Tech companies use various tactics to trick users into signing away more than they otherwise would, employing what are called "dark patterns" to manipulate users into subscribing to things or behaving in ways they otherwise wouldn't. An ultimately empowering talk, the goal is to educate users to be savvier navigators of online spaces, make the web seem less opaque, and to talk about the limits of online "community," while re-establishing the importance of "irl" community -- not despite our online lives, but being even more important to affirm because of them.

Ashley Brewer is the Senior Web and UX (User Experience) Librarian for Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries. She's an expert in web and enterprise technology development and UX research and design in libraries and higher education. Critical UX is foundational to her approach, seeking to center inclusion, belonging, accessibility and reparative justice in the design and development cycle and to be continually reflective and responsive about UX tools, methods and practice. She writes, speaks and presents on CritUX; human-centered design; mindful relationships with technology; and innovative organizational strategies to foster a culture of UX, to meet organizations where they are in incorporating UX-thinking and practice. Grounded by her background in the arts and humanities, she’s a skeptical technologist and a gentle gadfly.

This is an official tie-in event of Read Up Richmond 2025.