Jon Shaffer
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jonshaffer.bsky.social
Jon Shaffer
@jonshaffer.bsky.social
3.2K followers 3.2K following 820 posts
Assistant Professor of Sociology @UVM | STS | Med Soc | Social Movements | Previously Post-doc @BermanInstitute, Partners In Health

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=b_foLf8AAAAJ&hl=en
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jonshaffer.bsky.social
🚨Check out our new research on the representational harms embedded in AI image captioning🚨

We investigated how AI models interpret photographs from exploitative human exhibitions from the 19th and 20th centuries where colonized peoples were put on display.

Open Access: doi.org/10.1007/s001...
Theorizing the failures of computer vision algorithms requires shifting from detecting and fixing biases towards understanding how algorithms are shaped by social, historical, and political real-world precursors. To better understand the socially embedded and historically rooted representational harms of these algorithms, we analyze how Al image captioning depicts archival images of living ethnological exibitions (so-called 'human zoos), mass stereotype-producing public exhibitions of colonized people common in Europe and the US from the 1870s to the 1930s, which were meant to symbolize the imagined superiority of Western societies and justify their colonial violence. We collected and analyzed more than 3800 captions from 100 archival images using MidJourney—a modern, state-of-the-art generative Al platform. Combining quantification with close reading of the captions, we found evidence of a 'colonial gaze,' an epistemological viewpoint from the perspective of colonizers characterized by significant representational harms representing five main themes: essentialism (41.6% of captions), cultural erasure (54.5%), dehumanization (11.1%), othering (28.4%), and infantilization (26.8%), with striking parallels between Al-generated captions and the original framings of human zoos informed by a broader colonial epistemology. Based on this analysis, we propose to conceptualize the colonial gaze in generative Al as an automated process of object identification and relational interpretation that draws on historical visual tropes and hierarchical logics rooted in colonial epistemologies. Trigger warning: This article contains extremely racialized text and images produced by both colonizers and the machines.
November 17, 2025 at 4:15 PM
jonshaffer.bsky.social
New paper out today in AI & Society w/ Arsenii Alenichev and colleagues.

"We can see a savage": a case study of the colonial gaze in generative AI algorithms

rdcu.be/ePXNQ
Abstract: "Theorizing the failures of computer vision algorithms requires shifting from detecting and fixing biases towards understanding how algorithms are shaped by social, historical, and political real-world precursors. To better understand the socially embedded and historically rooted representational harms of these algorithms, we analyze how AI image captioning depicts archival images of living ethnological exibitions (so-called 'human zoos'), mass stereotype-producing public exhibitions of colonized people common in Europe and the US from the 1870s to the 1930s, which were meant to symbolize the imagined superiority of Western societies and justify their colonial violence. We collected and analyzed more than 3800 captions from 100 archival images using MidJourney––a modern, state-of-the-art generative AI platform. Combining quantification with close reading of the captions, we found evidence of a ‘colonial gaze,’ an epistemological viewpoint from the perspective of colonizers characterized by significant representational harms representing five main themes: essentialism (41.6% of captions), cultural erasure (54.5%), dehumanization (11.1%), othering (28.4%), and infantilization (26.8%), with striking parallels between AI-generated captions and the original framings of human zoos informed by a broader colonial epistemology. Based on this analysis, we propose to conceptualize the colonial gaze in generative AI as an automated process of object identification and relational interpretation that draws on historical visual tropes and hierarchical logics rooted in colonial epistemologies. Trigger warning: This article contains extremely racialized text and images produced by both colonizers and the machines."
November 14, 2025 at 5:52 PM
jonshaffer.bsky.social
screen cap of Bill Ackman tweeting "•@ZohranKMamdani, congrats on the win. Now you have a big responsibility. If | can help NYC, just let me know what I can do." photo from the movie Sinners of the white bluegrass travelers trying to get into the party before they are revealed to be what they truly are.
November 5, 2025 at 3:34 AM
jonshaffer.bsky.social
Mom is STOKED.
November 5, 2025 at 2:41 AM
jonshaffer.bsky.social
a rich text
November 2, 2025 at 10:21 PM
jonshaffer.bsky.social
Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of Marshall Ganz's beautiful, important, and above all *useful* book: "People, Power, Change: Organizing for Democratic Renewal"

global.oup.com/academic/pro...
Cover of Marshall Ganz's "People Power Change: Organizing for Democratic Renewal"
November 1, 2025 at 11:19 PM
jonshaffer.bsky.social
The LA boys are very happy
Dogers celebrating
October 28, 2025 at 6:52 AM
jonshaffer.bsky.social
Photo of the Vermont State House this morning!
October 17, 2025 at 2:19 PM
jonshaffer.bsky.social
Jeff Tweedy last night. The dude rocks and his band was awesome. Two of his sons!
Photo of Jeff Tweedy Photo of Jeff Tweedy with a cool half moon guitar Tweedy and his band Tweedy and his sons
October 14, 2025 at 12:05 PM
jonshaffer.bsky.social
I just ran the PDX half marathon and I can attest that it is not, in fact, burning to the ground.

