Isaac Record , Ph.D.
Holmes Hall, W-25D
919 E. Shaw Lane
East Lansing, MI 48825
United States
LBC Courses Taught
Biography
I am a teaching professor at Lyman Briggs College, Michigan State University, where I am the Founding Director of the Collaborative Experiential Learning Laboratory (CELL), a studio makerspace in Holmes Hall. I teach courses in philosophy of science, science and technology studies, and critical making. I have an active research agenda investigating how technology affects what we know, especially the circulation of knowledge online and the uses of technology in the classroom. This research seeks to situate our epistemic circumstances within a background of values, capabilities, and material and social technologies. I have a PhD from the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto, where I studied the mid-century adoption of computer methods in nuclear physics.
Education
PhD, History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto MA, History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto BS, Electrical Engineering, University of Maine BS, Computer Engineering, University of Maine
Honors and Awards
2025 Honorable Mention, American Philosophical Association's Oxford University Press Teaching with Technology Prize 2024 Visiting Fellow, SOCRATES: Social Credibility and Trustworthiness of Expert Knowledge and Science-Based Information 2024 MSU IT AT&T Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award 2023 Ann Johnson Institute Book Manuscript Workshop 2022 Center for Advanced Internet Studies Visiting Fellow 2018 University of Maine TIAA Distinguished Honors Graduate Lecture, "Life, The University, and Everything"
Research
What We Know Online My book about knowledge on the internet, written in collaboration with Boaz Miller, is currently under review. In the book, we advance a novel theory of practicably responsible belief in technological contexts and apply this theory to an assortment of technologies and practices, ranging from autocompleted search results and deepfakes to GPS wayfinding and social media sharing. In 2024, we were Visiting Fellows at SOCRATES. In 2023, we won a place at the Ann Johnson Institute for STS Book Manuscript Workshop. In 2022, we were Visiting Fellows at the Center for Advanced Internet Studies.
Critical Making to Solve Wicked Problems Critical Making is a collaborative process that combines critical thinking and constructivist making, encouraging practitioners to alternate between two contrasting modes of engagement and open a space for new forms of engagement and understanding. I use Critical Making as a teaching method in my classroom, and I am studying learning outcomes in these classes. My initial study asks what students learn about the "wicked problem" they are trying to respond to, and about the value and practice of teamwork, interdisciplinarity, and physical model-building. Preliminary findings suggest that students learn a lot about these things, and my next step is to investigate how the experience of this class contributes to their sense of belonging in the college and their major, and their sense of competency in the problem topic, in their home discipline, and in the other disciplines we explore in the class (e.g., ethics, history, sociology, and philosophy of science and technology). In 2023, I delivered a TEDxMSU talk on this project.
Publications
Isaac Record and Boaz Miller. 2022. People, Platforms, and Posts: Reducing the spread of online toxicity by contextualizing content and setting norms. Asian Journal of Philosophy. 1, 41. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44204-022-00042-2.
(Equal co-authors) Aubrey Wigner, Megan Halpern, and Isaac Record. 2018. Future Design Studio–Building a Growth Mindset and a Path to Persistence Through Improvisation and Design Fiction. First Year Engineering Education Conference, ASEE, Glassboro, NJ. (Provided editorial support and contributed to research products.)
Isaac Record & Boaz Miller. 2018. Taking iPhone Seriously: Epistemic Technologies and the Extended Mind. In Duncan Pritchard, Jesper Kallestrup, Orestis Palermos & J. Adam Carter (eds.), Extended Epistemology, 105-126. Oxford University Press.
(Equal co-authors) Hannah Turner, Gabby Resch, Daniel Southwick, Rhonda McEwen, Adam K. Dubé and Isaac Record. 2017. Using 3D Printing to Enhance Understanding and Engagement with Young Audiences: Lessons from Workshops in a Museum. 60(3): 311–333.
Miller, Boaz and Isaac Record. 2017. Responsible Epistemic Technologies. New Media and Society. 19(12): 1945–1963.
(equal co-authors) Record, Isaac, Daniel Southwick, ginger coons, and Matt Ratto. 2015. Regulating the Liberator: Prospects for the Regulation of 3D Printing. Journal of Peer Production 6.
Ratto, Matt, Isaac Record, ginger coons, and Max Julien. 2014. Blind Tennis: Extreme Users and Participatory Design. PDC '14 Proceedings of the 13th Participatory Design Conference: Short Papers, Industry Cases, Workshop Descriptions, Doctoral Consortium Papers, and Keynote Abstracts - Volume 2, 41-44.
Record, Isaac. 2013. Technology and Epistemic Possibility. Journal for the General Philosophy of Science 44(2): 319-336. DOI: 10.1007/s10838-013-9230-8.
Record, Isaac, Matt Ratto, Amy Ratelle, Adriana Ieraci, and Nina Czegledy. 2013. DIY Prosthetics Workshops: 'Critical making' for public understanding of human augmentation. Technology and Society (ISTAS), IEEE International Symposium (2013): 117-125.
Miller, Boaz and Isaac Record. 2013. Justified Belief in a Digital Age: On the Epistemic Implications of Secret Internet Technologies. Episteme 10(2): 117-134. (Equal co-authors)