Digital Kultur Myter og drømme

I dag Introduktion til ”representation” Pause Myter om cyberspace Internet drømme Pause Tekst-guides

representation Definition: it is the production of meaning through language Properties: * it connects meaning and language to culture * it allows us to refer to the world Requirements: * systems of representation (“conceptual maps” that we share with others) * shared language for exchages a process

what it this? sign Not exactly real, right? 2-dimensional, stylized... Visual signs, even if close resemblance, need to be interpreted. Even more difficult with spoken language: SHEEP, FÅR

codes Set up the correlation between our conceptual system and our language system Meaning not in things but result of this practice Cultural agreement Children learn it and become cultural subjects Certain cultural relativism (ex. snow) Are used for communication!

theories of representation 1.Reflective. Meaning lies in the real world and language is a mirror. Mimesis. (what about fiction?) language just represents nature 2.Intentional. Speaker imposes meaning through language. (all private?) the humpty dumpty option 3.Constructionist. Things don’t mean, we construct meaning through representational systems. (Cultural Studies)

a representational system: traffic -Colours’ meaning is arbitrary -Sequence and position also important - Meaning is relational: “depends on the relation between a sign and a concept, which is fixed by a code”

saussure  Language is a system of signs Signifier: form Signified: concept sign related points: -union signifier-signified not fixed (i.e. Black) -importance of sign relations -language has two parts: langue and parole -problems: no pragmatics, too formal, not about how we construct relationship

from linguistics to semiotics Mythologies, Barthes. Ex. “The World of Wrestling”, what does it mean? From denotation to connotation to myth Myths are signs that carry larger cultural meanings

from linguistics to semiotics Foucault: Discourse as larger units than texts, (i.e. Sexuality). Appear historically and change. Power, the Body. Subject as produced within discourse.

what does this mean? 2004 iPod campaign: -Denotation -Connotation -Myth (cultural themes) -Power structures -The Subject / Identity?

give us a break!

Myter om cyberspace, David Bell Three kinds of stories about technology (Bell/Hayles): –Material (what it is) –Symbolic (what it means) –Experiential (what it does) next session Stories blend together, themes concur Where could our two texts be positioned? representation/stories about cyberspace

Material Stories Computer Stories –usually insiders accounts: engineering, discovery –Downplay context, culture, ideology –Military history of computing & commercial computing Internet Stories (ARPANET, TCP/IP, www, links, html, url…) VR Stories (simulators, data gloves, movies, Political Economy Stories (who has access to the net, social issues, digital divide, business) Work Stories (digital labour, open source)

Symbolic Stories Cyberpunk –Sci-Fi –William Gibson: Neuromancer –Ideology of resistance, street culture Pop Culture –You´ve Got Mail –Matrix

Mark Stefik: Internet Dreams ”the essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another” (Lakoff/Johnson, Metaphors We Live By) How do people imagine the Internet? If we can change metaphors, we can change the way we think about things

Mark Stefik: Internet Dreams Critical of the ”Information Superhighway” metaphor -Connected to the tale of American Prosperity -Links to the driving experience: jams, limits -Useful for thinking about connectivity, speed, charges, infraestructure -BUT obscures things like: information highways are self- organizing, private investment, ever-changing configuration

Mark Stefik: not one metaphor 1.Digital Library (the keeper of knowledge) Preservation, access, but digital books are different from print books (wikipedia, google book project) 2.Electronic Mail (the communicator) Networking, always in touch, but conventions are different, always connected, (social software) 3.Electronic Marketplace (the trader) E-business, e-branding, competition, prices, cross-country (eBay) 4.Digital Worlds (the adventurer) Art and play, avatars, identity (Second life, computer games)

give us a break!

Tekst-guides

Til næste gang Læs: –Mørk, Søren. ”Mundane Cyborg Practice” –Boase, Jeffrey. “Personal relationships: On and off the Internet”. Storytelling II: make an informal ”mail survey” where you collect 5-10 stories (it can be one paragraph each) about a question related to digital technology and everyday life. Print all the stories in a page and bring to class. For example: –What is the place of the computer in your home? –What is appropriate to communicate by sms and what isn´t? –Has your computer ever been infected by a virus? What happened? –How much time do you spend with everyday and what are your feelings about it? –Do you play computer games? What? How? When? –…

Øvelse 2

experiential stories “The anecdote acts as a focal point in which a described event adds some flesh to what might otherwise have been the dry bones of an arbitrary example. As a fairly detailed episode, it allows us to glimpse mundane technologies in use, in particular time and place, and to witness how the meanings and functions of these artefacts are ongoingly negotiated.” (14)  MICHAEL, Mike Reconnecting Culture, Technology and Nature: from society to heterogeneity. London: Routledge.

storytelling people in control: tell what they want / feel, freer than questions self-comment reveals their social position people are more complex than just gender or class statistics Gray, Ann Research Practice for Cultural Studies. London: Sage.

sociology of stories What is the nature and content of the story? Textual question. Structure of the narrative, repertoires, codes, how the teller positions herself. What is the social process of producing and consuming stories? Is it an own story or somebody else’s? Can it be told socially? Censorship? Rules? What social roles do stories play? Are some narratives dominant and others on the margins? Ex.: Mary Ellen Brown on soap operas