archive : s0metim3s

the rise of ‘Web 2.0’ (itself a corporate logo of sorts) has precipitated a new culture war between proponents of ‘democratising’ mass amateur media and defenders of professionalism and expert research. Outside of this self-mirroring dichotomy, however, things are more complicated. - Josephine Berry-Slater, editorial.

And it’s these complications that the new edition of Mute, “Web 2.0: Man’s Best Friendster?”, seeks to emphasise, beyond the memedome of much of web2.0 discussion. Dmytri Kleiner and Brian Wyrick on the centralisation that has accompanied the rise of the web2.0 logo. Olga Guriunova on platforms and creativity. Brian Ashton’s “Factory Without Walls.” My piece, “The Social SoftWar” on social net-working, technology, democracy and the rights of labour. And more. All are here as a complete pdf, 4.61mb.

A few random pickings before we head off to beaches northwards for a time. A hilarious piece of marketing drivel by Andrew Keen in the Weekly Standard, titled “Web 2.0 is Reminiscent of Marx”. (Metamute seems to be down at present, but their next volume is on web2.0 and related.) For those who can understand German, or read French, or those who just like to watch: a video of an interview with Hannah Arendt at Notiser från en ö. Audio of a lecture by Foucault, compiled at Continental Philosophy. And some Battlestar Galactica trifle on studios and really-existing monotheisms.

At the borders: In the Netherlands, the Stop Deportations Workgroup has been blockading what they refer to as deportation jails. In Italy, from January 17th, there will be a series of protests against the Bossi Fini law and for the closure of the camps. Service Workers in California protest against their union’s position on migration (via Bryan and Eric).

For some time, I’ve been posting the entirety of essays of interest which might not be freely accessible, many of which supplement or relate to the blogposts or stuff filed away in the del.icio.us. But very long posts are not always readable onscreen, among other things. So, I’m in the middle of trialing a p2p filesharing network, by way of allpeers and firefox. I’ve been adding some of those who I already share files with and know. But if you use firefox, and install the allpeers plugin, drop a note in here and I’ll send an invite/add. Of course, that doesn’t preclude emailing attachments in future, if asked, but for the moment, the experiment with a kind of library. The idea being, that at some point soon I’ll make a folder on my computer, open it to those in an allpeers group - and I’ll drop in files from time to time, which can be accessed while my browser is open. A and I tested it out last night and it works just dandy.

A note: I’m told that the invitation email sent by allpeers might get waylaid by spam filters. So check your spam folder if you’ve asked to be added and it hasn’t appeared in a reasonable timeframe.

Timothy Campbell’s “Bíos, Immunity, Life: The Thought of Roberto Esposito” [pdf]. Those not familiar with Esposito’s work - (since it’s yet to be translated into English), but nevertheless following the discussions about biopolitics through Foucault, Agamben, Hardt and Negri, et al - will find it of interest, I think; as should those who want to explore Derrida’s discussions of auto-immunisation. [+]

Mute’s new volume - Naked Cities, Struggles in the Global Slum. Anna Dezeuze on the aestheticisation of poverty and the poverty of aesthetics. Demetra Kotouza on the relationship between the management of the pauper and the (re)production of the labourer. Anthony Iles on Haiti, Ben Seymour on the Thames Gateway development. More.

The Sarai Reader, volume 6: Turbulence. “A book about ‘Turbulence’ has to be a turbulent book.”

The new edition of Borderlands is out, with papers from the Regimes of Terror conference of December 2005, and more. Still perusing the edition, but the essay by Maria Giannacopoulos, “Terror Australis: White Sovereignty and the Violence of Law”, opens starkly:

Australian law is a regime born of, and sustained through racial violence. This paper does not accept that there is an absolute separation between the workings of Australian law and the workings of white sovereignty.

And Suvendi Perera’s essay, ranging from Sri Lanka to Cronulla to the resurgence of biological racism in AU also looks excellent.