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METAFORIX MAIL Volume 1, Issue 40 May 10, 2001 Sites and insights for the Information Age
CONTENTS AT A GLANCE: ON
MY MIND: A Real Interview ON MY MIND [From the Editor] Lois Talks A
while ago, we published a piece called "The
Tom Sawyer Factor," featuring Thomas
J. Leonard, coach and entrepreneur extraordinaire. Cordially, Lois C.
Ambash, Editor
MEDIA In a recent article in The Art Newspaper of London, Ossian Ward explores the challenges Internet-based works of art pose for museum curators. - Who is producing the most significant Web-based art: established artists who have never before worked in this medium, or unknown tech-savvy artists who can "push the limits of browser technology by using the computer's own language"? - Is Web-based art really meant to be displayed in museums? Two New York museums that have been leaders in the field, the Dia Center for the Arts and the Whitney Museum, respond differently to this question. Lynne Cooke of the Dia Center believes net art is analogous to a novel, a work intended to be appreciated privately. Her museum's electronic collections are displayed online only. Conversely, Christiane Paul of the Whitney believes that a valid work of digital art "deserves to be seen and recontextualized in the museum environment," as well as on the individual's home computer. - What does it mean to "own" a work of net art? In Ward's view, "The most logical way to 'own' a work of net art is to host the website on a server or homepage." Whether someone who then downloads a copy "owns" the work is another, much more complex question. - How does one collect and conserve digital art? Paul suggests three possibilities: Collect the hardware and the software used to create the work, so that it can be displayed as the artist made it. Modify the source code to make an older work compatible with current browser technology, a solution that compromises the work's status as an authentic "document of its time." Or write customized software that emulates the browser used by the artist but runs on contemporary hardware. To read Ward's article, which contains links to a number of online art exhibits based in Europe and the US, go to: www.theartnewspaper.com
Access previous issues of Metaforix Mail by date by visiting our archives. Or use the search box on any page of the Metaforix site (www.metaforix.com) to search by keywords. INFORMATICON "A
Comeback for Writing, but Not Necessarily for Eloquence" "But the e-mail-chat culture may be ushering in the demise of the things that sustain it: grammar, syntax, spelling and, eventually, because of the visual, shorthand, hypertextual nature of the medium, possibly even some words. And as with any cultural upheaval, the changes are eventually appropriated by the eras' artists. "A typical e-mail message does away with commas and capital letters, and is riddled with misspellings, some of which are deliberate, most probably not. There is a lot of white space because the return key functions as punctuation. Acronyms and little pictures, called glyphs or emoticons, communicate thoughts and impressions. The freedom implicit in jettisoning grammatical rules could be what has enabled the e-mail- chat revolution to occur, unlocking the inner writer in everyone. Not having to abide by grammatical rules, as chat room visitors might say, makes them :). "But is writing e-mail and chatting really writing?" What do you think?
New Buzzwords Arise, Phoenix-Like, from the Dotcom Ashes Kara Swisher of The Wall Street Journal reports that in Silicon Valley, the dotcom shakeout is not only financial, but also linguistic. Some examples of newspeak for those in the know:Continuous partial attention reflects the idea that "modern wired humans" are continuously bombarded by information from multiple electronic sources. It's sort of like multitasking, only harder to turn off. And it means that technology marketers have a new respect for the value of your attention. Only they don't call it attention. They call it mindshare. Touchpoints reflects the idea that consumers seek information and services in many different places, both online and off. A good "touchpoints strategy" recognizes that stickiness alone -- the ability to attract customers to a web site and keep them there -- can't cut the mustard any more. Consumers crave the "integrated experience" of being marketed to anywhere and everywhere they happen to be, whatever the medium at hand. Sustaining technologies recognizes the downside of fast and furious technological innovation. New technologies that are introduced faster than consumers can absorb them will not survive. Companies that want to succeed will need to concentrate on "sustaining technologies" -- those that are most useful and offer the greatest value in relation to price. Oh, yes. Swisher ends her article by reminding us that "profitable is, of course, the most important new buzzword of all." Source consulted: "New Buzzwords Surface in Subdued Silicon Valley." Kara Swisher, The Wall Street Journal, 5/7/01. An Easy Way to Share Web Treasures EMAIL THIS is a button you can add to the links toolbar on your Web browser. (That's the bar right under the "Address" space, where you type in the Web address you're looking for.) After you have installed the "EMAIL THIS" button, you can use it to e-mail any Web page to a friend or colleague you think might find it interesting.If can't see the links toolbar, the site provides detailed, easy-to-follow instructions for bringing it into view. Although it's easiest to add the "EMAIL THIS" button to Internet Explorer, specific instructions are given for adding the button to Netscape and other popular browsers. Depending upon how much information you're willing to share with the owners of the site, the application allows access to other customizable functions. Be sure to read the Privacy Policy to decide whether the trade-offs are acceptable to you. So far, I've found "EMAIL THIS" to be a useful, almost effortless way to share my cyberfinds with colleagues, clients, and friends. Espcially now that Microsoft has added new security controls to my e-mail client, Outlook 2000, EMAIL THIS could become a key element of my online toolkit. To check out this application, go to: www.emailthis.com
Guest Columnists and Interviewees Wanted! Metaforix
Mail seeks your opinions on how information technologies are (or are not)
changing your world of work.
Please note that the links contained in Metaforix Mail are current as of the time of publication. Some of them may no longer be operative at the time you access past issues.
To
Volume 1, Issue 39 May 4, 2001
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