On humanity, videogames, and resisting operationalized logic.

BY TIMOTHY WELSHLoyola University, New Orleans In October 2018, just prior to the November midterm elections, Twitter banned close to 1,500 accounts that all featured the same gray, expressionless cartoon avatar. “NPC,” a version of the Wojack or Feels Guy reaction image, is a meme generated by the right-wing internet as a representation of liberals. … More On humanity, videogames, and resisting operationalized logic.

Fashioning Feminism: On Bodies of Information.

BY ELIZABETH LOSHWilliam & Mary What does a bulletproof dress prototype have to do with the digital humanities? A lot actually, according to artist micha cárdenas. Such a garment, which was crafted from Kevlar airbags scavenged from a junkyard, could be capable of stopping a 9mm bullet. It’s one of the objects featured in the … More Fashioning Feminism: On Bodies of Information.

#DeleteFacebook: Users always have the option of disconnecting—right?

BY TERO KARPPIAssistant professor, University of Toronto Want to #DeleteFacebook? You can try.Deleting Facebook is easier said than done. These are examples of headlines written after the news about Cambridge Analytica harvesting the data of 50 million Facebook profiles. These suggestions do not speak of getting rid of Facebook, Inc. – the company and its … More #DeleteFacebook: Users always have the option of disconnecting—right?

2018: The Year of Haptics? (Part II of II)

David ParisiAssociate Professor of Emerging Media, College of Charleston——-Preceded by Part I.——- Historicizing Haptic Hype Also in 2018, amidst the billowing excitement over the latest wave of haptic devices and the growing anticipation for Ready Player One, I published Archaeologies of Touch: Interfacing with Haptics from Electricity to Computing, where I explicitly attempt to provide … More 2018: The Year of Haptics? (Part II of II)

2018: The Year of Haptics? (Part I of II)

David ParisiAssociate Professor of Emerging Media, College of Charleston Based on popular press accounts, 2018 has been the year when haptics technology finally hit it big: by featuring haptics tech prominently in its depiction of a fully embodied virtual reality, Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One—an adaption of Ernst Cline’s 2011 novel of the same title—sparked … More 2018: The Year of Haptics? (Part I of II)

Patricia Ticineto Clough: Why the cyborg can no longer be a figure of either politics or ontology.

BY PATRICIA TICINETO CLOUGHProfessor of sociology and women’s studies at the Graduate Center and Queens College, City University of New York Following the publication of The User Unconscious, I had the occasion to revisit Donna Haraway’s “Cyborg Manifesto” and found myself challenged to articulate the relevant differences between what is proposed in The User Unconscious … More Patricia Ticineto Clough: Why the cyborg can no longer be a figure of either politics or ontology.

On gaming, athletes, and individual glory . . . oh, Mercy!

CHRISTOPHER A. PAULAssociate Professor, Seattle University The core argument in my book is that video games are an actualized meritocracy, a realm in which the values of hard work and skill have been pushed to their extremes and the result is a toxic community that focuses more on the celebration of individual glory than on … More On gaming, athletes, and individual glory . . . oh, Mercy!

On Being and algorithmic clouds.

BY MARK JARZOMBEKMassachusetts Institute of Technology BEFORE BUDDHA INVENTED RENUNCIATION; before Christians invented martyrdom; before Mohammed invented the jihad, before the Hebrews invented monotheism, before Plato invented the dreaded cave in which we supposedly live, blind to the presence of all that is Good, people talked to each other in freer ways. They talked to … More On Being and algorithmic clouds.

Trumping transparency.

BY CLARE BIRCHALLKing’s College London The words “Trump” and “transparency” don’t often appear together. Administrative transparency isn’t something Trump promised during his campaign, and it hasn’t been on the agenda in the last eight months. Yet the term has turned up in communications from the Trump camp. In July, referring to the Commission on Election … More Trumping transparency.

On agonistic democracy and Anonymous

Members of the hacktivist group Anonymous wear masks based on the filmV for Vendetta‘s character V, who had been influenced by Guy Fawkes.This mask appears at a 2012 protest in Montreal. Source: Wikipedia. BY MARCO DESERIISAssistant professor of media and screen studies at Northeastern University November was a busy month for Anonymous. On November 5, … More On agonistic democracy and Anonymous