About Ports

What kind of mature information societies do we want to build? What is our human project for the digital age?

—Luciano Floridi, 2018

Ports are where different elements meet: land and water, earth and air, one computer and another. Even before computers, ports were sites where we exchanged not just goods and people, but also ideas. And in the age of digital connectivity, our ports are more active than ever.

Ports explores design and ethics in our time of transformation, with a focus on emerging technologies: the most transformative ports we have.

There are plenty of scary stories out there about emerging technologies. Big corporations are profiting off your personal data. Smartphones have destroyed a generation. Social media is causing the downfall of civilization. And so on.

But the truth doesn't have to lead to paralysis. Ports presents tech news, research and analysis to help you feel a spark of possibility, not helplessness. I hope you’ll find some ideas to plug into as we navigate this world.

Topics of major interest include: AI ethics, human-centered design, virtues for the 21st century and more.

What sort of future do we want to build? That’s what we’re exploring here.

Ports was started at the dawn of 2023. Prior to that, author Tim Gorichanaz wrote scattered posts on Medium, essays for various outlets, and blog posts at ScratchTap. Where possible, those prior pieces have been collected here.

Note that ScratchTap was originally envisioned as a blog about written language (particularly what happens when writing goes online), so the further back you go into the archives, the greater the focus on that topic. Have fun.

About the Author

Ports is written by Tim Gorichanaz, Ph.D., a professor at Drexel University. Tim teaches a variety of courses in UX design and tech ethics and conducts research on how to live a good life in the digital age. Prior to his time in academia, he worked in digital at a full-service advertising agency.

Tim’s work has a philosophical bent—his major traditions are phenomenology, virtue ethics, and philosophy of information.

When he’s not writing Ports, Tim writes fiction, runs long distances, and practices classical guitar.

Stay up-to-date

Subscribe to get full access to the newsletter and website. Never miss an update.