In the simplest sense, the ‘interface’, as inter- (among, between, betwixt, in the midst of), and -facies (form, appearance, face), refers to the means by which communication and relation trespass borders – be they technological, embodied, social, political, or cultural. As such, media studies, social theory, engineering, design, and Digital Humanities interface with each other through the concept of ‘interface’. Yet, even while the interface articulates a mix of embodied, technological, and environmental relations, it also often functions as if a gateway to a seemingly dematerialized data-world.

This workshop investigates current research on interface that breaches the digital-material divide. How does the shift from analogue to algorithm imply a shift from thinking in analogue to thinking in digital? How can the materiality of the digital be identified and how does it mediate the relation to research objects and ideas? And how do we address the representation or the lack of representation of data in critique of political power-structures and social manipulation? The workshop addresses the media-historical contours of the ‘interface’ and its presence within current Digital Humanities methodologies by questioning how methods and modes of thought on the interface are reconceived through interface with the digital.