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Dr Tony D Sampson

Reader in Digital Media Culture and Communication

University of Eas London, Arts and Digital Industries (ADI)

Dr. Tony D. Sampson is reader in digital media cultures and communication at the University of East London. His publications include The Spam Book, coedited with Jussi Parikka (Hampton Press, 2009), Virality: Contagion Theory in the Age of Networks (University of Minnesota Press, 2012), The Assemblage Brain: Sense Making in Neuroculture (University of Minnesota Press, Dec 2016) and Affect and Social Media, coedited with Darren Ellis and Stephen Maddison (Rowman and Littlefield, 2018). Tony is the organizer of the Affect and Social Media conferences, a co-founder of Club Critical Theory in Southend, Essex and Director of the EmotionUX Design Lab at UEL. He works with students from design, technology, media and communications and fine art.

     

    Please visit my Virality blog for updated information
    Dr. Tony D. Sampson is reader in digital media cultures and communication at the University of East London. His publications include The Spam Book, coedited with Jussi Parikka (Hampton Press, 2009), Virality: Contagion Theory in the Age of Networks (University of Minnesota Press, 2012), The Assemblage Brain: Sense Making in Neuroculture (University of Minnesota Press, Dec 2016) and Affect and Social Media, coedited with Darren Ellis and Stephen Maddison (Rowman and Littlefield, 2018). Tony is the organizer of the Affect and Social Media conference, a co-founder of Club Critical Theory in Southend, Essex and Director of the EmotionUX Lab at UEL.



    Overview

    Interests
    Please visit my Virality blog for updated information
    Tony's current research explores a wide range of digital media culture related interests, specializing in persuasion theory, experience design theory, social media marketing, virality (socio-digital contagion), marketing power, emotional design and branding, network models, pass-on-power, the convergence between experience design (UX) and experience marketing, assemblage and affect theory, critical human computer interaction (HCI) and activism and the onset of neuroculture (i.e. neuromarketing, neuroeconomics). Tony has published his work internationally in peer reviewed academic books and journals. He has also appeared as a keynote, plenary speaker, invited guest speaker and presenter at international scholarly events (see below).

    Publishing

    In 2009 Tony co-edited The Spam Book: On Viruses, Porn and Other Anomalies from the Dark Side of Digital Culture (Hampton Press; 2009) with Jussi Parikka. This is a significant contribution to the digital culture and communications field bringing together leading scholars to shed light on the “dark” cultures of the internet. It includes chapters on viral and spam marketing.
    Tony’s next book, Virality: Contagion Theory in the Age of Networks (Minnesota University Press, 2012), innovatively brings together the early social imitation theory of Gabriel Tarde and the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze to develop a contemporary alternative to memetics, encompassing digital, affective, economic, political and cultural contagions. The book includes chapters on Tarde, networks, memes, viral videos and a critique of persuasion in communication and design practices.
    His most recent book, The Assemblage Brain: Sense Making in Neuroculture (Minnesota University Press, Jan 2017) develops a radical critical theory exploring the “interferences” between the neurosciences, philosophy, art and capitalism. This book includes chapters on the interference as a methodological tool, the convergence between user interaction design research, emotional design and user experience marketing, marketing power, neuromarketing, big pharma and the attention economy, emergence theory, populism and the politics of affective neurocultures.
    Tony is currently working on a coedited collection, Affect and Social Media,  with Darren Ellis and Stephen Maddison (Rowman and Littlefield, 2018) stemming from the annual Affect and Social Media conferences he organizes at UEL. This book will be published in summer 2018.

    Funding

    Internal Funding from UEL 

    Civic engagement x2 Resorting to the Coast with Essex CC  - partner on 360k HLF project.

    - Website and Digital research (£2,000)

    - Conference organisation and management (£4,000) 

    Research internship

    - Digital Food Cultures Focus Groups in South Essex (£2,000)

    Impact Fund

    - Essex Future Conference 2 Day Conference at the Civic Centre in Southend-on-Sea (£5,000)

    External Funding for Projects and Programmes

    Currently working on an Affect and Social Media Research Network application (£30, 000).

    Network Resorting to the Coast – Funding from Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) - Funding for 2 Conferences organised by UEL (£8,000)

    Collaborative application submitted to Europe for Citizens “Understanding the European Past of Fascism Cultures: Actions towards a Virtual Museum (ActiViM).” (£8-10, 000 - Pending)

    AHRC Standard Grant Application for collaborative "Virality and the News" (£500, 000). Unsuccessful - currently redeveloping for an ESRC grant.

    Collaborative application submitted to the 4th HERA Joint Research Programme “Public Spaces: Culture and Integration in Europe.” (160, 000Euro from 1million overall). Unsuccessful.

    CERC/DSWG/UEL “Creative Digital: Southend” project - bid to “Make Happen” (HEFCE and Essex University), (£95, 000). Unsuccessful.

    Research Roles

    Director of the emotionUX lab at UEL
    In 2013 Tony successfully secured funding for a lab space and equipment dedicated to research into user experience, affect and social media. The lab has subsequently been central to research funding bids, art projects and hosts the annual Affect and Social Media Symposia at UEL.

