Effects of Libyan Internet Shutdown

The linked article discusses the possible effects of Libya's recent move to control citizen's power and restrict publicity of their atrocities by turning off the internet. While there is a certain notion of the internet existing as a free and open space, actions such as this remind me that ultimately someone "owns" the internet and has the power to take it away.

Emerging disciplines

Katharine Hayles is one of the participants in this symposium at Rice University next Friday. I don't know if anyone is interested, but the various topics covered might be worth a trip to Houston.

Cyberspace Art Exhibition at the New Museum of Contemporary Art

History of Software Development

Seminar Description

The emergence of art as expressive cultures in the virtual worlds poses a series of ontological questions about the semiology of traditional forms of creativity and perceptions of reality. Where, for instance, is the location of the physical body in a virtual world? Is the physical body nullified, or does it become an object among other bodies, or a third-person subjective that viewers can manipulate with objective distance? Is the cyberspace an extension of human phenomenological experiences? Does the cyberworld complement the real world or does it translate the human mind into surrogates and cyberbodies floating in cyberspatial dimensions? Does the artist or user enter cyberspace with the mind or the body, with both, or neither? Does the experience of cyberviral infections psychologically alter or pathologically infect the experience of the “actual” physical body? What are the cultural, racial, gender, religious, and economic boundaries, or the psychological borders of cyberspatial life? Is there, in fact, life in cyberspace? Is cyberspace the End of Life? What are the security implications of art that transgresses political, military, and economic borders in cyberspace? What frames of reference limit cyberspatial freedom of expression? What is the role and responsibility of the artist as a shaper of cyberspatial dimensions? What is the location of the audience as a receiver and consumer of cyberspatial expressive cultures? Is there is a single virtual world, or are there other virtual worlds yet unidentified? Is cyberspace a surrealist and futurist dream of fantasies and mythologies? With readings and images that date from antiquity to contemporary texts and pictures, this seminar will explore the internet and similar virtual contents as a diasporic location of cyberspatial expressions that push art, creativity, and connoisseurship beyond twentieth century frameworks and cultural boundaries.