Notes on Presentations 12/8/2009

ELI - "ANSWERS TO COPYRIGHT"

Annae Reginae -authorship, (old)

"Open Source is good for me. You should embrace it." - Bart Simpson w/chalkboard

Automobile - no money on patents, just car

REDHAT - 1994

30 million people on this (smaller project) community + 7 years = free

1989 - Linux = the right to copy software and share it, the right to change that software, the right to access the source code

Sewing, biomechanics, electrical engineering, etc. (freeduino.com, craftster...)

LARRY LESSIG

...people worried about Creative Commons, etc. that they are either too vague or not radical enough...

COURTNEY - "IDENTIFY THE EMOTE"

emoticons: "Good Morning", "Congratulations", "Good Evening", "Dunce Cap (Feels Stupid)", "Moustache"

Put in emotions in digital conversation/what we lack when not having face to face conversation

American differs from Japanese

600AD Wales - pigeon language - modern day English

Chat Speak could ^ English language or v it

HANNAH - "EVOLUTION OF CHAT AND ITS EFFECT ON THE INCREASE OF SOCIAL INTERACTIONS"

Internet - 60s, 70s but wasn't really used by consumer til 80s, 90s

1989 - Internet Relay Chat formed in Finland + made world wide

1994 - AOL becomes big > "You've Got Mail" (Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks)

90s to Millennium:

AOL > AIM (emoticons)

1995 - 2008 increase of users online, using chats...

Last Ten Years > voice chat, video chat, Skype - 2002

MATHIAS - "INTERNET: THE MUSICAL RENAISSANCE"

Evolution of technology and the distribution and sharing of music

What do people consider to be music?

Sharing is caring:

Peter Jenner - Pink Floyd's first manager

Technological development, ex. Napster

Customers or criminals?

Podcasts vs. radio stations

1983 - music sharing starts around...downloading formats - strange, not user-friendly

1999 - college dropout starts Napster, brought down because they believed it was piracy

12-year-old girl downloaded songs, sued + brought to court for $2000

Freedom - listeners pick top artists (S Club 7)

Artists independent from record labels (Prince)

Online "radios" allow users to pick what they want to listen to

KELLYE - "MYSPACE AND THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL NETWORKING ON THE MUSIC INDUSTRY"

2003 - Chris (brains) and Tom (failed musician) = Southern California

ex. Taylor Swift (country music)

followed around Don Prince of Tha Basix, went through 17 pages of chains of "listen to my music" on somebody else's page:

The Basix, Spy Nation, Toxicima (christmas carols/house music), etc.

Ends with the Master J-L Richard

Has its own record label: Myspace Records

JOHN - "LAFREEKSHOE PRESENTS"

Youtube videos as online gamer

ALEX - "VIDEO GAME VIOLENCE"

self explanatory, with visual aid (drawing)

A Democratizing Force

For many, the Internet is a powerful and democratizing force in that it brings people together for a common goal. Whether or not those common goals are good for the rest of us is rather subjective and yet to be determined as a whole. Nevertheless, the Internet does provide a space for minds to connect and converse with one another. For the most recent election, just last year, Obama's popularity was praised for its getting Americans to go out and vote. The statistics were both astounding and disappointing; it is true that more Americans went out to vote that year but sadly it was a mere 56% of the population, the highest it had been in four years. Obama's campaign was one boasting of change and he was the first one to truly rely on these new formats of communication, (i.e. Facebook, Myspace, mobile messaging, etc.). All this begs the question of had he not used these formulas for word of mouth, would he have won? Would apathy continue to grow, meanwhile lowering poll percentages? The Internet truly is a force to be reckoned with.

Estonians believe in the power of the Internet, taking it a step further with online voting. In 2005, online voting for government officials was established and although only a fraction of the population participated in voting this way, by 2007 it had grown substantially and by 2009, this voice became a large enough one to take notice of and therefore one politicians needed to appeal to. Because the Internet is one that brings people together, there are often ideas about how the government, amongst other things, should run. Change begins with the individual and so The Better Project was created. The Better Project, a website devoted to making anything and everything better, lets users create and then publish suggestions for potential solutions to current problems. Users can vote for and/or comment on others' ideas and eventually, the goal is to come together and establish a campaign to fix or improve something, (ex. possibly even a national campaign to rewrite some legislation?).

