This is the age of network extinction. Small is trivial. Notorious vagueness and non-commitment on the side of slackerish members killed the once cute, postmodern construct of networks. Platforms did the rest. Decentralization may be the flavour of the day, but no one is talking about networks anymore as a solution for the social media mess. Where have all the networks gone?(This essay was written in August 2019 for the INC/Transmediale co-publication The Eternal Network: The Ends and Becomings of Network Culture that came out on January 28, 2020 at the opening of the Berlin Transmediale festival. You can read and download the publication here. The essay was slightly shortened; below you will find the original text).
MULTIFILE
‘The network is everlasting’ wrote Robert Filliou and George Brecht in 1967, a statement that, at first glance, still seems to be true of today’s world. Yet there are also signs that the omnipresence of networks is evolving into another reality. In recent times, the limits of networks rather than their endless possibilities have been brought into focus. Ongoing media debates about hate speech, fake news, and algorithmic bias swirl into a growing backlash against networks. Perhaps it is time to reconsider the contemporary reach and relevance of the network imaginary.Accompanying transmediale 2020 End to End’s exhibition ‘The Eternal Network’, this collection gathers contributions from artists, activists, and theorists who engage with the question of the network anew. In referencing Filliou’s eternal notion, the exhibition and publication project closes the loop between pre- and post-internet imaginaries, opening up possible futures with and beyond networks. This calls many of the collection’s authors to turn to instances of independent and critical net cultures as historical points of inspiration for rethinking, reforming, or refuting networks in the present.---The Eternal Network: Vom Enden und Werden der NetzkulturDEUTSCHE FASSUNG:„Das Netzwerk wird es ewig geben“, schrieben Robert Filliou und George Brecht 1967 – eine Aussage, die auf den ersten Blick auch heute noch zuzutreffen scheint. Doch gibt es auch Anzeichen, dass die Allgegenwärtigkeit von Netzwerken eine andere W irklichkeit hervorbringt. Mittlerweile rückt die Endlichkeit von Netzwerken – anstatt deren endlose Möglichkeiten – in den Fokus; davon zeugen die anhaltenden Mediendebatten über Hassrede, Fake News und algorithmischer Diskriminierung. Vielleicht ist es an der Zeit, die aktuelle Reichweite und Relevanz des Netzwerks neu zu betrachten.Begleitend zur Ausstellung „Das ewige Netzwerk“ der transmediale 2020 End to End versammelt dieser Band Beiträge von Künstler*innen, Aktivist*innen und Theoretiker* innen, die sich neu mit der Frage des Netzwerks beschäftigen. Ausstellung und Publikation beziehen sich auf Fillious Konzept von der Ewigkeit des Netzwerks. Sie verbinden dabei die Vorstellungswelten, die zeitlich vor der Entwicklung des Internets entstanden sind, mit jenen, die darauf folgten. So eröffnen sie mögliche Zukünfte mit und jenseits von Netzwerken. Viele Autor*innen in diesem Band lassen sich dabei von historischen Momenten der unabhängigen und kritischen Netzkulturen inspirieren, um Netzwerke der Gegenwart neu zu denken, sie zu reformieren oder anzufechten.
MULTIFILE
The study used a research-through-design approach and organized game jams as a method to examine game design processes, with the aim to investigate how the diverse identities of designers affect and inspire their game designs. During the Game [4Diversity] Jams we hypothesised that homogeneity in groups may lead to a single-minded message in their games, and diversity in groups may result in games that allow more freedom for players to create their own personal interpretation(s) of the game's content and mechanics. The results of this study suggest that a narrow theme and diverse team composition may assist designers in creating novel games. As such, designers can find diverse gameplay and content from additional specificity in the game jam's organisation.
A research theme examining diversity and inclusion in video games, using an intersectional perspective and typically addressing issues related to the representation of gender, race, and LGBTQ+ people, but also touching broader topics such as class, age, geographic privilege, physical and neurodiversity, the (unevenly distributed) impacts of the climate crisis, and other aspects of identity.
