Re: <nettime> Request to Nettime to be part of DISTRIBUTED CREATIVITY online forum with Eyebeam

[ed_phillips <ed@cronos.net>]

I wasn't under the impression that Nettime was a community in even the
most self-conscious uses of the word. It does strike me as somewhat
humorous to see a word that is only vexed amongst the shipwrecked,
weary survivors of net ascii discourse used to address a purported
"group" that carries the name, nettime.

I fail to see a group at all here; there's not even an inner
circle. There are certainly heroic levels of filtering and moderating
going on, absurd hours dedicated to the chance of teasing out some
understanding of what's up with the political economy, or even if a
political economy is possible. But where is the group, let alone the
community?

A mailing list as long running and wide ranging as this does not even
resemble a community in even the limited sense that a group of free
software developers working on a project or living in and around a
piece of software might be called a "community."

That's no loss for nettime. Something as open ended as this, a place
where the very foregrounding of the term "community" itself in
contemporary discourse is up for conversation, benefits from the lack.

It is a place where I'd make the observation that community ought to
only be used in the most limited sense for example to describe a group of free
software developers or any concerted group of actors involved in
collaborative acts in an advanced money economy. I think Howard
Rheingold's term smart mobs is a little closer. 

How would you address a mob?



On Thu, Sep 25, 2003 at 02:02:13PM -0400, Beth R. wrote:
> I'm writing to you from Eyebeam, Nags not-for-profit art and technology
> center located in Chelsea at 540 West 21 Street.  I hope you know about our
> work with artists, curators, academics, etc. since 1997 bringing technology
> and access to new audiences.  Please check out our website at
> www.eyebeam.org for further information about Eyebeam's programs in
> education, moving image, exhibitions, publications, etc.
 <...>
 LocalWords:  Eyebeam's

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