Digital
Media
Workshop

About Us

The Digital Media Workshop is a forum for students and faculty who work on digital media across the humanities, social sciences, STEM, computer and information science, and the arts. Because digital media span theoretical scholarship, scientific inquiry, and artistic practice, this workshop gathers an interdisciplinary community to engage the political, aesthetic, social, cultural, historical, and technical dimensions of digital media across its many formats. The workshop sponsors presentations of all topics that explore aspects of the contemporary and historical study of digital media, new media, and emergent media with non-digital elements. This includes, but is by no means limited to, digital cinema, television, and animation, CGI and digital effects, video games, short-form video and social media platforms, streaming services, virtual and augmented reality, machine learning and artificial intelligence, coding and programming, climate models and global warming, contemporary art and design, and experimental print media.

2025–26 Coordinators:

Amber Fehrs
fehrs@uchicago.edu

Patrick Gwillim-Thomas
patrickgt@uchicago.edu

Email Amber or Patrick to subscribe to our listserv for updates about the workshop!

2025-26
Call For Proposals

Call for presentations: Digital Media Workshop 2025–26
Workshop Coordinators: Amber Fehrs and Patrick Gwillim-Thomas
Faculty Sponsors: Katherine Buse and Patrick Jagoda

We are happy to announce the return of the Digital Media Workshop for the 2025–26 academic year! We are currently accepting proposals for the entire year, but are particularly eager for students willing to present in Autumn 2025. Please submit your proposals by Monday, September 15. Early submission is encouraged.

The workshop sponsors presentations of all topics that explore aspects of the contemporary and historical study of digital media, new media, and emergent media with non-digital elements. This includes, but is by no means limited to, digital cinema, television, and animation, CGI and digital effects, video games, short-form video and social media platforms, streaming services, virtual and augmented reality, machine learning and artificial intelligence, coding and programming, climate models and global warming, contemporary art and design, and experimental print media.

We welcome traditional as well as experimental presentation formats from students, faculty, visiting scholars, and non-UChicago-based researchers and artists. These include discussing in-progress articles or chapters, roundtables or industry panels on relevant topics, game prototypes or group gameplay sessions, live interviews with digital media practitioners, performances of electronic music, presentations of scientific research for an interdisciplinary audience, and exhibitions of digital humanities projects.

If you would like to propose a presentation, please submit a brief proposal to both Amber Fehrs (fehrs@uchicago.edu) and Patrick Gwillim-Thomas (patrickgt@uchicago.edu).

Proposals should be 150–200 words in length and include the following:

A working title;
A short description of the content and/or argument;
A short bio;
The proposed presentation format (e.g. dissertation chapter, article in progress, research findings, collaborative session, game or teaching demo, roundtable);
Any specific technical and/or A/V needs; and
Your preferred quarter and any other scheduling information.

In the interests of accessibility and in building bridges across institutions, the workshop will continue to follow a hybrid format. Whether you choose to organize a remote or in-person workshop, please indicate this in your proposal and offer concrete reasons for your choice. We are especially interested in workshop formats that experiment with a combination of remote and in-person elements.

Upcoming Events

Digital Media Workshop Autumn 2025 Schedule

Reach out to the coordinators if you are interested in presenting your work in the 2025-26 academic year!

