J.D. Swerzenski and Brendan McCauley / University of Mary Washington and University of Massachusetts-Amherst

J.D. Swerzenski is an Assistant Professor at the University of Mary Washington studying critical pedagogy, media literacy, and software studies. His work explores the role media production and instructional software play in structuring learning practices and reproducing culture, and in turn, how educators might retheorize our use of these technological teaching tools to support critical engagement and challenge hegemonic representations. His articles have been published in Communication Education, The Journal of Visual Literacy, Media Practice and Education, and Democratic Communique. Outside of academic work, J.D. works as a video and multimodal producer, most recently serving as editor and sound engineer for the documentary Finding the Words: The Story of Voices from Inside.https://jdswerzenski.com/



Brendan McCauley is a PhD Candidate in Communication, working at the intersection of production studies and performance studies to track the development of creative labor practices. Through ethnography, documentary, and platform analysis, his research explores how digital platforms, pandemics, and center-periphery dynamics have altered the articulation of contemporary art practices and compounded the many strains on artist’s labor. https://www.brendan-mccauley.com/