The Data Fix with Dr. Mél Hogan

Mél Hogan
  • 4.6 (8)
  • EDUCATION

Hi everyone, my name is Mél Hogan and I’m a critical media studies scholar based in Canada. I’m working on a project called The Data Fix through a series of conversations with scholars, thinkers, and feelers. Together we explore the significance of living in a world of data, and especially the growing trend of “digital humans” in the form of chatbots, holograms, deepfakes, ai images and videos, and even tech that revives the dead. The conversations are minimally edited, and serve as an archive of the collective thinking and feeling that is going into the Data Fix project. Please see thedatafix.net for more details and show notes. Thank you so much for listening.  Cover art by Oona Ode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. FEB 16

    Enough, with Adam Becker

    In this episode, Adam Becker and I talk about our AI overlords and their “philosophical” influences — mostly eugenics-based pseudoscience and bad readings of sci-fi that make tech billionaires feel like they’ve earned their billions by being the smartest people on the planet… while ruining the planet. Recorded Feb 13, 2026. Released Feb 16, 2026. More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity (2025) https://mitpressbookstore.mit.edu/book/9781541619593  BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w172zsskmkss5ll (start at 39:15) Rolling Stone Q&A: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/tech-billionaires-adam-becker-1235381649/ Dreaming Against the Machine http://dreamingagainstthemachine.com/ Forthcoming: Adam Becker’s new podcast website (bookmark this now for later!) Mentioned in our conversation: I Am An AI Hater by Anthony Moser https://anthonymoser.github.io/writing/ai/haterdom/2025/08/26/i-am-an-ai-hater.html  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 12m

  2. FEB 2

    Containment, with Zoë Sofoulis (Zoe Sofia) and Ingrid Richardson

    Great theorists make you see the world differently forever after. This is the case with my guests for this episode, Zoë Sofoulis (Zoe Sofia) and Ingrid Richardson — brilliant scholars helping us rethink containers and containment as a feminist strategy to rework worldly narratives about what holds, filters, leaks. This conversation was a special honour for me. Recorded January 23, 2026. Released February 2, 2026.  Containment Technologies of Holding, Filtering, Leaking (2025) https://meson.press/books/containment/  Zoë Sofia Container Technologies (2000) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227700296_Container_Technologies  Shoutouts to: Re-Understanding Media: Feminist Extensions of Marshall McLuhan (Duke University Press) https://dukeupress.edu/re-understanding-media  Insufferable Tools: Feminism Against Big Tech https://www.dukeupress.edu/insufferable-tools  Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man Paperback –1994 https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262631594/understanding-media/  And much more… Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    59 min

  3. JAN 19

    Friendship, with Am Johal and Matt Hern

    In this first episode of 2026, I speak with Am Johal and Matt Stern, authors of the "O My Friends, There Is No Friend: The Politics of Friendship at the End of Ecology" (2025) to better understand what friendship means these days... at the "end of ecology". Is friendship political? Can an AI chatbot be a friend? Recorded Jan 16, 2026. Released Jan 19, 2026. Matt Hern, Am Johal O My Friends, There is No Friend (pdf) https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/id/022e1f6f-f14a-4c11-a94c-c95610919f8c/9783839470268.pdf Below the Radar podcast: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast.html *** New Cover art by Oona Ode! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    58 min

  4. 12/22/2025

    Predictable, with José Marichal

    José Marichal is exceptionally good at making the case for why we should all become algorithmic problems and also much more reflective of our engagement with social media. We are altered by recommendation algorithms -- and we should probably think now about how to renegotiate these terms? Happy holidays! Recorded Nov 27. Released Dec 22, 2025. You Must Become an Algorithmic Problem Renegotiating the Socio-Technical Contract https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/you-must-become-an-algorithmic-problem  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    56 min

