NMS2014

Here's a great essay by Carrie Lambert-Beatty on Parafiction. She discusses the "Nikeplatz" work we saw in class along with several other works by various artists. Parafictional endeavors negotiate context collapse as strategic asset for opening up dialogue and debate. As noted in class, this particular genre of contemporary art has many similar goals and intentions as Critical Design. Carrie Lambert-Beatty "Make-Believe: Parafiction and Plausibility" October 2009 129, 51-84

Along with my other post, this one goes hand in hand with that. I felt that including this one as well would be good and would help elaborate in the stages of prewriting and preparing for the first draft. I know out of experience and from others that simply getting started can be terrifying and quite frustrating. This link offers that aid for getting started and offers simple solutions like the basic structure for developing a solid paper. Prewriting exercises such as "brainstorming, free-writing, listing and clustering" act as the catalyst for developing ideas, or points and ideas at least that can be expanded later. As applied to this essay, you might start with different net.art pieces that you saw, made an impact, and then further refine and discover richer ideas you want to develop a paper around. It's helpful not only for this class but for writing in general! University of Maryland University College, "Prewriting and Outlining." Last modified 2014. Accessed March 3, 2014. http://www.umuc.edu/writingcenter/writingresources/prewriting_outlining.cfm.

Zotero is a plugin for Firefox (or stand alone program for Safari and Chrome users) that integrates bookmarking, old-fashioned note taking, and utilities like bibme.org into a single, user friendly interface. A button imbedded in the corner of the browser saves a website into your Zotero catalog, and does its best to peel off all the available metadata and organize it into convenient, easy to see categories. It enables the user to organize sources with full notations and (very exciting) export them into a bibliography in whatever style you prefer. As an added bonus, it can also catalog media: .pdf, images, audio, video. Your library lives online, affording very easy access. Additionally, there is a group function in the case that research need be shared. This program is a very fine add-on to our more accident prone organic brains and beats the hell out of cocktail napkins and self-addressed emails full of cryptic links any day.

Drexel University's Essay Writing Strategies did a great job illustrating in Layman's terms a simple step by step procedure for writing a paper. I found a ton of Youtube videos and instructional writings on how to be a good writer, but they were boring and difficult to engage with. I felt this spoke directly to start with a "shitty first draft" and gave great pointers on formatting, revising, and even just getting started. The author of this list of strategies provided thorough insight into questions you should be asking yourself to make a solid, structured essay. For example, after getting the "shitty first draft" out of the way, the author suggests beginning the first draft and to do so, it's helpful to start asking yourself questions about your topic. From there, those questions can help point you in the direction of your thesis where the author offers: "Work on the big picture first - don't get too committed early on. Plan to experiment and try completely different versions of your essay. Don't be afraid to toss out drafts that aren't working." Although these seem straightforward, and this pertains to application essays, I think they're great pointers for any paper developing and prove to be helpful for this essay on net.art. Drexel University, "Essay Writing Strategies." Last modified 2014. Accessed March 3, 2014. http://drexel.edu/fellowships/applying/essay/strategies/.

This website is an example of what a social phenomena in text based virtual realities look like and how people interact through text. There is an introduction showing three major factors what qualifies as MUD from an adventure style game. One a MUD is not goal-oriented because a MUD isn't really a game at all. Two they are extensible from within and new objects can be added and three there are more than one user connected at a time. Every object has a textual description that players can view with a look command. Players spend their time connecting with others and socializing with each other. MUD players create their own world and as the reading describe can become evil at times. Curtis, Pavel. " Social Phenomena in Text-Based Virtual Realities."

In an article published by Psychology Today, author Ray Williams writes about the affects of Facebook on a persons self-esteem and sense of self with an emphasis on Facebook's connection to narcissistic behaviors. The article references a study done at York University, which found that among Facebook users between the ages of 18 to 25, the people who used Facebook the most tended to have narcissistic personalities. In his research, Williams also found competing data that suggested Facebook may in fact boost self-esteem. Because the phenomena of social media is still so new to us, it is difficult to come to finite conclusions about the affects of social media. Williams, Ray. "Do Facebook and Other Social Media Encourage Narcissism?." Last modified June, 19th 2013, http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201306/do-facebook-and-other-social-media-encourage-narcissism.