    Organizer of the Annual Affect and Social Media Conferences and Sensorium Art Show
    Tony organizes and hosts UEL’s annual Affect and Social Media conferences, which invite cross-disciplinary engagement in the study of the mobilization of affect, feelings and emotions in digital online environments.

    Public and Civic Engagement Roles

    Tony is co-founder of Club Critical Theory (CCT); a free ‘club’ based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex dedicated to bringing about public engagement in the town through the application of critical theory to everyday life. CCT work with local community groups, artists, and  local authorities. For example, as well as holding events in informal venues and art galleries, the club, along with their civic engagement partners, the Cultural Engine, secured funding in 2016 for a major conference bringing together policy makers, experts and the community to discuss cultural policy in the area. This event included debates on food cultures (with Jack Monroe), cultural industries (with Matthew Taylor), design/branding, tourism and heritage in the area.

    In 2017 a successful bid to the civic engagement fund resulted in a student-led UX design and branding project that assisted a successful 350k HLF bid for a seaside cultures project, including two major conferences organized by UEL and the Cultural Engine. http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/national-lottery-grant-to-fund-tendring-seaside-heritage-project-1-4947017

    PhD supervision and external examination

    Tony has successfully supervised PhDs and Professional Doctorates in Fine Art to completion and continues to supervise students on a wide range of projects related to his own research. These include studies on mobile technology and development in Kenya, liminal performance art practice, re-membering and pervasive digital media, digital-Taylorism and HCI design, vision and absurdity, influence of digital marketing on TV production and viral marketing.

    Tony has examined PhDs internally and externally at e.g. Exeter, Sheffield and Essex.

    Selected keynotes, invited talks, chairs and conference papers 

    Keynote Panel talk at  “VIRAL/GLOBAL Popular Culture and Social Media: An International Perspective”

    Regent Campus, The University of Westminster Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI), Sept 13th 2017.

    Guest speaker at Central Saint Martins (University of the Arts, London) on Tues 7th November at a special public symposium to discuss a new book called Are We All Addicts Now? 

    Speaker on the “Assembling Empathy” panel at the SLSAeu Empathies conference at the University of Basel on 22nd June 2017 with Greg Seigworth, Darren Ellis and Ian Tucker.

    Co-organizer and introductory speaker at Club Critcal Theory’s Food Cultures: A Food Plan for Southend at The Focal Point Gallery, The Forum, Southend, Essex, 10th June, 2017.

    Organizer and host of the Affect and Social Media#3 conference, University of East London, 25th May 2017.

    Guest panel member. Trauma of the Anthropocene. Discussants: Mateusz Chaberski (moderator, Jagiellonian University), Mateusz Borowski (Jagiellonian University), Tony D. Sampson (University of East London), Małgorzata Sugiera (Jagiellonian University) at Traumatic Modernities. From Comparative Literature to Medical Humanities Centre for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the Jagiellonian University, Kraków,  Poland, April 19-21, 2017.

    Talk with Jussi Parikka: Experiencing Digital Culture, Anatomy Lecture Theatre, 6th Floor, King’s Building, King’s College London, Strand, WC2R 2LS, 7th March, 2017 7-9pm. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/experiencing-digital-culture-tickets-31933122830

    Keynote at the Rietveld Studium in Amsterdam at an event called What is Happening to our Brain? on Tues 8th Feb 2017.  With Franco “Bifo” Berardi.

    A book launch collaboration with artists Mikey Georgeson and Dean Todd as part of Georgeson’s The Deadends exhibit at the Studio One Gallery in South West London on Thurs 23rd Feb, 2017.

    MC and introductory talk at CCT’s Essex Futures Conference in Southend, Essex  15-16th Sept, 2016

    Guest speaker at roundtable symposium at the University Lincoln, UK, on the theme of ‘Cybernetic Subjectivities and the Mediation of Trust and Empathy’. Inaugural founding event marking the establishment of the Centre for Entangled Media Research, hosted by the School of Film and Media, University Lincoln, UK, 24th-25th May.

    Plenary speaker at Streams of Consciousness: Data, Cognition and Intelligent Devices conference at Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies, Warwick University, 21st and 22nd of April 2016.

    Hosting the Affect and Social Media Symposium#2 at UEL Docklands on 23rd March 2016. Full details will appear on this blog in mid Jan.

    Talk at a Club Critical Theory special at Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London 3rd March 2016. A response to Conway Actants by artists Deborah Gardner and Jane Millar.

    Invited talk “Waking the Somnambulist: The Capture of Affect, Attention and Memory (and why we need new weapons to stop it)” at The Image of Network symposium, Winchester School of Art (Southampton) organized by Yigit Soncul and Jussi Parikka, Tuesday June 16, 2015.

    Invited talk at the Vital Mobilizations: Care and Surveillance in the Age of Global Connectivity conference at the Collège d’études mondiales, Paris, 1-2 June, 2015.

    “On Crowds, Publics and the Potential of Assemblages.” An introductory talk at a pre-election Club Critical Theory special event called Where is the Common Ground: Making Local Activism Work In Southend, Upstairs at the Railway Hotel, Southend-on-Sea, Sunday 3rd May, 2015.

