We study ethical, social, and aesthetic implications of digital technologies - particularly focusing on digital media & race, disability, gender, and power.
Today’s the day! 📢 Join us for “Predatory Data: Eugenics in Big Tech and Our Fight for an Independent Future” with Anita Chan.
🗓 March 24, 3:00 PM
📍1010 Weiser Hall Zoom
💻 Register now: myumi.ch/n1zqb
See you there!
ALT The image is a promotional poster for an event by the Digital Studies Institute at the University of Michigan. The background features a dark red hue with abstract white line drawings of buildings. At the top left, the University of Michigan logo and the Digital Studies Institute name are displayed. The central portion of the poster prominently features a large white text box with bold red lettering that reads, "PREDATORY DATA: EUGENICS IN BIG TECH AND OUR FIGHT FOR AN INDEPENDENT FUTURE." Below this, a circle contains a photo of a person wearing glasses and a black coat, identified as Anita Say Chan. Another red text box on the left gives event details, "March 24, 3:00 PM EST, Hybrid - In person @ Weiser Hall, 10th floor," followed by a QR code. On the right side, there is a list of co-sponsors in white text, including various departments and institutes.
At the DSI, we study technology not just as tools, but as cultural forces shaping how we communicate, learn, and imagine the future.
Invest in this work today 📚💻 Donate here: myumi.ch/3RbD1#GivingBlueday#CriticalTech#DigitalJustice
ALT An image of students interacting with virtual reality headsets and experiencing the LGBTQ VR Museum.
💙 Recurring gifts to the DSI will be matched!
Through U-M’s Look to Michigan Matching Program, your monthly gift can be doubled (up to $100/month through July 2026).
That means:
$10 → $20
$50 → $100
Sustain our student programming here: myumi.ch/3RbD1
How do technologies shape power, identity, and inequality?
DSI brings students and scholars together to critically engage these questions across race, gender, disability, class, and more.
Support this work → myumi.ch/3RbD1#GivingBlueday#DigitalStudies#CriticalTech
ALT Photo of scholars Sheila Murphy and Whit Pow at the DSI Lecture Series. They are standing in front of screen with Whit Pow's lecture title in the background that reads, "The Deliberate History of Randomness: Determinism, race, trans life, and the history of random number generation."
It’s #GivingBlueday 💙
At U-M’s Digital Studies Institute, we help students explore the ethical, cultural, and social implications of new technologies.
Support the next generation of critical digital thinkers → myumi.ch/3RbD1
👀 A week away! Join us for the DSI Lecture Series “Predatory Data: Eugenics in Big Tech and Our Fight for an Independent Future” with Anita Chan.
🗓 March 24, 3:00 PM
📍1010 Weiser Hall Zoom (Hybrid)
🔗 Register: myumi.ch/n1zqb
Don’t miss this timely conversation!
ALT The image is a promotional poster for an event by the Digital Studies Institute at the University of Michigan. The background features a dark red hue with abstract white line drawings of buildings. At the top left, the University of Michigan logo and the Digital Studies Institute name are displayed. The central portion of the poster prominently features a large white text box with bold red lettering that reads, "PREDATORY DATA: EUGENICS IN BIG TECH AND OUR FIGHT FOR AN INDEPENDENT FUTURE." Below this, a circle contains a photo of a person wearing glasses and a black coat, identified as Anita Say Chan. Another red text box on the left gives event details, "March 24, 3:00 PM EST, Hybrid - In person @ Weiser Hall, 10th floor," followed by a QR code. On the right side, there is a list of co-sponsors in white text, including various departments and institutes.
What do big tech, eugenics & your data trail have in common? Find out at our DSI Lecture Series, “Predatory Data: Eugenics in Big Tech and Our Fight for an Independent Future” with Anita Chan.
🗓 Mar. 24, 3:00 PM
📍1010 Weiser Hall Zoom
🔗myumi.ch/n1zqb
ALT The image is a promotional poster for an event by the Digital Studies Institute at the University of Michigan. The background features a dark red hue with abstract white line drawings of buildings. At the top left, the University of Michigan logo and the Digital Studies Institute name are displayed. The central portion of the poster prominently features a large white text box with bold red lettering that reads, "PREDATORY DATA: EUGENICS IN BIG TECH AND OUR FIGHT FOR AN INDEPENDENT FUTURE." Below this, a circle contains a photo of a person wearing glasses and a black coat, identified as Anita Say Chan. Another red text box on the left gives event details, "March 24, 3:00 PM EST, Hybrid - In person @ Weiser Hall, 10th floor," followed by a QR code. On the right side, there is a list of co-sponsors in white text, including various departments and institutes.
