May 7, 2025

1 PM - 3 PM

Join us for BCaT Eats at Skinner 3115. There will be food, community, and fun. Hope to see you there!

May 7, 2025

10 AM - 12 PM

In this workshop, Dr. Morrison considers the constraints of mapping technologies in offering layered and rich representations of Black life and space, highlighting how digital mapping can be used both as a tool to supplement research and creative inquiry, as well as to present research findings.

Of primary concern in early design stages and at various stages of project iteration are project ethics (both conceptually and regarding labor), organization of data and metadata, and the technology/software leveraged to animate data for both internal project collaborators and external end users.

Drawing from her experience working on three large-scale digital humanities projects that utilize data about Black historical subjects, Dr. Morrison explores what has shaped her own DH mapping project.

April 23, 2025

10 AM - 12 PM

This workshop will be hosted by Christopher Derrell. Chris is an award-winning software developer who in his role, manages UX, architecture, and development to create practical and aesthetic websites. These have spanned across multiple industries including Banking, Hotels and Engineering, from Barbados to Rome, while being recognized globally as leaders in technological innovation.

Day 2 focused on hands-on 3D scanning, AI-generated models, Deploying Your Space and optimizing for performance.

April 9, 2025

10 AM - 12 PM

This workshop will be hosted by Christopher Derrell. Chris is an award-winning software developer who in his role, manages UX, architecture, and development to create practical and aesthetic websites. These have spanned across multiple industries including Banking, Hotels and Engineering, from Barbados to Rome, while being recognized globally as leaders in technological innovation.

Day 1 focused on fundamentals of 3D Design, designing XR spaces, interactive experience examples, mental Models and 3D scanning fundamentals.

April 1, 2025

5 AM - 7 PM

Dr. Safiya U. Noble is a Professor at UCLA where she serves the Director of the Center on Race & Digital Justice and Co-Director of the Minderoo Initiative on Tech & Power. She is the bestselling author of Algorithms of Oppression. This talk will be moderated by Catherine Knight Steele, Associate Professor of Communication and Director of the Black Communication & Technology Lab.

March 26, 2025

5 PM - 7 PM

Join us for BCaT Eats at Skinner 3115. There will be food, community, and fun. Hope to see you there!

March 10, 2025

10 AM - 12 PM

This workshop offers a user-friendly data scraping method for the researcher who—like me—is not tech-savvy. The tool we will discuss is Zeeschuimer, which can capture data from TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, and more by "looking over your shoulder" as you scroll through them. We will also explore the 4CAT interface, which provides a toolkit to process and analyze your raw data.

Every Wednesday from March 12, 2025 - May 7th, 2025

12 PM - 1 PM

Join us at Skinner 3115 or on Zoom for BCaT Bookclub. To access the readings for this week, visit our Automating Black Joy page.

March 10, 2025

10 AM - 12 PM

From generative AI to various phases of appropriation, Black soundscapes are under constant surveillance and manipulation. In this workshop, Dr. Martin demonstrates strategies for considering the ethics of soundscape recording and composition in Black digital and artistic projects. Drawing from her residency with the Library of Congress Connecting Communities Digital Initiative (CCDI), she offers insights on sampling collections with critical intention across mediums, including installations, films, and digital projects. Ultimately, Dr. Martin invites a conversation about slowing the datafication of Black life, advocating for a more thoughtful approach that carefully considers the consequences and possibilities of handling Black sound.

February 26, 2025

5 PM - 7 PM

Join us for the launch of the book Technoskepticism! From Munchausen by Tiktok, to wellness apps, to online communities, to AI, the DISCO Network explores the possibilities that technoskepticism can create. Technoskepticism explores possibility and refusal in new technologies, highlighting how people of color and disabled individuals have long navigated between acceptance and rejection. Technoskepticism shares their stories, revealing the opportunities skepticism can create.

February 26, 2025

12 PM - 1 PM

Join us for an information session to learn about our new inter-institutional research project which examines automation and AI through the lens of Black feminist inquiry.

February 26, 2025

10 AM - 12 PM

Archives and the Black Tradition explores the significance of personal and digital archives in re/defining historical legacies, promoting narrative control and agency, and expanding conventional notions of memory, place, and truth.

keondra bills freemyn is a writer and archivist in the Black tradition whose work and research centers contemporary cultural production. She is Co-Executive Director of Black Lunch Table, a radical digital archiving project focused on Black visual artists and is founder of Black Women Writers Project, a digital archival initiative highlighting the contributions of Black women and gender-expansive writers to the literary canon. She is an alumna of Columbia University (MPA), Fordham University (BS), and University of Maryland (MLIS).

February 19, 2025

3 PM - 5 PM

The BCaT Lab is hosting an Associate of Internet Researchers (AoIR) clinic! We are here to offer guidance on your submission materials. The theme for 2025 explores “ruptures,” encompassing alternative internet histories and theoretical perspectives often overshadowed by dominant Western ideation and big tech. Take advantage of this clinic ahead of the AoIR’s March 1st deadline!

February 19, 2025

10 AM - 12 PM

In this workshop our speakers reflect on their own practices of collecting and narrativising Oral Histories, how method informs their research, and give practical guidance towards the recovery and ethical engagement of Black counter-narratives.

November 20, 2024

12 PM - 3 PM

This month, we’re hosting a field trip on November 20th to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. There, we will have lunch in the Sweet Home Cafe and receive a guided tour of the Power of Place exhibition. This tour will help provide insights into the ways we can explore developing our Black Homeplaces Co(Lab)!

See the flier on Deep Blue

Every Wednesday from November 6, 2024 - November 20, 2024

12 PM - 1 PM

Join us at Skinner 3115 or on Zoom for BCaT Bookclub. To access the materials for bookclub, visit our Bookclub Archive.

October 16, 2024

5 PM - 7 PM

Join us for BCaT Eats at Skinner 3115. There will be food, community, and fun. Hope to see you there!

October 16, 2024

3 PM - 5 PM

Come join us for BCaT Applies at Skinner 3115 or on Zoom for a discussion on Alt-Academia! If you are a near/recent grad student considering a career in academia, join us in talking with a panel of academia experts.

Panelists include representatives from the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), and independent scholars.

See the flier on Deep Blues.

Watch the recording on Youtube or Deep Blues.

Every Wednesday from October 2, 2024 - October 30, 2024

12 PM - 1PM

Join us at Skinner 3115 or on Zoom for BCaT Bookclub. To access the materials for bookclub, visit our Bookclub Archive.

September 25, 2024

5 PM - 7 PM

Tonight is game night! Join us for BCaT Eats at Skinner 3115. There will be food, community, and fun. Hope to see you there!

September 25, 2024

3 PM - 5 PM

Come join us for BCaT Applies at Skinner 3115 or on Zoom for a panel on Alt- Academia.

September 18, 2024

12 PM - 1 PM

Join us at Skinner 3115 or on Zoom for BCaT Bookclub. To access the materials for this week, visit our Black Homeplaces page.

September 18, 2024

10 AM - 12 PM

Join us in Skinner 3115 or on Zoom to learn about the new, inter-institutional collaborative research project we will be running this year. This project will be focusing on the Black Homeplace, and centring Black placemaking practices across the diaspora as modes of resistance, celebration, play, and containers of Black archives.