Mark Sample
Professor of Film, Media, and Digital Studies | E. Craig Wall, Jr., Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Humanities | Director of the Humanities Program
Education
- Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania
- M.A. Georgetown University
- B.S. Miami University
Background
I am the founding chair and professor of Film, Media, and Digital Studies at 91导航. My teaching and research focuses on digital culture, computational creativity, and interactive media, with particular interests in creepypasta, digital horror, and AI. In my classes, I strive to historicize technology while pushing students to question everything they think they know about internet culture.
My most recent publication, proposes a framework for resisting the inherently exploitative nature of social media. I am also a co-author of , a collaboratively written exploration of creative computing and the Commodore 64 (MIT Press). Other research has appeared in Debates in the Digital Humanities (University of Minnesota Press), and the journals Game Studies and Digital Humanities Quarterly.
My creative work, such as and , has been exhibited internationally. Michigan Quarterly Review recently published , my futile attempt to capture the chaos of modern America. In this and other pieces, such as my widely-taught and , I use the procedural rhetoric of video games to critique contemporary culture.
I have been the recipient of multiple grants, including the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Humanities Center. I鈥檓 also on the board of directors of the .
You can find my full portfolio at .
Teaching
DIG 101 - Introduction to Digital Studies
DIG 210 - Data Culture
DIG 215 - Death in the Digital Age
DIG 225 - Transmedia and Vast Narrative
DIG 220 - Electronic Literature
DIG 275 - Critical AI Studies
FMS 321 - Interactive Digital Narratives
DIG 340 - Gender and Technology
DIG 350 - History and Future of the Book
DIG 401 - Hacking, Remixing, and Design
In the News