Here's a tour of a MUD in action. Every time I read the Dibbell article I wonder about what this sort of 'gameplay' looks like. I decided to search one out on Youtube. This video provides a voice-annotated tour that illustrates the Multi-User Dungeon in its starkly abstract textual form. The impersonal nature of text as letter-forms distributed across a network, aligning with the affordances of anonymity, but there's also the thrall of live communication. Words are powerful and the seductive qualities of connection transcend the medium at hand. "Let's Show! MUD: Part 3: Grand Finale" Posted by FrogurtX. June 29, 2009. Accessed February 27, 2014. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQJ2xG0LdVo&list=PLgVWAwe9s2rJhafD0gv2mo-W9d0bvh6sl

This is a study by Amy L. Gonzales and Jeffery T. Hancock on how exposure to Facebook effects self-esteem. The study analyzes the psychological effect on the individuals as they view their personal Facebook profiles. The article then discusses two different possible reactions. The first would be OSA which is Objective Self Awareness, which is a negative response and the other is the Hyperpersonal Model which enhances self-esteem. The study later concludes that since a majority of the content on the users profiles are selected the individuals experience the Hyperpersonal Model, since the individuals have the satisfaction of preserving themselves selectively.

I used the way-back machine to find this web page about the MIT Rad Lab. The Radiation Laboratory is talked about in the Shifting Politics of Computational Metaphor reading, but this web page gives a more detailed look into Rad Lab. This webpage was published in the Spring of 1991 which means in was published on the fiftieth anniversary of Rab Lab. The web page talks about RLE's experiments with micro-waves and the legacy that it left behind. "The wartime experience in the RadLab showed that talented people from several disciplines could effectively focus on a variety of fundamental and applied research projects with outstanding results. Many of these investigators acquired new skills in order to solve these problems, and their achievements showed how effective interdisciplinary research can be." "The MIT Radiation Laboratory - RLE's Microwave Heritage", RLE Currents, v.2 no. 4, Spring 1991 in 18.4MB PDFInternet Archive copy

Also check out the Rad Lab Series of writings. After the end of World War II, the United States government continued to pay key people who had worked at the Radiation Laboratory for six months to enable them to write about their work. http://www.jlab.org/ir/MITSeries.html

Though the internet art we have been reading about is related directly to activism, I was trying to think of whether I can think of any modern internet art in any form. What came to mind first, at least in the main-stream(ish) realm is the fairly recent trend of google poetics. Basically the concept is that when you start typing a word or a phrase into google, it's suggestions will appear in a drop down menu. Often humorous, if looked at in the arena of poetry they can be awfully profound.

Thanks this was great example of internet based art in the age of Web 2.0,-- it echoes gestures by Cary Peppermint, Keith Obadike and is related via contemporary experimental writing, to Flarf, a sort of spam-based poetry

This is a testimonial by Debra Michaels, who discusses her first experience with cyber-rape and addresses various other forms and sites dedicated to virtually satisfying violent fantasies. Technology has allowed us to transport our consciousness through space, which intern allows us to be victims of emotional crimes. This article is just further evidence of that very fact. Michaels also discusses how these behaviors are parodies of real life behaviors, and that those behaviors, though done in a virtual world should still have a consequence.

I selected a name I found interesting in the reading, Ben Benjamin. His website "superbad" launched in 1997 takes participants down a spiral of bazar, unrelated, flashing, digital art loops. Like the article "A History of Internet Art" mentioned, "beware that, seen out of their native HTML, out of their networked, social habitats, they are the net.art equivalents of animals in zoos." So I went to see what one of the mentioned artists work was all about. As the article mentions Ben Benjamin's work was featured in the Whitney Museum Biennial in 2000. Wikipedia also informed me he won a Webby award in 1999. "Superbad." Superbad. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.

I began my search by seeing what type Media Arts collection the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has. It appears SFMOMA has embraced Media arts and has procured and archived a site called "learning to love you more." The site was in operation from 2002-2009. The site issued "assignments" for participants to post on the site. Some of the subjects people were asked to post include, "take a picture of your parents kissing, "photograph a scar and write about it," and "interview someone who has experienced war." There are a total of 70 assignment subjects with a lot of submissions for each topic. "Learning To Love You More." Learning To Love You More. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.

