[Nettime-bold] fwd: new issue switch

[Josephine Bosma <jesis@xs4all.nl>]

From: Sheila Anne Malone <Pythonldy@aol.com>

http://switch.sjsu.edu/

         SWITCH LAUNCHES NEW ISSUE

As managing editor of Switch, I am proud to announce the launch of the
current issue of Switch: Social/Networks. If any social system functions
and exists within a describable, measurable network structure, then
perhaps the question at hand is: can any network structure be described
as a social system? In this issue  >Social & Networks< ,  we  explore,
describe, define, represent  and even test
social network theories on individuals, organizations, art and
technology. Like most social theory we are looking at how individuals,
organizations, and software exist and behave within a network. With the
bombardment of interactive capability in the past few years our social
networks are quite extensive and complex. They have become increasingly
more difficult to describe and visually represent. Switch aims to look
beyond the expected and into areas relevant to artists today.

In >Racism and Technology<, Michelle Wright looks at the concepts
associated with "the digital divide" in which different sections of the
community living side by side, exist within different social systems and
therefore have access to different powers. Beryl Graham's >Live from
Bangladesh<  reveals other aspects of globalization and theories of
postindustrial society influencing/creating new media.
Graham touches on many of the similarities and differences between
India, the U.S. and Great Britain.
Marc Boumlhlen's >Time Types and Table Manners< describes experiments
with artificial intelligence.
B&ouml;hlen explores ideas of time, machine interaction, and authorship.
In >Situated and Distributed Knowledge Production in Network Space<,
Geri Wittig examines issues of identity and self-organizing social
networks amidst the mutable boundaries of network space. Joel Slayton's
>Social Software< develops arguments on "how membranes enable autopoiesis in software." Slayton infers that software is social and behaves socially. Wendy Angel's >IdeaConsciousness NetWorks< is an obscure look at abstraction and consciousness in relationship to network theory and painting. Matt Mays looks at the role of the artist as lawyer and the lawyer as artist in >Defining the Lawyer/Artist<. Mays touches on some of the biggest cases to influence Information Technology. In Exclusive interviews Matt Mays, Nora Raggio, and Sheila Malone look at the role and function of individuals in progressive and ground-breaking arts organizations. Cindy Ahuna reviews Ken Goldberg's newest book >The Robot in
the Garden. Jody Berland and Rob Riddle may  have opposing ideas about
social interaction and the sound art scene today. In >Musicking
Machines, Berland looks at how machines have changed the nature of
collaboration and musicianship. Riddle's >Audiononlocation< argues that
the internet has empowered a new kind of collaboration and exploration
of sound art form. Susan Otto's >Manifesto for a Virtual Favela< is a
haunting but sober look at art practice in the complicated mediated
world we live in today. Steve Cisler, assists local community networking
advocates and has lectured worldwide on the promise and the cultural
challenges of the Internet and in his latest >Letter from Aspen:
Cultural policy< furthers his dialogue about private vs. public, culture
vs nature.

Examples of social network complexities can be found in our Projects
section. Code Zebra is a highly interactive interdisciplinary,
performance and software system where art meets science. Sara Diamond
creator and developer of >Code Zebra< is a television and new media
producer/director, artist, curator, critic, teacher and artistic
director who has represented Canada and the USA at home and
internationally for many years. >Conference Mapping Project< by graduate
students Ben Eakins, Darby Smith, Minqing Zhou is an intricate web of
visual representation of the contemporary academic and artistic
gathering of individuals. In Electronic Disturbance Theater's >Zapatista
Tribal Port Scan<, the participation of activist intermingles in a
social network of the radical and complex political issues facing
contemporary society. Tommy Alvaran's and Darren Wong's undergraduate
senior project: >Internetica< cleanses websites from unnecessary code
leaving them with a new Internetic Code
consisting of X, Y, and Z values. 

>Social & Networks< is perhaps a confusing spider web of dynamic and critical ideas about art, science, and our need to make sense of it all.



Sincerely,
Sheila A. Malone
Managing Editor

switch:
http://switch.sjsu.edu/

Social & Networks issue:
http://switch.sjsu.edu/web/v6n2/mainnetwork.html




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