Whit Pow (they/them)
@poww.bsky.social
Assistant Professor | Department of Media, Culture, and Communication | New York University. Trans media studies | Trans histories of glitches, electronic art, software, video games, and networked & computational media. https://linktr.ee/whitpow
Pinned
How the Computer Taught Us to See — Whit Pow
My article, “How the Computer Taught Us to See,” is now out with Camera Obscura (Duke University Press)! I’m especially proud of this one: here I use the method of the “horizontal cut” in order to ...
www.whitneypow.com
Hi new followers! I work in transgender media studies & computer history. My article, "How the Computer Taught Us to See," is now out - I look at how computers teach us to see like the state, & how these modes of seeing are inherently linked to race and trans life. www.whitneypow.com/articles/how...
Reposted by Whit Pow (they/them)
In "The Elsewhere Is Black," Marisa Solomon traces the flow of trash and waste from Brooklyn to Virginia to examine how waste is a mundane part of poor Black survival and a condition of racial capitalism. Read the intro for free now: buff.ly/nmdNHyj
July 17, 2025 at 2:40 PM
In "The Elsewhere Is Black," Marisa Solomon traces the flow of trash and waste from Brooklyn to Virginia to examine how waste is a mundane part of poor Black survival and a condition of racial capitalism. Read the intro for free now: buff.ly/nmdNHyj
Reposted by Whit Pow (they/them)
I'm co-editing a Special Issue for Critical Studies in Media Communication on "Games & Storage" 📦
Guided by Zoe Sofia’s articulation of “container technologies” and how systems of storage are never neutral! Let's unlid Game Studies!
Full CFP in 🧵👇Abstracts due April 22! Full drafts by June!
Guided by Zoe Sofia’s articulation of “container technologies” and how systems of storage are never neutral! Let's unlid Game Studies!
Full CFP in 🧵👇Abstracts due April 22! Full drafts by June!
a pixel art of mario standing on top of a gold block with a question mark on it
Alt: A pixel art of Mario standing on top of a gold block with a question mark on it.
media.tenor.com
April 11, 2025 at 4:32 PM
I'm co-editing a Special Issue for Critical Studies in Media Communication on "Games & Storage" 📦
Guided by Zoe Sofia’s articulation of “container technologies” and how systems of storage are never neutral! Let's unlid Game Studies!
Full CFP in 🧵👇Abstracts due April 22! Full drafts by June!
Guided by Zoe Sofia’s articulation of “container technologies” and how systems of storage are never neutral! Let's unlid Game Studies!
Full CFP in 🧵👇Abstracts due April 22! Full drafts by June!
Huge congratulations to @haimson.bsky.social and his new book Trans Technologies!! So glad we could make it to his book launch event with Briar Baron at Bluestockings this past weekend — Oliver, I’m so looking forward to reading and teaching from your book now and for many years to come. 🥳 🎉 💜
March 24, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Huge congratulations to @haimson.bsky.social and his new book Trans Technologies!! So glad we could make it to his book launch event with Briar Baron at Bluestockings this past weekend — Oliver, I’m so looking forward to reading and teaching from your book now and for many years to come. 🥳 🎉 💜
Reposted by Whit Pow (they/them)
this is what happens when artists take classes in media theory: they make incredibly ceramic tiles of the first page of McLuhan's "The Medium is the Message" and Heidegger's "The Question Concerning Technology" as part of their presentation! I mean really, people. Look at these things 😍
February 14, 2025 at 3:05 AM
this is what happens when artists take classes in media theory: they make incredibly ceramic tiles of the first page of McLuhan's "The Medium is the Message" and Heidegger's "The Question Concerning Technology" as part of their presentation! I mean really, people. Look at these things 😍
Reposted by Whit Pow (they/them)
Very excited to have a piece in this new collection. Incredible work by Zach, Melody, and Jennifer!
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
https://buff.ly/4jU7Nwk
February 12, 2025 at 4:53 AM
Very excited to have a piece in this new collection. Incredible work by Zach, Melody, and Jennifer!
Reposted by Whit Pow (they/them)
From an idea in 2008 to a book in 2025, ECHOES OF CARE: DEAFNESS IN MODERN BRITAIN has been published by @mcgillqueensup.bsky.social ! It explores how changing perceptions of deafness intersected with healthcare, disability, and eugenics in 19th-century Britain.
www.mqup.ca/echoes-of-ca...
www.mqup.ca/echoes-of-ca...
February 11, 2025 at 2:56 PM
From an idea in 2008 to a book in 2025, ECHOES OF CARE: DEAFNESS IN MODERN BRITAIN has been published by @mcgillqueensup.bsky.social ! It explores how changing perceptions of deafness intersected with healthcare, disability, and eugenics in 19th-century Britain.
www.mqup.ca/echoes-of-ca...
www.mqup.ca/echoes-of-ca...