For SAM's project go to: http://rhodeisland.thebetterproject.org/ideas/1

VIDEOPHONE AND OTHER EYES

In Beyonce's latest single, "Videophone", featuring Lady Gaga, a femme fatale readily prances around in little clothing for an eager cohort's cellphone. For today's cool kids, this type of exchange is like a modern day mating ritual. Girls are like felines and boys are like hyenas and as our technologies are becoming more high-tech, one can see things normally reserved for behind closed doors in a text message. In Jamais Cascio's The Rise of the Participatory Panopticon, the future will be televised and seen from every angle of a crowd of camera phones. Basing his theory on Bentham's 18h century model for a prison in which all inmates would be watched at all times, (ex. Big Brother, Neighborhood Watch), citizens would willingly participate in constant sousveillance. Every supposed scandal would have a million little eyes glued upon it.

He goes on to say that even the mundane details of daily life will be documented in this way and so theoretically one could view an entire life on screen. He gives examples of a predictable rise such as the Sharp J-SH04 and 05, the Japanese created models of the first camera phone in the late 2000s. By 2003, camera phones outsold the regular models, meaning the consumer had a taste for logging and capturing. So voracious was their appetite, that moblogs have been created; these are sites devoted to mobile phone pictures. In The People Formerly Known as the Audience, Jay Rosen speaks on behalf of "those who were on the receiving end of a media system that ran one way". The interaction between producer and consumer is changing and spurting into micro-communities of interest, (i.e. old world Little Italy, etc.) and therefore the format for what people want and how they get it is changing as well.

For example, one does not need to own a television or a radio or buy a newspaper to hear what is going on in the news, they can rely on news websites like CNN and Reuters. Because of the rise of these alternative news sources, the old model is quickly going the way of the dinosaurs: extinct. The newspaper, unfortunately, is a slowly dying breed. To boost ratings, national TV broadcasts often focus on things besides the issues and get chastised by the critics but viewed nevertheless, which is the point anyway. Some believe that these formats may eventually be gone altogether and more and more things may become united under a digital eye, possibly even our currency will change, (i.e. non-material, non-tangible money).

LIFE: The Never-Ending Story

Tech prodigy and rogue eccentric, Ray Kurzweil, transfers language into binary code, takes 150 pills a day and upsets the norm with ease. A believer in singularity, or the rapid change of technology meeting up with man, has a vision of the future. In this vision, spanning from 2020 to 2045, Kurzweil sees man making machine better than it was before and eventually, even better than man himself. In 2020, computing power will exceed humans' brain capacity. A mere nine years later, we will participate in reverse engineering, where we will basically cut things open and look at their insides in order to reproduce and then enhance the previous model. By 2045, complete singularity will regulate the world and as Kurzweil puts it, "...knowledge will become obsolete."

In the here and now, this is not a concept all that hard to believe when technology and culture are in such sync which one another. There are robots that can clean your floors for you and music 'generators' that can supposedly tell you what music you will like. It is very likely that the computer could become as smart its creator like a digital Frankenstein that goes off on a scientist that went too far. To say it is alive and kicking would be an understatement. That being said, for some of the most thoughtful thinkers of our generation there has been a fundamental shift in what it is to be human. In some of Kurzweil's more controversial ideas on the side of singularity are themes of immortality and a digital body. The belief is that it will be possible one day to make the human body digitized, reliant on electronics and therefore be able to live forever; the brain will be downloaded. Sounding like something out of a bad sci-fi movie but theoretically if it were possible, would we even still qualify as human?

Under further investigation the concept of what it is to be human relies not so heavily on life as it oddly enough, does on death. What do we demand as humans? We seek knowledge of all, easy access to all, meaningful human to human relationships, and the primal, instinctual will to simply, live. If these basic elements of the human experience are taken away or replaced, how should we function, as cumbersome animatronics? Our consciousness would still remain but our bodies may not and that poses yet another question in this separation. If we did not have a physical body, (i.e. the embodiment to our consciousness), vanity need not apply but, would we become totally disenfranchised to the world around us, (ex. environment, other mammals)?

