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X-WR-CALNAME:Film and Media Studies at UCSB
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://www.filmandmedia.ucsb.edu
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Film and Media Studies at UCSB
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DTSTART:20260101T000000
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DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260211T150000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260211T163000
DTSTAMP:20260422T013735
CREATED:20260129T183907Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260129T184657Z
UID:13406-1770822000-1770827400@www.filmandmedia.ucsb.edu
SUMMARY:“New” Normals:  A Cultural History of Norms  in Music\, Media\, and Technology - Amy Skjerseth\, Assistant Professor of Popular Music University of California\, Riverside
DESCRIPTION:How much in your life is preprogrammed? Presets\, or default settings on technology that condition their use\, are everywhere\, from microwave popcorn buttons to predictive text and Instagram filters. But while presets facilitate the quick\, efficient production of tasks or art\, they simultaneously reinforce economic\, political\, and social norms. In this talk\, interdisciplinary scholar Amy Skjerseth asks what presets allow and deny in media\, music\, and technology. She explores several case studies across media history to show how artists re-program presets\, using the very tools that have predetermined biases to develop new forms of artistic and cultural expression. \nCombining sound and music studies\, media and cultural studies\, philosophy\, art history\, and more\, this talk stems from Skjerseth’s forthcoming book\, Preprogrammed: How Electronic Presets Changed Music and Media (UC Press\, Fall 2026). Preprogrammed urgently reconsiders the cultural and political systems we often take for granted. The 2020s have perpetually redefined “the new normal\,” from COVID-19 to 2025 executive orders\, where rules are overturned and remade seemingly overnight. Given our imbrication with apps\, platforms\, and AI\, our entanglements with norms cannot be ignored. \nAmy Skjerseth is Assistant Professor of Popular Music at the University of California\, Riverside. Her scholarship focuses on intersections of music\, media\, material culture\, and technology. She is currently working on two books: Preprogrammed: How Electronic Presets Changed Music and Media (UC Press\, 2026) and The Feminist Wall of Sound. She is also the editor of the forthcoming Routledge Companion to Voice and Identity. Her work has appeared in journals from [in]Transition: Journal of Videographic Film & Moving Image Studies and animation to The Radio Journal and Journal of Popular Music Studies\, among others. \nFilm and Media Studies Department colloquium lecture
URL:https://www.filmandmedia.ucsb.edu/event/skjerseth/
LOCATION:2135 SSMS Building\, SSMS Building\, Santa Barbara\, CA\, 93106-4010\, United States
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
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