Week 10: Hauntology

Rather than the usual lectures of moral questioning, media engagement and social innovation enlightenment I usually encounter, this weeks readings has seen to a rather dark and bismal tone being washed upon the  topics of science, media and the environment. (Apparently I was unaware that Anthropocene was alluding to answer the question of fixing the world- by means of fixing the past- possible?... unlikely) Not only that, but this envisioning idea of 'presentism' has sadly confirmed all of those late night fears I have that i'm only living my life, but not really experiencing it.

Indeed, Rushkoff's ideas of presentism has been the buzzword of the week for me. The concept itself explaining how no past, nor future exists, creating a mindset that only exists in an exact current moment. the most interesting part? Rushkoff's idea of the unprepared people... we are in 'shock'. The overwhelming level of interaction we demand ourselves to complete renders our inability to actually experience  Rushkoff breaks this down a little better into the 5 struggles we face around the phenomenon. Here... let me give you the laymen break down:

- Narrative Collapse- in simpler terms, a breakdown or collapse of modern discourse. The idea that we no longer reach in-junctures through a structured, linear sequence of discourse. Everything these days seems to be so multi-platformed and cross referenced that post-modernism seems outdated as a term.
- Digiphrenia- Technology splits our experience apart. The best modern example would have to be Facebook addiction. No matter where you are, you have the ability to connect with someone, or something else. Ultimately your experience of where you are is diminished in it's memorable 'richness'.
- Overwinding- Quite simply, we try to cram to much into to little a space when it comes to our daily lives.
- Fractalnoia- We've become paranoid. We seek to make connections of every event we experience to another one that has NO connection. Inevitably, he examines how we look too much into the present to make sense of it, when we should be looking to the past. (a bit contradictory to presentism at first, but don't worry... it makes sense... I think)
- Apocalyto- This one i'm sure you can guess. End of the world. Boom. Bang. Splat. Whatever way you say, we seem to be obsessed with it! almost to the point that we will be a little disappointed if it doesn't happen... all that work devising a Zombie escape plan will just go to waste!

So that's the summary for you.... a dark week of intellect indeed!

However, so you don't leave this with a dreary head, here's something a little more uplifting... THE INTERNET OF THINGS! Just a great youtube clip for you!

Word this week: Hauntology

Week 9: Open Science

Not only has new technology's allowed for more productive, accurate and efficient research in science but has also allowed multiple gateways of access and understanding. Any lay person holds the infinite ability to simply wiki any topic there mind pnders and recieve an emense response that previously could only be discovered through the most extensive research. But is this causing a problem?

I like to put forward the question this week of open science and the opposing value in private research. 

Inger Mewburn, a researcher and thesis 'whisperer' has taken on the challenges of the new media network and created a twitter feed designed to aid the overflow of PHD students that Australia (and for that matter, the world) has encountered over the last 10 years, with numbers almost tripling in students.
Though the accounts main goal is to be a modern resource for students, giving information of thesis ideas, current jobs, possible grants and newest findings, its counter production is a free, open and inviting resource for any persons access as well. 

“So I really see it as a newspaper for PhD students by PhD students and I'm the editor who has a bit more experience.” Mewburn says. (Read more here)

Can this be harmful to the scientific community? Does this introduction of openness eliminate the need for students and the like to source their own findings?

However on the other hand, an open source like the net has created simple access for researchers to converge ideas, share findings and allow for a medium that encourages globalisation and growth. Elizabeth Pisani reports this to be a key reason to many of todays modern advancements. "Nowadays, gene sequences get posted on the web daily and scientists build on one another's work. The pace of discovery has increased exponentially and, as a result, so have diagnostics and cures." (Read More Here) 

However the flip slide to this is the placement of science and discover within the media itself. Sadly  media prioritisation puts science often at a low level for reporting, often beaten by political discourses or what Snooki did with her newborn the other day (and you can read THAT unmissable story right here!). Perhaps the most interesting explanation of my point can be performed by the infamous Chasers. See their Youtube clip below:

Word this week: Open Science

Week 8: Social Organization

Week 8 Word: Social Organisation 

The most prominent topic and reading that stood out to me this week, clearly has to be The Knife Party's Climate Change video.

Whilst this is by no means a video that will generate the same level of discussion as one of Gore's Inconvenient truths (most likely because it didn't have the budget), it concise;y does something that many activists and politicians fail to do on the subject of climate change... it offers a clear METHOD of solution.

It's one thing to claim an answer, but another to define a path of deliverance for those whom it affects. The Knife party however, uses the incumbent application of social media, networking and the historical learnings of the 60's Individualist movement to provide a new context for advocating change. 

A simple, three fold medium to aid global efforts. The first, an information forum (or 'green wiki' as they put it) to be a internalised 'go-to' place for advocates. The second, an 'open innovation forum' that allows parties and individuals to collectively problem solve issues. And third, a 'catalyst system' or simpler put, a social network that allows individuals to connect with others souly for the purpose of fighting the global pandemic.

So their you have it. Problem: global warming. Solution: Collaborative effort. Method: an  Information archive, a Forum and a Network.  A simple layered idea that holds the potential power to become a great catalyst. Al Gore will be spewn'.

But does collaboration always work? ... Does stewardship fail without any centralised leadership. Or worse yet, would Douglas Rushkoff  be right and the government will switch off the net?

Let's hope not on that one. But one thing to question is the value in individual efforts. Collaboration is always thought to be primal to human efforts of survival but the value of the social organisation is undermined with examples of the ulterior. Apple computer's co-founder and inventor of the personal computer is perhaps the best example...

"In his memoir, Mr. Wozniak offers this guidance to aspiring inventors: 

“Most inventors and engineers I’ve met are like me ... they live in their heads. They’re almost like artists. In fact, the very best of them are artists. And artists work best alone .... I’m going to give you some advice that might be hard to take. That advice is: Work alone... Not on a committee. Not on a team.”

A great example sure enough, but perhaps only in the cases of discover Vs solution could his be applied. It took Wozniak only himself to screw in that light bulb. But it takes 90% of climate scientists in the world today to prove to governments that climate change is real. 

Source: Click Here

...... Evidence it seems, is just an inconvenient truth to them.

Week 7: Data

I found my self somewhat trailing back this week to works of last years publishing course. Whilst I agree with my lecturers strong stance of usability and application of ANT (Actor network theory) i'll still take issue with a 'equal' balance when it comes to assemblage. 

These conceptions associated with assemblage creates an overwhelming link between some contemporary business models and the changing technologies of todays world. Gardiner's text "What is an Author" aptly helps display between the changing conceptions of assemblage within publishing and the modern/digital technologies that are changing its foundations.

It also appears to me that Delueze's Theory of Assemblage is closely linked with the conceptualisation of discourse. A building block to the theory of an evolutionary basis within developments of an field. Quite frankly though, unpicking a deep understanding of medfia discourse in terms of assemblage theory is an act worth of a brain explosion... so instead...

The following picture I feel most explains discourse in simple terms: (at least in a way that keeps me smiling whilst doing so.)

Taken from: http://www.toistudio.com/blog/2010/01/discourse.html



Word: Data.