The human needs to die in order for him to live because every story needs an ending. If we were to all live forever, electronically or otherwise we would suffer many pains. An obvious one would be conglomerating under a mass boredom, achieving things with no deadline and having all the time in the world. It is also true that "...a disembodied mind will quickly get depressed." Baudellaire brings up the concept of constant comfortability where people, without some kind of drama, etc. will have no drive to do anything in life. Why should they when everything is perfect as it is? This relates back into the theory of a man without mortality for if he does not have death looming over him, he will lack motivation. The moral of the story is that life is full of hardships but without them we would not be ourselves but instead something mutated and not of this world.

HUMANITY: A REMIX

The 'high-speed' generation is a relatively young one which thrives on a internationally collected stream of consciousness. Because of this networking of thought, there has been a revival of a RW, or read-write, culture verses the recently passé RO, or read-only standard. The read-write culture is essentially what it sounds like; there is an established format and then there is one that aims to comment on and/or reinforce it. In a read-only culture this conversation between two formats does not exist, appropriately due to the fact that there is only one platform, (ex. the event, facts, etc. without the allowance for feedback). In today's digital age, however, fists shake at mediocrity and have chosen to add to the flow of ideas with some of their own.

When referring to a remixed humanity, one should acknowledge that every single bit of culture has a 'copy', or a bit in reference to another. Most notably seen in memes and DJ remixes to popular songs, these 'copies' are either critical or idealistic of their original source material. Some are manipulated several degrees and transform into politically, socially infused or entertaining content. In Larry Lessig's lecture, "Open for Business", for the critically acclaimed TED conference, there is a praise for the return of the RW culture but it also identifies a difference between the user-created 'copies' and the piracy-ridden. Those who seek to find a higher plateau of knowledge without the vain 'necessity' of marking one's territory, (i.e. Trump), are categorized as a user-created society. These users use other users' ideas as a launching pad for more ideas which they hope will in turn contribute to more conversations and ultimately to a solution for all. On the other side, those filed as pirates mean to steal ideas and use them to their own advantage, often for profit and do not care to contribute anything to anyone else. They are the corrupt businessmen of the Internet.

Because of piracy and the need for human need for validation in all works, Lessig notes that there is extremism on both sides of the copyright/trademark/government regulated fence. The older, more conservative voice is a proponent for copyrighting laws; they feel that these laws are imperative when weeding out the 'trespassers', (i.e. both users and pirates could use some form of their idea, albeit divergent reasons). The younger are 'lawless' and refuse the governance of copyrighting for the world is their oyster and the Internet, their pearl. In response to the tension, Lessig pleas for a happy medium. The issue is too complex for one school of thought because one should not limit the intellectual, artistic, social, etc. benefits of living in a read-write society nor should others fell so entitled to steal and get away with it. As the world changes, with increasing pace each decade, the format of society and what matters to it will follow suit and it should not be a concept of which to fear but rather one to embrace. A quote that best illustrates this change is one from Canadian blogger/journalist/author, Corey Doctorow:

"What may be the business model in 1909 may be the business model in 2009 but what may be the business model in 1939 may not be the business model in 2007."

In Rip! A Remix Manifesto, the filmmaker goes into great detail about copyright issues, etc. To find out more information: http://films.nfb.ca/rip-a-remix-manifesto/

Breaking Free: Independence in Cyberspace

One's casual venturing of the Internet is not necessarily a political stance against the status quo since the decision of where one ends up and what they choose to do there is entirely reliant upon the user. However, as the Internet becomes its own domain where different, often more lenient rules, or "laws" for a better comparison, are being formulated continually, it would suffice the user to be able to become a citizen of this nation of the computer without any outside influences, (i.e. the government). For many, the restrictions that the government has enforced upon viewership of and participation in certain locations on the Web should not be validated. Users feel that this is an intrusion upon a society that does not belong to the American government and therefore yearn for the opportunity of non-surveillance.

