From April 2 to 5, 2026, Society + Technology at UW hosted a second writing retreat at Friday Harbor Labs and the Whiteley Center on San Juan Island, Washington.
Participants included Clara Berridge (Social Work, UW Seattle), Richard Lewis (Libraries, UW Bothell), Daniela Rosner (Human Centered Design & Engineering and DXArts, UW Seattle), Pelle Tracey (Information, UW Seattle), and Matthew Weinstein (Education, UW Tacoma), along with Ryan Calo (Law and Information, UW Seattle) and Monika Sengul-Jones (Society + Technology at UW), an effort to bring together colleagues from a range of disciplines and campuses for a sustained experience to work independently and to share and discuss works-in-progress, themes, and ideas in an intimate, communal setting.
Participants’ worked on research articles, book proposals, book chapters, essays, and conference presentations on topics such as data and rehousing policies, AI and age-related harm, education, string theory, mediation, and phenomenology.
Beyond writing and workshops, participants shared meals in the Labs’ dining hall, visited Friday Harbor town and a local brewery, went bowling, hiking, and rowing.
Attendees reported that the retreat helped them better understand colleagues’ research in different fields and provided opportunities for “thoughtful, discipline-bridging feedback that helps each of us achieve what we are trying to achieve on our own terms.”
This is the second retreat at the UW Friday Harbor Labs, which is part of the Society + Technology at UW’s effort to strengthen the cross-campus community for UW researchers concerned with technology and society.