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Rethinking Gamification
No full textoai:omeka.meson.press:1Gamification marks a major change to everyday life. It describes the permeation of economic, political, and social contexts by game-elements such as awards, rule structures, and interfaces that are inspired by video games. Sometimes the term is reduced to the implementation of points, badges, and leaderboards as incentives and motivations to be productive. Sometimes it is envisioned as a universal remedy to deeply transform society toward more humane and playful ends. Despite its use by corporations to manage brand communities and personnel, however, gamification is more than just a marketing buzzword. States are beginning to use it as a new tool for governing populations more effectively. It promises to fix what is wrong with reality by making every single one of us fitter, happier, and healthier. Indeed, it seems like all of society is up for being transformed into one massive game.
The contributions in this book offer a candid assessment of the gamification hype. They trace back the historical roots of the phenomenon and explore novel design practices and methods. They critically discuss its social implications and even present artistic tactics for resistance. It is time to rethink gamification
In Catastrophic Times : Resisting the Coming Barbarism
No full textThere has been an epochal shift: the possibility of a global climate crisis is now upon us. Pollution, the poison of pesticides, the exhaustion of natural resources, falling water tables, growing social inequalities – these are all problems that can no longer be treated separately. The effects of global warming have a cumulative impact, and it is not a matter of a crisis that will “pass” before everything goes back to “normal.”
Our governments are totally incapable of dealing with the situation. Economic warfare obliges them to stick to the goal of irresponsible, even criminal, economic growth, whatever the cost. It is no surprise that people were so struck by the catastrophe in New Orleans. The response of the authorities – to abandon the poor whilst the rich were able to take shelter – is a symbol of the coming barbarism
Die verschiedenen Modi der Existenz
No full text„Wäre die Philosophie auch nur eine Stunde der Mühe wert, wenn sie uns nicht für das Leben rüstete?“ Gezielten Schrittes entwirft der französische Philosoph Étienne Souriau in diesem dicht gedrängten Buch eine Grammatik der Existenz. Im Fokus steht nicht nur ihre Theorie, sondern auch die tatsächliche Ausübung der „Kunst des Existierens“. Wie Gilles Deleuze und William James vertritt Souriau dabei die These eines existenziellen Pluralismus: Es gibt Phänomene, Dinge, das Virtuelle, fiktionale Wesen – die Existenz ist polyphon.
Souriaus radikale Herangehensweise hat auch Bruno Latour und Isabelle Stengers entscheidend beeinflusst. In ihrer ausführlichen Einleitung zu Souriaus Text von 1943 und dem ebenfalls zum ersten Mal in deutscher Sprache veröffentlichten Vortrag „Über den Modus der Existenz des zu vollbringenden Werks“ (1956) zeigt sich eindrucksvoll die Aktualität seines Denkens
Politik der Mikroentscheidungen : Edward Snowden, Netzneutralität und die Architekturen des Internets
No full textOb beim Aufrufen einer Webseite, beim Versenden einer E-Mail oder beim Hochfrequenzhandel an der Börse: Auf ihrem Weg durch die Weiten digitaler Netze durchqueren Bits zahlreiche Knoten, an denen eine Reihe von Mikroentscheidungen getroffen werden. Diese Entscheidungen betreffen den besten Pfad zum Ziel, die Verarbeitungsgeschwindigkeit oder die Priorität zwischen den ankommenden Paketen.
In ihrer vielschichtigen Gestalt bilden solche Mikroentscheidungen eine bislang nur marginal beachtete Dimension von Kontrolle und Überwachung im 21. Jahrhundert. Sie sind sowohl die kleinste Einheit als auch die technische Voraussetzung einer gegenwärtigen Politik digitaler Netzwerke – und des Widerstands gegen sie. Die aktuellen Debatten um Netzneutralität und Edward Snowdens Enthüllung der NSA-Überwachung bilden dabei lediglich die Spitze des Eisbergs. Auf dem Spiel steht nicht weniger als die Zukunft des Internets, wie wir es kennen.Series: Digital Cultures Serie
There is no Software, there are just Services
No full textIs software dead? Services like Google, Dropbox, Adobe Creative Cloud, or Social Media apps are all-pervasive in our digital media landscape. This marks the (re)emergence of the service paradigm that challenges traditional business and license models as well as modes of media creation and use. The short essays in this edited collection discuss how services shift the notion of software, the cultural technique of programming, conditions of labor as well as the ecology and politics of data and how they influence dispositifs of knowledge.Series: Digital Cultures Serie
30 Years After Les Immatériaux: Art, Science and Theory
No full textIn 1985, the French philosopher Jean-François Lyotard curated a groundbreaking exhibition called Les Immatériaux at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The exhibition showed how telecommunication technologies were beginning to impact every aspect of life. At the same time, it was a material demonstration of what Lyotard called the post-modern condition.