Thanks this is great example of work bridging online / offline space, opening up a participatory platform. This one originated in Portland, I believe, coordinated by Harrell Fletcher and Miranda July

RTMark is a digital platform that is used to post and fund "projects" to be completed both online, and in the "real world". Many of the projects act as subtle jabs at commercialism, standardized education, and other social and political issues. The "past projects" tab acts as an exhibition of projects completed, giving details into what the purpose of the piece was, and how it was beneficial. RTMark uses the internet to form a community that is geared towards creating and completing projects, transferring funds and creating disturbances and awareness within society. "RTMark" Trademark 2000 www.rtmark.com

I stumbled upon Teo Spiller while looking through different examples of Web Art. Spiller worked with some interesting concepts, and questioned many of the social norms that occur in the digital world. One of the most interesting pieces in my opinion, is titled "Nice Page" and was created in 2000. It is a webpage, completely overtaken with bright text, and segmented images. While this piece might seem to be a page that showcases a multitude of webpages, displayed for an audience, as if flipping through the pages of the web, it is actually meant to critique the superficial attitudes what are associated with the web. The piece itself bombards the viewer with a lot of information, acting as a protest to the way we are constantly flooded with information. Spiller, Teo. "Nice Page" 2000 http://rhizome.org/artbase/artwork/2516/

As I read 'Web Work: A History of Internet Art' by Rachel Greene, I highlighted some of the websites mentioned to go back to and explore. One of these sites was jodi.org. On my first visit to the site, I just typed in Jodi.org in my Chrome browser, which I will warn you right now: DON'T DO IT! I was brought to a blank black page with no information except that my pop up blocker informed me that it blocked a pop up. Being the fool that I am, I changed the setting to allow pop ups from jodi.org, thinking that maybe the pop up was part of the net.art I would find on the page. Immediately a half dozen or so pop ups popped up and started moving around the page, as I tried to close out of the windows they became more and more erratic and finally I just quit Chrome to get out of there. Then I went to Jodi.org throughout the portal of the Wayback Machine. It seemed like another one of those: "rabbit-hole-look-there-are-so-many-fucking-links-all-over-that-move-and-change-colors-and-shit-aren't-we-so-disruptive-type-sites." that Clae was talking about. Then as I was writing this up, in order to give a better description of the site I went to outside of The Wayback Machine, I went back to Jodi.org and a different page came up! Each time I closed the window and went back to Jodi.org, I was directed to a new and different page. It still seems sketchy and I only visited a few more pages, but I thought it was interesting anyways. "Jodi.org." Accessed February 20, 2014. http://jodi.org.

Aha! JODI, of course! This happened to me too---I couldn't remember which net.artist it was. It's certainly one way of engaging a viewer. This reminds me of something that the writer William Burroughs once said in an interview "If I really knew how to write, I could write something that someone would read and it would kill them" ---- JODI's site doesn't seem so fatal in intention, but there is a strong sense of panic induced by their clever coding!

Through the Rhizome website, I found Net.artist, Cornelia Sollfrank. Sollfrank with the help of four other artists, created a program that would comb the internet for content and then assemble it into a sort of collage of text and images. This is the Net.art Generator. It seems to me that the project is a comment on the proliferation of net.art at the time and whether or not certain net.art could even be considered art. The piece also seems to question authorship and appropriation. There is also a link on the site to a video of the generator in an art show somewhere, being used. "A smart artist makes the machine do the work" Sollfrank, Cornelia. Rhizome.org, "The Net.art Generator." Last modified 2011. Accessed February 21, 2014. http://archive.rhizome.org/artbase/33601/. Hasty, Nick. Rhizome, "Rhizome." Last modified 01 17, 2011. Accessed February 21, 2014. http://rhizome.org/.

Working between speculative fiction and documentary forms, duo Soda_Jerk explores Afrofuturism in a series of interrelated video installations. Excerpts from "Race for Space," "Destination Planet Rock," "Armageddon in Effect," and "We Are the Robots" are here on their site. The series seems a good supplement to the documentary by Akomfrah. Soda_Jerk digs further into histories of figures like Sun Ra and groups like Public Enemy, working as media archeologists or archivo-cyborgs, patching together new mythos using digital compositing and sound design. Soda_Jerk "Astroblack: Race for Space" 2010. Accessed February 21, 2014 http://www.sodajerk.com.au/video_work.php?v=20120921063755

This is a better article describing how she made her way into sci-fi and a great explanation of Cyborgs within Afro Futurism as metaphors for the struggle of any oppressed within a social power dynamic.

Thanks for sharing these! Now that I see the name, I think that she might have been mentioned by Soda_Jerk, guest artists in another class last semester. I'll put up link to their project, also in realm of Afrofuturism.