Jacob Gaboury
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jacobgaboury.bsky.social
Jacob Gaboury
@jacobgaboury.bsky.social
4.1K followers 520 following 45 posts
Associate Professor of Film & Media, UC Berkeley (he/him)
Media History | STS | Queer Theory | Digital Visual Culture
Book: Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics (2021)
Now: Screenshot Histories & Queer Computing
https://jacobgaboury.com
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jacobgaboury.bsky.social
Jacob Gaboury @jacobgaboury.bsky.social · Oct 24
With the exodus from the bad place I should probably post something here about what I actually do. Hi! I'm a media historian who studies digital visual culture and queer technologies.

My first book, IMAGE OBJECTS, explains how computer graphics transformed the computer into an interactive medium:
Image Objects
How computer graphics transformed the computer from a calculating machine into an interactive medium, as seen through the histories of five technical objects...
mitpress.mit.edu
Reposted by Jacob Gaboury
alt254.bsky.social
Ding ding ding! We are now here at @wonderville.nyc for the third and final session of the OCTOPAD OPEN!

You can find us at 1186 Broadway in Brooklyn from 3-8PM! For more info check out:

www.wonderville.nyc/events/the-o...
A blue poster featuring two hands grasping bundles of NES controllers but instead of 8 buttons on 1 controller here there’s 1 button on 8 controllers…times two! The text reads “The Octopad Open at Wonderville; Saturday Nov. 8 from 3-8pm; 1186 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY 11221.”
November 8, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Reposted by Jacob Gaboury
miriamposner.com
It’s in 😬😱
Seeing Like a Supply Chain: Data in the Circuits of Global Trade Miriam Posner Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Systems at War in a Hostile Universe: The Informatic Roots of Logistics 2. Exploding the BOM: Digitizing Production in the Cold War 3. Phantoms, Backflushes, and the Trumpet of Doom: The Dilemmas of Just-in-Time 4. Inventing SCM 5. The Sensate Company in the Animate Cloud 6. Transferring Risk in a Calamitous World
September 9, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Reposted by Jacob Gaboury
sfreviewofwhatever.bsky.social
SAN FRANCISCO REVIEW OF WHATEVER ISSUE TWO RELEASE PARTY REMINDER! TOMORROW, Thursday, August 28, at 6 p.m. onward, at Et al., 2831A Mission Street. There will be readings with an element of chance! And pizza and beers, and whatever else turns up. See you tomorrow! Looking forward. xx
SFRW • Issue Two Release Party • Thursday, August 28 at Et al. • Readings with an element of chance Featuring Sophia Wang Michael Walker • Ted Barrow • Amanda Guest • Craig Calderwood • Anne Walsh Rose Linke • Christina Svenson • Rod Roland
August 27, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Reposted by Jacob Gaboury
lisadiedrich.bsky.social
Prof. Susan Stryker puts on her "academic drag" & marshals the "cultural capital" of her doctoral training in gender studies to say that Gavin Newsom did not do his homework well enough & he would fail her class. 🔥🔥🔥
maricohn.bsky.social Mari Cohn @maricohn.bsky.social · Aug 25
Transgender studies professor Dr. Susan Stryker tears Gavin Newsom a new one while accepting the Transgender Legacy Award from the California state legislature 🔥🔥🔥 @susanstryker.bsky.social
August 27, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Reposted by Jacob Gaboury
benjaminschultzfig.bsky.social
Two things that seem clear to me after listening to ppl talk about this are: 1) that there just is no good options for SCMS right now. Speaking out means taking a risk, but so does staying silent. People are already being fired, reprimanded, or self-censoring out of fear of these.
benjaminschultzfig.bsky.social Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa @benjaminschultzfig.bsky.social · Aug 24
I want to address two criticisms of the call to boycott SCMS. One is about the board's status as unpaid volunteers, who should not be criticized by the people who are not, themselves volunteering to be on the board. I think this is a good rule of thumb when it comes to things like the food...
August 26, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by Jacob Gaboury
dukepress.bsky.social
In "Indigenomicon," @arsavium.bsky.social examines the differences between settler colonial studies and Indigenous studies by bringing video game studies into conversation with Black studies, queer studies, and Indigenous feminist critique. Read the intro for free now: buff.ly/RM90jF8
Cover of Indigenomicon: American Indians, Video Games, and the Structures of Dispossession by Jodi Byrd. The cover art features a stylized, pixelated landscape that transitions into a painted forest scene. A river runs along the bottom, where a figure sits in a canoe. In the background, a wooden palisade, tall trees, and two stork-like birds in flight are depicted.
August 25, 2025 at 2:03 PM
jacobgaboury.bsky.social
I'll be chatting on KQED this morning at 10am PST, if you'd like to tune in!
August 22, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Reposted by Jacob Gaboury
benjaminschultzfig.bsky.social
As the deadline to submit comes up, please consider whether SCMS is a venue that aligns with your values.
benjaminschultzfig.bsky.social Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa @benjaminschultzfig.bsky.social · Aug 7
And there we have it. A call to boycott SCMS this year.
"BOYCOTI SCMS 2026 FOR NEARLY TWO YEARS, THE SCMS BOARD OF DIRECTORS HAS REFUSED TO PUBLICLY ACKNOWLEDGE PALESTINE OR DECRY ANTI-PALESTINIAN RACISM AND THE ISRAELI GENOCIDE IN PALESTINE. INSTEAD, THE SCMS BOARD HAS: 1) IGNORED THE WISHES OF OVER 700 OF ITS MEMBERS TO MAKE A PUBLIC STATEMENT CONDEMNING THE ISRAELI SCHOLASTICIDE AND MEDIACIDE IN PALESTINE 2) ISSUED MASS MESSAGES TO DENY THE PERPETRATION OF RACISM AND HARASSMENT BY A PRO-ISRAEL AGITATOR AT THE 2025 CONFERENCE 3) DISABLED VITAL COMMUNICATION PLATFORMS FOR CAUCUSES AND SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS 4) INSTITUTED AUTHORITARIAN CHANGES TO THE ASSOCIATION'S ANNUAL ELECTION NOMINATION PROCESS WITHOUT RATIONALE OR EXPLANATION SEND A MESSAGE TO THE BOARD. BOYCOTT THE CONFERENCE. Scholars of Cinema and Media Studies in Solidarity with Palestine (SCMSSP, formerly PSWG)"
August 19, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Reposted by Jacob Gaboury
bhgross144.bsky.social
Hey, hey... @sigcisconf.bsky.social--@shothisttech.bsky.social's Special Interest Group for Computing, Information & Society--is on Bluesky!

