Arun Jacob

Arun Jacob

glumpenproletariat (noun): The melancholic stratum of the proletariat.

Posts by Collection

portfolio

publications

Punching Holes in the International Busa Machine Narrative

Jacob, A. (2020). Punching Holes in the International Busa Machine Narrative. IDEAH. https://doi.org/10.21428/f1f23564.d7d097c2.

This paper is offers a counter-hegemonic cultural memory and media archeology of punch-card technologies.

Transforming DH Pedagogy

Boulay, N., Morford, A. C., Jacob, A., Patel, K., O'Donnell, K. (2021). "Transforming DH Pedagogy." Digital Studies/le Champ Numérique. 11(1).

This paper is describing the ways in which new forms of pedagogical practices are expanding and changing the field of Digital Humanities.

Follow The Ho Chi Minh Trail: Analyzing the Media History of the Electronic Battlefield

Jacob, A. (2021). "Follow The Ho Chi Minh Trail: Analyzing the Media History of the Electronic Battlefield." IDEAH. 2(1).

This paper is about the the media history of the electronic battlefield and GIS.

Making the most of the ‘crisortunity’: Techno-fixes and precarity in a global pandemic

Bryant, Haley, Nelanthi Hewa, Camille Inston and Arun Jacob (2022).“Making the most of the ‘crisortunity’: Techno-fixes and precarity in a global pandemic” Interdisciplinary Digital Engagement in Arts & Humanities (IDEAH), vol. 3, no. 2, Dec 02, 2022. https://doi.org/10.21428/f1f23564.db5a6abe.

What does a robust and useful technological response to a crisis, aware and attentive to the biases and messages of digital media, look like?

Bad Boundaries: Geofences and the Intimacies of Location Data

Noone, Rebecca, and Arun Jacob. (2024). “Bad Boundaries: Geofences and the Intimacies of Location Data,” TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies, Issue 48, Special Issue: Platform Intimacies. https://doi.org/10.3138/topia-2023-0035

Geofencing is a practice that exploits the intimacy of locational data not simply by accessing private data but also by using intimate data to index the body in relation to risk and safety and property and trespass.

AKA WWJD?: Interrogating Gendered Ideologies and Urban Revanchism

Jacob, Arun and Elizabeth Di Emanuele. (2024). “AKA WWJD?: Interrogating Gendered Ideologies and Urban Revanchism”, Diverging the Popular, Gender and Trauma AKA The Jessica Jones Anthology edited by Mary Grace Lao, Jessica Bay and Pree Rehal, University of Calgary Press. pp. 243-252. https://ucp.manifoldapp.org/projects/9781773855752.

Kilgrave’s psychological abuse of his victims, his absolute and total control, his manipulation, and his dominance over their agency are all part of what makes him utterly terrifying: his powers are subtle exaggerations of very real human abilities.

Forced reproduction: abortion access in a landscape of data violence

Noone, Rebecca, and Arun Jacob. (2025). Forced reproduction: abortion access in a landscape of data violence. Journal of Gender Studies, 00(00), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2025.2505573

While popular responses to tracking practices call for increased data protections, this paper challenges the position that legislation can help undo these harms. In examining the practices of data intermediaries and the legal contexts that protect them, this article argues that data intermediaries are not simply bad actors profiting from post-Dobbs regulations but they reify a culture of forced reproduction through the instrument of data violence.

Bloody frontier politics: Menstrual equity, military inclusion, and the Canadian workplace

Facca, Danica, and Arun Jacob. (2025). Bloody frontier politics: Menstrual equity, military inclusion, and the Canadian workplace. Diversity & Inclusion Research, 2(3). https://doi.org/10.1002/dvr2.70029

We examine how menstrual concealment and suppression technologies are made available to AFAB soldiers as military technological solutions for occupational health that simultaneously expand participation and reinforce cultural beliefs that menstruation is a logistical problem to be minimized and/or erased in service of operational readiness.

talks

What is the Worst That Could Happen? (Research Data Management Panel)

As a way to illustrate Research Data Management (RDM) in practice, I was invited to speak at on this panel consisting of both researchers and those working in research support, discussing their experiences with data management, with a focus on unforeseen events that can lead to a disruption, near disruption, or horror story in a research project!

teaching

Sessional Instructor teaching experience

Community College Courses, Department of Liberal Studies, School of Community, Justice and Liberal Studies, Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology, 2018

I have been a Sessional Instructor at Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology, Hamilton, Ontario.

Teaching Assistant experience

Teaching Assistant, University of Toronto, Faculty of Information, 2019

I have been a Teaching Assistant at the Department of Arts, Culture and Media, University of Toronto, Scarborough, the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology, University of Toronto, Mississauga and the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto, St. George.