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- Bäcke, Maria
(författare)
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"Freedom for Just One Night" : The Promise and Threat of Information and Communication Technologies
- 2007
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Ingår i: WomenWriters.net. - : WomenWriters.net. ; Spring:Special Guest Issue
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- ’Freedom for Just One Night’ The Promise and Threat of Information and Communication Technologies Not many novels have been written about technology from a female perspective, but Jeanette Winterson’s The PowerBook and Pat Cadigan’s children’s book Avatar are two examples where information and communication technologies (ICT) play a major role. That women often see the benefits of a less regulated space provided by the technology is explored in these two novels. In this essay I will study them through the lens of Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of smooth and striated space. The focus has been on three different issues: information and communication technology’s impact on identity; privacy and security on the Internet; and also – since both of the authors are women, who consider gender-related strategies – female views of ICT. The novels contradict the idea that there is a virtual reality entirely separated from the real world; both imply that although ICT creates a virtual environment, the meetings and communications that take place in it are real, especially from an emotional perspective. The novels suggest that the characters’ sense of identity and security often is tested when opposites – smooth/striated, online/offline, virtual/real, emotional/technical, private/public – collide, when this collision triggers an emotional response. In Avatar emotions are in fact a method to authenticate the validity of what happens in a virtual environment. Furthermore, the collision and its impact on the emotions create an indeterminacy, a smooth space, and seems to be a narrative strategy for both Winterson and Cadigan, which they both use to examine a number of issues, including patriarchy, which shows what these female authors think is possible to do with the help of ICT. Both texts study how the Internet – and the thoughts mediated through the Internet – influence individuals and societies. As a new medium, Internet can be considered new territory, a new frontier. Whose thoughts are going to be trendsetting on the Net? Who colonizes Cyberspace? Both authors point towards the benefits of a more balanced viewpoint, where more angles than one are taken into account, and what can happen when a hegemonic world-view has been shaken. These novels convincingly show that it is in the dynamic tension between smooth and striated that new viewpoints can be found.
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| 2. |
- Solberg Søilen, Klaus, 1968-
(författare)
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Macklean som ekonom
- 2009
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Ingår i: Svaneholms Årsbok. - Skurup : Svaneholm Andelsförening. ; , s. 37-48, s. 37-48
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Bokkapitel (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- Rutger Macklean (1742-1816) står ofta beskriven som friherre, politiker, och skiftesreformist. I vilken grad var han också ekonom? Frågan kan verka något långsökt vid en första anblick, men då får man komma ihåg, att ekonomi är ett gammalt grekiskt ord för ”hushållningsadministration" och att det var just detta som präglade mycket av hans verksamhet på Svaneholm, både för egen och för andras räkning . På Mackleans tid fanns det inte ekonomer i den betydelsen som vi idag förstår begreppet. Adam Smith (1723-1790), som ofta räknas som grundläggaren av det vetenskapliga studiet av ekonomi, var t.ex. moralfilosof. Hans mest kända verk Wealth of Nations från år 1776 finner vi också i Mackleans bokhylla. På den tiden benämndes inte det vetenskapliga fackområdet ekonomi, men politisk ekonomi vilket var en blandning av vad vi i dag skulle kalla statsvetenskap och ekonomi.
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| 3. |
- Björkman, Christina, et al.
(författare)
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What does it mean to Know Computer Science? Perspectives from Gender Research
- 2006
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Ingår i: tripleC. - : http://triplec.uti.at/articles.php. - 1726-670X. ; 4:2, s. 316-327
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The epistemological basis for computer science (CS), on which research and education as well as development of applications are founded, are fundamental for its production of knowledge. In this paper we raise the issue of how gender research developed within science and technology can be used within computer science, to approach and discuss foundations of the discipline, and what the implications of this reflection are for CS education. After an introduction, which serves to motivate the questions raised, we discuss issues concerning the foundations of computer science. We then introduce gender research, as we use it, and present some points where this type of research can contribute to the question “What does it mean to know CS?”.
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| 4. |
- Bäcke, Maria, 1969-
(författare)
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Avant-Garde and Subversion in an Online 3D World
- 2008
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The 3D online world Second Life provides ample opportunities for both role-play and social interaction. Moreover, the relative lack of explicit game-rules (at least initially) on the part of the creator, Linden Lab, provided the gamers with a carte blanche to be anyone they want and give them the freedom to do almost anything. It has become clear, however, that Linden Lab has found reasons for making alterations in their legislative framework. Additionally, local game rules are being developed in many places and there are huge differences in how these rules are maintained and enforced. Using theories of the avant-garde (Greenberg, Poggioli, Bürger) as a stepping stone, as well as Manuel Castells’ four-layered theory of Internet cultures (the techno-meritocratic, the hacker, the virtual communitarian and the entrepreneurial culture), my intention is to explore the actions of, and the attitudes towards, the type of digital avant-garde that is exemplified by gamers/hackers/griefers/deviants. I will look at this both on a "global level" and on a local level, where communities and sim owners use different strategies to control their land and gamers’ behaviour on it. The global data will be taken from the”Incident Management Report” which is issued by the Second Life Governance Team on violation against Linden Lab rules. Additionally, I will carry out interviews with sim owners and community representatives, as well as with some of those who are labelled grievers. I will also look at blogs and articles that address the issue of grievers and disruptive behaviour in an online world.
