Mark Sample

Mark Sample is a Professor of Film, Media, and Digital Studies at Davidson College. He teaches courses such as Introduction to Digital Studies, Electronic Literature, and History and Future of the Book. His research focuses on software studies, video games, and algorithmic culture, often intersecting with digital humanities and experimental literature.

• Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
• M.A., Georgetown University
• B.S., Miami University

Sample's scholarship critically examines how video games engage with political and ethical issues, particularly in the context of the War on Terror. He has published in Game Studies and Digital Humanities Quarterly, analyzing torture representation in games like Splinter Cell and 24: The Game. His work 10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10 explores creative computing through collaborative authorship on the Commodore 64.

He is an active practitioner of digital art, creating algorithmically generated Twitter bots (e.g., @_LostBuoy_) and interactive digital poetry such as 100 Million Stanza House of Leaves of Grass. While no scientific awards are explicitly mentioned, his projects often blend critical theory with technological experimentation, drawing from Walter Benjamin, Giorgio Agamben, and Michel Foucault to interrogate power dynamics in algorithmic systems.