    Organiser and chair for the Affect and Social Media Research Seminar at UEL, Docklands campus, Friday 27th Feb, 2015.

    “Start Spreading the News: Audiences, News and Contagion”, From Multitude to Crowds in Social Movements – publics, gatherings, networks and media in the 21th century, 26-27 January, Catholic University of Portugal, Lisbon, 2015.

    “The Rhythmic Brain: Attention Deficit and the Care of Youth” at Concerning Relations: Sociologies of Conduct, Care and Affect Symposium, Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, 28 – 29 November 2014.

    Chairing Club Critical Theory discussion on “Kursaal as Heterotopic Space” with Angie Voela (UEL) and Jane Millar (artist and curator), 2014.

    Keynote at the “Cultural im/materialities: Contagion, affective rhythms and mobilization” PhD summer school at Aarhus University, Denmark 25th June, 2014.

    Keynote at the “Affective Capitalism” symposium at University of Turku, Finland, June 5-6, 2014.

    “From Taylor to Neurolabour: Continuities and discontinuities in the three paradigms of HCI” guest talk HCID 2014 at City University, April 23rd, 2014.

    “Deleuze, Contagion and the New Brighton” guest talk at Club Critical Theory, upstairs at The Railway Hotel, Southend-on-Sea, Essex. April 17th, 2014.

    “From Virality to Neuroculture” invited talk at the Bochum Colloquium for Media Studies (bkm) hosted by the Institute of Media Studies at the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. 3rd Dec, 2013.

    Guest panel member at the Meme Control event, the Future Human Salon, 7-9.30pm, Nov 20th at The Book Club, Shoreditch, London, 2013.

    “Viral Networks” invited talk at the Royal College of Art, London, Oct 30th, 2013

    “Memes, spam, nodes, moods and super–clusters of attention” invited talk on Virality and Neuroculture at Centre for Cultural Policy Studies, University of Warwick, 15th Oct 2013.

    “Leaking Affects and Mediated Spaces” paper presented at at the Fourth International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Emotional Geographies at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, 1-3rd July 2013.

    “Virality, Chaos and the Brain” invited talks for a two day workshop on virality and neuroculture organized by The Bureau of Melodramatic Research based in Bucharest – 22nd-23rd June, 2013.

    An invited talk on Virality as part of the “I am Algorithm” show by the artist Charlie Tweed. 6pm on Wednesday 19th June at the Aspex Gallery in Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth, 2013.

    “Too Much Connectivity” invited speaker at Brunel and Oxford Brookes University series on Networks and Society, Friday 24th May 2013.

    From Virality to Neuroculture at the Contagion: transforming social analysis and method workshop. Invited talks for the Dept in Geography at Exeter University, 13th-14th May, 2013.

    “Putting the Neuron Doctrine to Work,” invited talk at the Copenhagen Business School series on Crowds and the Brain, April 11th 2013. See event poster

    “Anomalies, Archaeology and Contagion” discussion with Jussi Parikka and Tony D. Sampson at Kings College, London, 20th March 2013.

    “Tarde’s Phantom Takes a Deadly Line of Flight” invited speaker at The Operations of the Global – Explorations of Dis/Connectivity Conference, Warburg-Haus, University of Hamburg, 6th-8th October 2011.

    ‘Press Delete’ The Politics and Performance of Spamculture panel session, the International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA), Dortmond, Germany, 23 to 27 August 2010.

    Viral Love, research presentation for the Thinking Network Politics: Methods, Epistemology, Process Conference, ARU, Cambridge, 25 & 26 March 2010.


    Research

     

    REASEARCH OUTPUTS

    To see full list please use the badly designed scrollbar on your right. Thanks! 

    Please visit my

    Virality blog for updated information

    Monographs

    Currently working on a new book on experience, experience economy, user experience, Whitehead.

    Tony D Sampson, The Assemblage Brain: Sense Making in Neuroculture, University of Minnesota Press (Jan, 2017).

    Tony D Sampson, Virality: Contagion Theory in the Age of Networks, University of Minnesota Press (2012).

    Ebook release


    Digital Neuroland: An interview with Tony D. Sampson, Rhizonomic Series, Rizosfera (ed.) Creative Commons Four, (2017).

     

    Edited Collections

    In production - Tony D Sampson (with Darren Ellis and Stephen Maddison) (eds.) Affect and Social Media, due summer (Rowman and Littlefield, 2018).

    Tony D Sampson (with Jussi Parikka) (eds.) The Spam Book: On Viruses, Porn and Other Anomalies from the Dark Side of Digital Culture, Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2009.


    Book Chapters

    Tony D Sampson “Cosmic Topologies of Imitation: From the Horror of Digital Autotoxicus to the Auto-Toxicity of the Social” in Autoimmunities, Stefan Herbrechter, and Michelle Jamieson (eds.), Routledge, 2018.