Past Events

2024–2025

Coordinators: Jiyoon Kim and Hugo Ljungbäck

May 23, 2025. “Toward a Politics of Silence: An Inquiry into YouTube Comments on Anime Review Videos of Mushoku Tensei.” Presenter: Amber Qi, PhD Student, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. Discussant: Patrick Gwillim-Thomas, PhD Student, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago.
May 16, 2025. “Non-normative Bodies: New Phenomenologies and the Re-conceptualization of Health in New Media Art and Design.” Presenter: Desiree Foerster, Senior Research Associate, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. Discussant: Patrick Jagoda, William Rainey Harper Professor, Cinema and Media Studies, English, and Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Chicago.
April 11, 2025. “Watching Paint Dry: Speculative Attentions at the End of Time.” Presenter: Amber Fehrs, PhD Student, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. Discussant: Katherine Buse, Assistant Professor, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago.
March 28, 2025. Graduate Research Panel. Presenters: Ziyi Lin, PhD Student, East Asian Languages and Civilizations and Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. Frank Ming, PhD Student, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. Daniel C. Pinto, PhD Student, Germanic Studies and Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago.
March 12, 2025. “Predicative Production Cultures: The Tempering of Chance in Research and Development, 1936-1940.” Presenter: Josh Shepperd, Associate Professor, Media Studies, University of Colorado Boulder. Co-sponsored by the Mass Culture Workshop and Music and Sound Workshop.
March 7, 2025. “Miracle out of Listening: The Media Politics of Wisdom in Grassroots Confucianism.” Presenter: Yukun Zeng, Postdoctoral Fellow, Chinese Studies, University of Michigan. Discussant: Cassandra Guan, Assistant Professor, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. Co-sponsored by the Art and Politics of East Asia (APEA) Workshop.
February 21, 2025. “Sleeping through Garbage Time: Lethargy, Liminality, Liveness.” Presenter: Rita Rongyi Lin, PhD Candidate, Screen Cultures, Northwestern University. Discussant: Lilian Kong, PhD Student, East Asian Languages and Civilizations and Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago.
February 7, 2025. “Animated Game Interfaces in TV Animation.” Presenter: Patrick Gwillim-Thomas, PhD Student, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago. Discussant: Patrick Jagoda, William Rainey Harper Professor, Cinema and Media Studies, English, and Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Chicago.
January 24, 2025. “Machine-aided Creativity in the Age with Artificial Intelligence.” Presenter: Kay Kim, MAPH Student, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. Discussant: Marc Downie, Associate Professor of Practice in the Arts, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago.
January 17, 2025. “Indigenization of the K-pop Model: A Case Study of SB19 in the Philippines.” Presenter: Jeongwon Shin, PhD Student, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago. Discussant: Wee Yang Soh, PhD Candidate, Anthropology, University of Chicago.
November 22, 2024. “State of Digital Media Studies” Faculty Roundtable. Participants: Katherine Buse, Assistant Professor, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. Cassandra Guan, Assistant Professor, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. AE Stevenson, Assistant Professor, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. Moderators: Jiyoon Kim, PhD Student, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. Hugo Ljungbäck, PhD Student, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago.
November 18, 2024. “Micro-Dispersed Selves: Diasporic Healing Vlogs and Transregional Landscapes of Crisis.” Presenter: Lilian Kong, PhD Student, East Asian Languages and Civilizations and Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. Discussant: Patrick Jagoda, William Rainey Harper Professor, Cinema and Media Studies, English, and Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Chicago.
November 8, 2024. “Digital Soundscapes of In-Betweenness: Crisis Documentation Through Global Chinese Podcasting.” Presenter: Shiqi Lin, Klarman Postdoctoral Fellow, Asian Studies, Cornell University. Discussant: Lilian Kong, PhD Student, East Asian Languages and Civilizations and Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago.

