Tech Policy Press, a nonprofit media venture concerned with the intersection of technology and democracy. We talk about ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement), surveillance, and AI. Recorded Oct 21, 2025. Released Nov 10, 2025. Republican Budget Bill Signals New Era in Federal SurveillanceDEAN JACKSON, JUSTIN HENDRIX / JUL 2, 2025https://www.techpolicy.press/republican-budget-bill-signals-new-era-in-federal-surveillance/Amidst Violent Immigration Raids, DHS Turns to Big Tech to Silence DissentJENNA RUDDOCK / OCT 3, 2025https://www.techpolicy.press/amidst-violent-immigration-raids-dhs-turns-to-big-tech-to-silence-dissent/ AI Surveillance on the Rise in US, but Tactics of Repression Not NewDIA KAYYALI / MAR 26, 2025https://www.techpolicy.press/ai-surveillance-on-the-rise-in-us-but-tactics-of-repression-not-new/

Host of Tech Won't Save Us and acclaimed tech critic, author, and international speaker, Paris Marx joins me for this episode where we discuss AI futures in a Canadian context: the idea of a "sovereign cloud", an "AI minister", and much more! Recorded Oct 15, 2025. Released Oct 20, 2025.Websitehttps://parismarx.com/Tech Won't Save Ushttps://techwontsave.us/Disconnecthttps://disconnect.blog/im-writing-a-new-book/

In this episode, I get to chat with the brilliant Michael Richardson on the concept of "Nonhuman Witnessing" especially in how this relates to algorithms and AI. In his book, "Nonhuman Witnessing" (Duke), he argues that a "radical rethinking of what counts as witnessing is central to building frameworks for justice in an era of endless war, ecological catastrophe, and technological capture". Recorded August 13, 2025. Released August 25, 2025. Nonhuman Witnessing: War, Data, and Ecology after the End of the World (Duke, 2024)https://read.dukeupress.edu/books/book/3310/Nonhuman-WitnessingWar-Data-and-Ecology-after-theWebsite https://www.unsw.edu.au/staff/michael-richardsonBluesky@richardsonma.bsky.social‬

Emily M.Bender and Alex Hanna have been leading the charge against "AI", helping us understand it for the con that it is, and how AI companies are turning to health, education, and other social realms to try to recover their costs. In this episode we discuss LLMs vs. what the AI (and AGI) con is -- who benefits, and who loses -- and much more. Recorded July 15, 2025. Released July 28, 2025.The AI Conhttps://thecon.ai/Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000https://www.dair-institute.org/maiht3k/The predatory fantasy of worker empowerment in AI marketingJustine Zhang, Su Lin Blodgett, Nina MarklAI x Crisis: Tracing New Directions Beyond Deployment and Use workshop, Aarhus 2025.AI isn’t replacing student writing – but it is reshaping ithttps://theconversation.com/ai-isnt-replacing-student-writing-but-it-is-reshaping-it-254878Sparks of Artificial General Intelligence: Early experiments with GPT-4https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.12712

In this episode, Paul Schütze and I pick apart the inherent contradictions of “sustainable AI”, marketing language that aims to convince the public that one of the most extractive industries can be used to solve climate change. We delve into the layers of control embedded in the logics of AI, when technology becomes the fix that needs fixing. Recorded May 20, 2025. Released July 7, 2025. The impacts of AI Futurismhttps://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10676-024-09758-6 The Problem of Sustainable AI https://doi.org/10.34669/WI.WJDS/4.1.4 contact paul.schuetze@uos.de and website: paulschuetze.de 

In this episode I speak with Rebecca Kilberg, Mary-Clare Bosco and Jonathan Gilmour who together use policy approaches to solve problems related to data center water usage and the various planetary and health outcomes that emerge from water consumption and extraction. They talk about how you get such data and what to do with it, and the importance of creating many local sites of resistance for a more sustainable future. Want in? Get in touch. Recorded May 19, 2025. Released June 16, 2025.Voices: Data centers must be transparent about water usage — for the sake of the Great Salt Lakehttps://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2024/12/31/voices-utah-data-centers-must-beReducing Data Centers’ Water Consumption https://aspenpolicyacademy.org/project/reducing-data-centers-water-consumption

In this episode, Shannon Wait — Alphabet Workers Union-CWA organizer — speaks with me about the labour conditions for data center and AI workers. We talk about contracts, sub-contracts, sub-sub-contracts, NDAs, invisible labour -- and how all of this leads to unions, solidarity, and a fight for tech workers’ rights globally. Recorded May 8, 2025. Released June 2, 2025. Interview with Shannon Wait, Alphabet Workers Union-CWA Organizer (2024)https://poweratwork.us/shannon-wait-interviewA union of Alphabet workers in the U.S. and Canadahttps://www.alphabetworkersunion.org/Google Raters Participated in Historic Action at Google HQ to Demand Google End Poverty Wages for 5,000 Workershttps://code-cwa.org/news/google-raters-participated-historic-actionThe woman who took on Google and won (2021)https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56659212