[spectre] Re: audiences

Thu, 22 Aug 2002 02:29:16 +0000

>    6. Re: Audiences (Annick Bureaud)

>Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, Linked, Perseus, 2002

Thanks this seems a really useful reference. I often forget that the idea
of the WorldWideWeb has reached general acceptance. :) The mapping of resistences
to the idea that the WWW might be an interesting thing to study, research or
work with as publishing, is not necessarily a mapping of serious criticism
of uneven distribution and access. Its a mapping of ignorance and idiocy,
assumptions of power, and the mislocation of power.

I'll take a look at the book. I hope to run a graduate seminar series here
in Toronto which should include the very question of 'growth in the WWW'. 
Important to understand given the present diffusion geographically and
the immanent 'broad-band' media delivery capacities.
It was easy to see this growth early on and the development of connectivity as 
well as dialogue through content in many formats - the interconnectivity of
WWW with other means of and formats for communication, as well as

However, I prefer diffusion of innovation models to the mere mathmatical topologies
as these interpret quantitive data while topographical models present a world not
necessarily in connection with the world that makes them. Of course patterns of 
growth and connectivity have resonances with numerous physical and human geographical
historical exemplars and contemporary distributions, networks, links.

The interconnectivity of WWW with broader, wider, larger, more intense cultural currents
creates a familiar dissonance as well as ambience. That's to say, the dialogue of culture 
we are familiar with in so many contexts also occurs in the Web.

Technology a part of a complex story, not the source of its own sense as it can so often seem.

Lachlan

> 
> Hi
> 
> I just read an amazing, mind-blowing book. It is not enterely in the
> focus of your question but should help you understand the growth of the
> web. It is a MUST reading for everyone. OK, now the references :
> 
> 
> 
> It deals with the topology of complex networks. Easy to read despite its
> mathematical background and content.
> 
> Annick
> 
> Lachlan Brown wrote:
> > 
> > Hello scarey Techno-Europeans of 'S.P.E.C.T.R.E.'

:)

> > 
> >     I've just come from the Empyre list where everyone is
> > playing Doctor Who to avoid a few difficult ideas about
> > Real things and Mez is the Dalek. Needless to say, I was
> > unsubscribed two or three times. Probably too clever for my
> > own good.
> > 
> >     I am presently doing a rough survey to get a sense of
> > userships or audiences for WorldWideWeb sites to compare
> > with my first survey of March 1993 (when there were 1,250
> > web sites, no users or audiences, and presumably 1,250
> > producers.) I have plenty of quantitative detail but I would be interested in the insights of, and value the opinion of, the
> > 'ninety-fourers' and the
> > 'ninety-fivers' - people who made or curated web sites
> > in 1994 and 1995 - regarding the question of kind and extent of
> > present audiences.
> > 
> >     I ask because there appears to be very little understanding
> > of the mass extent of WWW use and demand for meaningful content.
> > There appears to be very little understanding of the potential
> > for disseminating art and ideas online.
> > 
> >     To give some sense of the extent of use the WWW and the
> > massive audiences for online culture the sites of CTheory, Rhizome,
> >  and Nettime are respectively 330,000th, 170,000th and 100,000th
> > most accessed sites.
> > 
> > That is, there are 100,000 WorldWideWeb sites accessed by more
> > people than access Nettime. Nettime is still considered to be
> > a primary means of distributing news about art projects, hence
> > it seems to me that artists and curators have 'lost the plot'
> > somewhat in sustaining the early influence on the development of
> > the WorldWideWeb of arts and critical projects online around that
> > time.
> > 
> >     I'd welcome some opinion by long term producers and users
> > on the nature of these sites and their audiences/users. I would
> > also be very interested in opinion re: why and when this early
> > critical and creative intervention by artists, editors and
> > curators was superceded.
> > 
> >     That is, why and when was critical and artistic perspicuity
> > and foresight replaced by pliancy of intellect and creative ability?
> > 
> >     Luv
> > 
> >     Lachlan
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Lachlan Brown
> > 
> > been there done that doing it again
> > 
> > T(416) 826 6937
> > VM (416) 822 1123
> > 
> > 
> > 
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> -- 
> -----------------------------------------------
> Annick Bureaud (annickb@altern.org)
> tél/fax : 33/143 20 92 23 
> mobile : 33 (0)6 86 77 65 76
> -----------------------------------------
> IDEA online/International Directory of Electronic Arts : http://nunc.com
> OLATS/Observatoire Leonardo des Arts et des Techno-Sciences : http://www.olats.org
> 
> 
> 
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Lachlan Brown
T(416) 826 6937
VM (416) 822 1123

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