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Sociology May 10, 2022

The Digital Frontier

Infrastructures of Control on the Global Web

Sangeet Kumar

Hosted by Rituparna Patgiri
In The Digital Frontier: Infrastructures of Control on the Global Web (Indiana University Press, 2021), Sangeet Kumar interrogates the world wide web and the digital ecosystem has spawned to reveal how …

Technology

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Interviews with technologists and scholars of technology about their new books.

High Theory May 6, 2022

Computational Creativity

A Discussion with Tuhin Chakrabarty

Tuhin Chakrabarty

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu
Saronik talks to Tuhin Chakrabarty about the creative processes of Artificial Intelligence, what we can expect from it, and how to keep the results fair. (Saronik messes up the word …
Science, Technology, and Society May 4, 2022

A Citizen's Guide to Artificial Intelligence

John Zerilli

Hosted by Frances Sacks
Artificial intelligence, or AI for short, has generated a staggering amount of hype in the past several years. Is it the game-changer it's been cracked up to be? If so …
In Conversation: An OUP Podcast May 2, 2022

Breached!

Why Data Security Law Fails and How to Improve It

Daniel J. Solove and Woodrow Hartzog

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Digital connections permeate our lives-and so do data breaches. Given that we must be online for basic communication, finance, healthcare, and more, it is alarming how difficult it is to …
Media April 27, 2022

Media Disrupted

Surviving Pirates, Cannibals, and Streaming Wars

Amanda D. Lotz

Hosted by Gummo Clare
Has the internet really been the main culprit behind the upheaval of the contemporary media industries? In Media Disrupted: Surviving Pirates, Cannibals, and Streaming Wars (MIT Press, 2021), Professor Amanda Lotz …
Critical Theory April 20, 2022

Breaking Things at Work

The Luddites Were Right About Why You Hate Your Job

Gavin Mueller

Hosted by Gummo Clare
In Breaking Things at Work: The Luddites Were Right About Why You Hate Your Job (Verso, 2021), Gavin Mueller provides a bracing and wide-ranging study of the fractious relationship between …
Media April 20, 2022

Media Hot and Cold

Nicole Starosielski

Hosted by Gummo Clare
Media Hot and Cold (Duke UP, 2021) attunes the reader to temperature as a crucial but often overlooked terrain of control, communication and contestation. The book skilfully unpacks the complex …
Art April 20, 2022

Media Primitivism

Technological Art in Africa

Delinda Collier

Hosted by Holiday Powers
In Media Primitivism: Technological Art in Africa (Duke University Press, 2020) Delinda Collier provides a sweeping new understanding of technological media in African art, rethinking the assumptions that have conceptualized African …
Science, Technology, and Society April 19, 2022

Technology of the Oppressed

Inequity and the Digital Mundane in Favelas of Brazil

David Nemer

Hosted by Austin Clyde
In Technology of the Oppressed: Inequity and the Digital Mundane in Favelas of Brazil (MIT Press, 2022), David Nemer draws on extensive ethnographic fieldwork to provide a rich account of …
General History April 15, 2022

Black Earth, White Bread

A Technopolitical History of Russian Agriculture and Food

Susanne A. Wengle

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
In Black Earth, White Bread: A Technopolitical History of Russian Agriculture and Food (University of Wisconsin Press, 2022), Dr. Susanne A. Wengle shows how agrotechnology served—and undermined—Soviet and Russian political …
Southeast Asian Studies April 15, 2022

Internet Use and Protest in Malaysia and Other Authoritarian Regimes

Challenging Information Scarcity

Kris Ruijgrok

Hosted by Nicole Curato
Internet-enabled mobilization begins long before there is a call for protest. In the book Internet Use and Protest in Malaysia and other Authoritarian Regimes (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), Kris Ruijgrok examines …
Media April 15, 2022

The World Computer

Derivative Conditions of Racial Capitalism

Jonathan Beller

Hosted by Marci Mazzarotto
In The World Computer: Derivative Conditions of Racial Capitalism (Duke UP, 2021) Jonathan Beller forcefully demonstrates that the history of commodification generates information itself. Out of the omnipresent calculus imposed …
General History April 13, 2022

Nuclear Bodies

The Global Hibakusha

Robert A Jacobs

Hosted by Ran Zwigenberg
Robert Jacob’s book Nuclear Bodies: The Global Hibakusha (Yale UP, 2022) re‑envisions the history of the Cold War as a slow nuclear war, fought on remote battlegrounds against populations powerless …
Economics April 7, 2022

Indefensible

Seven Myths that Sustain the Global Arms Trade

Nic Marsh et al.

Hosted by Sidney Michelini
Although there is often opposition to individual wars, most people continue to believe that the arms industry is necessary in some form: to safeguard our security, provide jobs and stimulate …
Science, Technology, and Society April 5, 2022

Where Futures Converge

Kendall Square and the Making of a Global Innovation Hub

Robert Buderi

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been called “the most innovative square mile on the planet.” It's a life science hub, hosting Biogen, Moderna, Pfizer, Takeda, and others. It's a …
Science, Technology, and Society March 30, 2022

A New History of Modern Computing

Thomas Haigh and Paul E. Ceruzzi

Hosted by Austin Clyde
In A New History of Modern Computing (MIT Press, 2021), Thomas Haigh and Paul Ceruzzi trace changes leading to the computer becoming a ubiquitous technology. Over the past fifty years, the computer …
Sociology March 29, 2022

Farm Fresh Broadband

The Politics of Rural Connectivity

Christopher Ali

Hosted by Michael Johnston
As much of daily life migrates online, broadband—high-speed internet connectivity—has become a necessity. The widespread lack of broadband in rural America has created a stark urban–rural digital divide. In Farm …
Sociology March 28, 2022

Algorithms and the End of Politics

How Technology Shapes 21st-Century American Life

Scott Timcke

Hosted by Michael Johnston
As the US contends with issues of populism and de-democratization, this timely study considers the impacts of digital technologies on the country’s politics and society. In Algorithms and the End …
Public Health March 22, 2022

Pandemic Perspectives

A Filmmaker's Journey in 10 Essays

Howard Burton

Hosted by Marshall Poe
Howard Burton has been talking to very wise people for decades--scientists, historians, political thinkers, philosophers, etc. When Covid "hit" he was, like many of us, puzzled. Where did it come …
Science, Technology, and Society March 16, 2022

The Constitution of Algorithms

Ground-Truthing, Programming, Formulating

Florian Jaton

Hosted by Austin Clyde
The Constitution of Algorithms: Ground-Truthing, Programming, Formulating (MIT Press, 2021) is a laboratory study that investigates how algorithms come into existence. Algorithms--often associated with the terms big data, machine learning, or artificial …