    Tony D Sampson, "Tap my Head and Mike My Brain: Neuromarketing and Addiction in Are We All Addicts Now, Editor: Vanessa Bartlett, Liverpool University Press (forthcoming, 2017).
    Tony D Sampson “The Self-Other Topology: The Politics of [User] Experience in the "Like" Economy” in Boundaries of Self & Reality Online: Implications of Digitally Constructed Realities Editor: Jayne Gackenbach, Elsevier (2017).         

    Tony D Sampson “The Man with Two Brains, but no Umbrella” in Jane Millar and Deborah Gardner (eds.), Conway Actants (2016).

    “An Interview with Tony D Sampson” in the Birth of Digital Capitalism: Populism, Crowd, Power and Postdemocracy on the 21st Century, Obsolete Capitalism Free Press, 2015.

    Tony D Sampson, “Contagion Theory Beyond the Microbe” in Kroker and Kroker (eds.), Critical Digital Studies: A Reader, University of Toronto Press, 2013.

    Tony D Sampson (with Jussi Parikka), “Learning from Network Dysfunctionality: Accidents, Enterprise and Small Worlds of Infection” in Hartley, Burgess and Bruns (eds.), The Blackwell Companion to New Media Dynamics, Wiley-Blackwell, (forthcoming); 2012.

    Tony D Sampson, “Error-Contagion: Network Hypnosis and Collective Culpability,” Error: Glitch, Noise, and Jam in New Media Cultures, Mark Nunes (ed.), London, New York: Continuum, 2010.

    Tony D Sampson (with Lugo and Lossanda), "A Prospective Analysis of the Video Games Industry in Latin America: From Banana Republic to Donkey Kong," FILE: Electronic Language International Festival 10 Years Commemorative Book, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2010.

    Tony D Sampson (with Parikka), "On Anomalous Objects: An Introduction," The Spam Book: On Viruses, Porn and Other Anomalies From the Dark Side of Digital Culture, Parikka and Sampson (eds.), Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, pp. 1-18; 2009.

    Tony D Sampson, "How Networks Become Viral: Three Questions Concerning Universal Contagion," The Spam Book: On Viruses, Porn and Other Anomalies From the Dark Side of Digital Culture, Parikka and Sampson (eds.), Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, pp. 39-59; 2009.

    Tony D Sampson (with Lugo and Lossada), "Novas indústrias culturais da América Latina aind ajogam velhos jogos Da República de Bananas a Donkey Kong," FILE: Festival Internacional de Linguagem Eletrônica, Barreto, Ricardo; Perissinoto, Paula (eds.) São Paulo: File, 2006, pp. 164- 179; 2006.

    Tony D Sampson (with Lugo), “The Discourse of Convergence. A Neo-liberal Trojan Horse," Broadcasting and Convergence: New Articulations of the Public Remit, Lowe and Hujanen (eds.) Nordicom, pp. 83-92 ISBN: 91-8947-18-0; 2003

    Peer Reviewed Journal Articles

    In production: “Unthought Meets the Assemblage Brain: A Dialogue between N. Katherine Hayles and Tony D. Sampson.” Invited article for US open access Capacious Journal (due 2018).

    In production: “Affect, Cognition and the Neurosciences.” Invited article for special issue, Mapping Affects Studies in Athenea Digital (due 2018). Spanish and English.

    Tony D Sampson "Transitions in HCI: From Data Embodiment to Experience Capitalism" invited article for special issue of AI and Society, 2018.

    Tony D Sampson “Cosmic Topologies of Imitation: From the Horror of Digital Autotoxicus to the Auto-Toxicity of the Social” invited article for Parallax special issue on Autoimmunities, 2017.

    InHungarian translation of Tony D Sampson, "Contagion Theory Beyond the Microbe," invited article in a special issue of Apertúra on Vírus, mém, (poszt?) memetika, forthcoming 2017.

    http://uj.apertura.hu/about-us/

    “An Interview with Tony D Sampson” NANO special issue on Originality in Digital Culture, Dec 2016.

    https://www.upress.umn.edu/press/press-clips/nano-new-american-notes-online-interviews-tony-d-sampson

    Tony D Sampson, “Joyful Encounters with Affective Capitalism” Ephemera special issue on Affective Capitalism, 2016.

    Tony D Sampson, a review of Michael Schillmeiers’s Eventful Bodies: The Cosmopolitics of Illness in New Formations 84(5), 2015.

    Tony D Sampson, commentary on a special section on Contagion in The Journal of Public Health, Oxford University Press, 2013. Tony D Sampson, a review of Lisa Blackman’s Immaterial Bodies in New Formations 79(79), 2013.

    Tony D Sampson, "Tarde's Phantom Takes a Deadly Line of Flight: From Obama Girl to the Assassination of Bin Laden." invited article for special issue, Operations of the Global - Explorations of Dis/Connectivity, Distinktion Journal, 2012.

    Tony D Sampson, "Contagion Theory Beyond the Microbe," CTheory Journal of Theory, Technology and Culture, Special Issue: In the Name of Security, Jan, 2011.

    Tony D Sampson (with Lugo), "E-Informality in Venezuela: The Other Path to Technology," Bulletin of Latin American Research, Vol. 27, No. 1, pp. 102-118; 2008.

