A podcast about technology storytelling
Technology is ingrained in our lives to such an extent that it both shapes how we live day to day, but also how we imagine and understand the future. That makes it strange, then, that tech is often seen as something naturally occurring, something which just exists, which we’re forced to simply contend with and leverage in the best way we can.
Except, of course, that’s simply not true. All technologies are constructed; they’re things that are made by people. They contain the imprint of a huge range of decisions, both on the large scale (why should they be made at all) to the specifics of how they’re made (What format should this data be saved as? How should this button work?)
Listen to Episode 0: Welcome to What We Talk About When We Talk About Tech:
One of the ways we can remind ourselves of this fact is through storytelling — by using narrative to explain why and how something was built, that process of construction becomes more visible. That might seem insignificant, but the implications are actually incredibly powerful.
Technology storytelling can improve accountability and emphasise contingency
This is because it allows us to see technology as something contingent — something that could be different.
It also brings accountability into the picture, something which the tech industry has been struggling with in recent years. After all, story telling is giving an account — describing why and how something has been done, and by whom.
It’s for this reason that we decided to start What We Talk About When We Talk About Tech. We wanted to create a place where we could discuss the ways technology is communicated and explained across marketing, journalism, product, DevRel, academia, activism — the list is endless.
Crossing disciplines to explore a shared language
This diversity might seem odd, but it’s actually integral to the essence of the show. When I first discussed the podcast with Jennifer, I wanted to make it clear that this wasn’t supposed to be a B2B tech marketing podcast. Equally though, it’s not an activist podcast either — there are plenty of people already doing good and important work in that space.
Instead, it’s an attempt to look at all these different disciplines and job roles. It’s an attempt to explore what part they play in both the evolution of the industry and the way its perceived and understood in the wider world. By doing this we hope that we’ll be able to encourage some degree of cross-pollination so different worlds can begin to better understand each other and, indeed, maybe even learn from each other.
While we might not be an explicitly political podcast, there is a clear politics in what we do: we believe technology should be more transparent, accessible and democratic. Distributed systems should distribute power, not entrench and strengthen it. The conversations we have throughout the series are all part of an attempt to do exactly that.
Who’s behind What We Talk about When We Talk About Tech?
The podcast isn’t really about us — it’s about our guests and their work and perspectives. However, we know that listeners might want to know who’s behind the show.
I’m Rich Gall (@richggall on Twitter) a technology writer. I like to say I’m a writer first and foremost as that’s the clearest way to describe what I do — even if I’m sometimes working in marketing teams. I’m not a technologist, and started in the industry in publishing. It was there that I became curious about the people behind technology and the impact it was having on the world.
My co-host Jennifer Riggins (@jkriggins) is also a writer — most commonly with The New Stack, a great tech publication about open source and cloud native technologies. Like me, she’s also interested in the relationship between technology and people. She describes herself as a tech storyteller — which is, I think a great term and one which nicely describes what this podcast is doing.
We hope you enjoy the series — whether you listen week after week or just dip in when you see episodes that look particularly interesting, we’re sure you’ll take something from it. If you do, we’d love it if you passed it on.
We’re not funded by anyone, we’re doing this out of sheer curiosity and passion. If you find what we have to say interesting (maybe even important!) please help us spread the ideas and the values we’re putting out there.
