Hi, I’m Matt

I’m a PhD student at UMSI. My research interests include hci/cscw/ict4sg; generative justice; the future of work (on Earth and in space). I am currently a graduate student research assistant (GSRA) at the Generative Justice lab working on a multi-year research project funded by the NSF titled, “Race, Class, and Gender Equity in the Future of Work: Automation for the Artisanal Economy”

Publications

Tawanna R. Dillahunt, Matthew Garvin, Marcy Held, and Julie Hui. 2021. Implications for Supporting Marginalized Job Seekers: Lessons from Employment Centers. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 5, CSCW2, Article 324 (October 2021), 24 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3476065

Conference Presentations

NASA MGSC ’20 – “Understanding the Emerging Role of HCI in Human Space Exploration”

Funding

UMSI PhD Student Funding
Green Transfer Scholarship

Industry Biography

Prior to becoming a PhD student at UMSI, Matt worked on classified projects for NASA’s Convergent Aeronautics Solutions and the Exploration Medical Capability element of the Human Research Program. Matt completed an internship at Tyler Technologies Public Safety Division, and has provided consulting services for MI Dept. of State, IBM Developer, and GRDC.

Academic Biography

Matt holds an MS in Information (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), with a thesis titled, “Close encounters of the HCI kind: an ethnography of human-centered approaches in space technology”, and a BA in Anthropology (Wayne State University, Detroit). Matt is currently a PhD student at the University of Michigan.

Latest from the Blog

PredICTing the Future

Technological visions of the future generally come in one of two flavors. In a utopian dream, technology seamlessly integrates into the fabric of everyday life. On the other end of the spectrum lie visions of dystopia, often centered around the havoc a sentient artificial intelligence can cause when it inevitably determines that humans are our most significant threat. This essay attempts to illuminate a bridge between what is and what ought to be through a critical analysis of automation and technological innovation. We trace efforts to deskill labor, from early mechanization through current efforts to design a “future-proof” smart city. To do this, we examine automation through Haraway’s cyborg lens, the postmodernist assemblage of contradictory components. Who is benefitting from automation? Who is harmed by it? In following with the theme of our essay, we also follow up by asking, who ought to? To explore this question, we review efforts to build economic infrastructure from the bottom-up in a process that emphasizes upskilling rather than deskilling labor.

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Doing theory as an information scholar

Having completed undergraduate work in one of the last four-field anthropology departments, we often say that the four-field approach has one foot firmly planted in the sciences (biology, archaeology) and the other in the humanities (culture, linguistics). Taken together, these four lenses are thought to enable the holistic perspective. Yet, I find myself more skeptical…

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Special Announcement

Greetings, If you follow my social media, then you are likely already aware. I’ve known for a few weeks, but I’ve been so busy I didn’t make time to write about it. Considering the announcement, I think it’s going to be important that I make regular contributions to this blog, so let’s start here. It’s…

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Information is everywhere.