(Note: image taken from a site spoofing/critiquing the Utah data center: http://nsa.gov1.info/utah-data-center/) On August 21, 2013, Mother Jones published the headline, “The World’s Most Notorious Micronation Has the Secret to Protecting Your Data From the NSA,” reviving Sealand as the techno-utopic data haven it once promised to be. Aa a self-contained data fortress located on […]
Political Prototypes: Why Performances and Narratives Matter
While it has received comparatively little attention in the literature, during the 2004 presidential cycle the most technically innovative campaign was the re-election bid of George W. Bush. With online precinct captain programs complementing the work of a massive field effort, integrated databases, an expansive voter file, and micro-targeting models, party staffers and consultants on […]
The Digital Keywords Workshop
Culture Digitally is thrilled to partner with a new initiative, the Digital Keywords Workshop, spearheaded by Ben Peters (University of Tulsa). The goal of the Digital Keywords Workshop, a boutique scholarly forum, is to work through and critique some terms central to our research and the digitally lit world. We seek to publish — on […]
A Moment for Hate: An Unexpected Theme at IR14
While the official theme of the Association of Internet Researchers 14th annual conference was “resistance + appropriation,” it was striking that a number of panels, papers, and plenary talks touched on a kind of “resistant” digital practice that is less utopian. Hate and hating in its various incarnations — contrary to likes and hearts, or […]
Announcement: The AoIR is Nigh! Association of Internet Researchers Conference in Denver This Week
IR14, the annual meeting of the Association of Internet Researchers in Denver CO USA, is upon us and, as you know, I was honored to serve as Chair of the Conference Theme, Keynote and Plenary Organization as well as early program development. AoIR is one of the most productive communities of scholars researching everything one […]