Take for example in A Magna Carta for the Knowledge Age, cyberspace is an "ecosystem" where everything is connected through wires and cables, reaching far beyond just the Internet. Technology itself, (electromagnetic waves, fiber-optics, etc.), is the space and its hold is international. Information is then distributed and redistributed in these formats, (via the telephone, television, computer, etc.) and because the system is so vast, proponents of government-free Internet believe that even attempting to control the Web is a plan set out to fail. The opposition claim that the vastness of technology is precisely the reason why it should be government controlled due to the rise of a hacking/terrorism correlation, it would be for the user society's own protection. Nevertheless, the two sides can agree to disagree.

The primary question for the debate is really what could be considered ultimate freedom online and who would determine it. Following that logic, who or what could determine a set standard for decency? Is one's ability to trespass the modern conventions of what is morally right or wrong determined as an ultimately freeing experience and if so, would that be intruding upon another user's rights to not see, hear, or think about certain things? Is the translation of freedom the same as in a non-user, (i.e. 'real world'), American society? In the original concept of democracy, one has the freedom to be who and/or what one is, whereas in a digital society one has the freedom to become whoever and/or whatever one wants.

In Barlow's Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace, the author agrees that the Internet is vast and therefore a space of the mind. Upon this realization, he believes that it can not be policed for the Internet is "an act of nature that grows itself through our collective actions". Like our founding fathers, Barlow believes that it is the right of this new society to take care of itself and to set its own regulations. "Cyberspace," he says, "consists of transactions, relationships, and thought itself, arrayed like a standing wave in the web of our communications. Ours is a world that is both everywhere and nowhere, but it is not where bodies live." Despite all this arguing, however, about what society should hold merit in another, all parties are essentially talking about the same thing: the want to do what one wants and the prevention of letting others do what they want, a largely American statement all by itself.

MUDdy Up the Brain: The Loss and Gain of the Real

Reality is a term that is used lightly within discussions about the internet for what one feels as real could distract from what is tangible. Virtuality and reality tend to be separated from one another but for the computer devotee, the two could easily be lumped together. The natural response upon the realization that technology has a heart, albeit digital, is usually to attack in fear that we are being sucked into a black hole where androids will melt our collective brain into a gooey concoction. Clearly, we have to get our priorities straightened. Full reliance is an issue but the vision behind the MUD is one of temporary escapism, not the forfeit of one's entire being.

MUDs, or multi-user dungeons, are virtual worlds created entirely out of text. Much like their 'choose-your-own-adventure' book counterparts, MUDs depict a scene and allow users to navigate this imaginary world by choosing a variety of paths, or actions, by typing in a command which the MUD reciprocates with another path. For example, in Sherry Turkle's Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet, the author references an experience in "Dred's Bar". In it, the author known as 'ST' in the MUD, meets up with a fellow MUD user named 'Tony'. The two have a drink and try out their dance moves. They converse. One might wonder why these two can not go to an actual bar and have face to face conversations like 'normal people' and why they insist to be anonymous dwellers in an imaginary world with keyboarded talk. The most obvious reasons one might come up with is that these people are anti-social, afraid of reality and dependent on their computers. Normalcy is a funny thing, however, since the standard for the modern era is changing so much at a rapid pace. The majority of people do have some kind of online profile and participate, in varying degrees, on these social networking sites. They email and text each other on cell phones. Somehow, despite all of this, there is still this strong opposition to the computer as its own entity.

MUDs, an exercise in anonymity/intimacy, broke off into a billion little pieces and spawned other global interactive sites like World of Warcraft, Second Life, and the serge of social networking like with Facebook. Here graphics opened up a whole new realm alongside text but the same basic principle applies: the presentation is an extension of one's self and not the actual flesh and bones. On the other hand, advocates of the MUD would claim that one's thoughts and feelings are the most realistic and important part of a person and therefore their true form is being seen on the Internet; the body is just a container of these energies and is not crucial to building a relationship with. The opposition would most likely counter that the body, soul and mind can not be separated so easily and those who feel that hard drives are just as warm as hugs are losing their sense and appreciation of reality. Take for example in Turkle's article where she refers to two versions of a crocodile; one is a Disney animatronic and the other is the scaled lizard we all know and fear. A young girl who saw the Disney crocodile is instantly captivated by its rolling eyes and sideways movements with sneaky viciousness. This same girl comes across a real crocodile, lazily sunbathing amongst all its brothers and sisters, and is bored to tears. She wants to be entertained and yearns for the fake.

