Discussion

• Geert Lovink, "MyBrain.net" in Eurozine, 2010. mybrain-net.pdf 
  
  
  
  • This essay examines Web 2.0 and social media and the colonization of 'real time' 
  
  
  
  


• Christiane Paul sections: "Tactical Media, Activism and Hacktivism, Digital Art”, 2015, pp. 204 - 216;  "Social Media and Web 2.0", pp 242- 259. ( Reading in attached files)
  
  
  
  • There are a variety of topics in this reading. You can look at one artwork or you can also raise commentary more generally on the subject matter of the reading.
  
  
  
  

Examples:

Geert Lovink, "MyBrain.net" in Eurozine, 2010

         Despite Lovink’s mass-majority application of generalized thought, I don’t believe this is a universal transition into real-time communication.  There will always be people who prefer the “static web page” of the newspaper or storing their photos and information on hard drives or PCs.  It’s vital that we not lose the static forms of communication either, because it allows for time.  And time thusly promotes chewing on concepts, savoring the taste of thought, digestion of deliberation, and a satisfyingly full paunch of discourse which feeds and nourishes our minds.

"Social Media and Web 2.0" in Christiane Paul's book uses artist, Annina Rust's piece "Sinister Social Network" as an example of Social media and web as art.  The piece is establishing a connection between surveillance and social networking.  I can't help but question if "being seen" is just another way to say, "Being Hunted?"  

I find Geert Lovink's writing MyBrain.net to be accurate and spot on for the troubling internet landscape we live in today. Since that article was written in 2010, it didn't have a chance to see the disaster known as the 2016 election where the extreme nature of internet culture and decisive advertisements helped get Donald Trump elected. It's also noted that the youth today suffer from the effects that the web and social media have on the brain. With multi-tasking skills being lost, and ability to focus diminishing. I just truly find it fascinating that the early signs of all these things are accurately stated and jotted down one by one. Maybe in the future we'll figure out a balance to our digital and our physical lives. But, at this moment it seems like the right now is owned by our digital overlords who seek to monetize our eyeballs and our clicks