[-empyre-] Creativity as a social ontology

[Simon Biggs]

Ah Johannes

I wish we were in the position to initiate our ethnographic study this
early! But no, we are not that well organised and nor would such a tactic be
considered ethical.

The idea that I might coordinate this month's discussion on empyre goes back
some months and the theme was developed out of a far earlier debate that was
going on between a number of people, including some of this month's guests
but also others who have not been part of this discussion and who have
nothing to do with the ELMCIP project. Most of this month's guests are also
not involved in (or necessarily aware of) ELMCIP so it is more serendipity
than anything else (if not a surprising accident).

We kicked off our discussion with Eugenio Tisselli and Helen Varley
Jamieson. Without wishing to promote my own website, if you read the paper
online there titled "Authorship and agency in networked environments", you
can find an introduction to the thinking that led to the thesis that opened
this discussion. Whilst that paper is dated March 2010 it was of course
written over a period of time and was in formulation before then, back to
sometime in 2009 or earlier. You will note that Eugenio's work is discussed
in some depth in the text and that is why we started this month's discussion
with his initial posting.

Nevertheless, I am happy that there is a degree of convergence in the themes
of our discussion and the ELMCIP project as it does function to inform our
thinking for the project. However, our ethnographic work will begin in 2011
and we are still at the planning stage, so it is a way off yet.

I would like to put this all in a larger context. What we have been
discussing on empyre this month, or the ELMCIP project, is not isolated
discourse. I am aware of a number of initiatives, activities and research
projects that are addressing similar issues in a very considered manner,
some of them artistic, some political, some academic, some hybrid. I am sure
you, as well as other members of empyre, are aware of these examples and,
indeed, are involved in them. There is a zeitgeist in play which
contextualises this. I only hope this month on empyre has contributed a
little to that.

It isn't over yet...and I look forward to the rest of the discussion.

Best

Simon


Simon Biggs
s.biggs at eca.ac.uk  simon at littlepig.org.uk
Skype: simonbiggsuk
http://www.littlepig.org.uk/

Research Professor  edinburgh college of art
http://www.eca.ac.uk/
Creative Interdisciplinary Research into CoLlaborative Environments
http://www.eca.ac.uk/circle/
Electronic Literature as a Model of Creativity and Innovation in Practice
http://www.elmcip.net/
Centre for Film, Performance and Media Arts
http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/film-performance-media-arts


> From: Johannes Birringer <Johannes.Birringer at brunel.ac.uk>
> Reply-To: soft_skinned_space <empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
> Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:49:10 +0100
> To: soft_skinned_space <empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
> Subject: RE: [-empyre-] Creativity as a social ontology
> 
> but hey, to end on a lighter note,  i had no idea our discussion this month
> was actually part of a funded Humanities in the European Research Area project
> (elmcip ?). 
> 
> wow. amazing  :)       So your ethnographic study is already underway and we
> here are a small field? 



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