[-empyre-] Beyond the listserv: Welcome Ana Valdes

[Renate Terese Ferro]

Many thanks to Theresa, Tim, Simon, William, Andrea, Melinda, Ricardo, Patrick, Ana, Johannes, Christina, Anna, and Sean. An appropriate start to our discussion on Digital InterFACING and for also paying tribute to Adrian Miles, an –empyre- pioneer who passed away a few days ago. 
 
Digital information moves, shifts and changes more quickly than traditional publication methods can keep pace. While last week we reminisced about the nature of the listserv. Johannes reminded us about its drawbacks.  Who can keep up with email after all? The anecdote he shared about the post that was responded to four years later reminds me of the strength of the listserv network. The connections we have made through our international network of –empyre- has resonated beyond into other virtual platforms and real space.  Just a couple of weeks ago when I was in NYC at Zach Blas’ opening of his exhibition Contra-Internet at Art In General, I ran into two of our subscribers who introduced themselves.  And yes, Johannes we are entering into a new era of –empyre- as we introduce our new editorial board next month.  

This week I would like to introduce long-time contributor and subscriber, Ana Vales.  Ana’s biography is below. Looking forward to hearing about her experiences of writing online as we talk about more online InterFACiNG. This week perhaps we can flush out the nuances between some of these platforms as well as the relevancy of their formats in 2018.  Perhaps in 2018 as Johannes suggests, a more passive way of existing with information is preferred to generating online discussion.  Or maybe not?  
Renate

Ana Valdes is a writer and translator as well as an Art curator and social anthropologist.
She has been writing about social media since the 90: s and participated in several online communities as Electric Minds created by Howard Rheingold and Under Fire, an online discussion forum about War and Art, curated by Jordan Crandall. She has been a member of -empire, Nettime and other online forums as Stumble Upon, Twitter, Scoop it and Facebook.

She has written several books about women and Internet and about computer games and digital literacy. 

She is born in Uruguay South America but she was deported to Sweden as political refugee after spending several years in a high security prison as political prisoner.
She spent the half of her life in Sweden now she shares her time between Sweden and Uruguay.
In Stumble Upon she is Caravia and in Twitter she is Caravia158.

Blog ubiquity
Renate Ferro
Visiting Associate Professor
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Department of Art
Tjaden Hall 306
rferro at cornell.edu