Re: [-empyre-] Re: Second Life

Sean Cubitt <scubitt@unimelb.edu.au> · Mon, 23 Apr 2007 09:35:08 +1000

smart point:
the prosumer ethic (the Economist's term) has a kind of contractual  
base - if I put the work into booking my flight online (ie doing the  
job previously undertaken by a travel agent) I get a significant  
reduction in cost.Likewise if I put time into selecting my kitchen  
design, I get just-in-time delivery of a tailor-made product  
significantly cheaper than a joiner-made one-off.
In Benkler and von Hippel's model of user-generated innovation  
there's another kind of contract. If I contribute to the development  
of Linux, I get an OS/apps that is better by the large number of  
similar increments donated by others. There's a form of trust which  
has the same function as a contract
In the (v)user concept for interaction that Joseph Nechvatal (I  
believe) originated, there's another kind of contract - In Mirek  
Rogala's formulation, the art "works" to the extent that the (v)user  
takes responsibility for its completion - ie if you invest time and  
energy learning the interface, you get a deeper, richer experience.
Whjat's depressing about commercial web 2.0 apps is that they do not  
offer any kind of connection - which at root is what the contract is,  
social contract, trust etc. They are simply publication. No doubt  
there's status to gain, or pride in a job well done, but there is no  
social re-making involved.
In the 1977 the Canadian political economist of the media Dallas  
Smythe wrote:
"The material reality under monopoly capitalism is that all non  
sleeping time of most of the population is work time  . . .Of the off- 
the-job work time the  largest single block is time of the audiences  
which is sold to advertisers. It is sold not by the workers but by  
the mass media of communication the people in the audiences pay  
directly much more for the privilege of being in those audiences than  
do the mass media. In Canada in 1975 audience members bore directly  
about three times as large a cost as did the broadcasters and cable  
TV operators combined"
the unpaid labour of attention which TV companies sold to  
advertisersd then has become the unpaid labour of content generation  
which web 2.0 corporations sell to advertisers now. What is  
significant about this kind of work is that there is no return from  
the corporation that derives profit from it - ie there is no  
contract. Even within neo-liberalism, this verges on the daft - for  
example Esther Dyson
s

On 22/04/2007, at 1:45 AM, G.H.Hovagimyan wrote:
gh comments:
A Swiss art collector who invested $250,000 in 2nd life approached  
me in 2004 when 2nd L was enpty. He was trying to get people to  
inhabit the space to protect his investment. He thought I could be  
like Warhol and open a studio. I said I'd be interested in doing  
performance art bots that would interrupt people while talking. I  
of course wanted to get paid to produce original art. The  
"developers" didn't feel like paying an artist was necessary. This  
is what I feel about all "democratic" art spaces. They exploit a  
persons natural desire for a creative outlet while at the same time  
they devalue a trained artists unique talents and point of view.  
It's the same thing with you tube and all the other virtual spaces.  
In Marxists analysis it's perfect. You the consumer produce the  
content and pay to consumer yourself. Amazing!
On Apr 21, 2007, at 3:05 AM, mez breeze wrote:
 have
been a member of Second Life since 04 but have found it less
appropriate 4 me

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Sean Cubitt
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