    Tony D Sampson,” The Accidental Topology of Digital Culture: How the Network Becomes Viral," Transformations: online journal of region, culture and society, Accidental Environments, Issue 14 ISSN 1444-377; 2007

    Tony D Sampson, "Senders, Receivers and Deceivers: How Liar Codes Put Noise Back on the Diagram of Transmission," Media and Culture Journal, 'Transmit', Volume 9 Issue 1 ISSN 1441-2616; 2006

    Tony D Sampson, "Dr Aycock's Bad Idea: Is the Good Use of Computer Viruses Still a Bad Idea?" Media and Culture Journal, 'Bad', Volume 8 Issue 1 ISSN 1441-2616; 2005

    Tony D Sampson, "A Virus in Info-Space: the open network and its enemies" Media and Culture Journal 'Open' Volume 7 Issue 3 (2004) ISSN 1441-2616; 2004

    Tony D Sampson (with Lugo),"A Small Picture of Big Wars: Understanding the Changing Role of Television in Future Warfare," Bailrigg Paper 31 Future Conditional: War & Conflict After Next, Centre of Defence and International Security Studies, 2002 pp. 72- 86.

    Tony D Sampson (with Lugo and Lossanda), "A Prospective Analysis of the Video Games Industry in Latin America: From Banana Republic to Donkey Kong," Games Studies: the international journal of computer game research, Volume 2 Issue 2; 2002

    Online

    “Crowds, Power and Post-Democracy in the 21st Century” an interview with Tony D. Sampson by Rizomatika, Obsolete Capitalism and Variazioni Foucaultiane blogs, 2013.

    Tony D Sampson, “Barbican's Digital Exhibition is Nothing More Than Gimmickry”, Review of Barbican Digital Revolution Exhibit in The Conversation, July 2014.

    ‘Tarde as Media Theorist’: an interview with Tony D. Sampson, by Jussi Parikka on the Theory, Culture and Society blog, 2012.

    Tony D Sampson, “Imitative Inventions”, an online review of Olga Goriunova’s Art Platforms and Cultural Production on the Internet, Mute Magazine, 2012.

    Tony D Sampson, “Software de Arriba a Abajo”, Tin Tank: Conocimieto Inspiracione Ideas ahora, 2010.

    Tony D Sampson, “Turning Software Inside Out: A Review of FLOSS +Art and Software Studies”, Mute Magazine, 2009.

    Press

    Mashable:

    http://mashable.com/2016/01/27/why-apps-like-peach-go-viral/#E91NglX2kqq9

    Review in

    https://theconversation.com/profiles/tony-d-sampson-130096

    Article on Facebook "Like" Farming in the last print edition of The Independent

    Various Keynotes, Plenaries, Presentations, Chairs

    2016

    Keynote at the Rietveld Studium in Amsterdam at an event called What is Happening to Our Brain? Art and Life in Times of Cognitive Automation on Tues 8th Feb 2017.

    This event is open to the public and includes Franco “Bifo” Berardi.

    http://whatishappeningtoourbrain.rietveldacademie.nl/

    An Assemblage Brain collaboration with two UEL artists, Mikey Georgeson and Dean Todd, as part of Georgeson’s The Deadends exhibit at the Studio One Gallery in South West London on Thurs 23rd Feb.

    Introductory talk and MC for the CCT Essex Futures Conference, Civic Centre, Southend, Sept 15-16th 2017.

    Chairing Club Critical Theory special at Strange, Mad Celebration on David Bowie, Southend, 19th June.

    “Monadology and the Megamind.” Guest speaker at roundtable symposium on the theme of Cybernetic Subjectivities and the Mediation of Trust and Empathy, an inaugural founding event marking the establishment of the Centre for Entangled Media Research, hosted by the School of Film and Media, University Lincoln, UK, 24th-25th May.

    “Gramsci does HCI.” A plenary talk at Streams of Consciousness: Data, Cognition and Intelligent Devices conference at Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies, Warwick University, 21st and 22nd of April 2016.

    Organizer and host for the Affect and Social Media 2016 symposium#2 at UEL in March 23rd.

    “The Man with Two Brains, but no Umbrella.” Talk at a Club Critical Theory special at the Conway Actants exhibit at Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London 3rd March.

    2015 On sabbatical in term one

    "Start Spreading the News: Crowds, Publics and Social Media Contagion." Paper given at From Multitude to Crowds in Social Movements – publics, gatherings, networks and media in the 21th century. An international conference hosted by the Catholic University of Portugal, Lisbon, 26 and 27 January 2015.

    Organizer and chair at the first Affect and Social Media Research Symposium at UEL, Docklands campus, Friday 27th Feb.

    "On Crowds, Publics and Desire: How to Theorize a Problem like UKIP." An introductory talk at a pre-election Club Critical Theory special event Where is the Common Ground: Making Local Activism Work In Southend, upstairs at the Railway Hotel, Southend-on-Sea, Sunday 3rd May, 2015.

    “From the Horror of Digital Autotoxicus to the Auto-Toxicity of the Social.”

    Invited talk at the Vital Mobilizations: Care and Surveillance in the Age of Global Connectivity conference at the Collège d'études mondiales, Paris, 1-2 June, 2015.

