Re: [-empyre-] Viral Witnessing Part 6
Hello all! After spending yesterday's Future of the Forum symposium at Berkeley hearing big-wig social media executives dodge questions regarding intersubjectivity and marginality, while still preaching net neutrality (from their perspectives in support of their own companies and therefore the online communities that they reach), I have a lot of questions about online anonymity, individual as opposed to collective action and/or responsibility online, and the temporality of the net. Should I feel relieved that Google Wave is going to be 100% open source and that people like Jane McGonigal with the Institute of the Future are creating games that encourage a positive future and deal with issues such energy conservation? Or, should I continue to feel discouraged by PhD student Jen Schradie's research on the direct correlation between class and online activity, and by the fact that many games are conceived and funded by the military, like DARPA's Red Balloon Challenge that occurred just yesterday? (https://networkchallenge.darpa.mil/default.aspx). I would argue that spreadable media is not necessarily marked by the now and although it might be presented as ephemeral data, may indeed be a product produced over a longer period of time. Yesterday Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, reminded us all that despite a seemingly immediate action available online, most programs that enable these interactions are built and conceived very carefully and with specific attention to long term affects on its users and the online environment. As a programmer myself who uses online networks in aesthetic products I constantly remind myself that although I may conceptually use online networking to present the theoretical now, in practice these products take more careful planning and political situation than if I were to throw my body on a stage and move around. When we think about viral/spreadable forms we must remember: whose network are we working in? It seems that if we work to keep this question in mind we are more enabled to disrupt online architectures that were created by and for the military, and take advantage of opportunities to spend years developing our own networks designed to facilitate a space for contemplation that furthers more progressive aims. Thank you for bearing with my musings as a process what was a full and challenging day yesterday! Ashley On Sat, Dec 5, 2009 at 10:43 PM, Patricia R. Zimmermann pa...@ithaca.edu wrote: More (alas) speculations and unresolved questions from Patty and Sam, on viral witnessing: How can we begin to understand the different temporalities of fixed media forms and viral/spreadable forms? *Temporalities are different between these two forms * The curated object is an aestheticized product produced, often, over a longer duration of years, designed to create a space for contemplation. *The spreadable media is not about years but about the now and it marked by its own ephemerality: it is made to disappear as networks of discourse and practice and politics shift., issues resolve or get more complex, move. *This temporality does indeed have a bottom line: live humans are impacted by images that become increasingly time sensitive and time volatile. The urgency of the act of circulation is augmented. *Yet there is a reverse side of this coin. What is the half-life of an image in digital open space? Do images and their circulation wax and wane? *With the emphasis on temporality and urgency we can neglect an understanding of the continued resonance of the images. In a digital era images last for years, and find their homes with those who are most vested in seeing it. Audiences often find images and form provisional communities around images and networks. *When this villager in Karen State, Burma, spoke out about the situation in her community, was she to know that three years later a million people on YouTube would have heard her speak? *Yet this villager who speaks out against their local military commander and is captured on digital video should do so knowing that this clip will circulate and re-circulate, and if it successfully re-circulates it will eventually be seen by that military commander. *If earlier we talked about the idea of spreadable media as relying on the choice of the individual to share, as opposed to the coercive ideas of viral media, then how do we think about this element of coercion as opposed to choice in the case of the people filmed, not just the people filming or distributing. *The ecstasies and democratic hopes of online culture can occlude issues of safety and consent – for example, how the video and cell-phone images from Burma were the basis for the jailing of participants (physical, virtual and viral) in the 2007 Saffron Revolution, and how the Iranian government is crowd-sourcing the identification of dissidents on its Gerdab website, using photo and video grabs from
Re: [-empyre-] Viral Witnessing Part 6
I had a live feed of my own last night munching dinner and the conference tidbits simultaneously. Of course the ownership of posts to a private corporation sent for viral consumption extends the menu further. x l On Dec 6, 2009, at 12:37 PM, Ashley Ferro-Murray wrote: Hello all! After spending yesterday's Future of the Forum symposium at Berkeley hearing big-wig social media executives dodge questions regarding intersubjectivity and marginality, while still preaching net neutrality (from their perspectives in support of their own companies and therefore the online communities that they reach), I have a lot of questions about online anonymity, individual as opposed to collective action and/or responsibility online, and the temporality of the net. Should I feel relieved that Google Wave is going to be 100% open source and that people like Jane McGonigal with the Institute of the