The Internet is a hyperobject (Morton, 2013), an entity so vast, all encompassing and all consuming that it is almost impossible for us, as individuals, to perceive.
Nonetheless it shapes our lives by defining the information we can access, the images we see, the things we buy, the places we go, etc etc etc. How can we become cognisant of the way in which we are produced by this omnipresent network?
How can we develop a sensibility that is aware of a system that we are totally enmeshed in?
In this seminar we approach the overwhelming whole by breaking it down into a number of its constitutive elements and taking various perspectives. Technically; what are the protocols that underpin data flows and exchange? Physically; what is the offline infrastructure that enables online communication? Politically; which powers control, direct and govern what happens in the digital realm? Socially; how is our way of being together, and our processes of cognition, shifting and evolving through our networked existence?
The seminar occurs fortnightly, including sessions by invited guests.
- Trainer/in: Sam Hopkins