    “Waking the Somnambulist: The Capture of Affect, Attention and Memory (and why we need new weapons to stop it).” Invited talk at The Image of Network symposium, Winchester School of Art (Southampton) organized by Yigit Soncul and Jussi Parikka, Tuesday June 16, 2015.

    "Joyful Encounters with Affective Capitalism" Paper for the Affective Capitalism panel at the Affect Theory Conference, Millersville University's Ware Center, Lancaster PA , USA 14th -17th Oct.

    Co-organizer for Club Critical Theory event on Politics and the Media in Southend, Fri 4th Dec. 2014.

    "Deleuze, Contagion, Southend." Talk and discussion at Club Critical Theory, upstairs at the Railway Hotel, 17th April.

    “HCI and Neurolabour.” Guest talk at City University, London, 23rd April.

    “Joyful Encounters.” Keynote speaker at the “Affective Capitalism” symposium scheduled for June 5-6 at University of Turku, Finland.

    Chairing Club Critical Theory discussion on "Kursaal as Heterotopic Space" with Angie Voela (UEL) and Jane Millar (artist and curator), upstairs at the Railway Hotel, Southend-on-Sea, Friday 20th June.

    Keynote speaker at the "Cultural im/materialities: Contagion, affective rhythms and mobilization" PhD summer school at Aarhus University, Denmark, 25th June.

    "The Rhythmic Brain: Attention Deficit and the Care of Youth" Invited talk at Concerning Relations: Sociologies of Conduct, Care and Affect Symposium, Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, 28 – 29 November 2014. 2013

    “The Immunologic Strategem: How to Spread Fear by Not Specifying Whom Your Enemy Is.” Part of a CCSR Seminar: Security, Community & Democracy, 6 February 2013, 14:00 to 16:30 Room EB.G.10 Docklands Campus, UEL

    “Viral Love and the Underground Man.” Invited talk at the “Love Slam” event. 14th Feb 2013 6-9pm at the University of East London.

    “Anomalies, Archaeology and Contagion.” Discussion and launch event with Jussi Parikka and Tony D Sampson. 20th March 2013 (tbc) at Kings College, London.

    “The Human Freedom Virus.” Collaboration with artist Dean Todd. Bookworks exhibit April 8th-19th 2013 at the University of East London.

    “Putting the Neuron Doctrine to Work.” Invited talk at public lecture series called Public Sphere, Crowd Sentiments and the Brain. April 11th 2013 at the Copenhagen Business School, Denmark.

    “From Virality to Neuroculture at the Contagion.” Invited talk for the Geography Dept’s transforming social analysis and method workshop at Exeter University. 14th May.

    “Too Much Connectivity.” Invited talk at the New Media and The Internet: Digital Democracy or Complex Chaos? Part of a series of workshops at Brunel University on May 24th 2013.

    An invited talk on Virality as part of the “I am Algorithm” show by the artist Charlie Tweed. 6pm on Wednesday 19th June at the Aspex Gallery in Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth.

    "Virality, Chaos and the Brain." A series of workshop talks on virality and neuroculture organized by The Bureau of Melodramatic Research based in Bucharest - 22nd-23rd June.

    “Leaking Affects and Mediated Spaces.” Paper at the Fourth International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Emotional Geographies at the University of Groningen, Netherlands, July 1-3rd 2013.

    Invited talk on Virality and Neuroculture at Centre for Cultural Policy Studies, University of Warwick, 15th Oct 2013.

    Workshop on viral networks at the Royal College of Art, 10am on Weds 30th Oct, 2013.

    Guest panel member at the Meme Control event, the Future Human salon, 7-9.30pm, Nov 20th at The Book Club, Shoreditch, London.

    “Noncognitive Capitalism.” Invited talk at the Bochum Colloquium for Media Studies (bkm) hosted by the Institute of Media Studies at the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany 3rd Dec. 2012

    Launch Event for Virality, Evil Media (MIT) and Computational Cultures Journal. Oct 22nd 2012 at Goldsmiths College.

    “Viral Utopias.” Mute launch party for Virality, Open Utopia, Contract and Contagion, and Mute Magazine, including performance with Tim Vogt (Bass Guitar), Francesco Tacchini (VJ) and Nik Vaughn (turntables). 16th Nov 2012 7pm-1am at Limehouse Town Hall, London.

    “Putting the Neuron to Work.” Invited speaker at a seminar series on 'Public Sphere, Crowd Sentiments and the Brain' at the Cophenhagen Business School, 27th November 2012.

    “Following the Glint in the Eye of the Consumer.” Centre for Cultural Studies Research symposium Pushing the Limits of the Affective Workspace: Revolts, Absorption, and Ecologies of Waste at the University of East London, 21st March 2012.

    Various 2001-11

    “Tarde's Phantom Takes a Deadly Line of Flight.” Invited speaker at The Operations of the Global – Explorations of Dis/Connectivity Conference, Warburg-Haus, University of Hamburg, Germany, 6th-8th October 2011.

    “Press Delete: The Politics and Performance of Spamculture.” The International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA), Dortmond, Germany, 23 to 27 August 2010.

