Digital Cultures Research node: Carin Graminius and Ben Hogan will present their work

Carin Graminius – Digital disengagement: flooding and the performativity of environmental app data

Environmental digital monitoring technologies are increasingly integrated into smart urban infrastructures and integral to visions of the smart city. Singapore - renowned as a highly developed smart city and a global leader in water management - boasts extensive physical and digital water infrastructures. Furthermore, water monitoring data is publicly shared through the MyEnv application, a governmental environmental monitoring data platform designed to inform the public about potential issues. However, while the application is intended to guide public behaviour, app usage also intersects with habitual practices, creating contingencies and room for interpretations and engagements beyond its intended use. Building on geographer Mark Usher’s (2024) account of Singaporean water management as a practice of territorialization, we suggest that while the government has succeeded in establishing itself as the environmental guardian of disasters, digital flood monitoring in the vein of smart city aspirations underlines attendant forms of widespread disengagement inculcated in the process.

Ben Hogan – Emerging frictions: visual generative AI and the prompting practices of trans and nonbinary people

Ben will present ideas for a conference presentation for the SEASON 2026 – Search Engines and Society Annual Conference in September.