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Whitney Trettien: Data Frictions in the History of Prisons

(Muss leider ausfallen / Cancelled)

In the 1880s, printing presses entered U.S. prisons. Since then, hundreds of newspapers have been written, edited, and printed inside prisons. These range from underground zines reproduced by hand to widely circulated magazines and newspapers. Together, these texts form a powerful counter-archive to the wash of dime novels, government forms, envelopes, and church circulars printed for pennies on the dollar by prison labor.

The digital humanities project Printing in Prisons investigates the complicated role of printing presses in prisons as a technology of both exploitation and creative expression. In this work, I collaborate with students and justice-involved scholars to 1) curate a digital collection of prison publications and 2) tell stories connecting these historical materials to the crisis of mass incarceration in the US today. Conducting digital humanities research with individuals who are formerly or currently incarcerated presents major challenges to my standard working methods. This talk addresses the complexities of digital access, ethics, and sustainability when working with prison data and justice-involved collaborators. I use these lessons to reflect on how to build a more impactful digital humanities practice in general.

Vortrag im Rahmen des „Digital History“-Forschungskolloquiums
Zeit: POSTPONED – Mittwoch, 4. Juni 2025, 16-18 Uhr
Ort: Zoom-Konferenz (Zugang auf Anfrage oder via Mailingliste)


OpenEdition schlägt Ihnen vor, diesen Beitrag wie folgt zu zitieren:
Digital History Berlin (Redaktion) (30. Mai 2025). Whitney Trettien: Data Frictions in the History of Prisons. Digital History Berlin. Abgerufen am 19. Juni 2025 von https://doi.org/10.58079/1417i


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