RE: [-empyre-] greetings all

["Gregory Little" <glittle@oberlin.net>]

>Recently I've also been interested in the politics of data.
>TAke scientific visualization as one of many areas which could be
considered...
> Are there underlying assumptions
>about vision and knowledge long critiqued by feminist epistemologists being
re-
>institutionalized in this arena?

I would love to hear more about this question........I just completed a
visiting artist gig at Brown University and visited a class co-developed by
Brown CS and Rhode Island School of Design Illustration program, on
scientific visualization using a CAVE environment.  Class was very mixed in
terms of gender, across the CS and ART divide.  Work was very much in
process, so I was unable to draw any conclusions about the nature of sci vis
and gender..........students were visualizing turbulence and flow within a
vein...

I would love to hear some observations etc about "underlying assumptions
about vision and knowledge" present in sci/vis.  This constellation of
issues seems to me to be of crucial importance to art/sci collaboration,
especially with respect to what the artist might bring to the table.

thanks
Gregory Little

-----Original Message-----
From: empyre-admin@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
[mailto:empyre-admin@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au]On Behalf Of mary flanagan
Sent: Sunday, December 15, 2002 12:34 AM
To: empyre@imap.cofa.unsw.edu.au
Subject: [-empyre-] greetings all


Greetings fellow empyreans! Many thanks to Melinda R for the invitation,
and to Julianne P for starting the discussion. I found recent comments to be
thought provoking, such as the "hyperstereotypical" roles users adopt online
(brought up
by Eryk) that seem to manifest Judith Butler's ideas of performance
uncannily.

I'm a former commercial software developer, an artist, and critic/theorist
interested in gender, gaming, and technology. My stance is that technology
cannot be
neutral, esp not until it is created in a diverse environment. Having been a
software
developer, I've experienced first hand that in the US, diverse audiences
tend not to be target
audiences for products nor for recruitment in the industry.

Melinda mentioned that one of the things I'd like to discuss the book I've
recently co-edited,
_reload: rethinking women and cyberculture_. one of the interesting
discoveries
encountered by austin booth and myself was the vast differences between
women writers
of cyberfiction and their male counterparts. For example, in the majority of
the women-authored
stories, characters face rape and repressive government control. While we
have not
completed a detailed study of tendancies, it is a significant and disturbing
voice
in the way women's visions of technology and culture differ from the likes
of rudy rucker,
gibson, etc etc.

I'm convinced that women still have yet to have a major, empowered voice
in commercial cybercultural arenas (fiction, commercial gaming, to name a
few sites)
but in the arts and in activism women are emerging as leaders.
I am a strong supporter of cyberfeminist activities and while not convinced
or led astray by the liberatory claims of the late 1990s, I do think we can
learn a
great deal from feminist analysis of cyberculture and make better
environments through
study and awareness... Also, recent discussions about the internet being an
asset in
the liberation of cultural control is important - while I see it as
partially manifesting
in upload/download culture and sharing/opensource movements, I also am
concerned
about the future of this empowered culture --we are at a time when it is
difficult to see what is becoming
more controlled and what is then opening up. . . also the role of
participants as *both* producers and consumers
needs to be emphasized.

Recently I've also been interested in the politics of data.
TAke scientific visualization as one of many areas which could be
considered...
 Are there underlying assumptions
about vision and knowledge long critiqued by feminist epistemologists being
re-
institutionalized in this arena?

I hope that these comments and inquiries tingle the inquisitive
in all of us and get comments rolling....

~mary







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