It’s actually been a beautiful weekend in the Rose City!
Picture of me and Sarah and Conor after the Portland half marathon!
October 5, 2025 at 8:32 PM
jonshaffer.bsky.social
Big pumpkin made it home.
Big pumpkin getting ready for its move. Big pumpkin getting scooped by a tractor. Big pumpkin getting deposited in our neighborhood. Big pumpkin’s final home.
September 27, 2025 at 11:04 PM
jonshaffer.bsky.social
where my head's at, lately.
photo of a chair with a pile of books including: Selected Writings of Stuart Hall, Necro-Politics by Achille Mbembe, People Power Change by Marshall Ganz, the MAHA Report and others.
September 17, 2025 at 1:00 PM
jonshaffer.bsky.social
Happy Friday from some big pumpkins I’m growing with friends.
Big pumpkin Second big pumpkins Big pumpkin and a dog named goob Two big pumpkins
September 6, 2025 at 12:06 AM
jonshaffer.bsky.social
I just need to lock in dot gif
September 3, 2025 at 1:38 AM
jonshaffer.bsky.social
Big pumpkin update, 8/28
Big pumpkin #1 Big pumpkin #2 Big pumpkin #1 Big pumpkin #2
August 28, 2025 at 9:42 PM
jonshaffer.bsky.social
I’ve been growing big pumpkins this summer and here they are.

They’re getting pretty big.
One pretty big pumpkin. A second pretty big pumpkin.
August 28, 2025 at 1:39 AM
jonshaffer.bsky.social
The Guardian is covering the rise of @defendpublichealth.bsky.social.

#IHAT is evidence-based policy making and grassroots people powered movement building for justice and rights.

MAHA is policy-based evidence making rooted in fascist politics and capital-serving eugenic ideas. #IHATnotMAHA
Screen shot of the article in The Guardian titled, "‘Distracting the public’: group of health professionals call for RFK Jr to be removed". "Ahead of the second Maha report, grassroots Defend Public Health warns that everything HHS is doing is ‘horrifying’"
August 13, 2025 at 1:05 PM
jonshaffer.bsky.social
Few better ways to spend a Monday night.
A picture of Wrigley Field during last night’s game.
August 5, 2025 at 5:05 PM
jonshaffer.bsky.social
Eugenic techno surveillance state, incoming.

apnews.com/article/trum...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration announced it is launching a new program that will allow Americans to share personal health data and medical records across health systems and apps run by private tech companies, promising that will make it easier to access health records and monitor wellness. More than 60 companies, including major tech companies like Google, Amazon and Apple as well as health care giants like UnitedHealth Group and CVS Health, have agreed to share patient data in the system. The initiative will focus on diabetes and weight management, conversational artificial intelligence that helps patients, and digital tools such as QR codes and apps that register patients for check-ins or track medications. “For decades America’s health care networks have been overdue for a high tech upgrade,” President Donald Trump said during an event with company CEOs at the White House on Wednesday. “The existing systems are often slow, costly and incompatible with one another, but with today’s announcement, we take a major step to bring health care into the digital age.”
July 31, 2025 at 1:16 AM
jonshaffer.bsky.social
New commentary piece in Studies of Comparative International Development with social science colleagues who study global health and international development:

"Reimagine Aid, Don’t Destroy It"

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

@josephharrisbu.bsky.social ‪@aliciay.bsky.social + others
"As social scientists with decades of experience working in the field of global health and development, we deplore the recent decision by the Trump Administration to dismantle key US aid programs. This abrupt withdrawal threatens to exacerbate existing humanitarian crises and undercut the potential of future reforms. And while the international aid system is much larger than the contributions of any single country, the contributions of the US government to international development have been incredibly significant in terms of both monetary value and impact. The US has provided the largest single contribution of any country to foreign aid and investments for decades (Herre and Arrigada 2024; OECD 2025). The recent decisions made by the Trump Administration regarding US foreign assistance are an abdication of responsibility that has taken place without careful deliberation, due process, or transparency — and are already costing lives around the world, undermining in a matter of weeks sensitive development partnerships and trust that have taken years to create."
July 30, 2025 at 2:45 PM
jonshaffer.bsky.social
What a strange thing to threaten as leverage.
"British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK will recognize a Palestinian state in September unless Israel agrees to a cease-fire in Gaza and takes steps toward long-term peace."
July 29, 2025 at 4:36 PM
jonshaffer.bsky.social
Sunset.
A nice photo of a tonight’s sunset over Lake Champlain in Charlotte, VT.
July 16, 2025 at 1:06 AM
jonshaffer.bsky.social
The summer work scene.
Picture of my computer on my porch with books, some mandarin oranges and a cup of coffee.
July 11, 2025 at 1:45 PM
jonshaffer.bsky.social
It’s officially hot Hacking summer, folks.
Photo of three books on a desk: Ian Hacking’s ‘Representing and Intervening’, ‘The Emergence of Probability’, and his edited volume, ‘Scientific Revolutions’.
July 9, 2025 at 3:32 PM
jonshaffer.bsky.social
Got to marry my favorite person this weekend. What a gift. 10/10 activity. Would recommend.

Love ya, Sarah.
Happy pic of me and Sarah getting hitched. Happy pic of me and Sarah getting hitched. Happy pic of me and Sarah getting hitched.
June 10, 2025 at 9:00 PM