Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) affects millions of people from diverse backgrounds. For many like myself, the diagnosis comes with an immediate challenge: How do we find our place in the large ADHD community? On this journey internet technologies both help and hinder us.
In this workshop I want to broaden the way we think about technology and ADHD. Often, the conversation is about tech that helps treat ADHD: website blockers, time trackers, todo list managers. But tech can do so much more. For example, while AI targeted ads can make browsing overwhelming, AI carefully employed can supercharge our curiosity, creativity, and drive for connection with others.
In this workshop, I'd love to use techniques of brainstorming and collaborative storytelling to help us imagine a way of living and working on the internet where we feel comfortable and at home with our brains.
This session is about community building and resource sharing for people with ADHD and those who share their lives. My goal is that people come away with new connections with others, and new ideas about the challenges and opportunities that modern AI poses to those with ADHD who live and work online.
We're hoping that many efforts and discussions will continue after Mozfest. Share any ideas you already have for how to continue the work from your session.:Well, this is truly a big challenge. People with ADHD often struggle to follow through and to identify priorities, so building and continuing work over long timescales is often particularly challenging for us. If people came away with a few connections that they chose to maintain, that would be a success. persistent relationships that create accountability can be a lifeline for adults with ADHD. And/or, perhaps people will come away empowered to create those connections within their own digital neighbourhoods.
How will you deal with varying numbers of participants in your session?:I hope for a good number of people who are excited and interested in a discussion. If there are few, conversation will probably be easy, and the tone more informal. If there are a large number of people, we will be working in a balance of large group discussions and small group activities. I think the most challenging would be an intermediate number of people, say 7 to 10, since groups this size can be difficult to maintain an equitable conversation -- often a few people dominate the interactions. In that case I'll have to work as a facilitator to make sure that everyone has an equitable amount of space to speak.
I'm an ecologist who loves insects, birds, statistics, and computers all equally. I live in Montreal, Canada. I love meeting new people, sharing ideas and exploring new ideas!