Theorizing the Web: Day Two

For full description and panelist bios, please visit Theorizing the Web Program pages.

Originally seen as a disembodying force, the web offers opportuntities for new kinds of embodiment and identity construction that redraw traditional boundaries while inventing different ones.



Home Screens (12:00 p.m.–1:15 p.m.)

Panelists: Jessika Tremblay, Diana Buendía, Ted Perlmutter, Shane Tilton. Moderator: Christopher Cox 

Whether you are leaving home or seeing home from a distance for the first time, the view from the web can be both starkly revealing and subtly distorted.



Regulating Bodies (12:00 p.m.–1:15 p.m.)

Panelists: Ada Cable, Ashley Dallot, Gabi Schaffzin and Zachary Kaiser, Md Nabil. Moderator: Jessie Patella-Ray 

Bodies are a crucial piece of wetware that keeps the web running and, like all things related to computers, there is a tension between binaries and more inclusive gradients.

Novel Fantasies (1:30 p.m.–2:45 p.m.)

Panelists: Monica Torres, Grace Sloan, Cynthia Hua, Stephanie Monohan. Moderator: Sarah Wanenchak 

The technologies we fantasize about are just as important as the technologies we actually make. Looking at the way the web plays a character in movies and television can help us understand the role it plays in our lives.

Privacy and Control (1:30 p.m.–2:45 p.m.)

Panelists: Kate Sim, Chris Kerich, Kate Mannell and Robbie Fordyce, Geoff Shullenberger. Moderator: Whitney Mallett 

As thousands of people compete to get noticed by collecting likes and reviews, thousands more just want to be left alone. Breaking, dodging, and unpacking digital surveillance have become necessary skills in a networked era.

Woke Up Like This (1:30 p.m. -2:45 p.m.)

Panelists: Britney Summit-Gil, Sara Reinis, Leah Schrager, Sofya Glebovna. Moderator: Whitney Erin Boesel 

The web’s foregorunding of attention metrics such as shares, upvotes, and likes reshapes beauty standards just as it transforms self-expression.

Invited Panel: Apocalypse Buffering (3:00 p.m.-4:15 p.m.)

Panelists: Tim Maughan, Damien Patrick Williams, Jade E. Davis. Moderator: Ingrid Burrington 

Invited Panel: The (mis)Use of Culture (3:00 p.m.-4:15 p.m.)

Panelists: manuel arturo abreu, Mayukh Sen, Maya Binyam, Rooney Elmi. Moderator: Zara Rahman 

Virality is often the result of effacing the cultures from which the memes emerged; at the same time, “real time,” and “live” sharing imposes hegemonic attitudes about race and other forms of difference. How things circulate articulates cultural values as much as any image’s apparent content.

Sights of Power (3:00 p.m.-4:15 p.m.)

Panelists: Roshan Abraham, Liat Berdugo, Nicole Brown and Ben Grosser, Mariela Libedinsky. Moderator: Apryl Williams

The web was never going to free us from all inequality and racist violence, but it has made these more visible and possibly more susceptible to organized action.

Food/Social Break (4:15 p.m.- 6:00 p.m.)



Keynote Panel 3: Misinfo Wars (6:00 p.m.–7:30 p.m.)

Panelists: Vasily Gatov, Adrian Chen. Moderator: Rachel Rosenfelt

Kompromat, disinformation, or propaganda — whether you think these are the same, different, or otherwise related, it is clear that all of them will be prominent in our lives for the foreseeable future. Examining who benefits from these media practices and how that shapes our future political environment is of primary importance. It is critical to take an international perspective, with a special focus on Russia: Has Russia’s role in the worldwide politics of disinformation been accurately described? Instead of focusing on the supposed unprecedented nature of Putin’s Russia, might there be other analogues for our current politics that provide cautionary tales for this uncertain time?



Keynote Panel 4: Twitter and Tear Gas (7:30 p.m.-9:00 p.m.)

Panelist: Zeynep Tufekçi. Moderator: John Knefel

Our century has already seen its fair share of world-changing political events. The web’s role in these events is no longer in question, but the character, scope, and political valence of its influence certainly is. How social movements form with and around social media is a pressing question with still too few answers. Join Zeynep Tufekçi, who has spoken at each Theorizing the Web, as she sits down with John Knefel to discusses her new book Twitter and Tear Gas.

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