Future are creating games that encourage a positive future and deal with issues such energy conservation? Or, should I continue to feel discouraged by PhD student Jen Schradie's research on the direct correlation between class and online activity, and by the fact that many games are conceived and funded by the military, like DARPA's Red Balloon Challenge that occurred just yesterday? (https://networkchallenge.darpa.mil/default.aspx). I would argue that spreadable media is not necessarily marked by the now and although it might be presented as ephemeral data, may indeed be a product produced over a longer period of time. Yesterday Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, reminded us all that despite a seemingly immediate action available online, most programs that enable these interactions are built and conceived very carefully and with specific attention to long term affects on its users and the online environment. As a programmer myself who uses online networks in aesthetic products I constantly remind myself that although I may conceptually use online networking to present the theoretical now, in practice these products take more careful planning and political situation than if I were to throw my body on a stage and move around. When we think about viral/spreadable forms we must remember: whose network are we working in? It seems that if we work to keep this question in mind we are more enabled to disrupt online architectures that were created by and for the military, and take advantage of opportunities to spend years developing our own networks designed to facilitate a space for contemplation that furthers more progressive aims. Thank you for bearing with my musings as a process what was a full and challenging day yesterday! Ashley On Sat, Dec 5, 2009 at 10:43 PM, Patricia R. Zimmermann pa...@ithaca.edu wrote: More (alas) speculations and unresolved questions from Patty and Sam, on viral witnessing: How can we begin to understand the different temporalities of fixed media forms and viral/spreadable forms? *Temporalities are different between these two forms * The curated object is an aestheticized product produced, often, over a longer duration of years, designed to create a space for contemplation. *The spreadable media is not about years but about the now and it marked by its own ephemerality: it is made to disappear as networks of discourse and practice and politics shift., issues resolve or get more complex, move. *This temporality does indeed have a bottom line: live humans are impacted by images that become increasingly time sensitive and time volatile. The urgency of the act of circulation is augmented. *Yet there is a reverse side of this coin. What is the half-life of an image in digital open space? Do images and their circulation wax and wane? *With the emphasis on temporality and urgency we can neglect an understanding of the continued resonance of the images. In a digital era images last for years, and find their homes with those who are most vested in seeing it. Audiences often find images and form provisional communities around images and networks. *When this villager in Karen State, Burma, spoke out about the situation in her community, was she to know that three years later a million people on YouTube would have heard her speak? *Yet this villager who speaks out against their local military commander and is captured on digital video should do so knowing that this clip will circulate and re-circulate, and if it successfully re-circulates it will eventually be seen by that military commander. *If earlier we talked about the idea of spreadable media as relying on the choice of the individual to share, as opposed to the coercive ideas of viral media, then how do we think about this element of coercion as opposed to choice in the case of the people filmed, not just the people filming or distributing. *The ecstasies and democratic hopes of online culture can occlude
[-empyre-] [jul...@selectparks.net: nettime-ann Network[IN]Security workshop: 10-11 December @ moddr.net]
Hi all, FYI here is a workshop a friend Danja and I are giving at moddr_lab, Rotterdam, that somewhat relates to the topic. If any readers are local to the Rotterdam area, we'd be very glad to see you at our Network (IN)Security workshop. Kind regards, Julian - Forwarded message from Julian Oliver jul...@selectparks.net - From: Julian Oliver jul...@selectparks.net To: nettime-...@nettime.org Driving: Debian GNU/Linux X-Mailman-Approved-At: Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:57:24 +0100 Subject: nettime-ann Network[IN]Security workshop: 10-11 December @ moddr.net . *Network[IN]Security workshop* with Danja Vasiliev and Julian Oliver: Two day workshop on 10 and 11th of December, 15.00 till 21.00 (GMT+1) participation fee: 30 euros (includes entry fee for the FOO_bar event on 11th!) http://agenda.wormweb.nl/agenda.php?id=2895 Location: moddr_lab, Willem Buytewechstraat 188a, Rotterdam The increasing dependence on wireless communication appears at odds with notions of public space: while the air we breathe is considered public, the signals passing through it are often not. Borrowing tools and techniques from the field of network (in)security, Danja and Julian will expose the otherwise invisible layer of WiFi activity as a rich space for activism, performance, paranoia and audiovisual practice. Over the course of the workshop participants will prototype ideas using a software toolkit given to participants. In parallel we welcome a lively discussion around the ethical and political implications of this area of study more generally. This course is open to anyone with a healthy dose of curiosity, creativity and paranoia. *Topics covered include:* - Network packet capture, analysis, creation and manipulation. - HTML page reconstruction from network packets: what websites are people around me viewing? - Spoofing remote browser sessions: how can I change the text and images in other peoples browsers? - Intercepting chat sessions: how can I change what people say to each other? - Image and streaming media reconstruction from network packets: what video and audio are people around me downloading? - Traffic shaping/routing: changing the shape of the network in your favour. - A creative introduction to the GNU/Linux command line. - Network security crash course. The Network (In)security course is open to anyone with a healthy dose of curiosity, creativity and paranoia. No prior technical experience is required. - register for this workshop by sending a short motivation to works...