Colm O'Neill

This website is an aggregation of selected feeds to represent projects as they are developping. Versioning systems (git) and content feeds (atom / RSS) from other publication spaces are brought together to show different elements of practice.

Colm O'Neill works as designer and researcher in Carlow (IE) and Brussels (BE). His work is concerned with mediations of digital literacy through graphical, user and programmatic interfaces. The research and practice that result follow the ideals of free and open source culture models.

currently:
- Lecturer in Design and IT at SETU (Carlow campus)
- Doctoral Researcher — Education and Social Justice, Lancaster University

previously:
- Member of Open Source Publishing
- MA Networked Media from the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam
- Graphic Design BA from ENSAV La Cambre Brussels.

In the frame of an ongoing, part-time, structured PhD program in Education and Social Justice, I highlight below a few recent texts that detail some research interests. The structured nature of the program means that the doctoral research proposal comes after an initial two-year study period.
May 2022

Decolonising Digital Learning Technology

Abstract:
This study asks why and how the transition to online education during the global pandemic almost exclusively meant the adoption of commercial platforms. It also asks what harms the use of so-called tools for education can cause when imposed on learners. I argue that accepting Big Tech into our everyday lives has impact on humans digital rights and more broadly on social justice. Ultimately, I propose three criteria for better software choices: decentralisation, space for individuation and sustainability.

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June 2023

EdTech as climate criminal

Abstract:
This paper discusses the ecological component of using digital technology in the Education sector. It does so by highlighting the many excesses and growth-based attitudes that the commercial stake- holders have in this space, and considers the current misleading actions in the “greening” of technology. It considers cases of radical alternatives, and proposes a turn towards ecojustice if technology is to have a space in education at all.

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November 2023

PhD research proposal

Abstract:
This study aims to assess the potential of permacomputing projects as case studies for cultivating oppositional knowledge for digital justice issues in Ireland. It focuses on both social and ecological concerns related to digital technologies. The study will propose that by highlighting the ecological impact of computing, awareness of related social and digital justice issues will increase. Ireland, with its significant presence of global technology corporations, faces unique digital justice challenges that put strain on national infrastructures and natural ecosystems.
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