  5. 12/08/2025

    Advocates, with Meg Rintoul and Kathryn Barnwell

    In this episode I speak with friends-neighbours-advocates Meg Rintoul and Kathryn Barnwell about current plans in place to build an AI data center in Nanaimo, B-C. -- and allowing ourselves to write a new story about the future. Recorded Nov 27. Released Dec 8, 2025. 'Very scary': Nanaimo neighbours have water worries about new data centre https://www.reddit.com/r/nanaimo/comments/1oo24s3/very_scary_nanaimo_neighbours_have_water_worries/ 'An Island concern': Nanaimo water advocates want new data centre stopped https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OQzc2bhtXw CBC: AI-related data centres use vast amounts of water. But gauging how much is a murky business https://www.cbc.ca/news/ai-data-centre-canada-water-use-9.6939684 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 2m

  6. 11/24/2025

    Tracking, with Stefanie Felsberger

    In this episode, I got to walk through a recent report called “the high stakes of tracking menstruation” with its author, Stefanie Felsberger, a sociologist of tech & gender. I cannot express enough how much there is to learn from this topic that can help us understand the bigger landscape of tech promises and harms. Recorded Oct 23, 2025. Released Nov 24, 2025. The High Stakes of Tracking Menstruation - MCTD Cambridge https://www.mctd.ac.uk/femtech-high-stakes-tracking-menstruation/  https://www.mctd.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/The-High-Stakes-of-Tracking-Menstruation_Accessible.html  Menstrual apps harvest data that ‘puts women’s safety at risk’ https://www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcare/article/menstrual-apps-harvest-data-that-puts-womens-safety-at-risk-bd0srb8mt?  Period: The Real Story of Menstruation (by Kate Clancy) https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691191317/period?  Website https://www.stefaniefelsberger.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    55 min

  7. 11/10/2025

    Surveillance, with Justin Hendrix

    In this episode, I speak with Justin Hendrix, the CEO and Editor of Tech Policy Press, a nonprofit media venture concerned with the intersection of technology and democracy. We talk about ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement), surveillance, and AI. Recorded Oct 21, 2025. Released Nov 10, 2025.  Republican Budget Bill Signals New Era in Federal Surveillance DEAN JACKSON, JUSTIN HENDRIX / JUL 2, 2025 https://www.techpolicy.press/republican-budget-bill-signals-new-era-in-federal-surveillance/ Amidst Violent Immigration Raids, DHS Turns to Big Tech to Silence Dissent JENNA RUDDOCK / OCT 3, 2025 https://www.techpolicy.press/amidst-violent-immigration-raids-dhs-turns-to-big-tech-to-silence-dissent/  AI Surveillance on the Rise in US, but Tactics of Repression Not New DIA KAYYALI / MAR 26, 2025 https://www.techpolicy.press/ai-surveillance-on-the-rise-in-us-but-tactics-of-repression-not-new/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    52 min

  8. 10/20/2025

    Sovereign, with Paris Marx

    Host of Tech Won't Save Us and acclaimed tech critic, author, and international speaker, Paris Marx joins me for this episode where we discuss AI futures in a Canadian context: the idea of a "sovereign cloud", an "AI minister", and much more! Recorded Oct 15, 2025. Released Oct 20, 2025. Website https://parismarx.com/ Tech Won't Save Us https://techwontsave.us/ Disconnect https://disconnect.blog/im-writing-a-new-book/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    54 min
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Ratings & Reviews

4.6
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

Hi everyone, my name is Mél Hogan and I’m a critical media studies scholar based in Canada. I’m working on a project called The Data Fix through a series of conversations with scholars, thinkers, and feelers. Together we explore the significance of living in a world of data, and especially the growing trend of “digital humans” in the form of chatbots, holograms, deepfakes, ai images and videos, and even tech that revives the dead. The conversations are minimally edited, and serve as an archive of the collective thinking and feeling that is going into the Data Fix project. Please see thedatafix.net for more details and show notes. Thank you so much for listening.  Cover art by Oona Ode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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