[-empyre-] time, context, participation?

[Helen Thorington]

FYI: comment sections on blogs are very vulnerable to unintended use  
-- such as gambling, sex, profanity and just plain stupidity. A recent  
look at one of Michael Mandiberg's
works on turbulence that allowed for comments showed  a collection  
over time of  2000 unrelated comments, all of which had to be  
removed.  -- Helen


On Oct 22, 2009, at 3:19 PM, Johannes Birringer wrote:

> hello all
>
>
> this last longer post by Gregory Ulmer was not easy to read, and  
> partly i began to stop, reading,  and then went back to a post a few  
> days ago, by Ian M Clothier  -- about contexts and context shifts.
> Did not also several commentators bring up the issue of "time"  
> again, and the simultaneities of (different) threads at some same  
> time?
> this month i cannot seem to focus, although the subject appears to  
> be clear ---- networked_book, collaborative/participatory writing...
>
> i had a little time today and went to the networkedbook.org/  - to  
> have a look at the participations and the transformations or changes  
> in the writings, and then i tried to leave a commentary  
> (observations on lack of comments and participation) in/on alongside  
> Anna Munster's "Data Undermining"  - thinking my comment on the lack  
> of comments would show up on the right side, that large empty margin  
> (inviting duets, layers in the score....), but it didn't, it got  
> sucked away and disappeared, apparently when you post comments they  
> are moderated/screened first. this has probably been pointed out and  
> i had forgotten.
>
> "leaving a reply" is not participation.  It is like (mis)placing a  
> coat in the coathanger room and forgetting it.
>
>
> now,  I gather there's not much participation happening in the  
> networked book site; yet there is in the empyre list, i have enjoyed  
> the discussions at times - especially recently the remarks made on  
> "infrastructural aspects of networked practices" and the harmless  
> and non-transgressive nature of (networked)(media)(activist) art.
>
> What, if i may ask Anna, are the interesting shifts " in aesthetic  
> and design practice toward the underlying conditions in which  
> knowledge is currently and might differently be produced in  
> networked cultures" -- if you are trying to collaborate on new  
> knowledge production in this context (networked book), and this  
> context, it appears to me, is not what Ian asked for
>
>>>>
> 2. Context that is media independent.
> Much context to date is dependent on the media that is under  
> discussion however there must be a context on practice that is not  
> limited by media. Everyone knows that net.art is not a category like  
> 'sculpture' but we currently persist in media associated context.
>
> 3. Context that is not necessarily anchored in a sense of place.
> This is necessary because media practice is occurring within, beyond  
> and in-between the art/museum institution and the broader spacetime  
> of social communication media and it's adjuncts. Social  
> communication media are driving creative possibilities rather than  
> vice versa.
>
> 4. Context that is relevant multi-culturally. Really important in  
> global context, many are all a little tired of Western only context.
>
> 5. Context that is shared. Rather than singular contextual identity  
> (Foucault, Baudrillard, Hayles, Manovich) context is provided by  
> several simultaneously (us).
>
>>>
>
> I am particularly worried that Gregory's frame of academic  
> references is precisely what Ian is hoping it would not be.
>
> If I misunderstood Ian's post, then can we have a discussion please,  
> and also a closer look, if possible, at these contexts and how you  
> would mash up (here on soft_skinned_space?), or  alter the  
> languages, modes of collaboration, cultural perspectives,  etc,  
> multiplying the contextual identites away from the naming that  
> occurs here.
>
> Lastly, the issue of generational differences interests me of course  
> (Alan Sondheim, i trust, was not born digital), and i wish to know  
> more about what it takes to be born digital or grown digital, and  
> why this would matter in the discussion on the participatory  
> writing.  i don't see much participatory writing (in book or essay  
> or diary or dissertation form), since, as in a dance, as I tried to  
> explain to Anna's Data Undermine margin,
> you need breathing room, open spaces, gaps, intervals where you can  
> see / hear an other move, perceiving how such movement evolves and  
> unfolds.
>
>
> The texts in the networked_book site don't have that rhythm,  they  
> seemed static, en bloc, blcoked or blocking,  but then again, i have  
> very little experience with electronic (mutlmedia writing) literary  
> practices.  I am not sure about any of the claims made for the  
> consumer as author.  Therse claims never worked in the theatre either.
>
>
> regards
>
> johannes birringer
> director, DAP Lab
> School of Arts
> Brunel University
> West London
> UB8 3PH   UK
> http://www.brunel.ac.uk/dap
>
>
>
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