Simple Sabotage: A Field Manual for Refusing Corporate AI
Simple Sabotage was a document written by the US Office of Strategic Services in 1944 to train everyday citizens to thwart the forces of fascism (a resource garnering renewed attention in this particular political moment). This quick fix workshop is a tongue-in-cheek update to train citizen-saboteurs to thwart the predetermined inevitability of corporate AI from micro to the macro: a history of GenAI, opportunities for data liberation, local LLMs, resisting corporate software by switching to Linux, everyday data privacy practices like turning of Connected Experiences in M365, and more. We’ll explore tangible everyday practices to motivate the saboteur (you!) and provide them with specific suggestions for tools, targets, timing to resist and re-imagine AI futures.
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe the history of GenAI and how it works
- Identify potential sources for data liberation
- Choose alternative platforms or configure settings to protect your privacy
- Propose possible pathways to re-imagine AI futures.
No experience except your lived experience is necessary. While we aren’t all against all AI, understanding how it works and making intentional decisions about how, when, and whose data is used is increasingly important. Join us to talk tactics!
Workshop Preparation
If you’re working with specific tools and want support, come in person!
Facilitator Bio
John Fink is the Digital Scholarship Librarian in the Sherman Centre.
Devon Mordell is an Educational Developer at The MacPherson Institute for Teaching and Learning. Devon draws on her experience in media art, hobbyist programming and instructional design to teach workshops for the Sherman Centre. Her areas of interest in digital scholarship include data visualization, computational analyses of texts, sonification and critical digital humanities. Her research practice explores the algorithmic culture industry and platform psychogeography.
Danica Evering is a Research Data Management Specialist grounded in curiosity and a deep commitment to ethics. Danica is available to help students, postdocs, faculty, and staff with RDM through the data lifecycle—Data Management Plans, storage and backup, data security, data sharing. With an MA in Media Studies, Danica fosters active interest in RDM across disciplines, with a knack for engaging researchers who might not even realize they have data to manage. Outside of work they sing in a choir, play PC games, maintain an art writing practice, grow a garden, contribute Wikipedia articles, and run.
Workshop Slides
Coming soon.