Although it’s technically been online for a week, I just took a short pause before publicising the second episode of Data Materiality. Data Materiality is a podcast series I co-host with Joel McKim, and is related to our three-year research project running under the same name, co-sponsored by Birkbeck’s Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Media and Culture and the Vasari Centre for Art and Technology.

This episode is based on an interview I did with Shannon Mattern from The New School – which was recorded in May 2019. Our interview ranged from an essay of Shannon’s on the narratives surrounding 5G technologies, to her explorations of media, materiality, time and city.

You can play the episode within this post, if you like, and the full description is pasted below.

You can also listen over on SoundCloud, or listen/subscribe to the podcast series via Apple Podcasts.

Data Materiality Episode 2: Shannon Mattern on 5G, Media Materiality, Archaeology and Pedagogy

In this episode of Data Materiality, we speak with Shannon Mattern, Professor of Anthropology at The New School for Social Research, New York City, USA. Shannon’s work spans a very wide range of topics – from archives and libraries to the deep histories of media infrastructures and the city. Our interview ranged from Shannon’s recent essay on the narratives surrounding 5G technologies, to her explorations of media, materiality, time and city. We not only speak about these topics as arenas of her research, but also as things that have often taken root and shape through Shannon’s teaching, pedagogy and exchanges with students.

Music from filmmusic.io “Clean Soul” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) License: CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)