DISCO Network

DISCO Network

@disconetwork.bsky.social

Envisioning an equitable digital future. Housed within @umichdigital.bsky.social. PIs: @lnakamura.bsky.social, Rayvon Fouché, @remiyergeau.bsky.social, & @steelecat717.bsky.social https://linktr.ee/thedisconetwork

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We are proud to present our first three panels of the 2026-2027 academic year! 🪩✨ We have an exciting lineup of speakers who will discuss the rising fascination and fear of a Chinese technological future, the hidden data and labor behind GenAI, and who gets to control the future of technology 👥🌏💻💡

We spoke with Lisa Nakamura, DISCO Network PI and Professor of American Culture at the University of Michigan about the discourse around the US-China tech race and her recent book projects 💬

2 weeks from today: join us at the University of Michigan or on Zoom for Is AI Inevitable? Insight from Hypecel vs. Technoskepticist Perspectives!

DISCO Network@disconetwork.bsky.social

UPCOMING EVENT: Is AI Inevitable? Insight from Hypecel vs. Technoskepticist Perspectives 🤖🌐 🎤 Nina-Simone Edwards, @kingnegritude.bsky.social & @computeloop.blacksky.app in conversation with Rayvon Fouché 📅 Thurs, Nov 5 at 4:00 - 5:30 PM ET 📍Weiser Hall 10th Floor (University of Michigan) + Zoom

These awesome voting guides were produced with support from our Digital Accessible Futures (DAF) Lab at Carleton University. Guides for disabled, trans, and unhoused voters are available.

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Ultimately, we aim to think critically about AI not simply as a collection of powerful new tools, but as part of a much larger struggle over who gets to imagine, build, and control the future.

Stories about artificial intelligence often imagine the future as inevitable: AI will transform our jobs, reshape our relationships, and increasingly make decisions once left to people. But what happens if we refuse to treat that future as already decided?

This panel will discuss two contrasting personas for thinking about generative AI: “hypecels,” who embrace AI’s promises so enthusiastically that technological change can appear unstoppable, and “technoskepticists,”who question the larger social, political, and cultural interest AI serves.

TOMORROW: Join us on Zoom for Refuse, Resist, Repair: Making Critical Moves in the Times of AI! Featuring @jenny-l-davis.bsky.social, @posada.website, Apryl Williams, @fractalecho.bsky.social, and @steelecat717.bsky.social.

DISCO Network@disconetwork.bsky.social

UPCOMING EVENT: Join us for Refuse, Resist, Repair: Making Critical Moves in the Times of AI! 📅 Friday, October 9 at 2 - 3:30 PM ET 🎤 Jenny Davis, Julián Posada, Apryl Williams, & Rua Williams in conversation with Catherine Knight Steele 📍 Zoom 🔗 Register: events.umich.edu/event/149368

Thank you to all who attended our Feeling the Future panel yesterday! The panelists discussed American feelings towards Asian & Chinese technology in 2026, their take on the “American century of humiliation” meme, and the trend of American influencers now looking to China as a site of admiration.

🎥 Missed the event? A full recording will be made available on the DISCO Network YouTube channel next week. 📖 Want more from our panelists? Look forward to their upcoming book with the A.I.eeeee! collective, Feeling the Future: Asian/Americanist Takes on Techno-Empire.

Tomorrow at 4 PM ET! Join us at the University of Michigan campus or on Zoom for a conversation about techno-empire, Chinamaxxing, & the “American Century of Humiliation.” Featuring Brian J. Chen, Julie Chu, Jasmine Ehrhardt, & Paul Kim in conversation with Lisa Nakamura.

DISCO Network@disconetwork.bsky.social

Meet the panelists of Feeling the Future: Asian/Americanist Takes on Techno-Empire, Chinamaxxing, & the "American Century of Humiliation" 🔥 📅 Wed, Sept 23 at 4 - 5:30 PM ET 📍Weiser Hall 10th Floor (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) & Zoom 🔗 Learn more and register: events.umich.edu/event/149356

One week from today! Feeling the Future: Asian/Americanist Takes on Techno-Empire, Chinamaxxing, & the "American Century of Humiliation" takes place on Wed, Sept 23 at 4:00 PM ET. Join in-person at the University of Michigan or on Zoom!

DISCO Network@disconetwork.bsky.social

UPCOMING EVENT: Join us on Wednesday, September 23 at 4:00 - 5:30 PM ET for Feeling the Future: Asian/Americanist Takes on Techno-Empire, Chinamaxxing, & the “American Century of Humiliation." 🎤 Featuring Brian J. Chen, Julie Chu, Jasmine Ehrhardt, & Paul Kim in conversation with Lisa Nakamura.

In July, the DISCO Network hosted a three day Book Jam at Northwestern University for our nine 2026 DISCO Affiliates. Alongside our PIs, our Affiliates wrote and developed a new collaborative book project, Frictionless: Rethinking the Promises of Big Tech (working title). More info coming soon!