2023–2024

Coordinators: Lilian Kong and Ziyi Lin

May 16, 2024. “Channels and Characters.” Presenter: Shunsuke Nozawa, Associate Professor, Modern Japanese Studies, Hokkaido University. Discussant: Jiarui Sun, PhD Student, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago. Co-sponsored by the Semiotics Workshop.
May 10, 2024. “The Losers of Tomorrow: Prisoners of Childhood in the Worlds of Hertzfeldt, Spielberg, & Schulz.” Presenter: Tien-Tien Jong, PhD Candidate, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. Discussant: Daniel Morgan, Professor, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago.
April 29, 2024. “Pirate Streaming and Sovereignty.” Presenter: Patrick Gwillim-Thomas, PhD Student, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago. Discussant: Thomas Lamarre, Gordon J. Laing Distinguished Service Professor, Cinema and Media Studies and East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago.
March 29, 2024. “Play, Rewind, and Swipe Forward: The Emergence of Horizontal Flow in the Age of Streaming Media.” Presenter: Jianqing Chen, Assistant Professor, Film and Media Studies and East Asian Languages and Cultures, Washington University of St. Louis. Discussant: Thomas Lamarre, Gordon J. Laing Distinguished Service Professor, Cinema and Media Studies and East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago.
March 1, 2024. Graduate Research Panel. Presenters: Frank Ming, PhD Student, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. Andrea Oranday, PhD Student, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. Co-sponsored by the Mass Culture Workshop.
February 2, 2024. “East Asian TV Dramas: Brainstorming Methods and Stakes.” Presenters: Steve Choe, Associate Professor, Critical Studies, School of Cinema, San Francisco State University. Xueping Zhong, Professor, Chinese Literature and Culture, International Literary and Cultural Studies, Tufts University. Hang Wu, PhD student, Cinema and Media Studies and East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago.
January 19, 2024. “Being a Nüzhubo (Female Live streamer) in China: Invisible Labor and Sexual Exploitation.” Presenter: Dahlia Deng, MAPSS Student, University of Chicago. Discussant: Jiarui Sun, PhD Student, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago.
January 5, 2024. “Every N*gga Is A Star?: Reading ‘The Shade Room’ through Black Feminist Care.” Presenter: AE Stevenson, Assistant Professor, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. Discussant: Tiya Bolton, PhD Student, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago.
December 8, 2023. “Luminous Media: From Apollo to Edison.” Presenter: Frank Ming, PhD Student, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. Discussant: Kendra Lee Sanders, PhD Candidate, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago.
November 17, 2023. “Caring beyond the Screen.” Presenter: Jiyoon Kim, PhD Student, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. Discussant: Bret Hart, PhD Student, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago.
November 10, 2023. “A City is a Cluster of Pixels: No No Nooky TV and Post-Sex Porn.” Presenter: Erin Nunoda, Teaching Faculty, English and Film studies, Wilfrid Laurier University. Discussant: Basil Dababneh, PhD Candidiate, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago.
October 20, 2023. “Landscapes After Modernity: The Place of the Universal Human in the (Digital) Art of Xu Bing and Japan.” Presenter: Thomas Looser, Associate Professor, East Asian Studies, New York University. Discussant: Thomas Lamarre, Gordon J. Laing Distinguished Service Professor, Cinema and Media Studies and East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago.
October 13, 2023. “Six Theses on an Aesthetics of Always-on Computing.” Presenter: James Hodge, Associate Professor, English, Northwestern University. Discussant: Patrick Jagoda, William Rainey Harper Professor, Cinema and Media Studies, English, and Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Chicago.

