Presentation short abstract

We offer findings from Watershed Moments, a project to bring the River Don’s emerging digital identities into conversation with the embodied experiences of humans. We explore how experimental, cyborg forms of mediation created by the River Dôn Project generate connection, affect, and alienation.

Presentation long abstract

The River Don flows 110km across South Yorkshire, UK. For centuries it has been exploited and controlled by humans, including a major rerouting in the 1620s. Mining and metal works discharged waste to such a degree that the river contained no fish from the late 19th century until the 1980s. Abandoned mines continue to leach toxins, while in 2024 there were 1,829 instances of sewage dumping covering 40 sites. Yet, the river has enacted its own agency. Major flooding events in 2007 and 2019 have unsettled its relationship with neighbouring communities. Salmon have begun to spawn again. The River Don and its human communities are deeply entangled, co-creating landscapes and ecologies.

Since 2022 the River Dôn Project has explored whether a river has rights, and the systems required to achieve this, building experimental digital platforms to encourage stewardship. This includes a community-owned digital twin, aiming to hold stakeholders to account, and a storytelling chatbot that converts river data into powerful narratives. We offer findings from the Watershed Moments project that bring the river’s emerging digital identities (from sewage to stewardship) into conversation with the embodied experiences of humans. The project explores how the RDP’s digital platforms generate cyborg forms of mediation between humans and nonhumans. We examine how these generate forms of connection, affective experiences and opportunities for political mobilisation, or potentially alienate people from the lively-ness of the river. The presentation features creative research methods, including reflexive river walks, demonstrating how research can both critique and affirm river movements.