UPCOMING EVENT: Join us on Wednesday, September 23 at 4:00 - 5:30 PM ET for Feeling the Future: Asian/Americanist Takes on Techno-Empire, Chinamaxxing, & the “American Century of Humiliation." 🎤 Featuring Brian J. Chen, Julie Chu, Jasmine Ehrhardt, & Paul Kim in conversation with Lisa Nakamura.

"You've met me at a very Chinese time in my life." American social media influencers like Hasan Piker, IShowSpeed, and Kris Jenner have become newly interested in China as a source of cultural + technological inspiration. This panel will discuss the roots of "Chinamaxxing" in U.S.-China relations.

📍Join us in-person at Weiser Hall 10th Floor (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) or over Zoom. 🔗 Learn more and register: events.umich.edu/event/149356 🧋 We'll be providing free boba for the first 100 in-person attendees! All are welcome and we encourage undergrad + grad students to attend.

events.umich.eduDISCO Network Presents - Feeling the Future: Asian/Americanist Takes on Techno-Empire, Chinamaxxing, & the “American Century of Humiliation” | Happening @ Michigan

We are proud to present our first three panels of the 2026-2027 academic year! 🪩✨ We have an exciting lineup of speakers who will discuss the rising fascination and fear of a Chinese technological future, the hidden data and labor behind GenAI, and who gets to control the future of technology 👥🌏💻💡

DISCO Network reposted

What a great, fun conversation this was! It’s not often the case that you get to do a podcast with IRL friends who are also experts in your field. There’s some pretty mind blowing insights esp from @cassiusa.bsky.social highly recommend!

University of Minnesota Press@uminnpress.bsky.social

🆕🎧▶️ Fantastic new conversation on the pod featuring Lisa Nakamura, André Brock, Jr., Wendy Sung, and Cassius Adair talking material labor and the digital economy: share.transistor.fm/s/2200797c @lnakamura.bsky.social @cassiusa.bsky.social

Together, the A.I.eeeee!!! Collective spent the week writing and developing a new collaborative book project, Feeling the Future: Asian/Americanist Takes on Techno-Empire (working title). We’re excited to share more about the book’s release soon!

We interviewed the panelists of our Black Boys and the Future of Technology panel (Rayvon Fouché, John Pasmore, Kareem Edouard, and Jonathan Cropper) about Black boys in STEM, Black innovation, the era of AI, and building an equitable digital future for all. Watch now: youtube.com/playlist?lis...

youtube.comDISCO Speaks - YouTubeWe spotlight voices across the DISCO Network and its projects, including asking them for their hot take on current trends in digital culture and technology.

DISCO Network reposted

Here's the link to the free pdf of my new book The Inattention Economy: How Women of Color Built the Internet. Access is so important and I'm grateful that the press is platforming it as one file that is easy to download. www.upress.umn.edu/978081669906...

upress.umn.eduThe Inattention EconomyRevealing the unheralded contributions of women of color to the foundation and development of the digital economyThe Inattention Economy challenges the wides...

DISCO Network reposted

Excited to speak on #PredatoryData @U-M's Digital Studies Institute tom/Tues @ 3P ET-US. Join online or onsite. Thx @Yousif Hassan @Center for Ethics, Society & Computing @Amer Culture @English Lang & Lit @Film, TV & Media @Instit for Research on Women & Gender + @Sci, Tech, & Public Policy Program!

Last call folks! 🌐🏥 Join @umichdigital.bsky.social TODAY at 3:00 PM [EST] for Anita Say Chan & Yousif Hassan's conversation on "Predatory Data: Eugenics in Big Tech and Our Fight for an Independent Future" This event is HYBRID w/ free copies for the first 25 in-person attendees 📙🚫 myumi.ch/n1zqb

myumi.chAll Events | U-M LSA Digital Studies Institute
DISCO Network@disconetwork.bsky.social

Two weeks from today! @umichdigital.bsky.social Interested in exploring the throughline between the 19th century's anti-immigration & eugenics movements and today's sprawling systems of surveillance & algorithmic discrimination? Join the conversation at 3:00 PM [ET] on Tuesday, March 24th

Last call y'all! Join us this afternoon at 4:00 PM [ET] ‼️ To register and learn more about each of our panelists, visit: myumi.ch/R35pz & hey! If you're coming in-person, four of our DISCO staff just walked several boxes of sandwiches down State Street-- come on by and get some food 🥪🥤

DISCO Network@disconetwork.bsky.social

📸🟧 UPCOMING 🟧📸 Tuesday, March 10th at 4:00 - 5:30 PM [ET] Join us for "Against Surveillance & Spectacle" featuring @vashetc.bsky.social, @meg-fereday.bsky.social, Kim Fernandes, @wells.bsky.social, & Shin Yang in conversation w/ @remiyergeau.bsky.social (Director, DAF Lab)