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Alexandra T.

@alexandrato.bsky.social
594 followers 460 following 34 posts

Associate Prof @Northeastern | CMU HCII, Stanford SymSys alum | Racial Justice, Transformational Game Design, Identity, Critical Design, and Human-Computer Interaction | she/her | mixed | 🩷💜💙

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Alexandra T. @alexandrato.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Update: I’m now an Associate Professor with tenure and I’ll be relocating soon from the Boston campus to the Oakland campus. Bay Area I’m making my way back!
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Lilly Irani @gleemie.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
This affects all federal grants, not just for science! Local government folks where you at?
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Game Devs of Color Expo @gdocexpo.com · 20/06/2026
We're partnering with @gamesforchange.bsky.social to send 10 scholars to their NYC festival this July 🎮 Free Standard Ticket ($825 value), GDoCExpo 2026 pass, our online dev community, and an onsite meetup with our squad. Apply by June 30: forms.gle/vKVDPfhb85mW... #gamedev #scholarship
Games for change 
2026 scholarship 
July 21-22 New York City
Applications open until June 30th
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 29/05/2026
NEW: A lot of bad has happened to American science over the last year but nothing comes even close to what’s about to happen if we don’t speak out in opposition to the OMB rule changes and I hope @aaas-socsci.bsky.social @apsphysics.bsky.social and others will launch public campaigns about this. 🧪🔭⚛️
news.chanda.science
It's the End of American Science As We Know It
We have 45 days to express our opposition to catastrophic changes.
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prettysmart games @prettysmart.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
You aren't seeing double! We are fortunate enough to be in two sales this week! Go to tinyurl.com/AAPISteamSale to access the whole list for the @aapiingaming.bsky.social sale!
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Alexandra T. @alexandrato.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Catch @jailynz.bsky.social presenting “Learning Ecological Justice and Game Design by Creating Transformational Games“ on Thursday and… Natalie presenting our paper “I can take what I want and adapt as needed”: BIPOC Identity Making and Resistance Through Internet Aesthetics…” Friday! #CHI2026
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Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Enormously looking forward to this event on April 21 at 6:30pm ET (online!) with the amazing @emilymbender.bsky.social and @alexhanna.bsky.social talking about their new book, The AI Con. Register here: virginia.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
virginia.zoom.us
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: The AI Con (with Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna). After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.
Prof. Emily M. Bender and Dr. Alex Hanna will discuss their new book, The AI Con.
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Alexandra T. @alexandrato.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
Nationwide Shutdown Friday, January 30, 2026

No work, No school, No shopping 

ICE Out Everywhere
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@but-im-kim-tran @but-im-kim-tran.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
If you're in Oakland this weekend, I'm facilitating a FREE session on overcoming personal barriers to organizing. If you or a loved one, is unsure of what to do, how much risk to take, or generally has an aversion to thinking of themselves as an organizer. Everyone welcome! oacc.cc/event/activa...
Flyer reads "from ally to activated: breaking barriers to community action. Free on Sunday January 11th 1-2:30pm at Oakland Asian Cultural Center
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Alexandra T. @alexandrato.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
Come work with me! The DIS community is incredible and this is a great chance to engage with and shepherd really cool cutting edge critical computing work. The primary responsibilities fall roughly late-January to late-March.
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Yoshi Yoshitani @yoshiyoshitani.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
It’s that time of year~~ 12 month tarot spread. I know it looks really intimidating but it’s actually very very beginner friendly. #tarot
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Designing Interactive Systems Conference @acm-dis.bsky.social · 26/10/2025
Call for Papers/Pictorials for #DIS2026! Abstracts are due January 9th, and full papers/pictorials are due January 19th, 2026. 👉 Papers dis.acm.org/2026/papers/ 👉 Pictorials dis.acm.org/2026/pictori... Join us in Singapore 🇸🇬 #DIS2026 #HCI #DesignResearch #Singapore #BeyondInteraction
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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
I finally cut a clip of what multiple people told me was their favorite joke from this set.
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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
Do I add this to my CV as an invited lecture? 🤔
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 05/11/2025
AOC: "This is about, do you understand the assignment of fighting fascism right now? And they assignment is to come together across difference no matter what."
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Jamaica Plain Progressives @jpprogressives.bsky.social · 26/10/2025
Early Voting this weekend at the Margarita Muniz Academy in JP (20 Child St) from 11 to 7. Here's our updated endorsement flyer!
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Chella Ramanan 🇬🇩 @chellaramanan.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
A friend at EA asked me to share this. Time for solidarity... again 😞 actionnetwork.org/petitions/ma...
actionnetwork.org
Make EA Better for Workers and Gamers - Not Billionaires
A group of investors - including the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners - wants to buy Electronic Arts, concentrating even more power and wealth into the hands...
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Alexandra T. @alexandrato.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
I assume you know but Ursula Le Guin has a great piece on tech that I break out for the lecture I give on critical computing. “As if paper, ink, wheels, knives, clocks, chairs, aspirin pills, were natural objects, born with us like our teeth and fingers.” www.ursulakleguin.com/a-rant-about...
ursulakleguin.com
Ursula K. Le Guin — Ursula on Writing: A Rant about "Techonolgy"
Ursula K. Le Guin on the presence of technology in her work
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Melissa Rogerson @melissainau.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Do you teach boardgames? We have just launched a survey asking about your experience! It takes about ten minutes to complete - please share! Survey link: go.unimelb.edu.au/45qp
Image text reads:
Do you teach board games?
We invite you to complete a short survey for academic research into people’s experiences of teaching boardgames, at home and elsewhere. 
The survey takes about ten minutes to complete.