2022–2023

Coordinators: Kaelan Doyle-Myerscough and Hang Wu

May 25, 2023. “What is the meta?”: The Semiotics of Optimization in Virtual Communities from League of Legends to TikTok.” Presenter: Wee Yang Soh, PhD Student, Anthropology, University of Chicago. Discussant: Jon Clindaniel, Assistant Senior Instructional Professor, Masters in Computational Social Science, University of Chicago. Co-sponsored by the Semiotics Workshop.
May 4, 2023. “Character Creation: An Actor’s Panel on Performing in Digital Games.” Participants: Lia Montelongo, Emily Marso, and Rom Barkhordar. Moderator: Chris Carloy, Assistant Instructional Professor, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago.
April 20, 2023. “When AI Paints: Ekphrastic Engine and Arithmetic History.” Presenter: Zina Wang, PhD Student, Rhetoric, University of California, Berkeley. Discussant: Thomas Lamarre, Professor, Cinema and Media Studies and East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago.
April 6, 2023. Graduate Research Panel. Presenters: Bret Hart, PhD Student, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. Cooper Long, PhD Candidate, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. Zach Yost, PhD Student, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. Co-sponsored by the Mass Culture Workshop.
March 30, 2023. “Simulating Collaboration: A Feminist Media Play Along on Digital Platforms and Co-Authorship.” Presenters: Christine H. Tran, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto. Nelanthi Hewa, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto.
March 9, 2023. “Land Animation: Wonder and Geomedia in David O’Reilly’s Mountain.” Presenter: Yangqiao Lu, PhD Student, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. Discussant: Katherine Buse, Postdoctoral Researcher, Stevanovich Institute on the Formation of Knowledge, University of Chicago.
February 17, 2023. “The Crisis and the Rise of the Non-Linear Alphabet: The Cultural Technique of Hangul Only Writing in the Age of Information.” Presenter: Dahye Kim, Assistant Professor, Asian Languages and Cultures, Northwestern University. Discussant: Thomas Lamarre, Professor, Cinema and Media Studies and East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago. Co-sponsored by the APEA Workshop.
February 2, 2023. “Reconstructing the Experience of Scratch-and-sniff Media from Public Olfactory Nostalgia.” Presenter: Jas Brooks, PhD Student, Computer Science, University of Chicago. Discussant: Marc Downie, Lecturer in Cinema and Media Studies and Media Arts and Design, University of Chicago.
January 19, 2023. “Geopolitical Teleportation in Digital Maps: The Gamic Tactic of Location Spoofing for Chinese Players of Pokémon GO.” Presenter: Ziyi Lin, PhD Student, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago. Discussant: Patrick Jagoda, Professor, English, Cinema and Media Studies, and Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Chicago.
December 1, 2022. “Playing House: TWICE and the Jouissance of Transnational Female Spectatorship.” Presenter: Rita Rongyi, PhD Candidate, Screen Cultures, Northwestern University. Discussant: Aurore Spiers, Humanities Teaching Fellow, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago.
November 17, 2022. “Chinese Social Realistic Games: Using Proceduralism and Magical Realism to Analyze Women-Trafficking Game Comedy Funeral.” Presenter: Meixu Zhang, MAPH Student, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. Discussant: Ziyi Lin, PhD Student, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago.
November 3, 2022. “Queer Archiveography.” Presenter: Hugo Ljungbäck, PhD Student, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago.
October 27, 2022. “Hopeless Futures: From Afrofuturist toward Afropessimist Media.” Presenters: Patrick Jagoda, Professor, English, Cinema and Media Studies, and Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Chicago. Ashlyn Sparrow, Assistant Director, Weston Game Lab, University of Chicago. Discussant: Jiyoon Kim, PhD Student, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago.

2021–2022

Coordinators: Bret Klein Hart and Wee Yang Soh

May 26, 2022. “Russia Today in America: Testing the Mechanisms of Foreign Interference.” Presenters: Evgenia Olimpieva, PhD Candidate, Political Science, University of Chicago. Ipek Çinar, PhD Candidate, Political Science, University of Chicago. Geneva Cole, PhD Candidate, Political Science, University of Chicago.
May 19, 2022. “To Believe, Breathe AromaRama: Cinema’s Aerosol Age.” Presenter: Jas Brooks, PhD Student, Computer Science, University of Chicago.
April 15, 2022. “Information Processing: On Asian Cyberscapes in the Cyberpunk New Wave.” Presenter: Hang Wu, PhD Student, Cinema and Media Studies and East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago. Co-sponsored by the VMPEA Workshop.
April 14, 2022. “Privacy in a Public Ledger: Theory and Practice of Bitcoin.” Presenters: Andrew M. Bailey, Associate Professor, Humanities, Yale-NUS College. Bradley Rettler, Assistant Professor, Philosophy, University of Wyoming.
March 7, 2022. “Collision Detection, Interpretation, and Sexuality in Video Games.” Presenter: Arianna Gass, PhD Candidate, English, University of Chicago. Discussant: Amanda Phillips, Associate Professor, English and Film and Media Studies, Georgetown University. Co-sponsored by the 20th/21st Century workshop.
March 2, 2022. “The Archipelago: Reflecting on Game Design in the Age of YouTube.” Presenter: Kaelan Doyle-Myerscough, PhD Student, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago.
March 1, 2022. “Healing Media: Aestheticizing Calm and Romanticizing the Good Life on Online Video Platforms.” Presenter: Lilian Kong, PhD Student, Cinema and Media Studies and East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago. Discussant: Yuqian Yan, Associate Researcher, Zhejiang University.
February 23, 2022. “Casual in the Time of Covid: Animal Crossing, Gender, and the Importance of Care.” Presenter: Riss Ballard, Media Arts and Design Administrator, University of Chicago.
January 19, 2022. “‘I Do My Own Research’: Scientization as an Epistemological and Political Transition Strategy amongst COVID-19 Containment Measure Protestors.” Presenter: Anna Berg, PhD Candidate, Sociology, University of Chicago. Discussant: Caterina Fugazzola, Assistant Senior Instructional Professor, Global Studies, University of Chicago.
Canceled – December 2, 2021. “A Body Language Exploration of Colonial Gender and Race Formation: The Lens of Dance.” Presenter: Natalia Khosla, MD Candidate, University of Chicago.
November 11, 2021. “Join the Fold: Video Games, Science Fiction, and the Refolding of Citizen Science.” Presenter: Katherine Buse, Postdoctoral Fellow, Stevanovich Institute on the Formation of Knowledge, University of Chicago.
October 7, 2021. “Enabling Creativity with Data Science and Machine Learning for Techno-Fluent” Presenter: Ted Moore, Research Fellow, Creative Coding, University of Huddersfield.