It seems as though, we as a society, are not quite satisfied with our realities and feel the need to create a different one. Perhaps in this alternate world, we can become better looking, social butterflies with lots of money and wit to share with all our happy, glamourous friends. While there seems to be a loss for some physicality in the world there also seems to be a gain in the connotation of a real human being. Does the expression "I think, therefore I am..." really have any validity or is it the only type of validity we need?

TECH, NO LOGIC: Cyborg and Simulacra

In Jean Baudrillard's The Precession of Simulacra, the aforementioned concept can be easily described as a representational tool in which themes and/or objects can be understood in a broader sense. Take for example in Action Action's "Let's Never Go To Sleep", where a few repetitive nights seem to irritate the character yet at the same time, validate his existence. In the line, "A photocopy of a copy of a copy just leaked," the process of production is a literal translation of simulacra, a duplicate of the original that either enhances the original's meaning or depletes it. As a society, we are constantly being shown or participating in the distribution of simulacra from one place to the other. Photographs and still life paintings are some of the most popular simulacra for they are less tangible symbols of the actual objects in front of us, (ex. an image of a bowl of fruit hung above the truly existing bowl of fruit).

Juxtaposing this with the internet is an interesting feat. To Baudrillard, the world is rapidly becoming one of innuendo, not necessarily in a derogatory manner, where signs and symbols replace the norm for human experience as the actual human experience. The stimulation of a virtual reality becomes more crucial to one's being than one's physical reality in the place of avatars and a whole new arena. This otherworldliness can become the framework for one's home inside of a home that is not home and therefore, the artificial is more present than the authentic. An individual can better themselves, (i.e. appearance, literacy, social activity), to their liking over the internet and eagerly invite others to enjoy this hyped version that could or should not ever be attained in real life.

The theory of being able to attain a better self is present in feminist piece, "The Cyborg Manifesto." Here a frustrated Donna Haraway chooses to remove herself from previous misconceptions on women and tries to eliminate the boundaries between the organic and the mechanical identities. The "Manifesto" believes that societal labels should be disregarded and we should instead embrace a collective being where the differences between animal, human and machine are null and void. In regards to the internet, it states that technology is merely an extension of one's body, soul and thought process. If we were to continue on as cyborgs, we could become almost omnipresent and there would be no division between an objective observation and a subjective feeling and an ultimate unity would culminate. By today's standards, this notion seems none the too far-fetched as the planet is more connected and is "getting smaller" everyday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDUFpPibuMs

DESTINATION UNKNOWN: Traversing Content and Creator

The academic role of interpretation is to expand one's mind to secure more space for filling with knowledge. Once comfortable with the concept, one should be able to follow the logic of thoughts other than one's own and find value in playing the Devil's advocate, (ex. agreeing to disagree empathetically or with reason). Questions can be answered with other questions and concrete answers may never be reached. In a way, interpretation could be surmised as the journey taken for the scenery, not necessarily to reach a certain destination for the information gained may lead to several destinations. Many would wonder why anyone would bother to traverse such an uneven path in the first place, and often enough their objections would hold some merit. Simplistically speaking however, the opposition should embrace the idea of seeing things in various lights rather than viewing the world with one sixty-watt bulb, if only to make life a little more interesting.

Keeping this in mind is Roland Barthes's "The Death of the Author", in which he makes the plea for separation of scribe and script. Barthes's ideas were focused in anti-humanism, which was a departure from the understanding that humans have a culmination of meaning. This translates into "Death" as he tries to shoo intellectuals away from the notion that paper represents the human being verbatim. In his opinion, to have such a visceral reaction to text and to paste assumptions to a man without knowing him is downright irresponsible when the author's intent may have meant something completely different than those of his readers and critics. Roland also admits that if not for interpretation, a piece of literature would not truly exist because written work thrives on word of mouth and nuances actual and perceived. In this respect, he values the connotations seen from his readers over his critics, (which, inside of an argument, could be accounted for a bad sport/defense mechanism), in that they do not judge the book from its cover.

