The internet is a vast expanse, full of endless treasures, glimpses of difference, and the messiness of being human — but so often we only get to skim the bubbles that rise to the top, as filtered through algorithmic popularity contests or the business models and ideologies of megaplatforms.

Part creative prompt, part act of protest, part meditative exercise, our hour-long expedition departs once every week. Each session we’ll pick a platform, discuss what its algorithms might be hiding, and then divide up into teams — divers, researchers, excavators, and cartographers — and plunge the platform’s depths for signs of life. We’ll use what we find as materials to create new works, talk about what we learned, and return to our days with water between our toes.

Together, we’ll plunge into the deepest darkest corners of the internet on our lunch break. Since this is a highly collaborative team workshop, attendance is limited to the first 100 signups. (You may choose to attend as many or as few expeditions as you like.)

Week 1 — Jan 31, 12–1pm ET
Instagram

Week 2 — Feb 07, 12–1pm ET
Wikipedia

Week 3 — Feb 14, 12–1pm ET
Zillow

Week 4 — Feb 21, 12–1pm ET
Google Maps

Elan is a Pittsburgh-based designer and educator currently leading the product team at a nonprofit criminal justice news organization called The Marshall Project and teaching design at Chatham University. Elan runs a pop-up design studio https://insidevoices.studio/ that funnels its profits to mutual aid projects, and obsesses over the least visited corners of the internet in the newsletter Straight to Spam.

Choose to pay the amount you can afford—or sign up for free. Your donation will support Index programming and allow us to compensate Elan. We appreciate your support!