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last time. machiavelli: a lifeexcerpts from
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2. last time machiavelli: a life
excerpts from “the prince”
latour on heterogeneous engineering/ sociotechnical “rhetorics”
mapping the actor-networks of a newsgroup
a definition of media as machinations
3. to map a discussion using actor-networks list all of the possible actants
pick one actant -- this will be your first point of view (pov)
examine how the list of actants are linked together from the first pov
pick a second, third, fourth, etc. actant and examine the links between all of the rest of the actants from each of these povs
pay attention to exchanges (e.g., replies) between actants: follow how actants are recruited from from one network into another, from one “side” to another
4. the actor-network graph from rec.arts.movies
5. machine v. tool v. medium machine: A machine, as its name implies, is first of all, a machination, a stratagem, a kind of cunning, where borrowed forces keep one another in check so that none can fly apart from the group.
tool: This makes a machine different from a tool which is a single element held directly in the hand of a man or a woman.
Latour, Science in Action, p. 129
medium: A medium is a material, device, or process that holds people together or separates them apart from one another. I.e., a medium is a machine in Latour’s terms.
6. outline computers as theater
types of theater
Aristotle’s Poetics
Boal’s Poetics of the Oppressed
actors, characters, and actants
role-playing and imitation
7. Aristotle’s Poetics if computers are theater, then what kind of theater are they?
Laurel thinks they are Aristotelian theater.
Beginning from Aristotle’s Poetics:
I propose to treat of Poetry in itself and of its various kinds, noting the essential quality of each, to inquire into the structure of the plot as requisite to a good poem; into the number and nature of the parts of which a poem is composed; and similarly into whatever else falls within the same inquiry. Following, then, the order of nature, let us begin with the principles which come first.
Epic poetry and Tragedy, Comedy also and Dithyrambic poetry, and the music of the flute and of the lyre in most of their forms, are all in their general conception modes of imitation. They differ, however, from one another in three respects- the medium, the objects, the manner or mode of imitation, being in each case distinct.
For as there are persons who, by conscious art or mere habit, imitate and represent various objects through the medium of color and form, or again by the voice; so in the arts above mentioned, taken as a whole, the imitation is produced by rhythm, language, or 'harmony,' either singly or combined.
8. Laurel on Aristotle “One of Aristotle’s fundamental ideas about drama (as well as other forms of literature) is that a finished play is an organic whole. He used the term organic to evoke an analogy with living things. Insofar as a whole organism is more than the sum of its parts, all of the parts are necessary for life, and the parts have certain necessary relationships to one another. He identified six qualitative elements of drama and suggested the relationships among them in terms of formal and material cause.” (p. 564)
9. Laurel’s exegesis of Aristotle action
character
thought
language
melody
spectacle: “Aristotle described the fundamental material element of drama as “spectacle” -- all that is seen.”
10. Laurel on plays and CHI Plays, like human-computer activities, are closed universes in the sense that they delimit the set of potential actions. ...it is key to the success of a dramatic representation that all of the materials that are formulated into action are drawn from the circumscribed potential of the particular dramatic world. Whenever this principle is violated, the organic unity of the work is diminished... (p. 568)
11. Boal on theater The bourgesoise already knows what the world is like, their world, and is able to present images of this complete finished world. The bourgeoise presents the spectacle.
On the other hand, the proletariat and the oppressed classes do not know yet what their world will be like; consequently their theater will be the rehearsal not the finished spectacle. (p. 346)
12. Boal on Aristotle, oppression and the oppressed ...the poetics of Aristotle is the poetics of oppression: the world is known, perfect, or about to be perfected, and all of its values are imposed on the spectators who passively delegate power to the characters to act and think in their place.
The poetics of the oppressed is essentially the poetics of liberation: the spectator no longer delegates power to the characters either to think or to act in his place. The spectator frees himself: he thinks and acts for himself!
Theater is action! (p. 352)
13. Bertholt Brecht’s epic theater The dramatic theater's spectator says: Yes, I have felt like that too-- Just like me--It's only natural-- It'll never change--The sufferings of this man appall me, because they are inescapable--That's great art; it all seems the most obvious thing in the world--I weep when they weep, I laugh when they laugh.
The epic theater's spectator says: I'd never have thought it -- That's not the way -- That's extraordinary, hardly believable -- It's got to stop -- The sufferings of this man appall me, because they are unnecessary -- That's great art; nothing obvious in it -- I laugh when they weep, I weep when they laugh. (Brecht)
14. Laurel on action and agents In a purely Aristotelian sense, an agent is one who takes action. Interestingly, Aristotle admits of the possibility of a play without characters, but a play without action cannot exist. This suggests that agency as part of representation need not be strictly embodied in “characters” as we normally think of them -- that is, as representations of humans. Using the broadest definition, computer programs that perform actions that are perceived by people can be said to exhibit agency in some form. (p. 568-569)
compare this to Latour’s actants
15. Laurel on Aristotle “In drama, character may be defined as bundles of traits, predispositions, and choices that, when taken together, form coherent entities.” (p. 568)
16. “characters as bundles” who gets to choice which associations are linked with whom or what?
what’s the difference between
building a reputation; and,
gaining a reputation?
recalling my exchange with jill walker about “online caroline”
17. characters, reputations, identities what are these “bundles of traits, predispositions, and choices that, when taken together, form coherent entities”?
what is a “coherent entity”?
race
class
gender
sexuality
18. nakamura: project statement My study, which I would characterize as ethnographic, with certain important reservations, focuses on the ways in which race is "written" In the cyberspace locus called LambdaMOO, as well as the ways it is read by other players, the conditions under which it is enunciated, contested, and ultimately erased and suppressed, and the ideological implications of these performative acts of writing and reading otherness. What does the way race is written in Lambda MOO reveal about the enunciation of difference in new electronic media? Have the rules of the game changed, and if so, how?
19. what is lambdaMOO? lambda.moo.mud.org, port 8888
20. nakamura on “identity tourism” Tourism is a particularly apt metaphor to describe the activity of racial identity appropriation, or "passing" in cyberspace. The activityof "surfing," (an activity already associated with tourism in the mind of most Americans) the Internet not only reinforces the idea that cyberspace is not only a place where travel and mobility are featured attractions, but also figures it as a form of travel which is inherently recreational, exotic, and exciting, like surfing. The choice to enact oneself as a samurai warrior in LambdaMOO constitutes a form of identity tourism which allows a player to appropriate an Asian racial identity without any of the risks associated with being a racial minority in real life. While this might seem to offer a promising venue for non-Asian characters to see through the eyes of the Other by performing themselves as Asian through on-line textual interaction, the fact that the personae chosen are overwhelmingly Asian stereotypes blocks this possibility by reinforcing these stereotypes.
21. what are the risks of online role playing? can racial and sexual crimes take place online?
what is the violence of a comment like nakamura quotes: “Seems to me, if you include your race in your description, you are making yourself the sacrificial lamb. I don't include 'caucasian' in my description (lambdaMOO player)
a story from julian dibbell, “rape in cyberspace”
22. next time media ownership
