About
Joseph’s dissertation explores four case studies of activist groups of media production who mobilized media technologies to create and archive their communities throughout the 1980s. Beginning in the Bay Area with Community Memory’s public computer terminals, his dissertation analyzes three more subcultural communities—gay videographers in New York City, Atlanta public access television producers, and the networks of queer punk filmmakers and zine-producers—who all created a media “platform” for their community before the rise of the commercial internet. His project answers the following questions regarding a history of social media and networked connectivity: What are the precursors to common modes of sociality on social media? What is the overlooked role of subcultural activism in defining these modes of sociality? What does this history tell scholars about the relationship between “social” media and social justice?
Joseph's M.A. thesis research examined the discourses surrounding urban decline in Detroit and the transgressive media practices of Detroit’s urban explorers. He has previously taught English in a French high school.
Field(s) of Study
- Digital Media Studies
- Media History
- Media & Space
- Science & Technology Studies
- Cultural Studies
