nooshramghan

I finally finished my article on Occupy Wall Street Movement today (May 2, 2012). My approach was to look at the movement through the eyes of the Occupy Movement itself. It is hard to pretend you are somebody else you know you are not. I had to practice to be an Occupier before writing about the movement. Although I tried to be as objective as possible in writing my article, I had to refer to other sources to explain certain issues in regards to the movement. I learned a lot of facts about the movement that I did not know before. I was totally impressed by their knowledge and commitment to pursue their goals. I tried to avoid being biased towards the movement, even though we are all biased in one way or another. In any case, the evidence is clear and the facts speak for themselves. I tried my best to rely on the facts and avoid any sensationalism.

My research about the Occupy Movement helped me understand the movement clearly, so I am happy to share my knowledge with others. The mainstream media wants us to believe that the movement is a utopian movement alienated from society, but this is far from the truth. They have a vested interest to imply so. I am happy with my findings about the movement, and would be happier If I was a real member of the movement. My research was an enlightening journey.

The article begins by acknowledging that, because of the internet, “Special Knowledge” has become more popularized, and even universalized, allowing non-experts to have equal access to information and its applications. Paradoxically, the database available has two functions:

1. It is the process of disembedding information that was once more tightly bound to professional communities, with their tightly controlled forms of accreditation of membership (176).
2. In the same time, the database is concerned with the production of knowledge with more open, digitally mediated communities, therefore offering a broader structure of participation in our digitally mediated culture (176).

These two functions are representative of a profound gap between special knowledge representation and the new online community. The latter seems to have a more sincere civic concern that the former. With such broad discussion, Shay Thomas shows concern with the issue of “the burden of legitimizing knowledge production and incentivizing participation [being] explicitly embedded in the systems’ architectures themselves – systems that manage reputations and rewards and structure editorial process and community relations” (176). The amazing thing is, the community does not have central authority to manage or to control it. It reminds you of the Arab Spring and the Occupy movements, which both seem to lack central leadership. In order to show the shift of “online knowledge community and works” toward a general theory of “knowledge production and authority in digital culture”, Thomas names Wikipedia.org, Slashdot.org, Amazon.com, and Textports-change.com (176). The information should provide practical possibilities for better relations of communications within the workplace, communities, and society. Change in any system must be as the result of this understanding.

With all the concerns that science has shown “to understand the role of informal knowledge and patterns of communication within institutions and social system”, the change of commands or institutional flowchart as classic examples “…rarely provide adequate descriptions of how knowledge really articulates within institutions” (177). Neither the expert knowledge nor the informal or practice-based knowledge have “shown significant legitimacy to supporting the knowledge.” This has given rise to another unforeseen exigency. “This recognition has given rise not only to descriptive theories of knowledge systems but also to normative ones dedicated to providing values of extending the horizon of decision making beyond expert concerns” (177-178). Thomas further evaluates the online knowledge communities from the point of social and political views. It seems that the rivalry between the two (experts vs. informal) is not easy to resolve. Each has its own parameters and functional consequences to establish. There is a fundamental tension between the two. I am sure the globalization of economy and the move towards corporate politics plays a major role in this conflict; therefore, both have claims on the legitimacies of knowledge they represent. “For the sociologists Harry Collins and Robert Evans, this tension frames a dominant research paradigm within science studies” (178). This is a two-sided problem. Thomas gives an example of “medicine and law” as “professional bodies” for knowledge claims. The problem with such professional bodies is that they lead to monopolies, something that participatory communities expose and reject. This is more so today, as we witness that information engines such as YouTube (Google) have turned into good examples of the privatization of a public media. And the trend is expanding to other engines swallowing small sites or media applications, but for a while, “Across a wide range of fields, the free flow of information made possible by the internet has eroded these monopoly positions” (178). The online communities are not without problems either. “As large, unbounded communities become producers and mediators of specialized knowledge, how do they organize the collaboration process and what is the role of experts within it?” (179) As a solution, Thomas uses the term “representation system”. These systems will help “create and allocate forms of recognition: hierarchy, privilege, and authority within the community” (179).

