Oliver Haimson co-organizes first Applied Trans Technology Studies Symposium

On January 21, 2022, the first virtual symposium focused on Applied Trans Technology Studies will be taking place online via Zoom. The symposium is hosted by the Center for Applied Transgender Studies, and co-sponsored by several units at University of Michigan, including the School of Information, Digital Studies Institute, and Institute for Research on Women and Gender. It is free and open to the public.

Senior fellows with the Center for Applied Transgender Studies regularly organize and promote public events about the center, but Oliver Haimson, assistant professor at UMSI and Digital Studies Institute and co-organizer of the symposium, wanted to expand on the center’s outreach.

Haimson notes that while there have been transgender studies in the humanities for quite some time, there seemed to be a disconnect in applying that work to concrete challenges. “The Center for Applied Transgender Studies (CATS) came about as a way to highlight some of the more empirical research—what CATS’s founders are calling applied trans studies,” he says. “So rather than just theorizing about trans studies, at CATS we are hoping to actually try to apply it to policy and technology.”

The symposium is focused on technology issues people in the transgender community face. “One of the big issues is that a lot of technology is not designed very inclusively. That causes a lot of problems in day-to-day life for transgender people,” says Haimson. 

“As academics, I think that we have some responsibility to study things like this and to try to make positive change by drawing from empirical research and knowing more about people's experiences.” He adds that this understanding can be directly applied to tech design.  

In addition to co-organizing the symposium, Haimson is moderating a session about trans studies and digital studies during the symposium. It’s a perfect fit: Haimson has been a leading researcher on these topics for years, including creating and maintaining the valuable Digital Trans Reading List.

The list began right after Haimson defended his dissertation. “I had been digging into this research area for quite a while and had a whole long list of resources,” he says, adding that he wanted to share this trove of information with others. 

In the beginning, Haimson notes the database held fewer than 100 articles and books, but the volume of research has grown exponentially. “It’s become quite difficult to keep up with,” he says.

The increase in the number of studies at the intersection of trans studies and digital technology has spurred on events like the upcoming symposium. “Years ago, when I started doing this work, there would never have been something like this event,” says Haimson. “The fact that there are this many people and that we can all get together and have these conversations is groundbreaking.”

Symposiums like these are important to spread the work about new research that is happening in this space, and to connect researchers to each other. 

“One thing we want to talk about is the future of trans technologies, and what this space might look like in the future: what we want it to look like, and what we don't want it to look like,” Haimson says. “I think those are really important conversations to have.”

—Sarah Derouin, UMSI public relations specialist

The event is free and open to the public. You can register here.

Learn more about Assistant Professor Oliver Haimson, including his database of trans readings.

Learn more about the Applied Trans Technologies Studies Symposium, including hosting organization Center for Applied Transgender Studies.