Archive Fever: Documents, Objects & Images

How do documents, objects, and images become digital data, and what changes when they do? A scanned manuscript becomes searchable in seconds, but the search index reflects earlier choices about what to digitize, what to label, and what to leave out. An evidence video can be authenticated by forensic architecture or dismissed by algorithmic bias, sometimes within the same news cycle. The question is who has the authority to say what a digital surrogate means.

3 class sessions2 Digital Forays

In this module · 3 sessions

6March 4Digital Data Gathering: Documents, Objects, & Images #1Foray #1 paired
7March 11Digital Data Gathering: Documents, Objects, & Images #2
8March 18Digital Data Gathering: Documents, Objects, & Images #3Foray #2 paired

Class 6 · March 4

Digital Data Gathering: Documents, Objects, & Images #1

Digital Foray · Before class, 12:30–2pm

Witnessing + Proof + Human Rights

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Explore one project on both Syrian Archive and Forensic Oceanography, examining methods, approach, audience, and claims. What counts as evidence in a digital age? How do human rights organizations use digital tools to document, verify, and present proof of atrocities? This session opens Module III by confronting the politics of digital witnessing.

Required Readings & Resources

From the Session

MentionedKuntsman & Stein, "Digital Suspicion, Politics, and the Middle East" (2011)
MentionedForensic Oceanography (Forensic Architecture)
MentionedAI Dungeon (GPT-3 to Text)
MentionedNFTs: Nyan Cat Meme Selling
MentionedDeepTomCruise + Deep Nostalgia (Deepfakes)

Class 7 · March 11

Digital Data Gathering: Documents, Objects, & Images #2

Student Presentations. How do we see with machines? This session turns to computer vision, image analysis, and the contested terrain of visual evidence. From deepfakes to algorithmic image classification, we explore what happens when seeing is no longer believing, and how scholars can critically engage visual methodologies in a post-truth landscape.

Portrait of Gamal Abdel Nasser — In-class demonstration: a still photograph of Gamal Abdel Nasser run through MyHeritage's Deep Nostalgia AI animation.

Required Readings & Resources

From the Session

Class 8 · March 18

Digital Data Gathering: Documents, Objects, & Images #3

Digital Foray · Before class, 12:30–2pm

Social Media Afterlives

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Continuing with documents, objects, and images, this session deepens the exploration of algorithms of oppression, distant viewing, and the politics of digitization. How do power structures get encoded into the tools we use to analyze images? Who decides what gets digitized, preserved, and made searchable?