Re: [-empyre-] Social space, art practice, network structure

[melt2@pacific.net.au]

hi all..
yes those of us currently here in the baltic region are very lucky to attend 
fac to face events. the last ISEA event was last night a great sauna chill out 
on a small island in helsinki harbour.. and next ISEA in San Jose in 2006 
promises to be a good one as well with a purality of conference streams on 
blended reality,  media education, alternate histories and 

now back to the topic at hand - power and social networks..marc's posting on 
netbehaviour was quiet appropriate.. what we are trying to do is look at 
diffent models of networking behaviour.. what works, and  what doesnt.. and to 
critique some of the structures of these,what keeps people from participating , 
and a good exaple is the art wanking one from leafa,.. ( i also notice that 
fibreculture list has been discussing academic wanking lately and how that 
enhances or inhibits free excahnge) what encourages peopel to anticipate. i 
heard a figure quoted at one conference sessionthatit only requires 2% of a 
community to be active for that community to be productive and functional..so 
if ther eare 800of us her is only requires 16 of us to do something on a 
regular basi for the list to work..but hopefully the composition of that 16 
changes regulary with different topics so it is not dominated by one 
perspective..

but really what we keep coming back to is structure.. the perpensity for human 
beings to like parameters of behaviour, to work within and to work 
aginst..perhaps our guests anne nigten, josh on, marcos weskamp and jonah 
bruker-cohen can expand on visualising network structures, networks of power, 
social political, critcial and co-operative alliances.
the only good line in that terrible movie *ì robot`* was the one about robots 
gathering together  when they are alone and on standby they like to herd to be 
in close proximity to each other, and in just the same way we humans are pack 
animals, we like to be part of group.  we have a place in a social 
structure,and that positioning and proximity is strategic (whether we 
acknowledge it or not) those networks allow us access to people, commodities, 
opportunities for expansive or initmate experience. the network is a 
determinant on how we live our lives.. 

melinda
 our networking  

melinda
(pardon my spelling ..im am an appalling typist without a spell check....) 





> 
> Those interested in researching Lists may want to check out the 
> archives of The Thing BBS, which started in 1991 and had nodes in NYC, 
> Germany, Switzerland, Austria and The Netherlands:
> http://old.thing.net
> 
> In the Archives you'll find a thread called "Snap to Grid" from 1994 
> that is very much like the recent subscription thread here. Plus ca 
> change...
> 
> Also, a project I was involved with from 1996-97, blast5drama, may be 
> of interest. Lists were integral but also only one part of a larger 
> network structure that included physical space and objects, MOOs, 
> Internet Radio, IRC et al. If you do a google on blast5drama you'll 
> find the remains.
> 
> Best,
> Robbin Murphy
> 
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