Dropping off a summer beach read. 🏖️ F&F Fiction reviews Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico, published by @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social www.first-and-fifteenth.co/f-f-fiction-... #FirstAndFifteenth #FirstAndFifteenthFiction #uxmichaelco

F&F Fiction: Perfection

A dawning realisation settles as I finish reading Vincent Latronico’s Perfection (2025). The novel’s symbiotic protagonists are an emblem of our futile attempts to use our cultivated taste as an exten...

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This one’s special and has been many months in the making. Fifteenth #20: On algorithmically aggravated addiction, with Dr. Romy Gad el Rab www.first-and-fifteenth.co/fifteenth-20... #FirstAndFifteenth #CriticalAI #uxmichaelco

Fifteenth #20: On algorithmically aggravated addiction, with Dr. Romy Gad el Rab

10:20am, and I have already picked up my phone 16 times. I have been awake four hours and have used my phone for an hour and a half. These numbers will only go up as the day progresses. The smartpho...

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First 20 is my review of Logging Off by @adelewalton.bsky.social www.first-and-fifteenth.co/first-20-log... #FirstAndFifteenth #uxmichaelco

First #20: Logging Off

⚠️ This review is about a book that discusses self-harm and suicide. We have passed the point at which our digital worlds can be contained in a beige desktop PC. Our online selves are no longer acce...

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New(ish) essay, Fifteenth no. 19: On water (15 June 2026): www.first-and-fifteenth.co/fifteenth-19... #FirstAndFifteenth #uxmichaelco

Fifteenth #19: On water

London is a city of forgotten streams and lost rivers; of sedimented layers encasing ancient waterways that have long since been diverted underground; of stopped wells and springs that have fallen out...

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And another review, First no. 19: Natural Connection by Joycelyn Longdon (1 June 2026): www.first-and-fifteenth.co/first-19-nat... #FirstAndFifteenth #uxmichaelco

First # 19: Natural Connection

Technology is manufactured — chemically intensive and extractive processes are deployed to transform raw materials into sophisticated digital devices. Technology demands control — complex infrastructu...

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New(ish) essay, Fifteenth no. 18: On the slopcore aesthetic (15 May 2026): www.first-and-fifteenth.co/fifteenth-18... #FirstAndFifteenth #CriticalAI #uxmichaelco

Fifteenth #18: On the slopcore aesthetic

There is a strange glaze mediating your perception of the synthetic images in your feed. At first glance, you sense the altered luminescence before concluding it’s a visual shift that does not need co...

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Thank you for having me @uxlondon.bsky.social #UXLondon #WhoseEnglishGetsToBeDefault #FirstAndFifteenthOnTheRoad #CriticalAI 2026.uxlondon.com/speakers/mic...

Less than 2 weeks until @uxlondon.bsky.social from Tuesday 2 to Thursday 4 June. I will close day 1 with “Whose English gets to be default?” — a critical examination of accent bias in voice interface design. 2026.uxlondon.com — get 20% off with my code JOIN_MK #UXLondon #uxmichaelco

I’ll be speaking on day 1 of UX London 💁🏾‍♂️ #UXLondon @uxlondon.bsky.social 2026.uxlondon.com

UX London 2026

A three-day celebration of user experience and digital design.

2026.uxlondon.com

FROW at @heypresents.com 🙌🏾 #AllDayHey #FirstAndFifteenthOnTheRoad

New review! First no. 18: Enshittification by Cory Doctorow 💩 www.first-and-fifteenth.co/first-18-ens... #FirstAndFifteenth #uxmichaelco

First #18: Enshittification

If you are steeped in internet culture, this is a word that you might have encountered sometime in the last three years. This is a word that represents the motives and actions of an industry dominated...

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New essay! Fifteenth no. 17: On unlearning. Link below. 👇🏾 www.first-and-fifteenth.co/fifteenth-17... #FirstAndFifteenth #uxmichaelco

Fifteenth #17: On unlearning

Why do we do research? This might seem like an insultingly simple question, yet perhaps we have never paused to reflect before considering our honest answer. In the quest for a new job or promotion, w...

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💥 New review! First no. 17: Research for People Who Think They Would Rather Create by Dirk Vis (with bonus review of BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions) www.first-and-fifteenth.co/first-17-res... #FirstAndFifteenth #BLKNWS #uxmichaelco

First #17: Research for People Who Think They Would Rather Create

Research for People Who Think They Would Rather Create is a slender manual written by Dirk Vis — a Dutch lecturer at Willem de Kooning Academy Rotterdam and the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague — who...

