For this year’s AAA I’m preparing a paper with my colleague Christopher Gad, on a topic which is emerging as a research area under the banner of the ETHOS Lab at ITU: computational thinking. The panel, Ethnographic Engagements with Digital Alterity, is convened by Antonia Walford and Hannah Knox, with Tom Boellstorff as a discussant. Our interest in computational thinking comes from the way it shifts between something that aims to describe something claimed as ‘innate’ and, at the same time, an ambitious pedagogical program for making future, technology savvy citizens. Though the ethnographic work is barely underway, we aim to outline some moments where what we identify as ‘conceptual slippage’ occurs, and its implications for analysis. Christopher will be presenting the paper in Denver, and we’re looking forward to the feedback!