To find out more, please use the QR code, 
visit  go.unimelb.edu.au/45qp 
or email hybrid-games@unimelb.edu.au 

(University of Melbourne Human Research Ethics Approval 33778)

There is also a decorative image of game pawns and dice, with a magnifying glass on top, as well as a QR code which points to the given link.
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Alexandra T. @alexandrato.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Our paper, "Constructing a Community of Play: Black Sims Players and Game Modding," is up now on the ACM DL and won an Honourable Mention Paper Award at #CHIPLAY2025!! This paper was a huge labor of love and a bittersweet sendoff to the Sims. dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...
dl.acm.org
Constructing a Community of Play: Black Sims Players and Game Modding | Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
Video games are celebrated for providing unique interactive experiences that allow players to construct their own narratives through play. However, Black gamers have been repeatedly denied representat...
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Alexandra T. @alexandrato.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
We’re overdue for a catch up! But as a preview the number of completely dropped balls for very cool decolonial, anti-racist, and/or queer liberation alley-oops I’ve seen BIPOC GMs set up that yt players face plant at, followed up with the chaser of fans loudly celebrating makes me 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫
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Alexandra T. @alexandrato.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
Would love to see your take on this! AP is strictly hobby and not work for me because I have to draw a line somewhere around games-for-fun but I think about this (and subject my spouse to hot take rants about it) a LOT.
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AAUP @aaup.org · 30/09/2025
BREAKING: WE WON!!! 💥 💥 💥 Federal Judge William G. Young ruled today in our lawsuit against the Trump administration that the policy of arresting, detaining, & deporting noncitizen students & faculty members for their pro-Palestinian advocacy violates the 1st Amendment. Full ruling here:
courtlistener.com
Findings of Fact & Conclusions of Law – #261 in American Association of University Professors v. Rubio (D. Mass., 1:25-cv-10685) – CourtListener.com
Judge William G. Young: ORDER entered. FINDINGS OF FACT AND RULINGS OF LAW, PURSUANT TO FED. R. CIV. P. 52(A)(Sonnenberg, Elizabeth) (Additional attachment(s) added on 9/30/2025: # 1 Main Document) (J...
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Alexandra T. @alexandrato.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
Catch @jailynz.bsky.social tomorrow afternoon @qgcon.bsky.social talking about joy and play as resistance, TTRPGs, pleasure activism, and how spite motivates us to keep doing cool shit. ❤️
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Sarita @saritas.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
University of Michigan School of Information has four faculty positions ranging from Presidential Postdoc to Full. They're all linked here. PPFP due Sep 26, the others Nov 1 or 15. www.si.umich.edu/people/facul...
si.umich.edu
Faculty recruiting | umsi
Learn about open faculty positions at UMSI.
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Raul Perez @raulperez.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
Recent coverage in msm on the use of coded memes and humor by the far-right looks at this phenomenon as a new problem or development, a product of genZ or social media. But the far right has been weaponizing violent humor over the last 5 decades. And it has gone from the fringes to the White House
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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 29/08/2025
This is one of the ways that white supremacy weaponizes civility: by implying that certain people get to be served, and other kinds of people (you know what kinds) need to be grateful, without interrogating it.
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Joseph Fasano @josephfasano.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
For a Student Who Used AI to Write a Paper
For a Student Who Used AI to Write a Paper

