Technology

Lately I’ve become more and more intrigued by Digital Humanities as a subfield/movement/trend/etc. within academia, in large part because the people who are actively driving much of DH are super engaging & welcoming via social networks like Twitter and various blogs. As I am committed to open access publishing, public-facing scholarship, and innovative modes of academic engagement, Digital Humanists feel like fellow travelers. ... read more »

Written in 1995 when I was in my second year of my undergraduate degree, I wrote this essay about Rodney King, the LA riots, and the role of the media. I thought it was apt to upload it here today, on the day of Rodney King’s death.

http://westengland.academia.edu/ShawnSobers/Papers/1732932/THE_DAY_ANGELS_WEPT_Ideology_Television_and_Rodney_King

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A much-beloved aunt and uncle of mine who live not too far away from here, ... read more »

WORDS INSIDE
Artist Statement ... read more »

I recently was contacted by Stephen Olsen from the MLA, who is coordinating a pre-conference workshop entitled “Evaluating Digital Work for Tenure and Promotion: A Workshop for Evaluators and Candidates” taking place on the 5th of January at this year’s convention. For the session, they are organizing a number of case studies of digital work that they will discuss in terms of how a promotions committee or reviewers would approach them, and my blog was suggested as a possible example. ... read more »

I’m writing from FROG 2011, the Vienna conference on videogames. This conference is unlike any other I’ve been to in a range of ways: it’s my first game studies conference, which means the range of presenters and disciplinary backgrounds is broader and more eclectic than at the typical television or media studies conference. ... read more »

From tweets the night of February 13, 2011.

In Jungian terms, technological determinism is projection: giving power to machines that really belongs to ourselves.

Projection is necessary & valuable – it’s what Robert Johnson calls “carrying your gold” when you’re not ready yet to carry it yourself.

But maturity & wisdom comes when we withdraw projections. See people & things for who & what they are in themselves. ... read more »

One of my writing projects this summer was to write a book chapter for a forthcoming anthology called Routledge Handbook of Participatory Cultures, edited by Aaron Delwiche and Jennifer Henderson (forthcoming in 2011 from Routledge, of course). The handbook is designed to offer accessible introductions to a wide array of facets of participatory culture, suitable for teaching or non-specialist readership, with an impressive line-up of authors. ... read more »

It’s been a summer of minimal blogging, what with various family plans, media consumption, and household tasks. I do have a number of posts in the planning stage, and a longer essay drafted that will appear here soon. But yesterday a bit of news arrived that mandated a return to blogging. ... read more »