# CRITICAL MEDIA LAB

**Source**: https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/
**Parent**: https://bulletin.uwaterloo.ca/2010/apr/08th.html

technology investigating technology

[↓](#abouttwo)

technology

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DESIGN

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Responsible innovation

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Digital Media

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## We are critical about responsible innovation.

The Critical Media Lab (CML) is a cross-disciplinary, research-creation initiative developed in the English Department at the University of Waterloo. The CML fosters the creation of new media projects that explore the impact of technology on society and the more-than-human world. It was launched quietly on campus in the fall of 2008, before occupying various locations in the city of Kitchener, Ontario. The CML is currently located in the Communitech Hub, at 151 Charles Street West.\
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The CML also houses [Critical By Design](https://criticalbydesign.ca/), a SSHRC-funded project that studies the integration of responsible innovation into technological design practices. We offer a [searchable database of tools](https://criticalbydesign.ca/resources/) for researchers, professionals, and teachers.

[Tweets by uwcrimelab](https://twitter.com/uwcrimelab?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

## Events

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### [**Critical Tech Talk**](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/critical-tech-talk/)

Critical Tech Talk is a series of honest dialogues about technological innovation. From data harvesting to the conflict minerals in our smartphones, critical thinking is shifting the momentum towards positive change – towards Tech for Good®.

**Season 2: Fall 2023 – Spring 2025**

SOLAR POWER STUDIO

- Critical Tech Talk Popup: [An Energy History and Future of Big/Little Tech](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/critical-tech-talk/#solar-popup) – Anne Pasek
- [Solar Futures Hands-On Workshop](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/critical-tech-talk/#solar-workshop)
- [Visualizing the EV3 Solar Panels](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/critical-tech-talk/#panel-tour)

[11. Speculative Imaginaries and Technological Design](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/critical-tech-talk/) – Sherryl Vint

10. [Ecomedia and the Cost of Technological Progress](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/critical-tech-talk/#ecomedia) – Cajetan Iheka

[09. Perspectives on Accelerating AI Adoption](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/critical-tech-talk/) – Distinguished Panel

[08. Humility as a Value in Engineering and Design](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/critical-tech-talk/) – Kari Zacharias

[07. On Black Media Philosophy and Beyond](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/critical-tech-talk/) – Armond R. Towns

CTT Pop-up November 2023: [How to Build Anything Ethically](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/critical-tech-talk/) – Suzanne Kite

**Season 1: Fall 2021 – Spring 2023**\
[06. Clean Energy, Climate Justice, and Indigenous Rights](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/critical-tech-talk/) – Eriel Deranger and Jen Gobby\
[05. Artificial Wombs: The Disobedient Future of Birth](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/critical-tech-talk#ctt5) – Claire Horn\
[04. Shaping Technology with Moral Imagination](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/critical-tech-talk#ctt4) – Batya Friedman\
[03. AI Five Ways](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/critical-tech-talk#ctt3) – Distinguished Panel\
[02. Discriminating Data](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/critical-tech-talk#ctt2) – Wendy Chun\
[01. The Digital Frontier and its Limits](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/critical-tech-talk#ctt1) – Nicole Aschoff\

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### **More Events**

View our [upcoming events here](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/events/)

Stay connected with us on [Twitter](#abouttwo)

More Event Recaps + Other Important Information On Our Blog!

[See Our Blog Here ↗](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/blog/)

## [Projects](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/projects/)

[See our latest research: CRITICAL BY DESIGN ↗](https://criticalbydesign.ca/)

[Speculative Approaches to Chimney Swift Habitats ↗](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/2023/01/09/speculative-approaches-to-chimney-swift-habitats/)

Thinking with Owls [↗](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/2023/12/04/thinking-with-owls/)

[Technocriticality ↗](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/2023/07/26/technocriticality/)

[Obituaries ↗](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/obituaries/)

[Tech for Good Declaration↗](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/t4g-declaration/)

## Our Courses

#### [See Recent Courses ↗](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/courses#currentcourses)

- Digital Media and Feminist Activisms: Rhetorics, Theories, and Praxes
- Critical Design Methods
- Critical Media Infrastructures
- City to “Smart” City: On Storytelling Space
- Feminist Maker Cultures: Reimagining Gendered Labour through Technological Design

#### [See Past Courses ↗](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/courses#pastcourses)

- [Digital Abstinence](http://www.digitalabstinence.org/?page_id=49)
- [Maker Culture](http://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/courses/maker_culture/index.html) – Rhetoric of Digital Design
- [Introduction to Digital Media Studies](http://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/courses/engl293/winter2013/index.htm)
- [Memory And Techne](http://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/courses/memory_techne/)
- [Necromedia](http://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/courses/necromedia/)
- [Cyberbodies](http://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/courses/cyberbodies/)
- [Spatial Theory And Practice](http://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/spatial)
- [Visual Rhetoric](http://visrhetoric.wordpress.com/)
- [The Discourse Of Advertising](http://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/engl408b)

[View All Courses ↗](https://criticalmedia.uwaterloo.ca/crimelab/courses/)

Contact us

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Work with us

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Start your project

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Get in touch

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