September 17
/* platform mechanics and the undercommons */
Lisa Nakamura - University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Tara McPherson - University of Southern California
October 1
/* Building: Black Feminist / Queer Digital Justice Query: Community Activators */
Ladan Siad - Data Justice Researcher, Technoscience Research Unit, Toronto
Nasma Ahmed - Director, Digital Justice Lab, Toronto
October 22
/* CTRL:CMD:EXE an evening on media war */
Megan Boler - University of Toronto
Jeremy Packer - University of Toronto
Geoffrey Winthrop_Young - University of British Columbia
McLuhan Center for Culture and Technology
McLuhan’s The Mechanical Bride: Folklore of Industrial Man acts as inspiration for this year's (2018/19) investigation of machinic logics in culture. Evolving from last year’s considerations in MsUnderstanding Media, the series asks what it looks like if we don’t believe the hype?
Delving into smart cities, data justice, robots + AI, hard + soft ware, quantified selfhood, alternative sensory experiences, and militaristic media, it raises questions: What is the consensual narrative of the “tech bro” today? What are the implications of this folklore on how we both understand and act in our day-to-day lives? What is the promise and where is it not being kept? How do we use technology to upend the machinic logics of the Mechanical Bro?
November 5
/* Senses_Sensibilities + Touch_Technology */
Rhonda McEwen - University of Toronto
David Parisi - College of Charleston
November 19
/* #Fitter #Happier #MoreProductive */
Melissa Gregg - Intel Corporation
Allison Hearn - University of Western Ontario
Natasha Dow Schull - New York University
December 3
/* Re/Figuration: Digital Tactics 4 Digital Colonialism */
Moreshin Allahyari - New Media Artist, New York City