Restor(y)ing the Ground: Digital Environmental Media Studies

Abstract

This article presents a digital environmental media studies (DEMS) framework that shifts the primary focus of digital media study from one grounded in computation to one fully rooted in the earth. DEMS proposes a relational, metabolic ontology wherein popular media theory terms like atmospheric media, elemental media, cyborg, and digital labor are put to new use to call attention to the evolving, inseparable and transformative, material relations between the human, the earth, and the digital network. Motivated by the absence of environmental thinking from both digital theory and popular digital rhetoric, this article counters by making visible the overlooked intersections of media materiality, social reflexivity, and the environment.