In a more recent example of content verses creator is Gregg Michael Gillis of critically acclaimed/defamed, one man band Girl Talk. The Pennsylvanian DJ is a mash-up man who pairs current pop hits with songs of yesteryear and turns the volume up to eleven. The devotees believe that Gillis creates a fantasy world where all types of music are to be consumed and celebrated. The opposition complain that the songs lose their essence and just contribute to a big ball of noise and nothingness. Listening to these songs of songs, one can dance on both sides of the fence because clearly Gillis loves music and anyone can appreciate that but on the other hand, some tracks could seem a little sadistic in that parts of familiar hooks are either refused the right to play out or are looped until an audience will aim for the kill. This poses the question, "Is Gregg Gillis out to annihilate or harmonize music as we know it?" Only time will tell.

Following our feet to that destination unknown, we will, of course, travel through desolate lands of pixels and phalluses. With the rise of the blogger comes all kinds of voices once unheard, (some for good reason), and unmentioned. These precious posters and diligent dorks seem to empty their head of all content and drip their streams of consciences all over their monitors and send it off to anybody out there who will have a look or a listen. Take for example these "surf clubs" like nastynets.com or doublehappiness.ilikenicethings.com where there is a random assortment of inside jokes and blatant crudeness that anyone could understand; one could wonder what the point was and later if they even really cared. Sites like these either exist to annoy those who stumble upon them or more likely to communicate with others like themselves in underground quarters, (i.e. a digital 'indie' watering hole). Another example of this type of scene, but pushed to the extreme is w33d.tumblr.com (created by a SAIC grad student). The site is an ode to the groin and marijuana and it includes a special section for 'dick art' and an emoticon flips visitors off on the front page. Anarchy in the U.S.A? Eh...

Cyber Typologies and Societal Spectacles

The Internet is a very inviting place, that some would note as 'too inviting', to all the freaks and geeks among us. There is a little something for everyone at the Web's digital doorstep; it will take you as you are. In "Technologies and Utopias: The Cyberflaneur and the Experience of 'Being Online'", Mauren Hartmann approaches two interfaces of technology: the machine, (i.e. digital), and the space, (physical). In this approach she wonders if there even is a line to cross between these two, once very separate thoughts, anymore. After all, man did make machine and be he the most objective being in the world, there are bound to be some emotional imprints on that hard drive somewhere.

One most obvious hint that man made machine is the experience of being online itself. Chat rooms and avatars mix and meld and morph into notions beyond both time and space. In many respects, these things deemed both infinite and finite are like the greatest dreamscape ever imagined in ancient fairy tales. Cyberspace is all of these things and none of them in one whole. It is like a mind never ceasing to sleep. Links are the branches of one thought racing to connect to another and memes are those brief moments when our R.E.M cycle has been interrupted and we are half-awake, caught between the reality outside and the fantasy within.

Although the similarities between cyberspace and dreaming is clear and present, the dream still serves a client on an individual basis whereas cyberspace has a bigger following. For example, in this new world one would eventually start to notice others around him as actual figures and not just as screen names who respond to his questions on a whim. One could ponder other existences like his own and want to know more about them, (i.e. if their aspirations were mutual, etc.), and wonder why they posted particular things rather than just how or when they did so. Hartmann describes there being seven types of internet users: the cyberflaneur, cyberflaneuse, webgrrl, cyberpunk, netizen, cybernaut, and the surfer. All have their own reasoning for doing what they do, whether it is to inform, destroy, build, scandalize, discover or express themselves. As one interacts or counteracts another, communities are created and a new issue arises, surveillance, (where one watches many, ex. the government bugging phones), verses sousveillance, (where everyone watches each other, ex. forums online).

Following this theme of surveillance verses sousveillance, is Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle, a black and white French film that features oddly juxtaposed images and a formal voiceover. Here, the imagery which represents a person, a nation or an event is a spectacle. "This spectacle is the guardian of sleep..." he notes as an army invasion on the beach follows still footage of topless women frolicking in the ocean. Magazine imagery, celebrity and politicized news all come together as the intangible and often decadent, (the fantasy), and cast spells on their spectators. This theory can be applied to avatars and profile pictures, where the spectacle has the power, people can show what they want to be shown to others and hide what they do not. However, the spectator can also have the upper-hand. As a consumer of this spectacle, he or she can manipulate the spectacle however they want to and choose to idolize or dissemble the spectacle's pedestal, (ex. the relationship between public figures and the public). In conclusion, the Internet is a shared dream full of differing personalities, all of which have their own reasoning for being here in the first place.