Reposted by Whit Pow (they/them)
I wish there was a way to quantify the collective amount of work lost due to stress and despair over the last few weeks, independent of barriers to funding.
February 11, 2025 at 2:25 PM
I wish there was a way to quantify the collective amount of work lost due to stress and despair over the last few weeks, independent of barriers to funding.
Reposted by Whit Pow (they/them)
New from the Queer and Trans SCMS Caucus: a starter pack to stay in touch!
We’ve read your responses to our survey asking to transition from Meta to Bsky & we’re starting by offering this pack. A QTC account will follow.
We’re excited to connect, lmk if you’d like to be added!
go.bsky.app/G4eA51z
We’ve read your responses to our survey asking to transition from Meta to Bsky & we’re starting by offering this pack. A QTC account will follow.
We’re excited to connect, lmk if you’d like to be added!
go.bsky.app/G4eA51z
January 13, 2025 at 3:19 PM
New from the Queer and Trans SCMS Caucus: a starter pack to stay in touch!
We’ve read your responses to our survey asking to transition from Meta to Bsky & we’re starting by offering this pack. A QTC account will follow.
We’re excited to connect, lmk if you’d like to be added!
go.bsky.app/G4eA51z
We’ve read your responses to our survey asking to transition from Meta to Bsky & we’re starting by offering this pack. A QTC account will follow.
We’re excited to connect, lmk if you’d like to be added!
go.bsky.app/G4eA51z
Reposted by Whit Pow (they/them)
“In order to shoot off one email per week for a year, ChatGPT would use up 27 liters of water, or about one-and-a-half jugs… that means if one in 10 U.S. residents—16 million people—asked ChatGPT to write an email a week, it’d cost more than 435 million liters of water.”
AI doesn’t just require tons of electric power. It also guzzles enormous sums of water.
It also guzzles enormous sums of water.
fortune.com
January 9, 2025 at 11:20 AM
“In order to shoot off one email per week for a year, ChatGPT would use up 27 liters of water, or about one-and-a-half jugs… that means if one in 10 U.S. residents—16 million people—asked ChatGPT to write an email a week, it’d cost more than 435 million liters of water.”
Reposted by Whit Pow (they/them)
“…it’s a wildly worthwhile thing, to immerse oneself in a landscape, and savoring the scents of place is a crucial element of this process… Sniffing, searching, naming: These actions enable us to more thoughtfully engage with our environment.”
Scent Makes a Place
How the desert taught me to smell
nautil.us
January 5, 2025 at 5:07 PM
“…it’s a wildly worthwhile thing, to immerse oneself in a landscape, and savoring the scents of place is a crucial element of this process… Sniffing, searching, naming: These actions enable us to more thoughtfully engage with our environment.”
Reposted by Whit Pow (they/them)
BIPOC game studies conference at the Rochester Museum of Play is looking for submissions. Deadline is soon!
The first Conference on BIPOC Game Studies is this September. We would love to have you involved! If you're interested in submitting, please get your pitches in by January 18. More information here: conference.blackgamestudies.com/index.html
The 2025 Conference on BIPOC Game Studies The Strong National Museum of Play
conference.blackgamestudies.com
January 5, 2025 at 4:57 PM
BIPOC game studies conference at the Rochester Museum of Play is looking for submissions. Deadline is soon!
I am very much a min-maxing person when it comes to my own labor and I find that it’s hard for me to stop & rest after I get into the writing process — as if I need to be working to complete exhaustion each day. Working on being kind to myself and setting a firm stopping point after so many hours 🪴
January 5, 2025 at 5:58 PM
I am very much a min-maxing person when it comes to my own labor and I find that it’s hard for me to stop & rest after I get into the writing process — as if I need to be working to complete exhaustion each day. Working on being kind to myself and setting a firm stopping point after so many hours 🪴
One thing I have learned while writing this book is that the act of writing is transformative and the book ends up being often more ambitious than the book proposal (a good thing!). I learned a similar thing in my PhD and how my dissertation opened up so much from the dissertation proposal
January 5, 2025 at 5:53 PM
One thing I have learned while writing this book is that the act of writing is transformative and the book ends up being often more ambitious than the book proposal (a good thing!). I learned a similar thing in my PhD and how my dissertation opened up so much from the dissertation proposal
T-minus less than 2 months (give or take!) to completing and submitting my book manuscript. Aiming to submit things in February — just working on putting in the hours each day. Today I’m working on finishing up my chapter on the connected histories of computational and biological determinism
January 5, 2025 at 5:49 PM
T-minus less than 2 months (give or take!) to completing and submitting my book manuscript. Aiming to submit things in February — just working on putting in the hours each day. Today I’m working on finishing up my chapter on the connected histories of computational and biological determinism
I was invited to serve as a Critic in Residence at the International Studio & Curatorial Program this winter — it’s been lovely speaking with the artists in residence about their art practice and the ideas they’re thinking through in their work. Many thanks to Melinda Lang and ISCP for inviting me.
