Author Archives: Meenakshi Mani

I am a PhD student at the Centre for Research Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh. My research centers the voices of tech professionals to help examine how the political economy of AI EdTech, engineering epistemic cultures, and technical infrastructures shape the development of AI-driven technologies for K-12 education in India. In my research I primarily draw from the fields of critical edtech studies, science & technology studies, and software studies.
A collage of three photos. One is a zoomed out image of buildings in New York City, one is a shadow of a pillar of the Golden Gate Bridge, and the final one is an intricate iron window grille with palm trees visible through the window.

Engineering Through Stuckness

This article is the first in a series about stuckness in science and technology. Read the introduction to the series here. What might we learn from the experiences of tech professionals being stuck? How does stuckness come about and what do these moments represent? This post traces two stories from different worlds: an Indian NGO and an American Big Tech corporation. One follows Leena , an employee at InnovateTech, an Indian education technology (EdTech) NGO. The other follows Cody, a software engineer at Microsoft, working in the United States. On the surface, Leena and Cody have more differences than things in common. Their employers operate in very different cultural and technological contexts influenced by distinct economic and political machinations. Their everyday experiences as they move through the world, one as a brown woman, and the other as a white man, have significant contrasts. (read more...)