BENJAMIN AND BAUDELAIRE: A Society Built Up

In Walter Benjamin's Arcades Project, a staple for the German Idealists, Benjamin uses the revival of classical Greek architecture in 19th century Paris as a metaphor for the rapid growth and change in and of the society at the time. One particular focus is upon a structure known as the arcade. Arcades in their basic form are open-air malls or marketplaces. There are often small gift shops and cafes on the main floor and staircases, (or in today's case elevators), that lead up to one or two more floors. On these floors are corridors that extend to lengths like streets, purposely mirroring the effect in order to assume a "passage to the city". Its entirety also becomes illuminated because of the implementation of the skylight. This bringing together of retail was the format for the first mall.

With this as a standard so came the specialty stores, (niche marketing), that catered to every need or interest possible. The consumer was now in control verses the old mantra of 'take it or leave it'. To Benjamin, all this newfound extravagance was glorifying the material value of an object, (i.e. fads, trends), and forgetting its former primary goal of actually having a purpose, in a utilitarian sense. Now that businesses were literally calling out to the consumer with flashy advertisements, in most cases, people did not have to look too hard or for that matter, go too far for what they wanted. Fashion became a necessity and therefore became "fetishized commodities", or objects wielding more power than they actually did. This need for stuff and collecting loads of it gave birth to the "private individual".

To this particular individual, the home became a sanctuary, an office and miniature world all their own. After all this time spent here, the space becomes the person and the person becomes their space, they are one entity. This "private individual" would become the precursor to today's anonymous online. Here, from their computer, the anonymous can buy and sell things on a whim in the privacy of their own home. The computer monitor is the new marketplace. It is also the place where people can freely express themselves without worrying about societal norms or customs; it becomes its own society with its own rules to play by. This freedom to discover and experiment also parallels Baudelaire's "Parisian Dream", which states that "Sleep is full of miracles" and that imagery, (ex. print vs. pixels), alone has influenced him in the way he thinks, etc. He is alone in his thoughts, his head, and his bedroom and his communication with the outside world is through means other than face to face. He is on the internet.

LIE TO ME: Dissimulation Between "Friends" and Those Pesky Memes

Upon reading an excerpt from Nietzsche's "On Truth and Lying in the Non-Moral Sense", one thing is clear; civilization and organized species in general, were doing just fine without their homo sapien counterparts. The discipline of acting on one's instincts alone panned out satisfactory for for the previous thousands, if not millions, of years. These primal societies ate, slept, had sex and got into the occasional fight about one or a combination of the two or three, not unlike the dramas of the 21st century, (sans the waterworks or time to reflect). When humanity came to be, the notion of having to "think before you speak..." became prevalent as did the invention of the lie and the search for the truth.

According to our truth from textbooks, man is superior to other mammals because reason, the ability to think logically, lies within him and no one else. He has the propensity to ponder existentially while his fellow living beings can only just be. However, while man's thoughts continue to branch off one another and could eventually plague him, beings of the lower portion of the totem pole can rest easier, content, as some might say, in their own ignorance. After all, with knowledge comes a necessity to know even more and for some, a way to conceal it or keep it for themselves. Therein lies the lie.

In reference to the Internet, man is superior to other men. He can create an identity, or a profile, and become whomever he wants to be. He can have hundreds of unseen "friends" who reveal all kinds of truths to him without the obligation to do the same. As a consumer of these truths he can also monopolize these identities and take from them what he wants, (ex. identity theft, credit card schemes, etc.). Man is a big fat liar and often profits from it. This dissimulation between "friends" is not a given evil however, creative alter-egos are also attainable here on the Web, where fun becomes virtual.