Follow them if you're interested in #ComputerHistory or the social & political impact of digital technologies like #AI.

#histsci #histtech #histSTM 🗃️📜📚
a man wearing glasses is sitting at a desk in front of a computer monitor .
ALT: a man wearing glasses is sitting at a desk in front of a computer monitor .
media.tenor.com
July 10, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Reposted by Jacob Gaboury
shanedenson.bsky.social
I made a piece of software! It’s called the film|minutes video|graphic workstation. It’s pretty niche but cool if you want to take notes or do very close readings of films/videos.
July 15, 2025 at 5:41 AM
Reposted by Jacob Gaboury
xiaochang.bsky.social
Okay, while I'm here, something sound studies and media tech history folks may find of interest: the Ray Dolby papers were recently processed and are now available for research at Stanford's Silicon Valley Archives. A bunch of stuff has been digitized too: exhibits.stanford.edu/dolby
"Copy of series of graphs showing the 'guitar' spike alone and with various Dolby SR adjustments."
July 14, 2025 at 4:36 AM
Reposted by Jacob Gaboury
romchip.bsky.social
Our peer-reviewed article this issue is 📸 SCREENSHOTS OR IT DIDNT HAPPEN by @jacobgaboury.bsky.social 📺about the long history of screenshot photography within game culture 🏆
romchip.org/index.php/ro...
a photograph of a long-haired child, standing next to their TV, which displays the end screen of a video game
July 3, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Reposted by Jacob Gaboury
bildoperationen.bsky.social
You can find almost the same use of light in AI slop. Unlike CGI renderings, AI images aren't based on a simulation of light being reflected from objects in virtual space but on a statistical distribution of color values on a flat surface, which makes them more akin to painting than photography
3/
An AI image shared by Same Altman in 2023
July 2, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Reposted by Jacob Gaboury
jacobgaboury.bsky.social
The new issue of @romchip.bsky.social is out, and includes new work by me on the history of video game screenshots and the way we photographed our game screens to capture images of ourselves: romchip.org/index.php/ro...

The rest of the issue is fantastic, check it out!
A screen photograph of the game Paperboy (1985). A photograph of a young girl in front of the end screen for Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988). A photograph of a television and its domestic context, with the TV showing the end screen of Contra (1987). A screenshot showing a raiding guild after defeating Ragnaros in the Molten Core raid dungeon of World of Warcraft (2004).
July 2, 2025 at 5:49 PM
jacobgaboury.bsky.social
The new issue of @romchip.bsky.social is out, and includes new work by me on the history of video game screenshots and the way we photographed our game screens to capture images of ourselves: romchip.org/index.php/ro...