What I understand is that the role that online communities (informal knowledge) play as participatory culture should not be underestimated. It is directly linked to the construction of expertise and identities. As an example to non-academic (amateur contributors), Shay Thomas analyzes Wikipedia. “Contrary to most norms of editorial process and quality control, Wikipedia demonstrates that – under some circumstances, at least – large numbers of amateur contributors can create a dynamic in which “good” information drives out “bad” leading to a form of conditional authority vested in the collaborative editorial process itself, rather than in the contributions of individual authors” (180). Another example is Slashdot.org, which “has tremendous authority in the world of “technology websites”, and claims more readers than The New York Times. From what I understand by reading other related materials is that informal knowledge, such as Slashdot.org, seems to enjoy more support because of their lack of monopoly tendencies. Everybody is equal as long as you keep a certain moderation is your language and comments. Finally, Thomas and other scholars consider the participatory communities as the democratic institutions, which their abolishment by formal media, represent an act of authoritarianism. Thomas writes, “After the fundamental principle of open source code – of technical architectures exposed to public scrutiny – online knowledge communities may be the second democratic innovation of digital culture” (194). Over all, the reading of this essay was enlightening.

I am not a tech savvy person, so jumping into creating a webpage was a challenge at first. I tried many free sites. Most of the sites were either slow, or not user-friendly. At the end, I chose to use www.godaddy.com. It is a very user-friendly site, with a low cost ($4 per month), and easy layout. Godaddy.com offers both the domain and web hosting. I tried many titles for my webpage, only to find out that they had already been taken. Finally, I liked the commercial look of NEO-ARTIST, based from the neo-noir films taught by Dr. Guertin.

Godaddy.com offers a variety of incentives and options which, price-wise, can really add up. I chose the most basic service. Godaddy.com itself offers an album of beautiful pictures for background. However, I decided to use my own pictures and artworks. The images from “Color and Light” are from my personal collection of over five hundred digital photos. My webpage includes my homepage, two samples of my poetry, and a link to my poetry collection (Confessions), sold on the Amazon Kindle. I chose my personal artworks to personalize the webpage. The music was offered by YouTube, based on the length of my “Color and Light” video (1:01). It is an Italian piece titled “Amor aumente el valor”.

The process of creating the webpage does not really take too much time, but what you post is time-consuming…to go through selections of artworks, photos, and different texts can keep you occupied. But nonetheless, I am very happy with my end result.

Here is the link to my website: http://neo-artist.com/

I read and reviewed two of the pieces from the collection. They are:

1. New Word Order: Basra, by: Sandy Baldwin
2. V: Vniverse, by: Stephanie Strickland and Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo

Basra is a game. The author, Baldwin, interrelates a song by Billy Collins with an all-out violent game. I say an all-out game because this game “remains the most popular online multi-layer game. Every object in Half-Life is either shootable or background” (Baldwin). I wonder if soldiers are encouraged to play this game before they are dispatched to Iraq or Afghanistan. Oddly enough, the real target is not human, but language; the words. I did not play the game, because you have to install Half-Life on your computer to play the game mode. Besides, the site gives you a notice like this; “The mod was designed for the original Half-Life and has not been tested with Half-Life 2 or Half-Life source.” But I watched the video and read the essay. The heavy machine gun that shoots the words is through your perspective. The words are demolished by high-powered machine gun. Some of the words are pure abstracts, but some are not. Words like: confess, torture and… shore, begin, beating, begin, a hose. Also, some words are shown in reverse, such as chair. The sound effects reminded me of the sound on the footage of the video from Columbine shooting in Michael More’s “Bowling for Columbine”. What I understand from the words being shot at and destroyed is the symbolic notion of the act of pure violence, meaning that violence destroys and defies the logic behind everything. The video also shows the words “New Word Order”, and gives the piece a sense of politics. When I (patiently) put the words together, the New World Order was located above all other words. You can construct two sentences out of all the abstract words floating everywhere:

1. Begin beating them with a hose.
2. Tie them out to confession…torture of…

The essay is about nine pages, including the bibliography. The title of the essay is: THE NIHILANT; IMMERSIVITY IN A FIRST-PERSON GAMING MOD. The essay begins with a Marxian idea that “objects and events are not primitive experiences. Objects and events are representations of relations” (Baldwin). The direct quotation is from Heinz Von Forester. The rest of the article reminds you of Lacan and Zizek’s theories of subject (self) and the Other (object). “All games are played towards the other. The first-person shoots computer games that concern one are about the destination of myself towards the other” (Baldwin). The essay should be read in the lights of Lacan’s theory of linguistics and epistemology. The Other, according to Lacan, is “a long-term concern of western philosophy, and how we view the other, whether as a friend or threat, depends largely on the concept of self we spouse. The more sharply defined our sense of self, the more we are likely to fear the encroachment of the other which in extreme cases would extend to the entire human race” (Sim, 286). Baldwin, in her defining of “immersion”, argues, “It is not that I disclose myself to others and we meet as equals. There is not a grid or surface, a clean and smooth world. Across which I encounter others. Such a space might be filled with challenges, physical obstacles, puzzles, but its inherent dimensionality and cohesion guarantees that it can be passed over” (Baldwin).

I enjoyed Strickland’s V: Vniverse. The author describes Vniverse as “a textual instrument for exploring a sequence of poems that appear in a double invertible book” (Strickland). I like how the illusion of movement is created out of the sky by the words. Strickland, too, plays with the linguistic structure for her explorations.

Works Cited

Baldwin, Sandy. “New World Order: Basra.” Electronic Literature Collection. Electronic Literature Organization (ELO). Web. 29 Mar. 2012. .

Sim, Stuart. Irony and Crisis: A Critical History of Postmodern Culture. Cambridge: Icon, 2002. Print.

In the absence of mainstream media coverage of occupied Wall Street and/or their deliberate aversion of the movement’s ideology and goals, I found it necessary to propose the following study and analysis of the movement. My goal in writing this article is to convince the readers that the occupy Wall Street movement is alive and well, and growing momentum, not just on the local scene, but all over the world. I have based my article on careful research, written documents and global electronic media. Even a media outlet like NPR, on its coverage of the occupy Wall Street on March 19, 2012, aimed at discrediting the movement. Kim Clark, the NPR’s commentator said, “The occupy wall street protesters have gotten lots of attention even though their complaints are vague, and they don’t really offer any concrete solutions” (Marketplace.org). Not true, I say. My article will reject such evaluation of the occupy movement. I have formulated my thoughts on the movement based on data collection from various sources. My ultimate solution to the problem is that we should all support the movement, if we believe in the future wellbeing of our country and the world. My preliminary observations and assessments of the movement is that:
1. It is a genuine movement
2. Its demography shows that the majority of the participants are white, middle class Americans.
3. It is a new movement in the process of creation; gaining rapid momentum among the intellegencia.
4. It is composed of 99% jobless whites; teachers, professors, and college graduates.
5. No blacks yet because the whites are more nationalistic
6. They are left wing (not to be mistaken as Marxist) nationalist.
7. They are fighting in defense of American society.
8. The future of America, very likely, is dependent on them.
9. It is an anti-globalization movement.
10. They are against imperialism (big capitalists), but in favor of national small capitalism.
In my article, I will argue that the movement is alive, its goals are clear, and should be supported in their spread of ideology. They are as legal and as patriotic as any of us. I will elaborate more on their philosophical foundations. But I must say that the future of America is connected to their success because America is losing its power grip in the world. As the result, we are heading for a new era of political suppression. The movement is here to save us. Is it surprising why the big corporations are opposing them? In a short time since Septembr 17, 2011, when occupy Wall Street began, it has formed itself as a global movement, with an impressive political power. The counterpart to the occupy movement is the tea party which will not have a chance to challenge or to compete the occupy movement.