Now I let it fall back
in the grasses.
I hear you. I know
this life is hard now.
I know your days are precious
on this earth.
But what are you trying
to be free of?
The living? The miraculous
task of it?
Love is for the ones who love the work.

—Joseph Fasano
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Alexandra T. @alexandrato.bsky.social · 23/08/2025
Plus many more! My biggest project focuses on developing game design methods for engaging race. We’re 1 year into this 5-year NSF-funded project which supports students and pays game devs for their expertise collaborating with us on the future of games. Press: news.northeastern.edu/2024/05/31/n...
news.northeastern.edu
Northeastern computer scientist receives prestigious early-career award for game design research
Alexandra To has received an NSF CAREER Award for research that bridges game design with critical race theory.
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Alexandra T. @alexandrato.bsky.social · 23/08/2025
Research looking at how existing games can facilitate serious transformation in players. Paper on Papers, Please and critical consciousness led by @bethanymiatta.bsky.social and Alesandra Baca Vázquez with Angela D. R. Smith: dl.acm.org/doi/full/10....
dl.acm.org
“I want to let them in”: Exploring Critical Consciousness Development through Roleplay and Reflection in “Papers, Please” | Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on the Foundations of Digit...
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Alexandra T. @alexandrato.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Experiences and algorithmic folk theories of Black femme content creators including differential content moderation as well as strategies for resistance and centering joy led by @giannawilliams.bsky.social with @michaelann.bsky.social and Natalie Chen. Awarded Paper: dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...
dl.acm.org
Why Can't Black Women Just Be?: Black Femme Content Creators Navigating Algorithmic Monoliths | Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
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Alexandra T. @alexandrato.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Exploring queer TTRPGs led by @jailynz.bsky.social Press: news.northeastern.edu/2024/08/30/q... Paper on queer TTRPG themes: dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1... Paper on queer TTRPG players: dl.digra.org/index.php/dl...
news.northeastern.edu
Queer tabletop roleplaying games provide valuable lessons that even ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ can learn from, new research finds
Researchers looked at how game makers are designing queerness into their TTRPGs, making their games more inclusive for players.
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Alexandra T. @alexandrato.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Intro thread! 👋🏼 I’m Alexandra, an Assistant Professor in Art+Design and Computer Science. I research transformational game design and racial justice & identity using human-computer interaction methods. I get to work with incredible students and collaborators! Some recent projects include…
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yuxi 👩🏻‍🏫 @yuxiwu.com · 14/08/2025
presenting this work at #usesec25 friday morning at 11am! please come by and say hello to an academic job market candidate (me 👩🏻‍🏫) official link to paper: www.usenix.org/system/files...
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Alexandra T. @alexandrato.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
Crashed out and sought answers at the bookstore: The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine Why I’m no Longer Talking to White People About Race Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men The Selected Works of Audre Lorde The Origins of Totalitarianism
The five books I bought after my partner convinced me to put three back. 
The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine
Why I’m no Longer Talking to White People About Race 
Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men 
The Selected Works of Audre Lorde 
The Origins of Totalitarianism
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Under The Desk News @underthedesknews.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Are they able to diminish or nullify Gay Marriage rights? Yes.. here’s how - and what my wife Natalie and I did to prepare. youtu.be/hOhIHdmnBM0?...
youtu.be
How To Save Gay Marriage
YouTube video by Under The Desk News
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Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · 11/08/2025
Israel claimed responsibility for killing five Al Jazeera staff in Gaza, including Anas al-Sharif, in a strike on their media tent outside al-Shifa Hospital, bringing the total journalists killed to 237 since the war began. 🔴 Follow our LIVE coverage: aje.io/1490et
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Infinite Women @infinite-women.com · 30/03/2025
Just finished @ijeomaoluo.bsky.social's latest, Be A Revolution: How Everyday People are Fighting Oppression and Changing the World - and How You Can, Too. Brilliant as always and also incredibly important reading for folks who want to make a difference but aren't sure where to start.
harpercollins.com
Be A Revolution by Ijeoma Oluo
From Ijeoma Oluo, the #1 New York Times–bestselling  author of So You Want to Talk About Race and Mediocre,  an eye-opening and galvanizing look at the current state of anti-racist activism across Ame...
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Alexandra T. @alexandrato.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
Very cool, would love an add!
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Democracy Now! @democracynow.org · 09/07/2025
"Ideological Deportation": AAUP v. Rubio Trial Challenges Trump Crackdown on Pro-Palestine Students
democracynow.org
“Ideological Deportation”: AAUP v. Rubio Trial Challenges Trump Crackdown on Pro-Palestine Students
The first trial in a case challenging the Trump administration’s policy of detaining and deporting international students and professors who participate in pro-Palestinian activism is underway in Boston....
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AAUP @aaup.org · 07/07/2025
POWERFUL RALLY today in Boston at the conclusion of our first day of trial in our case against the Trump administration to end the practice of ideological deportations of students & faculty they disagree with. #DefendHigherEd
Chenjerai Kumanyika of the AAUP Governing Council kicked things off.First they came for the students.
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Alexandra T. @alexandrato.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
🥳🥳🥳 congrats!!!!
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Ben McAdams (The Resurrection Arc) @purrtah.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
Reshare to scare the data bros and popularism acolytes
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David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
Do not split
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Alexandra T. @alexandrato.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
Congrats!! It looks incredible!
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IGN @ign.com · 06/06/2025
This year's Summer Game Fest included the announcement of a brand new Wu-Tang Clan game from Brass Lion Entertainment: a cooperative action RPG called Wu-Tang: Rise of the Deceiver. #IGNSummerofGaming #SummerGameFest
bit.ly
Wu-Tang: Rise of the Deceiver Announced at Summer Game Fest
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Brass Lion Entertainment @brasslion.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
Battle the forces of a corrupting entity called the Deceiver as you harness the mythical abilities of the Wu-Tang Clan! Check out the trailer below, and wishlist Wu-Tang: Rise of the Deceiver on the Steam & Epic Game Store! Steam – bit.ly/ROTDSTEAM Epic Store - bit.ly/ROTDEPIC
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Alexandra T. @alexandrato.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
I'll be speaking at this panel on "Academic Freedom & Research Ethics" this afternoon! In preparation I re-read Vannevar Bush's 1945 report, "Science, The Endless Frontier" - it's good reading, would highly recommend if you interact at all with the NSF! nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/2023-04/Endl...
"Academic Freedom & Research Ethics: Context and Perspectives" 
Northeastern University
Monday, June 2nd from 4pm - 5pm at the Cabral Center, 40 Leon St., Boston

