RE: FLUXLIST: Fluxlist Blog

Allan Revich Tue, 04 Apr 2006 14:04:17 -0700

It’s too bad the wiki has disappeared. It was a great tool (and great fun) for collaborative story writing. Did anybody save any of the wonderful work that was already written there?

Allan

From: owner-[email protected] [mailto:owner-[email protected]] On Behalf Of Kamen Nedev
Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2006 4:42 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: FLUXLIST: Fluxlist Blog

On 04/04/2006, at 22:14, Allan Revich wrote:

Hey - It's a big world! Plenty of room for blogs, wikis, listservs, podcasts, and whatever else comes our way ;-)

Of course it is, Allan!! And thanks a lot for inviting me to the blog!!! What I probably meant was that the communication channels are different (but, obviously, not mutually exclusive).

This is from a blog post I just fired up to my blog. I was considering it for the Fluxlist blog, but I don't want to duplicate the blog posts:

---------------

http://emitmedia.blogspot.com/

Recently, a post to the Wryting-L list announced the appearance of a new e-zine of new media writing and experimental poetry: Otholiths.

In the words of its editor, Mark Young,

It'll be called Otoliths. Why? Because I like the word. & its

definition. An otolith is one of the small bones or particles of

calcareous or other hard substance in the internal ear of

vertebrates, and in the auditory organs of many invertebrates; an ear

stone. Collectively, the otoliths are called ear sand and otoconite.

I'll consider text & vispo, prose of any description (with a limit of

5000 words & I'm not too sure about genre fiction), photography,

paintings, drawings, collages. Any combination of the above. I'll

consider kinetic or moving works.

It should be previously unpublished work though I'll make an

exception for exceptional blog postings, & anything visual can have

been exhibited. There'll be no payment, though my intention is to

also bring each issue out in a print on demand form, & each

contributor will receive a complimentary copy.

A new addition to the scarce and marginal channels of media centred on these modes of cultural production is, obviously, most welcome.

But the other reason for posting this is rather tangential:

Recently, I have noted a marked transition from channels such as mailing lists and wikis to blogs. Just recently, Fluxlist, another mainstay in experimental art, poetry, and debate, openned up its own blog. Not to say that most of the members of this and other lists have long been growing their own blogs.

This is really no more than a change of channel (or, maybe, a multiplication of channels), not of media, but, still, the mode of communication of the mailing list, the wiki, and the blog are, respectively, very different.

If, in the case of mailing lists, we can talk of a bazaar-like communal chatter, with an ever-changing climate of signal-to-noise ratios, heated discussions, flame-wars, trolls and lurkers, the wiki provides a slightly more content-centred approach (the trolling and flame-baiting are still there, of course, but, at least, there is a clear topic of discussion), it is content- rather than author-based.

Weblogging, on the other hand, seems to obey a principle more akin to a moderated dialogue. I blog - you comment, and maybe I comment on your comment, etc. Information is not centred in nodes, as in the wiki, but is instead spread around like dust particles all over the web, from blog to blog.

Often, when searching for the original article or post which has prompted some discussion, I suddenly realise that this is a mistake: in the Blogosphere, there is no original, zero-degree content. It is the posting and re-posting of content, its continuous de- and recontextualisation, that really informs the channel.

And, unless I'm mistaken, most online discourse is moving steadily in this direction.

But, hey, this is not "Otholiths"'s fault? Nay!

Let's give it a warm welcome, then!

--------

I any case, after checking out Walter's Fluxus Podcast, I had a fantastic chat with my partner about how Fluxus seems to change, move on, metamorphose, and take over new media. I mean, a podcast! Just imagine what Nam June Paik would've done with that... And, in typical Fluxus fashion, you find audio, video, music, sound, and... books, etc., etc. A podcast like no other.

So, yes, definitely, there is a space for everything here... I mean, "out their". ;-)

Oh, and that zine - check it out:

http://the-otolith.blogspot.com

I think it's an open call.

Best,

Kamen