🎉 Untangled turns two years old!
PLUS: You can now buy a copy of AI Untangled.
Untangled turned two this week. In this issue, I reflect on the last year, share some numbers on how things are going, and outline how things will change in the year ahead. Want to buy Untangled a birthday gift? Sign up for the paid subscription 🙃
🤔 Reflections on Year Two
When I think about the last year, I’m proud (and honestly a little surprised) by the consistency of the newsletter.
I published 46 issues or almost one per week (up from 24 issues the year before), totaling 57,000 words. For those keeping track, that amounts to roughly $1.95 per issue for paid subscribers.
I launched my very first Tiny Book, AI Untangled, which isn’t all that tiny— it’s 60 pages! Speaking of, now you can buy the e-book without paying for an annual subscription. If you take away just one new framework or insight for making sense of AI, it’ll be worth the $10. Just pop over to the new ‘Tiny Books’ tab or click here.
I published two special issues, Technically Social — which asks the bold question, what even is technology?? — and The Checklist, which is meant to help you analyze any tech news narrative.
I co-founded The Facilitation Leadership Lab with Kate Krontiris — we have a workshop on conflict management coming up and a new and improved version of the complete course this January.
A deeper reflection: Over the last two years, I’ve written about crypto, social media, the metaverse, and artificial intelligence, among other emerging technologies. While the topics and trends evolve, some themes repeat. Between the special issues, I’ve teased out 18 different themes — which speak to the ways technology is entangled in social systems — across my writing that you can use to make sense of the world around you.
Technology and data are entangled in social systems like gender, race, and power.
Technologies have narratives, and the narratives shape or hide the societal impact of those technologies.
Technologies have narrators, and the experience, expertise, and epistemology of technologists are often prioritized over those affected by the technology, and those with expertise in social systems.
Technology and data often say more about companies — their organizational structures, interests, and accomplishments — than they do about us or the technology.
How one experiences a new technology depends in part on their societal position.
The efficiencies generated by technology aren’t always a good thing.
Culture shapes the communities that form around technology, which in turn shapes how those technologies are used and governed.
Public accountability of technologies depends upon policy and regulatory frameworks that address system dynamics.
Technologies encode politics.
‘Technological problems’ are made, not found.
Metaphors simplify how we understand technology — but in the process, much is lost.
Complex dynamics emerge from the interaction of people and technologies
Technologies both reflect and instantiate cultural values — like unrealistic beauty standards or the presumption of value-neutral knowledge.
Technologies evolve in combination with other technologies.
Technologies are shaped by the values and beliefs of their designers.
Technology shapes and constrains human agency.
Technology is a tool or a system.
Technology is ecological.
Now, perhaps you value the individual essays — that’s great! But for me, the themes are the reason I set out to write Untangled — they become lenses you can put on to see the complex relationship between technology and society a li’l bit clearer. They can help you cut through the noise, the predominant narrative, and all things supposedly new, and instead focus on what’s important and lasting. Pop by ‘the Special Issues’ tab to dig into each of these.
📈 How things are going at Untangled HQ
When I think back on the year, I’m proud of the growth and engagement of the Untangled community.
Untangled grew from 1,340 to 5,370 subscribers this year. Woot! In January of this year, I set a goal of reaching 8k subscribers by the end of 2023. What can I say, I’m ambitious. That seems unlikely at this point, but perhaps you can prove me wrong?
45-50% of you open every email, which is great but a much smaller percentage (1.4%) pay for the newsletter (more on that in a minute).
34 newsletters recommend Untangled, which warms my heart. These recommendations represent a large chunk of my overall subscriber growth, so I would be remiss if I didn’t thank NickatNoon, Molly White , The Gradient, All Tech Is Human, Reboot, New_ Public, Anchor Change with Katie Harbath, The Justice Tech Download, Technology Made Simple, The Connector, The CITAP Review, The Ethical Tech Project, Some Good Trouble, Designing Tomorrow and many others.
💫 Ch-ch-ch-changes
While I’m truly proud of this work, my goal for year three is to increase the percentage of paid subscribers. I’m going to start things off by launching three new offerings for paid subscribers.
📰 Untangle the News: I’m launching a new product — Untangle the News! While I write about one post per week, the only consistent offering to date has been the long-form essay, which drops on the first Sunday of every month. The other posts tend to reflect whatever strikes my fancy that week. But in the future, I will embed into the Untangled content calendar one additional mainstay. On the last Sunday of every month, I’ll synthesize my favorite articles and essays from the month, and pair each with a research paper, a theme from a Special Issue, or my reflections — not unlike this issue.
📚🗒️ Reading Lists: I’m launching a new special issue - Reading Lists. I will organize these by technology topics, like AI, social media, and crypto. Over time, I’ll develop lists focused on sub-topics, as well as the themes above. For each list, I’ll survey what I’ve read over the years — news articles, papers, and books — and then summarize my favorites. I’ll then add to the list over time - get excited, the first edition of the ‘AI Reading List’ drops next week.
💥Workshops: I’m going to experiment with Untangled workshops that explore the themes above more deeply. For example, I might offer a workshop on “Technology is a tool or a system” wherein I go over the concept, design an exercise to help y’all explore it, and then offer ways to apply it in your personal lives and working environments. They’ll be fun, interactive, and practical, and they’ll start in Q2 of 2024, and take place over Zoom. Oh, and they’ll be discounted for paid subscribers.
Use this fun li’l poll to let me know which new paid offering you’re most excited about:
Okay, that’s a wrap on year two of Untangled.
Onwards!
Charley