Join Boston-area scholars for a discussion of how executive actions are changing the research landscape, exploring the social and historical roots of current threats to academic freedom and research infrastructure 

Hosted by the Critical Science and Technology Studies Working group, wtih CAMD and CSSH Research Development 

Panelists: Daniel Lee Kelinman, Hilary C. Robinson, Alexandra To 
Moderator: Laura Senier
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gianna ! @giannawilliams.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
Excited to be presenting our latest work "Why Can’t Black Women Just Be? : Black Femme Content Creators Navigating Algorithmic Monolith” at @TheOfficialACM's #CHI2025 Conference in Yokohama, Japan on April 29th #HonorableMention dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...
dl.acm.org
Why Can't Black Women Just Be?: Black Femme Content Creators Navigating Algorithmic Monoliths | Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
University leaders need to understand: they are holding INCREDIBLY good cards. It is so rare in today's polarized era to have the support of 70+ percent of the public against the Trump admiministration on anything. Universities have that—AND winning legal arguments.
Graphic of Washington Post poll from April 18-22, 2025, showing "Majorities of Americans oppose various Trump proposals"

highlighting two lines in particular:
"Increasing the Federal Government's role in how private universities operate" - 28 percent support, 70 percent oppose
"Reducing federal funding for medical research" - 21 percent support, 77 percent oppose
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