On 02/10/13 11:25 PM, Charlotte Frost wrote:
>
> Before we even get into any discussion of lurking and flaming, I wonder if
> you or anyone else has any thoughts on how prohibitive online spaces can
> be to newcomers. I'm about to run the 3rd Academic Writing Month, which
> uses a lot of Twitter, and someone just said to me they were scared to
> death of taking part the first time round.
I can entirely understand that.
It wasn't until I'd spent several years being flamed on Usenet's alt.*
hierarchy and on programming mailing lists that I was able to jump into
the conversation on Rhizome RAW with any confidence.
Twitter has been an amazing resource for contacts, conversation and news
over the last few years. That's something that's ripe for study I think.
> And also I like your point - if I'm understanding correctly - about
> different spaces giving rise to different types of interaction/discussion.
> Today it's easy to compare the 'brands' of different social media
> platforms but it's difficult to get a sense now of how one list would have
> differed from another - except by asking people to comment. So I'd love to
> know which lists people used and why? Why the Syndicate rather than
> Rhizome? Was it just geographical allegiance or was there a different type
> of discussion or a different value in being involved?
Art historical ethnography?
I joined Rhizome RAW quite late according to their archives and I
absolutely loved it. The transatlantic access and institutional context
it afforded was important. Its higher temperature was often creative,
for me at least.
See here for why people were so upset when RAW was shut down and what
has changed since (if anyone reads that far my exasperated comment is,
in my old Rhizome style, a carefully chosen quote from "Aliens"):
http://rhizome.org/editorial/2013/apr/15/breaking-ice/
After RAW I switched to netbehaviour full time. I've had heated debates
on there but they've not descended to trolling, and that's directly a
product of the culture that the administrators have created and
exemplified (and occasionally stepped in to enforce). I feel like I know
people better on netbehaviour, even though I first formed some key
relationships on RAW.
http://www.netbehaviour.org/
Alongside these I was and still am on eu-gene, the generative art list.
This consists almost entirely of discussions of what generative art
actually is, and is completely wonderful.
http://generative.net/mailman/listinfo/eu-gene
So yes I have found the character and value of each of these lists to be
different. And I also feel a different person on each, which would
please mid-90s Sherry Turkle.
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