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FGH'IJ- KL@ M ' J N ' ! O P O 9@M'K Q 3 Q @ K ( R'S'G-TMO3 ROLP A Cultural Historical Approach to Virtual Networking Kate Fagan UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY Abstract The essay attempts to examine the digital media revolution through a culturalhistorical lense, examining experimental projects of artistic communities from the United States, Canada and Germany between the 1950’s and 1970’s. These projects demonstrate a shift in the cultural imagination of society of the time, with an emphasis on networking, community formation and inclusive art practices. Such projects foreshadow current user principles of online, digital media. Keywords 789:8;*'%56$I%*&3>%&$0'7>63"6&*'%5$45&57"*$8%>36$7"& of cultural practices and the dissemination of cultural information concerning art and 8%*$,"&)76+&7"#$"%&3"8&7DC$"%&*%%0*&67&+3I%&)%%"&"%,#%56%8&)9&*(5+&3"3#9*$*M The exchange and interplay between culture and technology is a complex relationship that is continually evolving. Firstly, it is important to consider what is meant by culture in this essay. This essay is concerned with the subjective interests of communities in Western culture concerning art, design, fashion, photography, music and architecture that produce symbolic meanings of society with a required audience for such meanings to take affect. B%5+"7#7,9& +3*& 6+%& '7G%>& 67& '>78(5%& 3& 5(#6(>3#& 0$"8*%6& 7>& 5(#6(>3#& *$,"$4%>*& 6+36& construct meanings and experiences of technology in everyday and artistic settings (Saper, 2001; Neumark 2005: Gangadharan, 2009). Cultural developments in society are UV
FGH'IJ- KL@ M ' J N ' ! O P O 9@M'K Q 3 Q @ K ( R'S'G-TMO3 ROLP reliant upon cultural imagination and individual subjectivities, while in turn cultural imagination and individual subjectivities are produced by these technologies (Neumark 2005:10). Counter culture and the cultural undercurrents of society are concerned with mainstream practices, links, interactions and experiences, while attempting to breathe life into an otherwise homogenized, mechanised and depersonalised society (Saper, 2001). As a result of a motivation for innovation, variation and change new ways to engage with information, discussion and user communities are developed. On the cusp of globalisation, post World War II, a desire to absorb and interact with 6+%&5(#6(>%&7D&,#7)3#&5700("$6$%*&)%530%&3&*75$3#&0$"8*%6M&B+$*&G3*&3&*$,"$453"6&5+3",%& and a departure from the voyeuristic tendencies of previous generations and the end of an era of cultural exclusion, replaced by an inclusive art world and inclusive popular media. In a paper coauthored with Robert W. Taylor in 1968, titled ‘The Computer as a Communication Device,’ Licklider discusses the potential of networked computers to create ‘interactive communities of geographically separated people’ that furthermore ‘will be communities not of common location, but of common interest’ (as cited in Perkins, 2005). Artistic communities have shown an independent motivation for promoting and extending their community bases, embracing technology available to them at the time. In many instances their networking projects have foreshadowed the ways in which online communities interact in contemporary society. Since the development of the Internet, globalization can now be considered a social and cultural condition, however a desire for connectivity and communication is evident in media and technology projects of smaller communities since the 1950’s. The following essay will consider art and creative culture and its relationship with media as a form of communication and community formation from the 1950’s until today. Mail Art: Evidence Of The Beginnings Of Cultural Networking The mail art movement was an innovative outgrowth of the downtown New York art scene of the 1950’s, pioneered by local artist Ray Johnson (Perkins, 2005; Cubitt, 2005; Gangadharan, 2009). Intrigued by collage and communication, Johnson embraced the UW
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1 P M J O U R N A L O F D I G I T A
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a large proportion of Chinese netiz
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issue and not be interfered by any
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