Dear Beryl,
After I wrote that I realized the people who were calling for a new
media taxonomy were, by and large, programmers and people who create
databases. Surprise! Which brings up a question: does new media have a
"Two Cultures" problem like C.P. Snow famously proposed? If we do ISEA
seems to have been pretty successful at merging them or at least making
them "play nice" together. Yet I've been in situations where those who
come from the structured programming-based team (say the MIT Media Lab)
can barely talk to those who come from the more traditional fine arts
team of video/performance/literature etc. and vice versa because each
has their own specialized knowledge. Of course there are many who
easily bridge the gap -- Perry Hoberman comes to mind -- or maybe what
we have is what Thomas Pynchon described as a field crowded with
one-person teams each playing their own particular game. If there isn't
a hierarchical taxonomy, some of them may just take their ball and go
home while others (like me) have a more situational attitude.
Sorry, I've been watching Olympic soccer all afternoon.
Oops, we're having one our famous lightening storms so I gotta send
this and unplug the computer...
Best,
Rob
On Aug 27, 2004, at 2:53 PM, Beryl Graham wrote:
> Dear Rob,
>
> Thanks for this- I think that it is helpful, because 'taxonomies' do
> infer a complete hierarchical structure, whereas what we have at the
> moment is a diverse collection of namings, categories, and some new
> words which fail to fly if not meaningful enough. There is also the
> Variable Media project's "media-independent behaviors" which I've
> found useful. I'm not wedded to taxonomies, so let vocabularies
> bloom.
>
> You've got the AC on, we've all got post-ISEA colds, so I look
> forward to the 1st September! I'm working on a small collection of
> categories which I'll post the URL of then.
>
> Yours,
>
> Beryl
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