Is the net witchcraft? In his Grammatron, Marc Amerika plays on the polysemy of source code/sorcery code. I recently learned that in Congo the internet is called ‘kindoki’s letter’, kindoki meaning a spirit of witchcraft…?

Considering the many alerts and cries about the wicked influence of the net on our daily lives, one might just wonder if they aren’t right ;)

response (0) tagged: digital culture filed under: metatexts :: on reading

Information technology is based on binary digits that send signals to process, store or retrieve data and - like any language - it’s completely intelligible for the one who can read the language in question, which would differentiate it from noise, yet it is in-forma - it needs its other, its interface.

Information technology is not information; it’s a means, a media, a vehicle - today often for information, but to my delight not exclusively so as it’s also a means for sharing knowledge in different forms. 

response (0) tagged: digital culture filed under: the new screen

What’s a community? is a question I’m asking myself after having spent a few months working at the local community center. The answer I arrive at is that a community by definition is fenced in by common ideals, goals, social structures etc that foreclose the other.

It’s not very different from the American ‘neighbourhood’ mentality - the world is no larger than your immediate surroundings - what goes beyond is a potential threat. God knows what’s waiting around the corner - a sociopath, a serial killer, a member of al-qaida, or simply yourself - and chaos.

response (0) tagged: patriarchy :: the other filed under: the Other :: in the absence of the Other

the interface - the border, the surface, the crosspoints - where I tip into the Other - as in a reading that takes place at the interface of text/reader - the virtual space of reading.

response (0) tagged: immersion :: reading filed under: metatexts :: on reading :: the new screen