    “Viral Love.” Invited talk for the Thinking Network Politics: Methods, Epistemology, Process Conference, ARU, Cambridge, UK, 25 & 26 March 2010.

    “New Media Hypnosis.” Research on relevance of Tardean sociology. Presentations for both Innovation Studies Research Seminar at UEL (Making Connexions: Access, Interaction and Innovation) and the Centre for Cultural Studies Research Seminar at UEL (Studies in Evil Media) Winter 2009.

    “Error-Contagion.” Research presentation for ATACD Changing Cultures: Cultures of Change, University of Barcelona, Spain, December 10-12, 2009.

    “Rethinking Producer/Consumer Relations in the Age of Networks or the Politics of User Experience Design.” Panel session at MeCCSA Conference at the National Media Museum, Bradford, UK, Jan 2009.

    Co-organizer and speaker on the Network Anomalies Panel at the New Network Theory International Conference in Amsterdam, 28-30 June 2007. Proceedings Published online in The New Network Theory Reader.

    "E-informality in Venezuela: The 'Other Path' of Technology." Paper written with Lugo presented at the SLAS Annual Conference 2006: The University of Nottingham, 31 March-2 April 2006.

    “Viral Code as Rhizomatic Computing.” Paper presented at the School of Cultural and Innovation Research Symposium, UEL, 2004.

    “The Open Network and Its Enemies.” Paper presented at the School of Cultural and Innovation Convergence Emergence Divergence Seminars, UEL, 2004.

    "Public Broadcasting in the Information Battlefield." Paper at the RIPE Conference: Copenhagen and Aarhus Denmark, 2004.

    “Theorising the Computer Virus.” Guest Speaker at Graduate Conference, University of Essex, 2003.

    "Rethinking Hypernews Theory outside the Metaphors of New Media and the Classroom." Paper with Lugo at ECCR Mass Media Communications in the e-Society of the 21st Century: Access and Participation Moscow State University, Russia, 2002.

    "The Myth of the Post Capitalist Transition: Old concepts can still explain the 'new economy’.” Paper with Lugo at The Communication and Capitalism Conference, University of Westminster, London, 2002.

    "Technological or Ideological Convergence? How the Concepts of Market and Technological Convergence are Displacing Public Service Commitment in the New Communications and Broadcast Public Policy of the UK." Paper with Lugo at the http://www.yle.fi/ripe/2002/ Conference: Broadcasting and Convergence: Articulating a New Remit YLE in Helsinki & the University of Tampere, Finland, 2002.

    Guest Speaker at John Moores University Liverpool: Digital Democracy Seminar, 2002.

    "A Prospective Analysis of the Video Games Industry in Latin America: From Banana Republic to Donkey Kong." Co-author with Lugo for paper at the Game Cultures Conference University of the West of England, Bristol, 2001.

    Reviews

    Impressive and ambitious, Virality offers a new theory of the viral as a sociological event. Brian Rotman, Ohio State University.

    Tarde and Deleuze come beautifully together in this outstanding book, the first to really put forward a serious alternative to neo-Darwinian theories of virality, contagion, and memetics. A thrilling read that bears enduring consequences for our understanding of network cultures. Unmissable. Tiziana Terranova, author of Network Culture.

    Sampson is a great writer, and the language itself is affective: ‘bullish’, ‘cynical’ are words that become not just descriptive but gather a force of expression in Sampson’s way of mapping techniques of the noncognitive in marketing and politics.” Jussi Parikka’s review in Theory, Culture and Society - TCS Journal review of Virality.

    “[Virality] is an important interdisciplinary contribution to the understanding of network cultures not only because it puts into historical context how crowd behavior has been studied for the last hundred years, but also because it helps anyone interested in attaining a more in-depth understanding of Gilles Deleuze’s philosophy; thus, Virality is a real contribution to assemblage theory and its relation to media archeology in terms of network analysis. For this reason, it is a book that anyone interested in understanding how social media functions at the beginning of the 21st century should seriously consider reading.” Huffington Post book review by Eduardo Navas

    “Virality participates in a growing scholarly trend within the humanities in which researchers criticize and propose alternatives to the reification of a methodological division between biology and culture. While dense, Virality treats a wide range of relevant scholarship as it presents a refreshing approach to contagion theory in what has been a stagnant area of scholarship… the book is both innovative and timely, which means that the work necessary to understand Sampson’s connections will be well rewarded.” Claire Barber in Reviews in Cultural Theory.

    Tony D Sampson (with Jussi Parikka) (eds.) The Spam Book: On Viruses, Porn and Other Anomalies from the Dark Side of Digital Culture, Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2009.