@moddr.net - /more info at/ http://moddr.net/networkinsecurity-workshop /more info at/ http://agenda.wormweb.nl/agenda.php?id=3102 /more info at/ http://agenda.wormweb.nl/agenda.php?id=2895 -- Julian Oliver home: New Zealand based: Berlin, Germany currently: Berlin, Germany about: http://julianoliver.com ___ nettime-ann mailing list nettime-...@nettime.org http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-ann - End forwarded message - ___ empyre forum empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au http://www.subtle.net/empyre
Re: [-empyre-] Viral Witnessing Part 6
For Lynn H. who wrote: ...should I continue to feel discouraged ... that many games are conceived and funded by the military, like DARPA's Red Balloon Challenge that occurred just yesterday? I wouldn't recommend feeling too bad about the fact that most of research into the more interesting games today is funded by the US military. The US Military use various forms of 'visuals' to overcome the greatest challenge faced by commanders today -- communicating with so many incoming soldiers who are functional illiterates. It is why their training manuals have taken on the appearance of comic books for over twenty-five years. Besides, the US military hasn't beaten anyone except Granada since 1945 (the CIA has been a far more effective neo'military' force). The virtual world of video games seems such a natural place for the US military to occupy itself as, for many decades, it has been only a virtual power. My best Gerry ___ empyre forum empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au http://www.subtle.net/empyre
[-empyre-] introducing Kevin Hamilton and Christina McPhee this week!
Dear empyre subscribers, Dear empyre subscribers, A very special thanks to Patty Zimmermann for posting her collaborative thoughts and writings on viral witnessing. Also thanks to her collaborator, Sam Gregory. The posts on viral witnessing and human rights advocacy via the media lent an important aspect to our discussion this past week. I would like to invite Patty and Sam to stay tuned this week as we complete our discussion. Also, to all of the other guests we have had tis month I hope they will also join in the discussion during this closing week. This week on empyre I would like to introduce Kevin Hamilton who was our guest most recently at the Networks and Mobilities conference at Cornell in October. He not only shared his research with the conference but also gave an artist's talk and led a workshop for the Department of Art. Also we welcome Christina McPhee who you all know as an empyre moderator and empyre online collaborator. We are thrilled that they both agreed to close out this our discussion of Viral Economies: Hactivating Design. Below are their biographies. My apologies to both of them for making this introduction so late in the day. Kevin Hamilton is an Associate Professor and Chair of New Media in the School of Art Design. He has exhibited in galleries and public spaces across Europe and North America, lectures internationally, and publishes on topics such as memory and monument, creativity and collaboration, and interface history. He's currently working on a commission for the State of Illinois, an artwork about the history of cybernetics, to be displayed in this campus' Institute for Genomic Biology. Christina McPhee (central coast California/San Francisco) is a media and visual artist. Her work is involved with the poetics of post-digital abstraction and environmental crisis. She works in drawing, photomontage and video. Recent video installations and screenings in 2009 include VIBA Buenos Aires (November), Cinema by the Bay, San Francisco (October), Chapman College/Guggenheim Gallery Los Angeles (for Because the Night) (October); ISEA, Belfast (July)'; Pace Digital Gallery, New York (April); and Videoformes 09, Clermont-Ferrand (March) . Drawings and photomontage from Tesserae of Venus', considering the future of carbon atmospheres on Earth, showed at Silverman Gallery, San Francisco (October-December 2009) and were featured at the NADA fair/ Art Miami with Silverman Gallery. New critical writing about her film work appears with Sharon Lyn Tay's new book, Women on the Edge : Twelve Political Film Practices New York: Macmillan and London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009 . BOMB Magazine has published a new interview by Melissa Potter with Christina McPhee online at http://bombsite.powweb.com/?p=5307 http://us.macmillan.com/womenontheedgetwelvepoliticalfilmpractices http://silverman-gallery.com/exhibition/view/1770 http://christinamcphee.net http://naxsmash.net http://www.vimeo.com/christinamcphee Renate Ferro Visiting Assistant Professor Department of Art Cornell University, Tjaden Hall Ithaca, NY 14853 Email: r...@cornell.edu Website: http://www.renateferro.net Co-moderator of _empyre soft skinned space http://www.subtle.net/empyre http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empyre Art Editor, diacritics http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/dia/ ___ empyre forum empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au http://www.subtle.net/empyre