2020–2021

Coordinators: Ashleigh Cassemere-Stanfield and Sasha Crawford-Holland

May 24, 2021. “White Supremacy, Affect, and Digital Culture.” Presenters: Christine Goding Doty, Visiting Assistant Professor, Africana Studies, Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Tara Mcpherson, Professor and Chair, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Southern California. Moderator: Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Canada 150 Research Chair in New Media, Simon Fraser University.
May 17, 2021. “Machine Imagination: Text To Image Generation With Neural Networks.” Presenter: Robert Twomey, Assistant Professor, Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts, University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Visiting Scholar, Clarke Center for Human Imagination, University of California San Diego.
May 10, 2021. “Skin and Surface: Race beyond Representation.” Presenter: Arianna Gass, PhD Candidate, English and Theater and Performance Studies, University of Chicago. Discussant: Kaelan Doyle-Myerscough, PhD Student, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago.
May 5, 2021. “Virtual Ethnography: Ethnographic Methods for a Pandemic.” Presenters: Benjamin Fogarty-Valenzuela, Mansueto Fellow and Postdoctoral Scholar, Sociology, University of Chicago. Peter Forberg, MA Student, Sociology and Digital Studies in Language, Culture, and History, University of Chicago.
April 26, 2021. “‘What’s the Value of an Economic Metaphor?’ On Cryptocurrencies and Proof of Work.” Presenter: Zach Yost, PhD Student, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. Discussant: Thomas Patrick Pringle, Postdoctoral Fellow, Stevanovich Institute on the Formation of Knowledge, University of Chicago.
March 8, 2021. “‘Call Me Obama?’: The Perils of Lip Sync in a ‘Call Me Maybe’ Mashup and Jordan Peele Deepfake.” Presenter: Amy Skjerseth, PhD Candidate, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago.
March 1, 2021. Graduate Research Panel. Presenters: Arianna Gass, PhD Candidate, English and Theater and Performance Studies, University of Chicago. Tien-Tien Jong Zhang, PhD Candidate, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. Hang Wu, PhD Student, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago.
February 22, 2021. “Pokémon, No? Genes, Memes, and Digital Culture in the Sixth Extinction.” Presenter: Thomas Patrick Pringle, Postdoctoral Fellow, Stevanovich Institute on the Formation of Knowledge, University of Chicago.
February, 8, 2021. “Gaming Borders: Flow, Failure, and National Belonging in Papers, Please.” Presenter: Gary Kafer, PhD Candidate, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago.
January 25, 2021. “Sequence and Connection: Two Paradigms of Digital Literature and the Need for a Critique of AI Works.” Presenter: Hannes Bajohr, Postdoctoral Fellow, Basel University. Co-sponsored by the Poetry and Poetics Workshop.
January 11, 2021. “Machine Learning for the Web with Teachable Machine, P5.js, and ML5.js.” Presenters: Teodora Szasz, Computational Scientist, Research Computing Center, University of Chicago. Luis Ibanez, Senior Software Engineer, Google.
November 6, 2020. “On Not Getting Over It: Interpretation, Delay, and Queer Modes of Play.” Presenter: Daniel Lipson, Interaction designer and independent scholar. Co-sponsored by the Mass Culture Workshop
Canceled – November 2, 2020. “Are Drum Triggers Cheating? Death Metal, Schizophrenia, and Indigestible Digitization.” Presenter: Florian Walch, PhD Candidate, Music History and Theory, University of Chicago.
October 26, 2020. “At Home: A Short Animated Video on Pandemic Lifestyle Fantasies.” Presenter: Lily Scherlis, PhD Student, English, University of Chicago.
October 19, 2020. “Logos: Exploring Law, Society, and the Power of Rhetoric through Interactive Narrative.” Presenter: John Buterbaugh, Undergraduate Student, University of Chicago. Discussant: Patrick Jagoda, Professor, English and Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago.