    “Tony Sampson tackles the problem of modeling contagions by folding system instability over stability therein bringing inside the hitherto externality of the parasite model. He rehabilitates the figure of the juvenile virus writer for technocultural theory and revalorizes a “constitutive anomaly” that makes instability a key factor of stability in a network not given in advance, that is, not frozen, but sensitive to growth, uncertainty, and vulnerability. This idea of the network “in passage” is rich and foregrounds the robustness of the fragile” Gary Genosko’s review of The Spam Book Leonardo Reviews

    “Parikka and Sampson present the latest insights from the humanities into software studies. This compendium is for all you digital Freudians. Electronic deviances no longer originate in Californian cyber fringes but are hardwired into planetary normalcy. Bugs breed inside our mobile devices. The virtual mainstream turns out to be rotten. The Spam book is for anyone interested in new media theory.” Geert Lovink, Dutch/Australian media theorist

    “What if all those things we most hate about the Internet, the spam, the viruses, the phishing sites, the flame wars, the latency and lag and interruptions of service,and the glitches that crash our computerswhat if all these are not bugs, but features? What if they constitute, in fact, the way the system functions? The SpamBook explores this disquieting possibility.” Steven Shaviro, DeRoy Professor of English, Wayne State University

    “The first section, on ‘Contagion’, is strong on the question of the internal informational architecture of the web itself, analysing the particular topologies of networked spaces. It took me a while to grasp the logic behind this section, since the heading ‘Contagion’ seemed a secondary concern for a chapter that ultimately focused on the production of space. In fact, this counter-intuitive framing of the subject is particularly useful – the paradigm here is one of process ontology, whereby a network is not identified with its physical infrastructure, but shown to be continually produced and transformed through the making and breaking of links, in dynamic processes of interaction. The network, in this sense, does not carry contagion, but is constituted by the flows of contagion, ‘a heterogeneous compositional force endemic to the network’. This theme opens up questions as to which biological concepts are most helpful in mapping the internet – the polemical thrust of the book is to reject images of functional organic completeness in favour of viral proliferation and productive malfunction.” Ben Pritchett’s Review for Mute

    Publications

    Funding

    Internal Funding from UEL 

    Civic engagement x2 Resorting to the Coast with Essex CC  - partner on 360k HLF project.

    - Website and Digital research (£2,000)

    - Conference organisation and management (£4,000)  See:

    https://www.uel.ac.uk/events/2018/3/essex-sea-side-conference

    Research internship

    - Digital Food Cultures Focus Groups in South Essex (£2,000)

    Impact Fund

    - Essex Future Conference 2 Day Conference at the Civic Centre in Southend-on-Sea (£5,000)

    External Funding for Projects and Programmes

    Currently working on an Affect and Social Media Research Network application (£30, 000).

    Network Resorting to the Coast – Funding from Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) - Funding for 2 Conferences organised by UEL (£8,000)

    Collaborative application submitted to Europe for Citizens “Understanding the European Past of Fascism Cultures: Actions towards a Virtual Museum (ActiViM).” (£8-10, 000 - Pending)

    AHRC Standard Grant Application for collaborative "Virality and the News" (£500, 000). Unsuccessful - currently redeveloping for an ESRC grant.

    Collaborative application submitted to the 4th HERA Joint Research Programme “Public Spaces: Culture and Integration in Europe.” (160, 000Euro from 1million overall). Unsuccessful.

    CERC/DSWG/UEL “Creative Digital: Southend” project - bid to “Make Happen” (HEFCE and Essex University), (£95, 000). Unsuccessful.

    emotionUX lab

    In 2013 Tony successfully secured funding through the Challenge Fund for a purpose built lab space and equipment dedicated to research into user experience, affect and social media. The lab has subsequently been central to research funding bids, art projects and hosts the annual Affect and Social Media Symposia at UEL. Tony has also successfully bid for paid student research interns working on projects in the lab.

    Public Engagement

    Tony is co-founder of Club Critical Theory (CCT); a free ‘club’ based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex dedicated to bringing about public engagement in the town through the application of critical theory to everyday life. As well as holding events in informal venues (pubs) the club, along with their public engagement partners and funder, the Cultural Engine, have recently secured impact funding for a major conference exploring cultural policy in the area. This event includes debate on food cultures, cultural industries, tourism and heritage in the area. See:

    https://clubcriticaltheory.wordpress.com/next-cct-event/


    Related funding

    In 2016: £2,400 Impact Fund for CCT Essex Futures Conference

    In 2017: 5k Civic Engagement Fund for Seaside Cultures project (with The Cultural Engine) - resulting 350k HLF project and UEL's involvement in organizing two major conferences in Tendring.

    Funding

    In the gap between art school and returning to HE Tony performed as a musician and songwriter. He continues to write and record music with various collaborators including a recent project with the composer John Leo Dutton titled Fordlandia.






    Interests

    Portfolio

    Undergraduate

    Tony teaches research concepts and methodologies at all levels on the BSc (Hons) Digital Media Design and lectures on the BA (Hons) Media and Communications degree.

    Postgraduate

    Supervision on MA dissertations.

    PhD supervision

    Tony has successfully supervised PhDs and Professional Doctorates in Fine Art to completion and continues to supervise students on a wide range of projects related to his own research. These include studies on mobile technology and development in Kenya, liminal performance art practice, re-membering and pervasive digital media, digital-Taylorism and HCI, vision and absurdity, influence of digital marketing on TV production and viral marketing.

    Tony has examined PhDs internally and externally at e.g. Exeter, Sheffield and Essex.

    Teaching