Deb Chachra

@debcha
197 Followers
138 Following
868 Posts
Researcher and educator with abiding interests in metacognition, embodiment, and materiality. Author of HOW INFRASTRUCTURE WORKS: INSIDE THE SYSTEMS THAT SHAPE OUR WORLD, out on Riverhead, October 2023 and Torva (UK), November 2023. Professor at a tiny engineering college. She/they.
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Get the book! (US+)https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/612711/how-infrastructure-works-by-deb-chachra/
Get the book! (UK+)https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/461276/how-infrastructure-works-by-chachra-deb/9781911709541
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Deb ChachraMay 19, 2024
Shauna GMMay 19, 2024
"Infrastructure is caring at scale" - Sumana Harihareswara @brainwane kicks off the closing keynote at #PyConUS
Deb ChachraMay 16, 2024

The US Mission in India just put out this four-minute year-in-review video starring Ambassador Eric Garcetti (former LA mayor) that must be one of the single best pieces of US government social media I've ever seen -- it's charming, funny, and informative.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T_hP0_446I

One year as U.S. Ambassador to India!

YouTube
Deb ChachraMay 15, 2024
I Hope This Email Finds YouMay 15, 2024
I hope this email finds you interesting in a lot of ways.
Deb ChachraMay 14, 2024
Taylor LorenzMay 14, 2024
"The student left is the most reliably correct constituency in America. Over the past 60 years, it has passed every great moral test American foreign policy has forced upon the public, including the Vietnam war, apartheid South Africa, and the Iraq war." https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/13/campus-gaza-protests-student-protesters-role-history
US students, once again, have led the way. Now we must all stand up for Palestinians

Campus protests in solidarity with the people of Gaza have braved abuse and police raids but history will be kinder

The Guardian
Deb ChachraMay 13, 2024
media archaeology labMar 22, 2024

An incomplete MAL wishlist:

- Any and all accessibility tech (speech synthesizers, braille displays, etc.)
- Any and all non-English or non-QWERTY keyboards or typing devices
- Casio Loopy Mouse
- Casio Loopy Magical Shop
- Cybiko
- Fairchild Channel F
- Famicom Disk System
- Microbee
- Selectavision Player
- Sidekick
- SNES controllers
- Unitron Mac 512
- VideoNow discs
- VirtualBoy

(we'll keep this pinned & update it as we think of stuff. if you have something on the list you'd like to send our way, please DM for details. Unless specified, we're only able to take things in working condition.)

Deb ChachraMay 12, 2024
I Hope This Email Finds YouMay 11, 2024
I hope this email finds you when you’re lost and shows you what home feels like, the kind that reminds you how it feels to love without the need for walls.
Deb ChachraMay 10, 2024
John OverholtMay 10, 2024
I probably won’t get to see any northern lights this weekend, but rest assured I will have the line “Aurora Borealis comes in view-ew-ew/Aurora comes in view-ew-ew” from I Ran by Flock of Seagulls in my head the whole time.
Deb ChachraMay 10, 2024

I keep pointing indivdual friends at this great piece so I should probably just share it widely.

@jarrettfuller on the independence of building with simple, enduring tools. In this case a website:

“I like to think of HTML and CSS like the 2x4 in construction: When the nail gun replaced the hammer or the power drill replaced the screwdriver, they changed the context, speed, and process of building a home—but the 2x4 is still the most stable structure.”

https://www.untappedjournal.com/issues/issue-11/jarrett-fuller-building-with-simple-tools-longevity

Using Simple Tools as a Radical Act of Independence

Building with basic mediums, from HTML to 2x4s, can be a way to assert autonomy and longevity.

Deb ChachraMay 8, 2024
I Hope This Email Finds YouMay 8, 2024
I hope this email finds you, no matter how long that might take or how many wrong turns you've made in your own personal road before you find the one whose heart answers yours.
Deb ChachraMay 8, 2024
Michal Migurski 🍉May 8, 2024
Bumper sticker in the wild