Antero Garcia is an Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University where he studies how technology and gaming shape both youth and adult learning, literacy practices, and civic identities. His most recent research studies explore learning and literacies in tabletop roleplaying games Dungeons & Dragons and how participatory culture shifts classroom relationships and instruction. Based on his research focused on equitable teaching and learning opportunities for urban youth through the use of participatory media and gameplay, Antero co-designed the Critical Design and Gaming School–a public high school in South Central Los Angeles. In his talk, Antero examines these points:

1. Algorithms and AI are authored texts; they are written by individuals and carry with them implicit values, biases, and ideologies.
2. How we adopt new technologies is a process of learning. These devices teach us as we use them.
3. When we talk broadly of cultural relevance, we need to be mindful of whose culture is counted and what we mean by “relevance”.
4. Related to point 3, our vocabulary when discussing technology needs to be challenged: what does it mean to “adopt” new technologies? What does “humanizing” mean in today’s software world?