This book features a previously unpublished report by Jean-François Lyotard on the conception of Les Immatériaux and its relation to postmodernity. Reviewing the historical significance of the exhibition, his text is accompanied by twelve contemporary meditations. The philosophers, art historians, and artists analyse this important moment in the history of media and theory, and reflect on the new material conditions brought about by digital technologies in the last 30 years
The Cyborg : A Treatise on the Artificial Man
No full textBorn on the pages of science fiction comics in the 1920s and 30s, the cyborg lives in popular imagination. As hero of the cyberpunk epic, in its brief but intense history, the cyborg has followed and anticipated the rapport and conflict between man and machine.
In the post-fordist era of digital networked media the cyborg unfolds itself in the dissemination of multiple bodies: on the Internet, in the shift of individual identity, in the new collective aggregation connected by software. It bridges virtuality and concreteness, possibility and necessity. The cyborg thus becomes a field of social conflict, one of the new figures in which the bio-political perspective is embodied
Diversity of Play
No full textThe early days when digital games were new, harmless, and a niche are long gone. Today’s games can simulate battlefields, predict disaster, and crash markets. We are faced with a diversity of play and the ubiquity of games, making them not only a popular medium, but the leading medium of our contemporary society.
Based on the keynote lectures held at DiGRA2015, “Diversity of Play” provides a critical view on the current stage of digital games from a theoretic, artistic, and practical perspective by pointing towards the uncanny, the power of “unnatural” narratives, and the exceptions and uncertainties of digital ludic environments.
With an interview with Karen Palmer and essays by Astrid Ensslin, Mathias Fuchs, Tanya Krzywinska, and Markus Rautzenberg
The Politics of Micro-Decisions : Edward Snowden, Net Neutrality, and the Architectures of the Internet
No full textBe it in the case of opening a website, sending an email, or high-frequency trading, bits and bytes of information have to cross numerous nodes at which micro-decisions are made. These decisions concern the most efficient path through the network, the processing speed, or the priority of incoming data packets.
Despite their multifaceted nature, micro-decisions are a dimension of control and surveillance in the twenty-first century that has received little critical attention. They represent the smallest unit and the technical precondition of a contemporary network politics – and of our potential opposition to it. The current debates regarding net neutrality and Edward Snowden’s revelation of NSA surveillance are only the tip of the iceberg. What is at stake is nothing less than the future of the Internet as we know it.Series: Digital Cultures Serie
The Political Structure of UK Broadcasting 1949 - 1999
No full textIn 1999 David Elstein delivered a lecture series examining the evolvement of UK Broadcasting policy from 1949 to 1999. His sharp analysis is a valuable contribution to the post-war development of the British broadcasting system and unfolds many topical issues in current media policy debates.
Nobody is better placed than David Elstein to add to broadcasting history a challenging analysis of the state's past attempts at cultural policy-making.
Stewart Purvis, Professor of Television Journalism, City University London.
For many years, David Elstein has been one of the most rigorous and controversial commentators on British broadcasting. These lectures contain historical insights, which also have a great deal of contemporary relevance.
Martin Cave, Visiting Professor, Imperial College Business School.
David Elstein’s high level experience in advertising, subscription and publicly funded broadcasting gives his account of post WWII British broadcasting policy a unique authority. His finding that “broadcasting policy is determined more by the ebb and flow of politics and the activities of determined pressure groups than by ad hoc committees of the great and good” both persuades and provides a salutary challenge to conventional wisdoms.
Richard Collins, Honorary Visiting Professor at the Universities of Exeter and City University London.
David Elstein's penetrating critique of the six post war inquiries into UK broadcasting is a real contribution to a history of flawed forecasts and missed opportunities.
Richard Tait, Professor of Journalism, Cardiff University.
The book includes an introduction by one of the series editors, Christian Herzog.Series: Media, Democracy & Political Proces