Tomas is a Doctoral candidate at the Oxford Internet Institute, where he is jointly supervised by Professor Rebecca Eynon and Professor David Zeitlyn. Tomas’ doctoral project offers a critical ethnographic account of the decades-long process of materialising a comprehensive Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP) network on Haida Gwaii, a process which has seen the islands move steadily from a state of patchy, limited broadband connectivity to one of ubiquitous hyperconnectivity. Drawing on the literature of critical infrastructure studies and cultural anthropology, and combining visual and digital ethnographic methods, it engages with the social histories and future imaginaries of broadband, doing so from the perspectives of those involved in its construction, initiation, and maintenance.
Prior to joining the OII, Tomas worked as a filmmaker and photo-journalist, and received a Double BA (High Honours) in Political Studies and Psychology from the University of Saskatchewan, as well as an MSc (Distinction) in Politics and Communication from the London School of Economics. Tomas serves as the Internet Connectivity and Accessibility Programme coordinator for the Council of Haida Nation, and is an adopted member of the Skidegate Gidins/Naa ‘Yuuwans Xaaydaga (Big House People) clan.
His research is generously supported by the Clarendon Fund, St Edmund Hall, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Canadian Centennial Scholarship Fund, and the Gwaii Trust.
Fibre, Rural/Community Broadband, Critical Infrastructure Studies, Digital Ethnography, Visual Anthropology (photography), Network Sovereignty.
With Dr Cindy Lin
This talk explores the shifting figure of ground truth in map-making, detailing how changing methods of data classification, measurement, and prediction speak to epistemic tensions around how & who can produce knowledge in conditions of uncertainty.