Join us for our upcoming DSI Lecture Series with micha cárdenas on trans ecological poetics, care beyond the human, and media futures 🎉
📅 Feb. 24 | 3 PM (ET) | Zoom
Register: myumi.ch/G23ey
ALT Promotional graphic for a talk titled, “Trans Ecologies of the Real and the Virtual in Contemporary Art” with speaker micha cardenas on Feb. 24 @ 3:00 pm EST on Zoom.
Good news! 🎉
We’ve extended the application deadline for the 6th Annual Digital IDEAS Summer Institute.
🗓️ New deadline: Feb. 22
Still time to join us May 31–June 5, 2026 as we explore this year’s theme: AFTER.
Apply here: muni.ch/rAP6M💡
#DigitalIDEAS
ALT The word “Digital IDEAS” with “IDEAS” in a 3D checkered style design and the U-M’s Digital Studies Institute below.
🚨 LAST DAY 🚨
Apply today to work alongside faculty moderators like Dr. Aubrey Anable at Digital IDEAS 2026, exploring aftermaths, afterlives, afterworlds & the hereafter.
⏰ Deadline: Feb. 1
🔗 myumi.ch/rAP6M#DigitalIDEAS2026
ALT The words "Digital IDEAS" with "IDEAS" in a 3D checkered style and the University of Michigan's Digital Studies Institute logo below.
🎉 Join us for AMPLIFY: the DSI Student Showcase on Tue, Feb. 3 | 3–6 PM!
Explore student work across podcasts, zines, digital art, games, and more.
📍 North Quad
🔗 myumi.ch/qZ3mZ
ALT Colorful poster for the AMPLIFY: DSI Student Showcase featuring event details and creative typography spelling out the words AMPLIFY.
🚨 5 days left!
Digital IDEAS applications close Feb. 1.
Please share with students, scholars, artists & technologists in your networks who are thinking critically about the digital AFTER.
Apply: myumi.ch/rAP6M#DigitalIDEAS2026#CriticalTech
ALT The words "Digital IDEAS" with "IDEAS" in a 3D checkered style and the University of Michigan's Digital Studies Institute logo below.
The 6th Annual Digital IDEAS Summer Institute returns May 31–June 5, 2026! 💡💻✨This year’s theme: AFTER — exploring aftermaths, afterlives, afterworlds & the hereafter. Details apply: myumi.ch/rAP6M#DigitalStudies#DigitalIDEAS2026#CriticalTech
ALT 3D text "IDEAS" with "Digital" above it, and "Digital Studies Institute University of Michigan" below.
What does creative constraint look like when using retro tech? 🎮 In our latest Q&A, Prof. Toni Bushner dives into the world of chiptune, where old-school hardware becomes a playground for radical creativity → myumi.ch/mRN61#DigitalStudies#Chiptune#8BitMusic
Today’s the day!📢Join us for “Forging Feminist Futures from 'Creepy' Technologies: The Politics of Smart Tech and Liberation Dreams”
with Neda Atanasoski & Nassim Parvin.
🗓 3–4:30 PM
📍 1010 Weiser Hall (10th floor) Zoom
💻 Register now: myumi.ch/W6MWd
👀 A week away! Join us at “Forging Feminist Futures from 'Creepy' Technologies: The Politics of Smart Tech and Liberation Dreams” with Neda Atanasoski & Nassim Parvin.
🗓 Tue, Sept 30 | 3–4:30 PM
📍 1010 Weiser Hall Zoom
🔗 Register: myumi.ch/W6MWd
What do smart dust, credit scores & sexcams have in common? Find out in “Forging Feminist Futures from 'Creepy' Technologies” with Atanasoski & Parvin, part of the DSI Lecture Series.
🗓 Sept. 30 | 3–4:30 PM
📍 1010 Weiser Hall Zoom
🎟 Register: myumi.ch/QwGnk