2019

Coordinators: Sasha Crawford-Holland and Gary Kafer

December 5, 2019. “Data Visualization for Storytellers.” Presenter: Teodora Szasz, Computational Scientist, Research Computing Center, University of Chicago.
November 21, 2019. “Aesthetic Milieus to access Subjective Experience.” Presenter: Desiree Foerster, PhD Candidate, Philosophy, Institute for Arts and Media, University of Potsdam and Visiting Scholar, Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago.
November 8, 2019. Virtual Reality Faculty Roundtable. Presenters: Snow Yunxue Fu, Assistant Arts Professor, Photography and Imaging, Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. Pedro Lopes, Assistant Professor, Computer Science, University of Chicago. Lisa Zaher, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Art History, Theory, and Criticism, School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Visiting Lecturer, Art History, University of Chicago.
October 31, 2019. “Sensing Landscape.” Presenter: Saadia Mirza, PhD Candidate, Anthropology, University of Chicago.
October 10, 2019. “Machine Learning Applications for Live Computer Music Performance.” Presenter: Ted Moore, PhD Candidate, Music Composition, University of Chicago.

Land Acknowledgement

Land acknowledgements serve as an occasion to reflect on the practices of displacement and dispossession that have produced the conditions in which we gather. At the University of Chicago, such practices continue to guide institutional conduct.

The Digital Media Workshop is typically held at the Media, Arts, Data, and Design Center at the University of Chicago on the homelands of the Council of Three Fires—the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi. Nations including the Ho-Chunk, Miami, Menominee, and Sac and Fox also stewarded these lands and waterways for generations. Despite centuries of ongoing colonial violence, tens of thousands of Indigenous people continue to call this territory home.

Yet as we gather remotely this year, it becomes more difficult to pinpoint the specific histories in which we are implicated and the treaties and legal orders we are obliged to uphold. In addition to the many locations from which each of you join us, we now depend more than ever on infrastructures so vastly distributed that they call the entire global history of colonization into play.

The fiber-optic cables transmitting us to one another as data are buried along the same routes as the telegraph lines and railroads that sustained colonial conquest. In the nineteenth century, those railroads directly enabled John D. Rockefeller and Silas Cobb to extract the wealth that was combined with a founding endowment financed by enslaved people’s labour to establish the modern University of Chicago. The British Empire’s telegraph network exploited native lands and labour as indispensable resources supporting imperial connectivity while excluding those labourers from its benefits. Likewise, today’s digital connections are secured by infrastructures built on stolen lands while Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island are disproportionately deprived of access to the high-speed connections that have become increasingly vital to survival.

The platform hosting our meetings, Zoom, depends on a global network of high-emissions data centers, including the Digital Realty Data Center located four miles from the university—one of the largest data centers in the world. The cloud computing economy values territory in this region because it is thought to be relatively insulated from the environmental risks to which it contributes. Those risks are distributed unevenly, concentrated on frontline communities that are overwhelmingly Black and Indigenous. The same is true of the natural resource extraction that allows us to gather remotely. For example, Indigenous peoples in Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile have seen their freshwater supplies diverted to support lithium mining, resulting in economic and ecological devastation.

Land acknowledgements run the risk of becoming prophylactic housekeeping items. But done properly, they ask: now that we know this in common, what does it commit us to doing? How shall we respond to these circumstances?

If you would like to help us begin to answer these questions, please contact the workshop coordinators and/or join our sessions.

Digital Media Workshop