Unzipping Mediated SpacesUnzipping Mediated Spaces

A panel from the A panel from the Program New Media & Digital CultureProgram New Media & Digital Culture

Institute for Media & Re/presentationInstitute for Media & Re/presentationFaculty of Arts, Utrecht Faculty of Arts, Utrecht

The NetherlandsThe Netherlands

One click One click SpaceSpace

Marianne van den BoomenMarianne van den Boomen

Knowledge Knowledge SpaceSpace

Imar de VriesImar de Vries

LudicLudicSpaceSpace

Joost RaessensJoost Raessens

CulturalCulturalSpaceSpace

Mirko Tobias SchäferMirko Tobias Schäfer

One click space

Marianne van den Boomen

Internet metaphors & representational dynamics

• discourse metaphors (electronic highway, cyberspace)

• material metaphors (menu, home, mailbox)

‘Space is plural, representation is singular’

(Doreen Massey, 2005)

Decoding one click space

The hyperlink: click & go

• One click immediacy

• Erasure of metaphor & space

• Dissolution of referent & referrer

• TO CLICK is TO GO is TO ARRIVE

hyperlink<A HREF=”http://somesite.nl/mapname/filename.html”>hyperlink</a>

<>... </>, <A..>..</A> begin/end html-code

<A HREF= Anchor HyperReference

http:// Hyper Text Transfer Protocol

somesite.nl/mapname/filename.html Uniform Resource Locator

somesite.nl Top Level Domain Name, DNS

/mapname/ directory path

filename.html destination file/action

Spaces or representations?

• Location: geographical, web server, database, name server

• Path: linear string to destination file, scripted selections

• Destination: unique file name

Domain Name Space?File extension (application, representation)?

Representation is as plural and heterogeneous as space...Hack the black boxes of space & metaphor!

One click One click SpaceSpace

Marianne van den BoomenMarianne van den Boomen

Knowledge Knowledge SpaceSpace

Imar de VriesImar de Vries

LudicLudicSpaceSpace

Joost RaessensJoost Raessens

CulturalCulturalSpaceSpace

Mirko Tobias SchäferMirko Tobias Schäfer

Cultural space

Mirko Tobias Schäfer

Software + Internet = cultural space

- Software:tentative, modular, immaterial

- Internet:from logic space to social space,

global distribution, media en memory, metamedium

Extending Autonomy:Techno-culture

- man-machine interaction- no seperation between technè and culture

Extension of Cultural Industry

- Sourceforge.net (software development)

- Slashdot.org (news for nerds)

- Wikipedia.org (free encyclopedia)

- Scene.org (demos and music)

- Indymedia.org (news and attention)

Mapping Power Structures

- Temporary Autonomous Zones (H. Bay)

- Strategies and Tactics (M. de Certeau)

- Places of its own (M. de Certeau)

- Control, Invasion and Intrusion

Exploring Space

- from browsing to building

- from FTP to filesharing

- from filesharing to

-> global information space

a giant hard-drive in the sky

One click One click SpaceSpace

Marianne van den BoomenMarianne van den Boomen

Knowledge Knowledge SpaceSpace

Imar de VriesImar de Vries

LudicLudicSpaceSpace

Joost RaessensJoost Raessens

CulturalCulturalSpaceSpace

Mirko Tobias SchäferMirko Tobias Schäfer

Knowledge space

Imar de Vries

Data Earth (1)

• “The big hard drive in the sky”

• Hard -> fluid -> gas -> Informational cloud

– “Space of living-in-knowledge” (Lévy, 1997)

– Entry points to this space are mobilized and are becoming part of the network

Data Earth (2)

Experiential Ground

Knowledge space

Wireless devices facilitatingdynamic entry points

Data Earth (3)

• Omnipresence -> ‘omniknowledge’

• Angelic desire for perfect communication

– Cf. search for spherical union (Plato, 385BC)

– “Eros seeks to … bridge all the chasms” (Peters, 1999: 137)

Wireless discourse

• Exudes liberating characteristics found in the “anywhere, anytime, anyhow, anyone” slogan

• Posits itself as dominant paradigm, as main provider of ‘entry points’ to KS

• Radical consequence: a Being One, an all-encompassing sphere

Wireless spheres

• Technologized layers of informational / social spheres

WiMax (~50 km)

Cell phone protocols (~35 km)

WiFi (~100 meter)

Bluetooth (~10 meter)

{ Satellite (780 km / no limit) }

Wireless Cybersphere (1)

• Cell phone convergence with internet– Integrated connectivity chips– ‘Smart phones’ with OS’s

• Wireless devices facilitate the ‘principle of want’ (emphasis on contact and information) (Myerson, 2001)

Wireless Cybersphere (2)

• Degeneration– Wisdom knowledge information

• Objectification– Archival of everything that is to be known

• Reduction– Searching before asking– Retrieval before exchange

Back to Earth

• Cell phones predominantly used for (quick) social interaction, not for solitary information gathering / dispersal

• Contributing to and participating in the knowledge space is a rhizomatic, not a linear point-to-point experience

One click One click SpaceSpace

Marianne van den BoomenMarianne van den Boomen

Knowledge Knowledge SpaceSpace

Imar de VriesImar de Vries

LudicLudicSpaceSpace

Joost RaessensJoost Raessens

CulturalCulturalSpaceSpace

Mirko Tobias SchäferMirko Tobias Schäfer

Ludic space

Joost Raessens

Two opposite spaces

• Knowledge space (‘singular’):

Dream of ideal communication

• Physical space (‘singular’):

Critique of commercial exploit, face-to-face dialogue

Playful use of mobile phone

• Mobile phone games

• Playful communication patterns

• Location-based or mixed reality games

* Networked knowledge space

* Physical space

* Transformation into ludic space

Special place in time and space

• Ludic space

• Playground

• Magic circle

Conclusions

Ludic space (plural / heterogeneous):

• Networked knowledge spaces (UMTS network, Internet)

• Physical spaces (locations in Amsterdam)

• Historical spaces (1550/2005)

Utrecht Media ResearchUtrecht Media Researchwww.let.uu.nl/umrwww.let.uu.nl/umr

newmediastudies.nlnewmediastudies.nl

Image ‘Liquid space architecture’Image ‘Liquid space architecture’ © Marcos Novak 2000© Marcos Novak 2000

www.centrifuge.org/marcoswww.centrifuge.org/marcos