The task of archiving was once entrusted only to museums, libraries, and other institutions that acted as repositories of culture in material form. But with the rise of digital networked media, a multitude of self-designated archivists—fans, pirates, hackers—have become practitioners of cultural preservation on the Internet. These nonprofessional archivists have democratized cultural memory, building freely accessible online archives of whatever content they consider suitable for digital preservation.

In Rogue Archives (MIT Press, 2016), Abigail De Kosnik, associate professor in the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies and the Berkeley Center for New Media, examines the practice of archiving in the transition from print to digital media. She focuses on the genres of “remix culture” and fan fiction, both of which are grounded in a conception of mass culture as an archive from which individuals can redeploy content for their own creation.

After an introduction by Mark Griffith (Classics), De Kosnik will speak briefly about her book and then open the floor for discussion.