<nettime> Re: Community, what is it, and Nettime

[Alan Sondheim <sondheim@panix.com>]

If nettime is a community 'with something in common' - it remains to be
seen what that is. On one level, it's the configurable structure of the
listserv itself. On another, it's the somewhat loosely defined concerns of
the participants - and that's actually true of other lists as well.

One thing that _does_ distinguish nettime from, say, Cybermind (a list I
moderate), is that speaking is somewhat parasitized - by that I mean, it's
a T-formation; one is much more aware of audience, lurkers, etc., than
elsewhere. It's a form of publication, already reified in a list aura
composed of books, newspapers, meetings, groupuscules, and so forth. So a
reply (such as this) is always already deflected elsewhere - it's not that
one is more 'careful' here, but one's more aware, perhaps, of the
political economy of electronic community.

All that being said, it's clear why nettime can't respond to Beth, etc.;
there's no one, no/thing to respond - which is nettime's very strength.

- Alan

http://www.asondheim.org/ http://www.asondheim.org/portal/
http://www.anu.edu.au/english/internet_txt
Trace projects http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/writers/sondheim/index.htm
finger sondheim@panix.com

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