From: Charlie Gere <[log in to unmask]>
Preliminary Notice of
a series of one-day seminars organised by the
the School of History of Art, Film and Visual Media, Birkbeck College,
University of London &
the Centre for Social Theory and Technology, Keele University
CULTURES OF INFORMATION
The first one-day seminar, INFORMATION AND CULTURE, to be held at Birkbeck
College, Wednesday 20th June, 2001
Introduction
Robert Cooper - Keele University
In introducing the theme of the seminars Professor Cooper discusses
information in the wider-than-usual context of the production and
transmission of social and cultural signs, messages and meanings. He
identifies two kinds of informational culture: (1) those which define
information in restricted, commodified functional terms, and (2) those
which see information as more fluid, equivocal, even imprecise. The
implications of these contrasting approaches to information are then
illustrated in various institutional and cultural contexts such as the mass
media, literature and art.
What Hath God Wrought
Charlie Gere - Birkbeck College
However techno-scientific they may appear modern theories of information
and communication are fundamentally theological in character concerned as
they are with issues of order, clarity and the untramelled transmission of
information without noise or interruption. This paper examines the
religious basis of modern information theory, from the angelogy that
accompanied Christianity's early institutionalisation through to the
religious aspects of the work of pioneers of modern communication systems,
such as Saint-Simon and Samuel Morse.
Anti-Cultures of Noise
Jon Agar - University of Manchester
When in the 1940s Claude Shannon defined information in terms of signal and
noise he was articulating a pivotal 20th century distinction. Historians of
information technology are far more used to talking about what framed
information: structure, organisation and order. Noise was made to stand in
opposition to all three. It was also, for some, dirty, modern and
artificial. Jon Agar will review the history of noise in twentieth-century
Britain, and in particular organised campaigns against it, such as the
Anti-Noise League. Engineers, including electrical engineers - members of a
discipinary tradition that gave Shannon his theoretical tools - played a
surprisingly prominent role in these campaigns. The distinction between
what is signal and what was interfering noise was a problem with social,
political and epistemological consequences.
Information and Transmission
Giles Lane - RCA/LSE
Information is not just abstract and ephemeral but is an intrinsic part of
physical existence, though the interplay between gesture, the body and
information has been largely ignored in western culture. What is the
impact on our definitions of 'information' from the increasing interest in
haptics and force feedback, quantum physics and investigations into
traditional knowledge bases such as the I-Ching (Book of Changes)? What
are the implications of self-organising information structures currently
being researched (e.g. the Grid -- an enhanced, semi-'intelligent'
internet)? What implications do the subtle interaction between
electro-magnetic forces generated by the human body with those of
information devices (mobile phones, PDAs etc) have for our concept of
'information' and mediated knowledge?
Attendance is free, but space is limited, so book early to secure a place.
Detailed information about time and place will be forthcoming nearer the date
Enquiries to Charlie Gere (tel: 020 7 278 0237, email: [log in to unmask]) or
Robert Cooper (email: [log in to unmask])
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Dr Charlie Gere
M.A. Tutor Digital Art History
School of History of Art, Film and Visual Media
Birkbeck College
University of London
43 Gordon Sq
WC1H OPD
020 7 631 6128
Website <http://www.bbk.ac.uk/hafvm/staff_research/cgere.html>
email <[log in to unmask]>
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