Laura Imaoka

Professional Preparation

Ph.D. - Visual Studies
University of California, Irvine

M.A. - Anthropology
California State University, Northridge

B.A. - Anthropology; Art History
University of California, Santa Barbara

Research Areas

Areas of Specialization

Film and Media studies, Environmental Film and Media, Visual Studies, Critical GIS Studies

Courses Taught

Environmental Cinema (Topics in Film)
Critical Media Research Foundations
Writing for ATEC
Reading Media Critically
Critical Media Theories
Mediated Textuality
Digital Content Design
Writing on Environmental Film and Media
Disaster Cinema

Publications

co-author Mahmoudi, Thatcher, O'Sullivan. "From Foss to Profit: Digital Spatial Technologies and the Mode of Production." Digital Geography and Society, vol. 7, 2024. 2024 - Publication

"Branding the Geospatial Industry." Communication, Culture and Critique, vol. 14, no. 1, 2021, pp. 109–126. 2021 - Publication

co-author Thatcher. "The Poverty of GIS Theory: Continuing the Debates Around the Political Economy of GISystems.” The Canadian Geographer/Le Geographe Canadien, vol. 62, no. 1, pp. 27-34. 2018 - Publication

co-author Thatcher et al. "Revisiting Critical GIS." Environment and Planning A, vol. 48 no. 5, pp. 815-824. 2016 - Publication

“Rain with a Chance of Radiation: Forecasting Local and Global Risk after Fukushima,” in Extreme Weather and Global Media, edited by Diane Negra and Julia Leyda, 191-214. New York and London: Routledge, 2015. 2015 - Publication

Appointments

Program Head / Area Head
ATEC BA / Critical Media Studies [2024–Present]

Associate Dean of Academic Affairs
ATEC [2021–Present]

Associate Professor of Instruction
ATEC [2022–Present]

Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs
ATEC [2021–2022]

Assistant Professor of Instruction
ATEC [2017–2022]

Presentations

Selective CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

2021
The Spatial Re-Imagination of Disaster: Fukushima in the Disaster Capitalist Context - Society of Cinema & Media Studies Annual Conference
2016
Platform Capitalism: The Speculative Value of ArcGIS - Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting
2014
Mapping Drama with Information: Risk Communication Following Fukushima - Association of American Geographers Annual Conference
2013
Mediated Maps: Geographic Interoperability Issues Following Global Disasters - Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S) Annual Conference

Selective PANELS

2015
#CritGIS: The Political Economy of Geospatial Technologies - Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting

Selective WORKSHOPS

2019
Using the Japan Disasters Digital Archive in the Classroom: A Workshop on Teaching about Japan and Disaster Digital Research - Harvard University’s Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies
2016
Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics, Cultural Analytics Program - UC Los Angeles
2014
Revisiting Critical GIS Meeting - Friday Harbor Laboratories, Washington
2013
Science and Technology Studies Forum on the 2011 Fukushima/East Japan Disaster - UC Berkeley