December 23, 2024 at 2:28 PM
I was invited to serve as a Critic in Residence at the International Studio & Curatorial Program this winter — it’s been lovely speaking with the artists in residence about their art practice and the ideas they’re thinking through in their work. Many thanks to Melinda Lang and ISCP for inviting me.
Reposted by Whit Pow (they/them)
by @poww.bsky.social! "By positioning medical history, medical documentation & medical legislation as types of media that retain & contain trans history...[we] better see how computational media...has always contained the shape of trans lives & our pasts & presents." drive.google.com/file/d/11EQd...
Pow, How the Computer Taught Us to See, Camera Obscura.pdf
drive.google.com
December 8, 2024 at 4:28 PM
by @poww.bsky.social! "By positioning medical history, medical documentation & medical legislation as types of media that retain & contain trans history...[we] better see how computational media...has always contained the shape of trans lives & our pasts & presents." drive.google.com/file/d/11EQd...
Hi new followers! I work in transgender media studies & computer history. My article, "How the Computer Taught Us to See," is now out - I look at how computers teach us to see like the state, & how these modes of seeing are inherently linked to race and trans life. www.whitneypow.com/articles/how...
How the Computer Taught Us to See — Whit Pow
My article, “How the Computer Taught Us to See,” is now out with Camera Obscura (Duke University Press)! I’m especially proud of this one: here I use the method of the “horizontal cut” in order to ...
www.whitneypow.com
December 5, 2024 at 4:48 PM
Hi new followers! I work in transgender media studies & computer history. My article, "How the Computer Taught Us to See," is now out - I look at how computers teach us to see like the state, & how these modes of seeing are inherently linked to race and trans life. www.whitneypow.com/articles/how...
🚨Job Listing 🚨 My dept., Media, Culture, and Communication @ NYU, is hiring an Asst. Prof of Indigenous Media and Culture w/ a focus on "Indigenous theories and practices of knowledge production ... methodologies and critique." Closing date is Dec 31. Please share widely! apply.interfolio.com/158482
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
December 5, 2024 at 4:20 PM
🚨Job Listing 🚨 My dept., Media, Culture, and Communication @ NYU, is hiring an Asst. Prof of Indigenous Media and Culture w/ a focus on "Indigenous theories and practices of knowledge production ... methodologies and critique." Closing date is Dec 31. Please share widely! apply.interfolio.com/158482
Reposted by Whit Pow (they/them)
Hi ✨ Together with Anna Schjøtt Hansen and Tobias Blanke, I organize the #CriticalAI Seminar Series @uvahumanities.bsky.social. This is the 24-25 program🙌
⚡The sessions are online and open to everyone, find more info and sign up here: t.co/ScqpC7ZDrT
⚡The sessions are online and open to everyone, find more info and sign up here: t.co/ScqpC7ZDrT
November 27, 2024 at 11:59 AM
Hi ✨ Together with Anna Schjøtt Hansen and Tobias Blanke, I organize the #CriticalAI Seminar Series @uvahumanities.bsky.social. This is the 24-25 program🙌
⚡The sessions are online and open to everyone, find more info and sign up here: t.co/ScqpC7ZDrT
⚡The sessions are online and open to everyone, find more info and sign up here: t.co/ScqpC7ZDrT
Reposted by Whit Pow (they/them)
Here’s a collection of over 140 syllabus statements on AI, collected by @leaton01.bsky.social: aiedusimplified.substack.com/p/ai-syllabi...
AI Syllabi Policies - A Look at the Collection
Over 140 submissions to the crowd-source document and so much to learn from!
aiedusimplified.substack.com
November 24, 2024 at 5:47 PM
Here’s a collection of over 140 syllabus statements on AI, collected by @leaton01.bsky.social: aiedusimplified.substack.com/p/ai-syllabi...
