[-empyre-] contesting the netopticon

[marc garrett]

Simon & all,

Thank you for inviting me to be part of this discussion. I enjoyed it 
immensely...

Unfortunately, I was unable to jump back into the discussion last week 
due to being too busy.

I will reread all contributions & rethink my own assumptions :-)

wishing you all well.

marc

www.furtherfield.org

 > So, we come to the end of the month of January and our discussion on the
 > theme of the Netopticon.
 >
 > To remind us where we began, abstracted from the original post 
setting out
 > the theme:
 > The Panoptic structures innate in social space are often cited in 
relation
 > to the internet and its governance. The term "Netopticon" suggests a
 > mesh-work structure of how a socially networked Panoptic apparatus can
 > operate. Malkit Shoshan describes how the social technologies that
 > characterise Web 2.0 facilitate the emergence of the internet as a 
Panoptic
 > space, where individuals are complicit in their own surveillance. The
 > internet is pervasive in how people construct their social lives. If we
 > accept that "people" are emergent, through social activities that are a
 > process of becoming, issues around net neutrality, Web 2.0 and 
surveillance
 > have implications reaching into the psycho-social. Within a Foucauldian
 > appreciation of the social, where the Panopticon (nee: super-ego) is
 > manifest at the heart of our social relations, the Netopticon engages our
 > entwined individual and social ontologies. How will the codification of
 > individual and collective relations develop?
 >
 > Over the past month invited guests and members of empyre have 
addressed this
 > theme from a range of perspectives. I am not going to summarise the 
various
 > viewpoints here as I fear my attempt would be inadequate. The empyre 
archive
 > is accessible and makes an excellent read, organised by date, thread and
 > author.
 > https://lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au/pipermail/empyre/
 >
 > I would like to thank everybody who contributed to the discussion; 
our guest
 > discussants Joseph Delappe, Marc Garrett, Davin Heckman, Patrick Lichty,
 > Heidi May, Christina Spiesel, Jon Thompson and Alison Craighead, all 
of whom
 > gave generously of their time to post provocative and inspiring texts. I
 > would like to thank Renate Ferro and Tim Murray for inviting me to 
moderate
 > the discussion and for continuing to host and maintain empyre. We can
 > present the netoptic as automatic social formation but sites for 
debate like
 > empyre are precious and survive because of the efforts of individuals. I
 > would also like to thank all those members of empyre who contributed 
to the
 > discussion and also all those members who participated silently. Whilst
 > lurking should be seen as a "public good" it is perhaps this silent
 > "reading", the nitrogen (as distinct to the oxygen) of listservs, which
 > presents the most appropriate image for the netopticon. By having our
 > conversations in public we can render our inter-subjectivities as a
 > performative instance of the netopticon in play.
 >
 > Best
 >
 > Simon
 >
 >
 > Simon Biggs
 > simon at littlepig.org.uk
 > http://www.littlepig.org.uk/
 >
 > s.biggs at eca.ac.uk
 > http://www.elmcip.net/
 > http://www.eca.ac.uk/circle/
 >
 >
 >
 > Edinburgh College of Art (eca) is a charity registered in Scotland, 
number SC009201
 >
 >
 > _______________________________________________
 > empyre forum
 > empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
 > http://www.subtle.net/empyre
 >