AiiCE Book Club: Interface Frictions: How Digital Debility Reshapes Our Bodies

About this event

AiiCE is excited to announce our next book club! We’re looking forward to reading Interface Frictions: How Digital Debility Reshapes Our Bodies: https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/dukeupress.edu/interface-frictions?ref=disability-visibility-newsletter.ghost.io__;!!K-Hz7m0Vt54!n252_M30vBMWcxE8s1kYt3Hat1B8TdiGO3pMKl4KCYEviVCJhbsnjPy56bEQbzx152xFpOYDREaB$ by Neta Alexander.

The book club will be held on Thursdays, October 22nd, 2026 through November 5th at 10-11 am PST (1-2 pm EST).

Format: We’ll meet over Zoom to discuss selected sections of the book. Before each session, we will share reflection questions to discuss in small- or large-group conversations. While we encourage you to attend all sessions, we understand life gets busy!

We have limited funding to provide a book voucher to individuals who don’t otherwise have funds for a book and who reside, work, or study in the US. Indicate that you’d like a book voucher on your registration.

Important note: When you register for this book club, you only need to register once. You will not need to register for each session individually. If you would like to receive calendar invitations, select the option to have them sent to you at the end of the registration process. The system will send you an invitation for each of the remaining sessions.

About the Book and Author “In Interface Frictions, Neta Alexander explores how ubiquitous design features in digital platforms reshape, condition, and break our bodies. She shows that while features such as refresh, playback speed, autoplay, and night mode are convenient, they can lead to “digital debility”—the slow and often invisible ways that technologies may harm human bodies. These features all assume an able-bodied user and at the same time push users to ignore their bodily limitations like the need for rest, nourishment, or movement. Building on the lived experiences of people with disabilities, Alexander explores alternative design solutions that arise from a multisensorial approach to communication. She demonstrates what can be gained from centering the nonaverage user, such as blind people who pioneered ways to control the playback speed of media, and Netflix subscribers with invisible disabilities like PTSD who successfully pushed the company to redesign its previews autoplay feature. Drawing on artworks, video games, and creative hacking by users with disabilities, Alexander challenges our understanding of media consumption, the attention economy, and the digital interface.” More information found here: https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/dukeupress.edu/interface-frictions?ref=disability-visibility-newsletter.ghost.io__;!!K-Hz7m0Vt54!n252_M30vBMWcxE8s1kYt3Hat1B8TdiGO3pMKl4KCYEviVCJhbsnjPy56bEQbzx152xFpOYDREaB$.

Reading Schedule: Thursday, October 22nd - Introduction. Disabled/Enabled - Chapter 1: Repetition, Reloaded: On Refreshing, Latency, and Frictional Aesthetics

Thursday, October 29th - 2. The Right to Speed Watch (or, When Netflix Discovered Its Blind Users) - 3. Automating Trauma: On Autoplay and the Unbingeable

Thursday, November 5th - 4. “Log In, Chill Out”: On “Horizontal Media,” Night Modes, and Sleep Apps - Coda. On Digital Disability and the Normalization of Fatigue

Please share this announcement with others who are interested in accessibility in computing education.

Access: The University of Washington is committed to providing access and accommodations in its services, programs, activities, and events.