Social media and network politics
Maria Schneider, Digital Patronage and Composer/Audience Interactivity
This project involves an analytical and ethnographic study of the big band jazz composer Maria Schneider and her place in the digital music industry. She is the headline artist on the internet-based record label ArtistShare where fans pay to have albums made, and receive credits and invitations to rehearsals in return. Patronage has existed for centuries in music, and ArtistShare is a particularly interesting case study of digital patronage. Artists can receive up to 80% from album sales, as opposed to from major record labels where an artist may receive around 10% revenue after recuperating recording and other costs. In fact, Schneider has become the first artist to win a Grammy whose album was not available in physical retail stores.
Contact: Dr Justin Williams
This project involves an analytical and ethnographic study of the big band jazz composer Maria Schneider and her place in the digital music industry. She is the headline artist on the internet-based record label ArtistShare where fans pay to have albums made, and receive credits and invitations to rehearsals in return. Patronage has existed for centuries in music, and ArtistShare is a particularly interesting case study of digital patronage. Artists can receive up to 80% from album sales, as opposed to from major record labels where an artist may receive around 10% revenue after recuperating recording and other costs. In fact, Schneider has become the first artist to win a Grammy whose album was not available in physical retail stores.
Contact: Dr Justin Williams
Opening the Gate
Judy Forshaw's project is a filmed record of the recent work carried out by the Digital Innovation in Distribution Fund, which grew out of the Film Council's decision to investigate the use of the internet as means of reaching new audiences.
The recently abolished Film Council was established in 2000 under the Labour government specifically to support independent film, foreign language film and documentaries that are difficult to market. Since its creation the Film Council has invested over £160m of Lottery funding into more than 900 films, which has helped generate over £700 million at the box office worldwide. The Digital Innovation in Distribution Find was specifically set up to cover the cost of on-line media and website promotion only. 12 awards were made to distributors of £30,000 each. This type of online promotion has been successfully used by Hollywood block busters and grass roots filmmakers in the past, but seldom in the independent sector as a whole, so this signals a departure.
The full film can be viewed below.
Contact: Judy Forshaw
Judy Forshaw's project is a filmed record of the recent work carried out by the Digital Innovation in Distribution Fund, which grew out of the Film Council's decision to investigate the use of the internet as means of reaching new audiences.
The recently abolished Film Council was established in 2000 under the Labour government specifically to support independent film, foreign language film and documentaries that are difficult to market. Since its creation the Film Council has invested over £160m of Lottery funding into more than 900 films, which has helped generate over £700 million at the box office worldwide. The Digital Innovation in Distribution Find was specifically set up to cover the cost of on-line media and website promotion only. 12 awards were made to distributors of £30,000 each. This type of online promotion has been successfully used by Hollywood block busters and grass roots filmmakers in the past, but seldom in the independent sector as a whole, so this signals a departure.
The full film can be viewed below.
Contact: Judy Forshaw
Marginalised: images of viruses and the culture of contagion
Roberta Buiani's project focuses on iconic and stereotypical representations, as well as scientific visualisation of viruses in the sciences, popular culture and the arts. These visual expressions are often utilised in spectacular and aesthetically attractive backgrounds, supporting a negative scenario of fear and anxiety. Rather than representing a significance of their own, they have a tendency to accentuate (rather than ease) the most common assumptions that dominate the general discourse on viruses - namely, their disruptive and terrifying potentials, as elements in these visuals that racialise, territorialise and reproduce other stereotyped impressions of viral phenomena are dismissed as a given or as unspeakable.
In this project Buiani proposes an analysis of visuals, that combines a cultural studies based examination of the discourses (converging in scientific visualisation and visual representation of viruses) with a study of the technological tools and scientific methods needed to concretely assemble such images. The goal is not only to expose specific elements of marginalisation in visual expressions of viruses, but also to challenge unquestioned assumptions in the 'fight against viruses.'
Funded by the British Academy visiting fellow grant.
Contact: Roberta Buiaini
Roberta Buiani's project focuses on iconic and stereotypical representations, as well as scientific visualisation of viruses in the sciences, popular culture and the arts. These visual expressions are often utilised in spectacular and aesthetically attractive backgrounds, supporting a negative scenario of fear and anxiety. Rather than representing a significance of their own, they have a tendency to accentuate (rather than ease) the most common assumptions that dominate the general discourse on viruses - namely, their disruptive and terrifying potentials, as elements in these visuals that racialise, territorialise and reproduce other stereotyped impressions of viral phenomena are dismissed as a given or as unspeakable.
In this project Buiani proposes an analysis of visuals, that combines a cultural studies based examination of the discourses (converging in scientific visualisation and visual representation of viruses) with a study of the technological tools and scientific methods needed to concretely assemble such images. The goal is not only to expose specific elements of marginalisation in visual expressions of viruses, but also to challenge unquestioned assumptions in the 'fight against viruses.'
Funded by the British Academy visiting fellow grant.
