Episode 14: Learning from slime mould to design for equity

In this episode, our guest Ashley Jane Lewis shares her work with Slime Tech Lab in using slim mold to promote equitable distribution of social justice, mutual aid, and wellbeing in local communities. We also discussed the messed up state of tech industry and social media platforms; and how understanding of slime mold behavior could inform the imagination of an alternative practice of intentional coding and community building towards spaces of care.

Ashley is an interactive artist and a tech educator working in the intersection of afrofuturism, social justice, and speculative design. Her practice explores black cultures of the past, present, and future through computational and analogue medium, including network devices, machine learning, data weaving, slime mold, fermented cultures, and live performance. In 2016, Ashley was listed in the Top 100 Black Women to Watch in Canada.