On October 7, 2016, speaker TreAndrea Russworm spoke about Race, Technology, and the Problem of Recognition. In the speech, she addressed hashtags which initiate computational actions. Categorical flags makes things transparent. In other words, the unseen is visualized in concrete detail. Hashtags also represent data which tracks our personal lives. According to Russworm, hashtags are interpretations of data which will be used for oppression. Russworm also uttered, “I don’t want to be a hashtag.” This serves as a depressive counterpart; basically stating that she felt as if not only her but other African Americans are always one police encounter away from becoming a hashtag. It’s striking because it’s not only alluding to not dying but also to a digital war zone on African Americans. Being a hashtag means being searchable but only through digital memory. The murdered black subject is recognizable; the cruelty is that to be a hashtag is of failed recognition. It shows that black humanity in the end, was never valued.

Black Death As Viral

One participant said, “If i were a hashtag, I’d want the video out there…all the people who know I don’t have a criminal record…I want them to see this and ask is that enough? What will it take?” The movement is charged by videos of blacks being murdered. We’ve used technology to document the death of blacks for over a century, specifically with lynching. Photographs offer certainty. The records we think we’re looking at is an objective representation of reality. Capturing and documenting a death reinforces the nation’s scope…to remember to forget the violence of African Americans. Russworm also quoted, “The repetition of representation of black life’s failed recognition is always highly co-optable.” Opinions are mistaken for sound facts. We have to remember our historical relation to race.

Gaming Representation

In the game that Russworm showed us yesterday, you play as a 7 year old black girl who stumbles upon and witnesses police brutality. She has a choice to eat, cross the street, etc. However, no matter what she does, the police will shoot her. This shows a vocal example within politics and recognition. Grand Theft Auto online cinemas are also created for Black Lives Matter which seems to be the recurring theme in many videos. They seem to show levels of gaming representation by using theories to show what we’ve learned during dark times. These were made to create a world to better reflect our relationship to technology.

In conclusion, Russworm states these points about politics on computational representation. #1. Textual reflexivity and self-conscious critical awareness about some of the stakes around race, representation, and technology. #2, creation of active discourse communities around computational representations as such. #3, imagines a path for social change. Lastly, #4, maintains a dialogic relationship to the preexisting media histories on representing race.