Contact: Roberta Buiaini
Exploring New Configurations in Network Politics
This ARCMedia project, funded by the AHRC, is led by Dr Joss Hands and Dr Jussi Parikka and explores the intersection of politics, networks and cultural practices. The network will work on an analysis of how the emergence of a 'network society' is reshaping the ground upon which we think about politics and culture. The primary objective is therefore to open up a dialogue between researchers, practitioners and activists that begins to map this important new domain of social, political and cultural production. Given that the notion of the network is contested, and entails many variations, the network will also have to address its own form. Therefore, the project will entail a reflexive element which will encourage exploratory and innovative practices. To put it bluntly, it takes a network to understand the network. This will necessitate exploring emerging and ground-breaking media, communications and multi-disciplinary approaches to both scholarship and the dissemination of scholarship. The development of the latter will thus add to the value of the network
Contact: Dr Joss Hands and Dr Jussi Parikka
Website: www.networkpolitics.org
Race, Racism and the Politics of Forensic Data
This project explores the contemporary politics of surveillance, privacy and data management using the example of the UK Police National DNA Database (NDNAD). Its particular focus is on the racialisation of the NDNAD on two levels: firstly the over-representation of minorities on the database and secondly the classification of DNA data by 'ethnic appearance'.
The project considers the database as an on-going work of socio-technical construction and sets out to study the messy day-to-day realities underlying the creation and use of genetic information. Analysis of the continuing politics and policy-making around the database (both at the macro and micro level) is underway. We are seeking external funding to support two other proposed strands of the project. One will look in detail at the taking, handling and recording of DNA and its translation into the digital realm. Another will look at the experience of DNA donors.
Contact: Dr David Skinner
This project explores the contemporary politics of surveillance, privacy and data management using the example of the UK Police National DNA Database (NDNAD). Its particular focus is on the racialisation of the NDNAD on two levels: firstly the over-representation of minorities on the database and secondly the classification of DNA data by 'ethnic appearance'.
The project considers the database as an on-going work of socio-technical construction and sets out to study the messy day-to-day realities underlying the creation and use of genetic information. Analysis of the continuing politics and policy-making around the database (both at the macro and micro level) is underway. We are seeking external funding to support two other proposed strands of the project. One will look in detail at the taking, handling and recording of DNA and its translation into the digital realm. Another will look at the experience of DNA donors.
Contact: Dr David Skinner
User / Digitize Me
This is a practice-based research project in the area of creative writing and new media and is concerned primarily with the critical issue of identity production in participatory digital network culture. The work consists in two separate but interdependently evolving practices: User is concerned with developing a body of creative writing that engages with the nature of real and virtual identity production through traditional fictional narrative making.
The other, Digitize Me, investigates the interplay of participatory digital media exchange in online network culture via the production of a new online platform. Digitize Me exists as an online community art project that engages fully in everyday practices of current social network practices, organising its intermedial spaces in such as way to inform and respond to specific activity (assignments). This exploration of digital remediation will be compared to traditional forms of writing in order to investigate a number of key research questions. How has participatory network culture (Web 2.0) affected the way we negotiate ourselves online? Has the proliferation of user content driven interaction made us all critical media content creators? Is there still a place for traditionally authored artefacts? If so, how should the makers of such artefacts respond to an increasingly intermedial world?
Supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
Contact: Sarah Gibson-Yates
This is a practice-based research project in the area of creative writing and new media and is concerned primarily with the critical issue of identity production in participatory digital network culture. The work consists in two separate but interdependently evolving practices: User is concerned with developing a body of creative writing that engages with the nature of real and virtual identity production through traditional fictional narrative making.
The other, Digitize Me, investigates the interplay of participatory digital media exchange in online network culture via the production of a new online platform. Digitize Me exists as an online community art project that engages fully in everyday practices of current social network practices, organising its intermedial spaces in such as way to inform and respond to specific activity (assignments). This exploration of digital remediation will be compared to traditional forms of writing in order to investigate a number of key research questions. How has participatory network culture (Web 2.0) affected the way we negotiate ourselves online? Has the proliferation of user content driven interaction made us all critical media content creators? Is there still a place for traditionally authored artefacts? If so, how should the makers of such artefacts respond to an increasingly intermedial world?
Supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
Contact: Sarah Gibson-Yates
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Transitions
Transitions is an exploration of teenage image construction and self-projection through electronic social interface networks in the UK, USA and China. This work addresses the crucial relationship between the psychoanalytical and the digital interface, seeking to unveil a culture of desire - with music, television and film as sites of desire or fantasy. Using language and video, teenage 'snaps' and recorded online 'chat', the material will juxtapose these visual and aural materials using different modes of presentation, allowing the viewer to engage with all or any one part of the project. Using the global superpower of USA as the pivotal westernising culture, the work investigates its influence in both the UK and China, where it combines with tradition and history to produce a range of similarities and dissimilarities, denoting a certain democratic and non-interventionist approach.
Transitions is an exploration of teenage image construction and self-projection through electronic social interface networks in the UK, USA and China. This work addresses the crucial relationship between the psychoanalytical and the digital interface, seeking to unveil a culture of desire - with music, television and film as sites of desire or fantasy. Using language and video, teenage 'snaps' and recorded online 'chat', the material will juxtapose these visual and aural materials using different modes of presentation, allowing the viewer to engage with all or any one part of the project. Using the global superpower of USA as the pivotal westernising culture, the work investigates its influence in both the UK and China, where it combines with tradition and history to produce a range of similarities and dissimilarities, denoting a certain democratic and non-interventionist approach.
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