DISCO JAMS (Journal Article Manufacturing Sessions)

DISCO JAMS (Journal Article Manufacturing Sessions) is a new series of collaborative article-writing and media-making convenings hosted and curated by the Humanity and Technoscience (HAT) Lab at Northwestern University.

Inspired by the DISCO Network’s Book Jam model, DISCO JAMS will bring together a small group of DISCO Network faculty and students to engage in three days of collaborative writing. DISCO JAMS will also include collaborators from outside of the DISCO Network, including humanities faculty and students, journalists, policy makers, researchers from HBCUs and disability-serving institutions, non-profit organizations, scientists, technologists, and community members. By having a diverse group of authors and creators participate, each article will be written from multiple perspectives and subject positions.

DISCO JAMS will collect, organize, and disseminate emerging research and perspectives on current issues in digital technology, race, and disability. Each JAM aims to produce open-source, rapid-response writing that bridges the gap between traditional academic research and public discourse.

All articles and media produced by DISCO JAMS will be public-facing and will be made available on the DISCO Network website.

DISCO JAMS topics may include:

• Asian American women in gaming

• Black speculative futures and preserving Black life beyond the digital

• trans and crip meme-making practices

• madness and digital access frictions

• A.I.’s impact on justice, inequality, and identity

• race and data infrastructure

• political mis- and disinformation campaigns

• youth and social media policy and the role of computer vision in diagnosing political protest

• digital technologies and the politics of surveillance

• digital access to public assistance programming

• discussions of the ways dispossessed and underserved communities can intervene in and reshape the digital infrastructures that dictate aspects of their lives