Glossary

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Civil Inattention

A social behavior theorized by sociologist Erving Goffman describing how strangers in public spaces acknowledge each other's presence through brief eye contact or a nod, then deliberately look away to respect personal boundaries. Civil inattention is a form of unfocused…

Complex Adaptive System(also: CAS)

A system composed of many interconnected, diverse components that interact and adapt in response to each other and their environment, producing emergent behaviors that cannot be predicted from the properties of individual parts. Education systems, healthcare systems, and the Web…

Connected Learning

A culturally-embedded learning paradigm developed by Mizŭko Ito and colleagues that frames rich learning as emerging from interest-driven, peer-supported, and academically-oriented activities across a network of everyday settings — including online affinity communities, fandoms,…

Crip Theory(also: Crip, Crip Technoscience)

An academic and activist framework that reclaims "crip" as a positive identity term, challenging normative assumptions about disability, ability, and bodily difference. Emerging from queer theory and disability studies, crip theory questions compulsory able-bodiedness and…

Culturally-Situated Design(also: Culturally-Embedded Design, Culturally-Responsive Design)

An approach to technology design that treats culture — including national identity, religion, ethnicity, language, geo-politics, and community traditions — as central to user needs and design decisions rather than as a surface localisation concern. Culturally-situated design…

Cyborg Theory(also: Cyborg Manifesto)

A theoretical lens originating in Donna Haraway’s 1985 "A Cyborg Manifesto" that views technology as an integrated extension of human cognitive and bodily capabilities rather than as a separate tool. In disability and neurodiversity studies, cyborg theory reframes assistive…

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