[-empyre-] List aesthetics strike 2

["Charlotte Frost" <charlotte@digitalcritic.org>]

OK, I am back! :-)

After the rigours of ISEA, which nearly killed me (those I bumped into
enjoyed many of the benefits of a voiceless Charlotte due to laryngitis etc
etc ;-) I have struggled this week - mostly in bed recovering - to get back
on what I think (weeks ago it seems) I called a carousel....

So here goes...

I just spammed you all an article I wrote a while back which was originally
written and also posted here now, as a discussion of list aesthetics and
usability. I started talking about the ethics and practicalities of list use
at the start of this month, but it still bugs me! If you are diligent
enough, you can dig through the article, separate the points from all the
text and argue with it, but how often does this happen? There are the same
people who do manage wade through such works, but there are many more who
just don't have the time or inclination. I note that many threads have not
been picked up on in this discussion, is it due to the low-tech aesthetic
and textual silt that one must excavate, or is it because they were boring
threads?

Could lists become 'self excavating'? Are there more technologies we could
introduce to ensure that the most relevant debates are sifted to the
surface, or is the digging part of the charm?

I am also interested in the layers of moderation that go on in order to
create such textual selections. We have discussed moderation in this debate
many times, but with list texts increasingly being published, what other
levels of moderation do they go through in order to sift the diamonds from
the rough, and how does it affect our understanding of the list space? 

Geert, you said the list isn't a place of publication, fair enough, point
taken, and I agree that those who use it too much as a publication platform
can harm its potential, but what of lists which ARE being published? You
have published some of your posts in your books. Do you think it is
acceptable therefore for people to see the list as some kind of middle
platform where publishing isn't totally out of the question? Do you think we
might imagine lists such as Empyre being heavily quoted in the future and
therefore being published at least in part? And also, in regards to list
aesthetics and protocol, I wondered if you could comment on your (or perhaps
your publishers decision) to keep typo's etc in some of the texts you have
published? I find your method keeps the text truer to its original state,
but kind of incongruous in a book. I imagine if I met you that it would
become clear that your texts actually sound like you, and that errors (such
as Melinda has apologised for in her hasty typing ;-) are part and parcel of
list aesthetics and characteristics, but it would be great to hear your
thoughts on this!

In the Eyebeam book Interaction, I find the design incorporates a style a
kin to being on line, it gives bouts of list text and intersperses it with
art projects and essays, as though one was checking ones email and getting
distracted but lots of threads of thought. It is an interesting project, but
hasn't much retained any flaming or messy aesthetics. What does everyone
think about the pros and cons, ifs, hows, whens and wheres of list
publication?

Charlotte

PS I will pick up some other peoples thoughts in a mo! :-)