IAM Open Lecture 23: Maker Cultures: Dominant discourse and the possibility of heterogeneous practices

Ellen K Foster holds her PhD in Science and Technology studies from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) where she was a researcher for an NSF-funded study regarding STEM education and an NEH-funded study on humanistic inquiry through 3D printing technologies. Currently, she is a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Science and Technology Studies (IAS-STS). Her dissertation dealt with the rhetoric and then physical instantiations of inclusion, accessibility, and empowerment within various maker cultures. Her current work examines the politics of education technologies and skill-sharing techniques among DIY enthusiasts via a feminist theoretical lens. She has been an invited speaker at the London School of Economics, Emory University in the United States, and the University of Technology in Eindhoven.