Our Events

Please join us to celebrate the newest publications by our members (and get publisher discounts, too!) Theorising Drones in Visual Culture: Views from the Blue authored by Elisa Serafinelli significantly contributes to the fields of Digital Media and Visual Studies by synthesising diverse studies on drone-generated visuals. It offers readers a comprehensive exploration and specific examples […]

Can generative AI be creative, or is it merely a copy machine that recycles stolen data it has been trained on? Adopting a usage-oriented perspective, this workshop invites a critical reflection on the disruptive impact of visual generative media on creative industries and professional practices. It does so by foregrounding the question of human-AI agency […]

Over the past couple years several deep time data archival projects have emerged, and with them the politics of data loss in deep time archival processes reveal how platform centralization and control reshape the future of data preservation. The Arctic World Archive is a facility located in an abandoned coal mine Svalbard, Norway. It stores […]

Have you ever wondered what happens to your data when a platform dies? Have you ever tried to find an old account? Have you ever deleted your website and regretted it?  In this workshop, participants will go on an archive promenade to search for their own forgotten or abandoned websites from the past 30 years in the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, […]

Kenzie Burchell and Adi Kuntsman in conversation about dis/connection, dis/engagement, and digital life. Kenzie Burchell, the author of Constant Disconnection: The Weight of Everyday Digital Life (Stanford UP) and Adi Kuntsman, the co-author of Paradoxes of Digital Disengagement : In Search of the Opt Out Button (with Esperanza Miyake, Westminster UP) will discuss compulsory connectivity, disengagement and digital rights. […]

Location: online Join us for Let's Talk Visual AI, where we'll discuss all things related to AI-driven misinformation and visual AI literacy. Recent advances in visual generative AI have made it increasingly easy to produce convincing synthetic images and videos, raising urgent questions about truth, trust, and perception in the digital age. To better deal […]

Location: Brooks Building, Room BR 2.18 and BR 2.19, M156GX Understanding the impact of AI on social, cultural and political life has been at the heart of our new initiative – the AI Literacy working group. “AI literacy” (or even “literacies”), as developed by DISC members, extends far beyond the technical understanding of how artificial […]

Location: online Our Digital Politics Summer School is celebrating its fifth anniversary! This year, the school is focusing on visual generative AI. When AI image generators were first popularised in 2023, they were perceived as leading to a new crisis of deepfakes and misinformation, particularly dangerous in cases of reporting war and human suffering, because of […]

Location: online In recent discussions surrounding AI imaging, the prevailing discourse often highlights the technology's inherent risks. However, notable examples, such as the use of so-called deepfake technology in the documentary "Welcome to Chechnya" and the controversial yet well-intentioned AI-generated images from Amnesty International commemorating the victims of police brutality in Colombia, reveal the potential […]

We’re excited to launch our new web-based resource designed to help learners stay ahead of the AI misinformation curve. The Visual AI Literacy Toolkit introduces the fundamentals of visual generative AI and explores how AI-generated images are shaping public understanding — from fake protest scenes and deep-faked politicians to AI beauty filters and images spreading misinformation around […]

Location: online What you’ll learn: This interactive workshop introduces academics to the expanding world of visual generative AI tools. Led by Dr Sam Martin, digital sociologist and AI artist, the session explores how platforms such as MidJourney, Leonardo.ai, Krea.AI, and Runway ML can be used critically and creatively in academic contexts—from visualising research findings and […]

Location: online This roundtable brings together experts on digital media, visual cultures and politics, misinformation, political violence, and generative AI. Curated by Adi Kuntsman and Jessica Elias, the panel will explore the role of generative AI in contemporary politics through a range of theoretical and disciplinary lenses.  Panellists’ info Prof Miriyam Aouragh, Professor of Digital Anthropology, […]