The rest of the issue is fantastic, check it out!
A screen photograph of the game Paperboy (1985). A photograph of a young girl in front of the end screen for Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988). A photograph of a television and its domestic context, with the TV showing the end screen of Contra (1987). A screenshot showing a raiding guild after defeating Ragnaros in the Molten Core raid dungeon of World of Warcraft (2004).
July 2, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Reposted by Jacob Gaboury
msteinbrg.bsky.social
Platforms and the Moving Image book now out! Edited by Philipp Keidl and Jana Zündel, featuring the work of many amazing scholars, and mostly junior scholars, including work on Netflix, IMDb, KaraGarga, smart homes, Disney+, ALTBalaji, and much more -
meson.press/books/platfo...
Platforms and the Moving Image › meson press
Platforms and the Moving Image offers a multifaceted look at how digital platforms shape and are shaped by economic, cultural, and political forces. The collection examines the effects of gaming, soci...
meson.press
June 20, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Reposted by Jacob Gaboury
haimson.bsky.social
Can't believe book pub day is here!! *Trans Technologies* is officially published today! Use discount code MITP30 for 30% off today only (unfortunately available only in the US) www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/777584...
Trans Technologies by Oliver L. Haimson: 9780262551861 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
How technology creates new possibilities for transgender people, and how trans experiences, in turn, create new possibilities for technology. Mainstream technologies often exclude or marginalize tran...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com
February 25, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Reposted by Jacob Gaboury
meredithmeredith.bsky.social
Stand by this: www.politico.com/newsletters/...
What’s a technology that you think is overhyped? I’m going to give a sideways answer to this, which is that the venture capital business model needs to be understood as requiring hype. You can go back to the Netscape IPO, and that was the proof point that made venture capital the financial lifeblood of the tech industry. Venture capital looks at valuations and growth, not necessarily at profit or revenue. So you don’t actually have to invest in technology that works, or that even makes a profit, you simply have to have a narrative that is compelling enough to float those valuations. So you see this repetitive and exhausting hype cycle as a feature in this industry. A couple of years ago, you would have been asking me about the metaverse, then last year, you would have asked me about Web3 and crypto, and for each of these inflection points there’s an Andreessen Horowitz manifesto. It’s not simply that one piece of technology is overhyped, it’s that hype is a necessary ingredient of the current business ecosystem of the tech industry. We should examine how often the financial incentive for hype is rewarded without any real social returns, without any meaningful progress in technology, without these tools and services and worlds ever actually manifesting. That’s key to understanding the growing chasm between the narrative of techno-optimists and the reality of our tech-encumbered world.
February 19, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Reposted by Jacob Gaboury
lainenooney.bsky.social
This is circulating in my queer political circles but I've otherwise seen no mainstream coverage. This, combined w/ the trans man in upstate New York who was brutalized for months b4 being murdered -- well these are the material impacts of transphobia

zerodoesntsleep.substack.com/p/vet-found-...
Vet found hanging draped in trans flag
The suicide letter they won't publish
zerodoesntsleep.substack.com
February 15, 2025 at 9:48 PM
jacobgaboury.bsky.social
Very excited to have a piece in this new collection. Incredible work by Zach, Melody, and Jennifer!
dukepress.bsky.social Duke University Press @dukepress.bsky.social · Feb 11
The new experimental collection "Informatics of Domination," edited by Zach Blas, @melodyjue.bsky.social , & Jennifer Rhee, addresses formations of power that manifest through technical systems and white capitalist patriarchy in the 21st century. Read the intro for free now!
https://buff.ly/4jU7Nwk
Cover of Informatics of Domination, edited by Zack Blas, Melody Jue, and Jennifer Rhee. The cover features and bright white title text against a stark black background, with information about the contributors in a light gray text. The text is located at the top of the cover, above a series of intersecting parallel and perpindicular lines that are rendered in a black, gray and white gradient.
February 12, 2025 at 4:53 AM
Reposted by Jacob Gaboury
mbfazi.bsky.social
Great essay on “the desire called ‘Fredric Jameson’,” — @nicobaumbach.bsky.social on the pages of @parapraxismag.bsky.social 📖🖊️⚡️✨

www.parapraxismagazine.com/articles/the...
The Last Good Dad — Parapraxis
On Fredric Jameson’s pedagogy Nico Baumbach
www.parapraxismagazine.com
February 10, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Reposted by Jacob Gaboury
jomc.bsky.social
I was lucky to read a draft of this incredible book by @loriemerson.net, who has for years thoroughly researched and expanded public understanding of networks. This book, which is beautifully written and designed, *will sell out.* Preorder!! storiesla.com/item/ni6NjGB...
redemmas.org/titles/43727...
loriemerson.net Lori Emerson @loriemerson.net · Feb 10
is a bit crushed to learn Anthology Editions will shut down July 1. they are still publishing #othernetworks but instead of a print run of 4000, they'll print 1000 with extremely limited promo/marketing...thems are the breaks, I guess and I know there are much worse things in the world right now 1/3
table of contents for Other Networks: A Radical Technology Sourcebook
At long last, I can share the final table of contents for Other Networks: A Radical Technology Sourcebook (forthcoming from Anthology Editions…sometime…soon!)–a coffee table book …
loriemerson.net
February 10, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Reposted by Jacob Gaboury
internethippo.bsky.social
It's appropriate that this sentiment comes after the industry realized that they haven't done anything useful in 20 years so they descended into mass psychosis over tech that does nothing but purports to do everything
adriandaub.bsky.social Adrian Daub @adriandaub.bsky.social · Feb 6
2025 will go down as the year when all the subtext became text
February 6, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Reposted by Jacob Gaboury
gamehistoryorg.bsky.social
Good things come to those who wait - the Video Game History Foundation Digital Library launches on January 30th, 2025. (We'll tell you all about it then!)
January 23, 2025 at 7:43 PM