Poster gives detailed information on the effects of digital media on our culture, more specifically, on children. He characterizes the new relation between machine and human which consequently has resulted in new information-based theories. He does so in relation to the profound changes taking place due to the emergence of globalization. We are experiencing a new era of global culture and politics. But the changes have also brought disturbing consequences; among them, Poster talks about identity theft. He writes, “The recent construction of the crime of identity theft raises the paradoxical question of the security of identity. How can actions in the world impinge on and even destabilize an individual’s identity?” (87). Poster states several examples as to how identity theft was perceived in the past. But in the present, the nature of identity theft has changed drastically. It is now more an issue of political control and economic exploitation, than of, let’s say, “[a] crisis of identity” (87).

Further on, Poster exposes the nature of the perpetrators and their victims. The list pronounced by him is not pretty at all. “Here is a list of categories of perpetrators gleaned from periodicals: a former college official, a former state worker, a former H&R Block manager, high tech insider, an orange county couple, prison workers, a student, the wife of an imprisoned gang leader, automobile dealership employees (with 1,700 complains in 2001), and, of course, al-Qaeda terrorists” (91). Obviously, we can draw the conclusion that digital machines have made us more prone to such victimization. Poster adds to this list the names of the biggest perpetrators around: THE BANKS. Quoting from Sheila Cherry (2002), he writes, “Identity theft is only possible with the full cooperation of three major participants: the impostor, the creditor, and the credit bureau. All are conspirators and equally guilty of identity theft” (91). This indicates that in the age of digital machines, we are not safe at all. Even worse than that, “It becomes clear that identity theft turns people’s life upside down” (93). People are losers on both side; they are cheated out of their livelihood, and harassed at the same time by collection agencies. One role that the media has played is that “the media have relentlessly informed them about it” (94). One such outlet is the “Victims Assistance of America, Inc.,” which “maintains a website that allows victims of identity theft to upload their stories” (93).

The media is involved in another endeavor, specifically, that of children’s sense of identity and development. Poster gives an example “of a boy who developed his gay sexual orientation through the internet” (174). Lacan’s dominant psychoanalysis theory is mentioned by Poster in analyzing children’s behavior in relation to TV and the internet. I am not sure if this is good news for parents or not. “Screens on television, and computers, are technologies more complex than [Lacan’s] mirrors reflect back to the child by the screen and the screen by the child. This is its fusion effect, which is captured in films like Gary Russ’s Pleasantville” (1990). What I get from this fusion effect is that the traditional notion of child development, according to Lacan’s theory of mirror stage, is disconnected. In the example of the Teletubbies, Poster states that “Teletubbies presents to infants the structure of their own desire – through the mediation of the machine” (179). This can be dangerous to the child because the machine is replacing the mother, and the natural course of child development is stopped.

                                                       PECHA KUCHA

I think that Pecha Kucha is the largest artistic community in the world. I have been watching samples of international Pecha Kuchas. I have learned so much about it so far, and I hope it doesn’t turn out to be an artistic obsession. I can now argue why Pecha Kucha is not really a PowerPoint, for the following reasons:

1. 20×20 = 20 slides (20 seconds each)*

2. The images are formed automatically, and you will talk to the images.

3. The first Pecha Kucha night was held in Tokyo, in February 2003; the founders are still active.

4. Pecha Kucha is an OPEN MIC activity for artists.

5. Pecha Kucha nights are informal and fun gatherings where creative people get together and share their ideas, works, thoughts, and holiday snaps – just about everything really, in the Pecha Kucha 20×20 format.

6. Pecha Kucha nights are now happening in over 230 cities around the world.

7. Why have Pecha Kucha nights gone viral globally? …Well, most cities – not just Tokyo – have virtually no public spaces where people can show and share their works in a relaxed way. Pecha Kucha is the perfect platform to show and share your work.