Fun is yet another term that can be dissected into a billion different brackets and a plethora of perspectives. While some prefer the latest picture show, others may enjoy a quiet evening at home. With all the advances in the electronic/communications department beckoning to anyone who will listen, it is only predictable that memes came to be the Web's biggest star. Again, following in the role of the anonymous Web poster, memes are bit cultural phenomena that are often passed from one end of the world to the other, that were first introduced, by definition anyway, in Richard Dawkins's The Selfish Gene. These memes can come in many forms, such as "LOLCats", "lonelygirl15" and the more recent, "Kanye West Interrupting Meme". Although many may not understand the appeal of memes, no one can question their relevance to our pop culture.

OK COMPUTER: Symptomatic and Reactive Assessments of Today's Online Culture

Our ancestors, as they hunted and gathered, probably would not have been able to surmise that the ways in which we communicate would change so drastically that being in the same room as the person you are talking with would be fully optional. They would also be pretty inquisitive about utensils used for basic hygiene and the wonders of indoor plumbing. Digression aside, the Internet has changed the way we think, feel, speak and express ourselves. Although the computer and all its applications have an array of positives, many activists and artists alike can not help but notice some cons to those pros. When did LOL replace actual laughter? When did we become so secluded into ourselves with our iPods and iPhones that we forgot the normal conventions of social interactions, (i.e. face to face)?

It has all been a blur since the technically, already existing Internet, (circa late 1960s), revamped its format and saw its first big boom in the 1990s. Here, emailing and radical programming became contagious and resulted in some of the high-tech innovations of today. Regardless of the supposed betterment of a global society, it seems as if to some, there is a fine line between human progression and eventual downfall.

Take for example in Miranda July's Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005), a seemingly heartless gallery director, Nancy Herrington, accessorized in drab garb and always depicted in cold colored office scenes, is against our preciously awkward artist/protagonist, Christine (July). We later learn that Nancy, like most of the town, is an Internet user. Unable to display any real emotion in real life, she pours her innermost thoughts onto the shoulders of a stranger in a lonely persons chat room. Meanwhile, an adolescent boy and his curious younger brother come up with all kinds of perverse things to say to her, much of it they do not understand themselves, which of course, she responds to in a most profound way. When she can no longer stand to be separated from the only one who 'gets her', she proposes they meet at a park bench the next day. Sitting there waiting for her lover, she soon realizes that the little boy beside her is the object of her desire. In this pseudo-incestuous love affair, that could have proved a dangerous meeting on any other occasion, the child brushes her hair away from her face with compassion which she reciprocates with a kiss on the lips. Noting this immediately makes audiences cringe, but with a more objective perspective one can deduct that the brief touching of lips and quick walk-away was Nancy's speechless "thank you". In a non-maternal, non-explicit way, Nancy is appreciative of the human connection she has finally made and realizes that due to the impossibility of reality, their relationship must now end. As an advocate for both sides of the coin, July explains that the Internet, which divides Nancy away from healthy relationships, also came to provide a connection, if only temporary and by chance, which may birth hope for the future. Yet clearly, this is a unique circumstance and one in which the relationship is not tangible.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, rather than to comment on but to instead embrace the complexity of the Internet, is Ultimate Reality (2007) by Jimmy Joe Roche and Dan Deacon of Wham City. In this mind-bend of the psychedelic nature, Arnold Schwarzenegger is our unofficial tour guide into bright colors and hallucinogenic pixels with rather obvious sexual connotations. Using clips from Schwarzenegger classics like Kindergarten Cop, Conan the Barbarian, Junior and the ever popular The Terminator, Roche creates a fractured story line that is really only secondary to the film's visual imagery. While all the critics run amuck, some of the art world's most creative works have come to fruition with the invention and embrace of the Internet and all its electronic components, such as Alexei Shulgin's 386DX and the rise of 'net artists' or the more recent The Peace Tape, made just this year by Jacob Ciocci of Paper Rad. As history has a way of repeating itself, so do its rebels and its conservatives. While change spurts out a new type of artistry by way of technological advances by the decade, it very well may lose something in the process. What is essential to ponder in the debate, however, is the measure of gains and losses and if they can or should be balanced. Perhaps being able to conference call China while updating one's Facebook status and listening to music all at once is better than having to complete these tasks in succession; it creates a nation of multi-tasking and things get done more quickly. Perhaps, not. In the end, the Internet is still one mysterious lady whose depths only seem to deepen as she ages and questions as to whether or not she is good for humanity are predicted to continue.