“Critical technical practice” (CTP) is the systematic and collective approach to critically inspect assumptions and justifications in common technical practices, and understand weaknesses, flaws, and boundaries of a technique, analogous to strengthening our technical “immune system”.
Skepticism and self-correction are the core features that make science robust and reliable. Similarly, conducting critical technical practice can make our techniques more scientifically rigorous, just, and responsible.
A more detailed introduction of critical technical practice is on the About page.
Some examples of critical technical practice are listed on the Example page. The methods of conducting critical technical practice is in the Method page.
If you are interested in carrying out critical technical practice in your own work, or contributing to this initiative to co-develop methods and tools for critical technical practice, please consider:
- joining the online slack community,
- joining our ongoing working group. We hope to accumulate more collective efforts to push forward this initiative, which aims to make our technical work more scientifically rigorous, responsible, meaningful, and beneficial to stakeholders and the public.
Working Group Wed Biweekly Sessions
Join our Wednesday biweekly sessions of the Working Group on Critical Technical Practice
Wednesdays, 2:00-3:00 pm on these dates:
- May 27, 2026
- June 10, 2026
- June 24, 2026
- July 8, 2026
- July 22, 2026
- August 5, 2026
- August 19, 2026
September 2, 2026
- In-person: TASC1 8003, SFU Burnaby campus, or
- Online: Zoom link