8. Anyone can present a Pecha Kucha.

9. Many spaces may be used for your presentation; places like bars, churches, schools, and even prisons. WOW!

10. Even though Pecha Kucha nights are trademarked, it is always for content and not for profit.

11. Pecha Kucha has now become a foundation, and holds a Pecha Kucha NIGHT AWARD (a sort of Cannes Film Festival or Oscar night of Pecha Kucha).

12.  It is a great format for project reviews and presentations at schools or internal presentations in offices. The average length of a presentation is about 6 minutes and 20 seconds.

I have spent many hours watching some Pecha Kuchas (20×20) over the net. Here are some of the presentations I would recommend for everyone to watch.

1.  FANTASY WORLD by: Tokyo Genso

     Source: http://www.pecha-kucha.org/presentations/302

2. TOKYO WIRED, IN TOKYO by: Klein Dytham architecture (one of the Pecha Kucha founders)

    Source: http://www.Pecha-Kucha.org/presentations/314

3. PHOTOGRAPHY REBUILDING (Rebuilding Through Corsettery, in Johannesburg) by: Candice Bell.

     Note: I love her accent, and also I highly recommend this piece for topics such as Feminism and fashion.

     Source: http://www.Pecha-Kucha.org/presentations/190               

4. ICONIC.COM (the idea of what it means to be iconic) by: Ben Erban

     Source: http://www.Pecha-kucha.org/presentations/148

      I think this was the best Pecha Kucha I saw among the rest. This presentation covers: Politics, history, rhetoric, how we communicate, how we make decisions, ideas versus physical (the world of experience), ideas > than experience, gossip, belief in something, beliefs >reason, opinions and behavior. 

I found out that Dallas and Fort Worth have Pecha Kucha night but Arlington does not. When I checked the city of Tehran, Iran, I saw a poster printed in Persian. The English translation of the poster reads as follows:

                1. A framework for the exhibition of artistic works of unknown contemporary artists.

                2. Pecha Kucha is the night of exchanging ideas.

                3. A celebration of your artistic ears and eyes.

* Source: http://www.pecha-kucha.org/

“Afterword: <Meta> Casuistic Code”, by Cynthia Haynes

 <Meta> tags are like shortcuts in the browsing of the internet. They give you a “fresh” start, and a point at which to start another function. In this case, “another URL as the destination point after the refresh, and thus cause the Web page to automatically change URLs” (228). Haynes describes how metadata was popular and used before the search engines shifted towards building their own “indexes”. The most popular example is Google, which “does not rely on <meta> tags for fear of being manipulated” (228). The reasons behind this shift of application of meta, according to Monika Henzique, are as follows:

1. “Response to spammers” (228)
2. Fear of manipulations
3. “‘Search engine optimization’ consultants abusing the <meta> tags, a practice known as keyword stuffing” (228)

 So, because of all these data manipulations and discrepancies, the industry is now shifting towards “code”, because “code is the only language that is executable, meaning that it is the first discourse that is materially affective” (228). After this introduction, Haynes quickly discusses the history (during World War II and earlier) and the theory of <meta> data, which led to such changes in information transformation. Haynes provides us with detailed information revealing how, for instance, the Germans used “casuistic codes” to categorize people on the basis of “nationality, date of birth, marital status, number of children, reason for incarceration, physical characteristics, and work skills” (229). There were also categories for “Jews”, “homosexuals”, “antisocials”, and “Gypsies” (229). But the temporary application of the “casuistry code” is not a simple process. Haynes analyzes this new trend technologically and philosophically.

 What I gathered from Haynes is that everything is explainable in terms of data. We have lived with this reality since the nineteenth century. Lee Manovich writes, “Any object in the world – [such as] the population of a city…is modeled as a data structure, that is, data organized in a particular way for efficient search and retrieval” (234).

As we are witnessing the digital age, the new databases are working to create their own culture and history.