Off Center, a Podcast from the Center For Digital Narrative
Off Center is a podcast series from the Center for Digital Narrative, a Norwegian Center of Research Excellence at the University of Bergen, Norway. In each epi...
On this episode Scott joins David Bithell overseas, at Southern Oregon University's Digital Media Center. They talk about digital performance, collaborative online music and digital puppetry. References: Bithell, David. Followers. 2017. http://www.davidbithell.com/followers.htmlBithell, David. Matters Dark and Luminous. 2023-Present. http://www.davidbithell.com/mattersdarkandluminous.htmlBithell, David. Subterranean. 2020. http://www.davidbithell.com/subterranean.htmlBithell, David. Windward. 2018. http://www.davidbithell.com/windward.html
--------
33:48
The AI Update: AI Fascism
In this week's AI Update, Scott and Jhave discuss some of the ways in which fascism reproduces itself, how AI could be used as a tool to facilitate it, and how those leading AI development have found themselves in positions of political power.References:Knausgård, Karl Ove. My Struggle. 2009-2011. Watkins, Gareth. AI: The New Aesthetics of Fascism. 2025. New Socialist. https://newsocialist.org.uk/transmissions/ai-the-new-aesthetics-of-fascism/
--------
26:03
Episode 35: The Ban on Social Media, AI, and the Digital Child with Tama Leaver
In this episode, Scott travels to Australia to talk with Tama Leaver at the Center of Excellence for the Digital Child. They discuss Tama's involvement with the Center, his research regarding generative AI, the ways in which children interact with AI and how they can be affected by them, as well as a recent ban to social media for all children under 16 in Australia. ReferencesHaidt, Jonathan. The anxious generation: how the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness. 2024. New York, Penguin Press. Leaver, Tama, and Suzanne Srdarov. 2025. "Generative AI and Children's Digital Futures: New Research Challenges." Journal of Children and Media. 19 (1): 65-70. doi:10.1080/17482798.2024.2438679.Ritchie, Hannah. Australia approves social media ban on under-16s. BBC News, Sydney. November 2024. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c89vjj0lxx9o
--------
36:19
The AI Update: AI Alien Simulation Worlds
Jhave and Scott talk about simulated worlds or environments created with AI, considering what are the boundaries for artifical life.
--------
14:43
Episode 34: Output
In this episode we are joined by co-authors Lillian-Yvonne Bertram and Nick Montfort to talk about their new publication Output: An Anthology of Computer Generated Text, 1953-2023. We learn about their path into digital poetry and the process of putting together this anthology.ReferencesBertram, Lillian-Yvonne. 2019.Travesty generator. Noemi Press.Bertram, Lillian-Yvonne and Nick Montfort. 2024.Output: An Anthology of Computer-Generated Text, 1953–2023. The MIT Press.Gysin, Brion and Ian Sommerville. 1960.Permutation Poems.H. Yngve, Victor. 1961.Random Sentences.Knowles, Alison and James Tenney. 1967.The House of Dust.Lutz, Theo. 1959.Stochastic Texts.Montfort, Nick. 2017.The Truelist. Counterpath.Montfort, Nick and Noah Wardrip-Fruin. 2003.The New Media Reader.Nish-Lapidus, Matt. 2020.Work, Life, Balance.Richardson, Leonard. 2013.Alice’s Adventures in the Whale.Stiles, Sasha. 2021.Technelegy. The Black Spring Press Group.Strachey, Christopher. 1953.Love Letters.
Off Center is a podcast series from the Center for Digital Narrative, a Norwegian Center of Research Excellence at the University of Bergen, Norway. In each episode, host Scott Rettberg and a guest delve into a topic revolving around digital storytelling and its effect on contemporary culture. The biweekly podcast series covers academic research on digital narratives in electronic literature, computer games, social media, computational narrative systems, AI, XR and more in an enjoyable and understandable way.
México