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Fifteenth no. 16: On the Men (and sometimes Women) Who Corrupted Hadleyburg. Shady CEOs, Sianne Ngai's Theory of the Gimmick, why gimmicks are natural accessories of the tech industry, and a short story by Mark Twain. Link below. 👇🏾 #FirstAndFifteenth #TheoryOfTheGimmick #uxmichaelco

New review! First no. 16: The AI Con by @emilymbender.bsky.social and @alexhanna.bsky.social www.first-and-fifteenth.co/first-16-the... #FirstAndFifteenth #CriticalAI #uxmichaelco

First #16: The AI Con

The AI Con, as its name misleadingly suggests, is not solely about AI; rather, it is an assiduous exercise in excoriating the runaway hype engulfing the technology industry. Co-written by computatio...

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I really like BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions: its dialogue with Black history, Black futures, the ease with which Black creativity traverses these oppositional poles; and W.E.B. Du Bois 👈🏾 Peep the essay on Du Bois I wrote 2 years ago. open.substack.com/pub/uxmichae... #ThisIsNotAnAd #BLKNWS

First #16 on The AI Con by @emilymbender.bsky.social and @alexhanna.bsky.social — “a wonderful riposte to the magical thinking propelling the indiscriminate deployment of generative AI.” S/O @hypestudies.bsky.social for capturing its spirit. Link below 👇🏾 #FirstAndFifteenth #CriticalAI #uxmichaelco

Distinct “tee-cher, tee-cher, tee-cher” call of a male great tit outside. First sign of spring, courtship, and breeding season. Now hearing a coal tit nearby. Competition is on for this patch of trees! #UKBirding #Birdwatch

Next stop, Scotland! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 I will be delivering a keynote to open day 2 of @uxscotland.bsky.social Wed 10 – Thu 11 June. Over thirty talks, workshops, and case studies across four tracks. Discounts for freelancers. Scholarships also available. uxscotland.net #UXScotland #UXScot #uxmichaelco

UX Scotland

UX Scotland is a friendly international conference, established in 2013, for people working in UX, UCD, HCD, Service Design, or other digital specialisms

uxscotland.net

These past few days were certainly stimulating, provocative and inspirational at the inaugural NO & __ forum on Technological Refusal at @fasosmaastricht.bsky.social thank you for having me! @danishanley.bsky.social 💥

Design Beyond the Human: essays on activism, anthropology, conservation, creative writing, design practice, design theory, economics, education, environment, ethics, history, indigenous knowledge, law, philosophy, poetry, politics, regenerative agriculture, science, sociology and technology.

What a coincidence, and perfectly timed for the forum at in Maastricht University next month. www.aanmelder.nl/techrefusal

‘No & ...’ : A Forum on Technological Refusal - Home

aanmelder.nl

Errant Journal@errantjournal.bsky.social · 7mo ago

New open call! errantjournal.org/2026/01/22/o...

First and Fifteenth returns in 2026. New website, new schedule. 💁🏾‍♂️ www.first-and-fifteenth.co #FirstAndFifteenth #uxmichaelco

First and Fifteenth

Essays from a critical technologist, told through the interpretative lens of Black Studies and conceptual art.

first-and-fifteenth.co

No & ...’: A Forum on Technological Refusal, Thursday 5 and Friday 6 February from the Critical Technoscience Platform at Maastricht University. Registration is now open! www.aanmelder.nl/techrefusal #FirstAndFifteenthOnTheRoad

‘No & ...’ : A Forum on Technological Refusal - Home

aanmelder.nl

Day out thinking about #BrainRot #AiSlop #CriticalAI

First & Fifteenth, 2025 wrapped. #FirstAndFifteenth #uxmichaelco open.substack.com/pub/uxmichae...

First & Fifteenth 2025 roundup

What I've said and read since summer

open.substack.com

Inspired by @rude1.blacksky.team, I've made my own evergreen reading list — the titles I repeatedly return to and re-read — which are central to my thinking and practice. The service runs on #atproto, made by @cosmik.network 👌🏾 #CriticalAI semble.so/profile/uxmi...

First and Fifteenth evergreens (by Michael Kibedi) — Semble

Literature shaping my practice which are constant sources of influence, inspiration, and ideas.

semble.so

How did my leisure time on the internet get turned into staring at a bunch of inboxes? 😩

#ffconf is the reason I created my @uxmichael.co BlueSky account. 1 year old! 💁🏾‍♂️ 🎂

Back again 🤗 #ffconf #uxmichaelco