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| 5. |
- Bäcke, Maria, 1969-
(författare)
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Construction of Digital Space : Second Life as a fantasy or a work tool
- 2007
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Drawing upon Gaston Bachelard´s The Poetics of Space and Henri Lefebvre´s The Production of Space, I read both private and public digital 3D spaces made available through SL and examine to what extent they are inscribed in or distanced from the underlying ideology of Second Life. I use textual sources - written codes of conduct, covenants written by the land owners, actual buildings and environments created in Second Life, an interview, as well as blogs and articles - to explore how three different categories of space are constructed and maintained: one where SL is primarily seen as a work tool for profit or teaching, another where the main goal is a detailed, homogenuous and highly visual space, and a third category where a homogenuous space is created in order to enable a more organized fantasy and facilitate game-play. Choice of Theme: Expressions of ideology in design and digital technologies
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| 6. |
- Davies, Bronwyn, et al.
(författare)
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Constituting "the subject" in poststructuralist discourse.
- 2006
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Ingår i: Feminism & Psychology. - : SAGE Journals. - 0959-3535. ; 16:1, s. 87-103
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this article, we describe a collective biography that we convened in order to revisit the site of the radical theoretical break with the liberal humanist individual marked by the poststructuralist work of Henriques and colleagues and the feminist poststructuralist work of Weedon. These writers suggest that the new subject of poststructuralist theory will be more open to the changes desired by feminist and social justice movements. They describe the break with the liberal humanist subject as a break that heralds new possibilities of personal and cultural transformation. In this article, using the medium of collective biography stories, we revisit the relation between the liberal humanist individual and the transformative possibilities poststructuralist writers envisaged for the new subject of poststructuralism. We situate the discussion in the context of our transformation into neoliberal subjects over the last three decades.
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| 7. |
- Niedenthal, Simon
(författare)
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Complicated Shadows : the Aesthetic Significance of Simulated Illumination in Digital Games
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A common feature of many digital games is that they are played in a simulated 3D environment, a game world. Simulated illumination is the lighting designed into a game world. This thesis explores the influence of simulated illumination in digital games upon the emotion and behavior of the player. It does so within the context of game aesthetics, building upon an understanding of games as having the potential to evoke an aesthetic experience that is deeply absorbing, is experienced as whole and coherent, evokes intense feelings or emotions, and engages a sense of “make believe.” A full account of how simulated illumination affects people is gained by tracing the contributions from media practice and real-space lighting, as well as taking into account the unique possibilities of interactive media. Based upon the rich set of lighting references and possibilities that are present in digital games, this thesis offers a taxonomy of influence of simulated illumination, which is organized such that it moves from progressively simple patterns and mechanisms that work without much player awareness, towards progressively greater complexity and consciousness of light qualities. The study of simulated illumination is complex, and best conducted within a transdisciplinary framework that includes three perspectives: empirical emotion research, investigation of the lighting attitudes of creative practitioners, and formal analysis of games with the aim of articulating their use qualities related to simulated illumination. The way in which a “triangulation” study could be structured is presented through the results of the twoyear Shadowplay project, with specific reference to the effects of warm (reddish) and cool (bluish) simulated illumination upon the experience of gameplay. We learned that exposure to warm light in a game prototype created more positive affect and led to better performance, and uncovered an interesting correspondence in the lighting attitudes of creative practitioners, regarding the relatively attractive versus repulsive qualities of warm and cool illumination in game environments. The (sometimes inconsistent) results of the Shadowplay project are discussed with reference to the conception of “pleasure” as it is developed within phenomenological philosophy and hedonic psychology. Considered this way, simulated illumination can create “eliciting conditions” for more complex sequences of emotions that constitute game pleasures. Within a game, we respond emotionally to exposure to qualities of simulated illumination, based upon what we bring with us into the game (whether based upon tastes, attitudes related to genre, memories or more “hard-wired” responses to light). At the same time, we implicitly learn the significance of the illumination that we encounter through our activity in the game. This means that there is no simple mapping of illumination quality to emotional outcome. Rather, designers need to learn to manipulate the unique potentials of simulated illumination in relation to the other elements of the gameplay experience.
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