What is technoculture?Week 2–3 ARIN2600 Technocultures

Semester 1, 2009Chris Chesher

1Thursday, 12 March 2009

Techno-

• Technology

• craftsmanship + reckoning

• technique + word

• techne: uncovering (Heidegger)

• tools, machines, materials and processes

• technological determinism or social construction? (are those the only choices?)

2Thursday, 12 March 2009

-culture

• Cultivation

• Culture and Civilisation

• Issues in culture:

• cultural differences / diversity

• material culture (artefacts)

• popular cultures

• cultural studies

3Thursday, 12 March 2009

TECHNOLOGY

CULTUREValues

MeaningsIdentity

SubjectivityNationality

EthnicitySexuality

GenderArtefacts

Texts

Images

Practices

Beliefs

toolsmachinesmaterialsprocesses

state of the artstandards techniquestraining

Class Institutions

inputsoutputsinterfaceswaste

Age

Professions Ritual

Politics

4Thursday, 12 March 2009

Technocultures Case Study

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twitter featurestwitstreams

7Thursday, 12 March 2009

Technological? Cultural?

XML protocols; codes; writing; news

URLlink; reference;

connection

clients / serversownership; control;

sharing

APIconnection; mash-ups;

open systems

8Thursday, 12 March 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhAAu8hNP0w

rocket boom

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Technocultural tropes

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Techno-perception

• Reveal the imperceptible

• distant things (telescope; GPS)

• small things (microscope)

• outside sensory range (infrared)

• outside real time (high speed cameras)

15Thursday, 12 March 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-TcBnfE6qU

16Thursday, 12 March 2009

Techno-relationships

• Interpersonal communication

• mobile phone

• voice, text, GPS, bluetooth

• contact lists, organiser, etc

• email & messaging chat

• MySpace / facebook social software

• personal profileshttp://www.soft3k.com/imgs/SmileySaver-Screensaver-w300-10327.jpg

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Techno-institutions

• Regulators: Parliament; ABA

• Broadcasting Services Amendment (Online Services) Bill 1999

• Industry bodies

• Internet Industry Association

• AIMIA (Interactive Media)

• Game Developers Assoc. of Australia

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Techno-imaginary

• Anxieties about technology out of control:

• privacy

• competency and redundancy

• Exuberance at possibilities

• technology as a panacea

• economic benefits (dot com boom)

19Thursday, 12 March 2009

Animatrix (2003)

• ‘The second renaissance’ presents an almost biblical back-story to the Matrix series. First there was man and it was good; but man became corrupted. Man created technology, and it was good for a while...

20Thursday, 12 March 2009

Animatrix Village Roadshow Films (2003) Warner Brothers Home Video

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Techno-ethics

• Moral panics

• computer games: violence; time-wasting

• mobile phone health scares

• driving & mobiles

• Government regulation: content; codes of practice; children’s use of Internet

22Thursday, 12 March 2009

Techno-workNew work practices

call centres; HTML slavesNew business models

Consumer rightsWork organisation

(Zuboff: informating)

23Thursday, 12 March 2009

About this unit of studyTechnocultures 2009

Digital Cultures programChris Chesher & Kathy Cleland

24Thursday, 12 March 2009

Lectures

• (you’re at one now)

• Thursdays 10am McRae Room S418

• Lectures relate to next Monday’s tutorials

• I’ve split the lectures from tutorials to give you time to read the readings with some context

25Thursday, 12 March 2009

Tutorials

• Kathy Cleland and Chris Chesher

• All currently in Transient 170-171

• 10am-12pm Monday CC 170/1 Transient

• 11am-1pm Monday KC CR109 Brennan

• 1pm-3pm Monday CC CR109 Brennan

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Assessment

1. Web / presentation 10 minutes + 500 words 25%

2. Analyse influences on & influence of a reading 1500 words 25%

3. Technoculture essay 2000 words 30%

4. Participation online & offline continuous 20%

27Thursday, 12 March 2009

Get online

• moodle.arts.usyd.edu.au (no www)

• create an account (confirm by email)

• username and password you’ll remember

• Use initial caps for your First Name and Last Name:

• eg. Chris Chesher NOT chris chesher

• enter enrolment keys:• 10am donna; 1pm bruno; 3pm felix

28Thursday, 12 March 2009

What is on moodle?

• All core unit of study information

• Weekly summary of topics

• Some lecture slides downloadable afterwards

• Links to relevant online resources

• Activities: wikis, forums, glossary, chat, etc

• Submit some assignments

29Thursday, 12 March 2009

ReadingsMcCarthy, John and Peter Wright (2004) ‘Living with technology’ in Technology as experience, Cambridge and London: The MIT Press. pp 1-22.

Chun, Wendy H. K. (2006). Control and freedom: power and paranoia in the age of fiber optics. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

30Thursday, 12 March 2009

Next week: McLuhan

• ‘The medium is the message’

• communication technology and cognition

• sense ratios visual > oral/aural

• Hot and Cool media

• Allatonceness

• creating probes

31Thursday, 12 March 2009