Reposted by Whit Pow (they/them)
pub day! please welcome "Network breakdown: the queer anarchist politics at the heart of the ‘net from FidoNet to HOMOCORE" to the world
the piece puts Tom Jennings' work as the co-architect of FidoNet alongside the queer, anarchist politics in his zine HOMOCORE
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
the piece puts Tom Jennings' work as the co-architect of FidoNet alongside the queer, anarchist politics in his zine HOMOCORE
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Network breakdown: the queer anarchist politics at the heart of the ‘net from FidoNet to HOMOCORE
In a 1993 interview for the anarchist magazine FringeWare Review, software developer Tom Jennings remarked to his interviewer, “Think you can mention somewhere that I’m a fag anarcho nerd troublema...
www.tandfonline.com
November 22, 2024 at 3:54 PM
pub day! please welcome "Network breakdown: the queer anarchist politics at the heart of the ‘net from FidoNet to HOMOCORE" to the world
the piece puts Tom Jennings' work as the co-architect of FidoNet alongside the queer, anarchist politics in his zine HOMOCORE
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
the piece puts Tom Jennings' work as the co-architect of FidoNet alongside the queer, anarchist politics in his zine HOMOCORE
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Whit Pow (they/them)
With the many absurd #SCMS2025 rejections today, seems apt to mention the SLSA CFP is out here: litsciarts.org/2024/11/09/s...
SLSA interprets its annual themes extremely capaciously, and chooses venues with the aim to accommodate the vast majority of apps—consider repurposing your panels for it!
SLSA interprets its annual themes extremely capaciously, and chooses venues with the aim to accommodate the vast majority of apps—consider repurposing your panels for it!
SLSA 2025 CFP: “Risk” | Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts
litsciarts.org
November 25, 2024 at 11:11 PM
With the many absurd #SCMS2025 rejections today, seems apt to mention the SLSA CFP is out here: litsciarts.org/2024/11/09/s...
SLSA interprets its annual themes extremely capaciously, and chooses venues with the aim to accommodate the vast majority of apps—consider repurposing your panels for it!
SLSA interprets its annual themes extremely capaciously, and chooses venues with the aim to accommodate the vast majority of apps—consider repurposing your panels for it!
This is my first time ever being rejected from SCMS since I started applying in 2014. What a brilliant group of people to be rejected with! @scrichmond.bsky.social, maybe we should apply to SLSA with our panel?
Welp, our queer & trans history of computing panel was rejected from SCMS. Perhaps it wasn't "media" enough? Or too trans?
It was actually a rad roundtable with @jacobgaboury.bsky.social @poww.bsky.social @unsurprisinglee.bsky.social and @caitmckinney.bsky.social.
I am quite grumpy about this.
It was actually a rad roundtable with @jacobgaboury.bsky.social @poww.bsky.social @unsurprisinglee.bsky.social and @caitmckinney.bsky.social.
I am quite grumpy about this.
November 26, 2024 at 3:41 PM
This is my first time ever being rejected from SCMS since I started applying in 2014. What a brilliant group of people to be rejected with! @scrichmond.bsky.social, maybe we should apply to SLSA with our panel?
Reposted by Whit Pow (they/them)
Thrilled to finally upload THE DIRTY BOOK: A USERS GUIDE TO EROTIC SOFTWARE (1982) up on @archive.org. @textfiles.com helped me nab this on ebay, @philsalv.bsky.social did the scans for VGHF.
So what is this thing? 🧵👇
archive.org/details/the-...
So what is this thing? 🧵👇
archive.org/details/the-...
The Dirty Book, Vol. 2, No. 2, 1982 : Bourbon Street Press : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
The Dirty Book: A User's Guide to Erotic Software, published by Bourbon Street Press. Vol 2, No 2. Last Quarter 1982. The Dirty Book was a magazine of content...
archive.org
November 23, 2024 at 1:23 AM
Thrilled to finally upload THE DIRTY BOOK: A USERS GUIDE TO EROTIC SOFTWARE (1982) up on @archive.org. @textfiles.com helped me nab this on ebay, @philsalv.bsky.social did the scans for VGHF.
So what is this thing? 🧵👇
archive.org/details/the-...
So what is this thing? 🧵👇
archive.org/details/the-...
Reposted by Whit Pow (they/them)
"This wrkshp will convene scholars, practitioners, artists, + activists to reflect, critique, + imagine the manifold ways that digital, physical, + social infrastructures are built, broken, reconstructed, + mythologized..l We invite participants to craft a short 📢, 👀, or ✍️ narrative..."
Connective (t)Issues
Join us to reflect, critique, and imagine the manifold ways that digital, physical, and social infrastructures are built, broken, reconstructed, and mythologized.
datasociety.net
November 21, 2024 at 2:13 AM
"This wrkshp will convene scholars, practitioners, artists, + activists to reflect, critique, + imagine the manifold ways that digital, physical, + social infrastructures are built, broken, reconstructed, + mythologized..l We invite participants to craft a short 📢, 👀, or ✍️ narrative..."