Sherry Turkle: The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit, 20th ed. (1984/2005)
Filed under book | Tags: · artificial intelligence, computing, hacker culture, machine, media culture, psychology, software, things, video games
“In The Second Self, Sherry Turkle looks at the computer not as a “tool,” but as part of our social and psychological lives; she looks beyond how we use computer games and spreadsheets to explore how the computer affects our awareness of ourselves, of one another, and of our relationship with the world. “Technology,” she writes, “catalyzes changes not only in what we do but in how we think.” First published in 1984, The Second Self is still essential reading as a primer in the psychology of computation. This twentieth anniversary edition allows us to reconsider two decades of computer culture—to (re)experience what was and is most novel in our new media culture and to view our own contemporary relationship with technology with fresh eyes. Turkle frames this classic work with a new introduction, a new epilogue, and extensive notes added to the original text.
Turkle talks to children, college students, engineers, AI scientists, hackers, and personal computer owners—people confronting machines that seem to think and at the same time suggest a new way for us to think—about human thought, emotion, memory, and understanding. Her interviews reveal that we experience computers as being on the border between inanimate and animate, as both an extension of the self and part of the external world. Their special place betwixt and between traditional categories is part of what makes them compelling and evocative. (In the introduction to this edition, Turkle quotes a PDA user as saying, “When my Palm crashed, it was like a death. I thought I had lost my mind.”) Why we think of the workings of a machine in psychological terms—how this happens, and what it means for all of us—is the ever more timely subject of The Second Self.”
Keywords: personal computer, Speak and Spell, video games, hacker culture, artificial intelligence, Software Wars, Pac-Man, Marvin Minsky, Merlin, Seymour Papert, tic-tac-toe, Dungeons and Dragons, sprite, Tinkertoys, Sherry Turkle, Joseph Weizenbaum, home computer, computer program, pinball, Space Invaders
Publisher MIT Press, 2005
ISBN 0262701111, 9780262701112
372 pages
PDF (updated on 2014-9-15)
Comments (3)Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Thomas Keenan: New Media, Old Media: A History and Theory Reader (2006)
Filed under book | Tags: · media history, new media, reader, theory
The term “new media” rose to prominence in the 1990s, superseding “multi-media” in business, art, and culture. The phrase obstinately portrays other media as old or dead. But what, if anything, is truly unique or revolutionary about new media?
New Media, Old Media is a comprehensive anthology of original and classic essays that explore the tensions of old and new in digital culture. Leading international media scholars and cultural theorists interrogate new media like the Internet, digital video, and MP3s against the backdrop of earlier media such as television, film, photography, and print. The essays provide new benchmarks for evaluating all those claims–political, social, ethical–made about the digital age. Committed to historical research and to theoretical innovation, they suggest that in the light of digital programmability, seemingly forgotten moments in the history of the media we glibly call old can be rediscovered and transformed. The many topics explored in provocative volume include websites, webcams, the rise and fall of dotcom mania, Internet journalism, the open source movement, and computer viruses.
New Media, Old Media is a foundational text for general readers, students, and scholars of new media across the disciplines. It is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the cultural impact of new media.
Published by Routledge, 2006
ISBN 0415942241, 9780415942249
418 pages
PDF (updated on 2012-7-18)
Comments (3)Matt Mason: The Pirate’s Dilemma: How Youth Culture is Reinventing Capitalism (2008)
Filed under book | Tags: · capitalism, copyright, filesharing, graffiti, hip hop, piracy, pirate radio, remix, youth, youtube
It started with punk. Hip-hop, rave, graffiti, and gaming took it to another level, and now modern technology has made the ideas and innovations of youth culture increasingly intimate and increasingly global at the same time.
In The Pirate’s Dilemma, VICE magazine’s Matt Mason — poised to become the Malcolm Gladwell of the iPod Generation — brings the exuberance of a passionate music fan and the technological savvy of an IT wizard to the task of sorting through the changes brought about by the interface of pop culture and innovation. He charts the rise of various youth movements — from pirate radio to remix culture — and tracks their ripple effect throughout larger society. Mason brings a passion and a breadth of intelligence to questions such as the following: How did a male model who messed with disco records in the 1970s influence the way Boeing designs airplanes? Who was the nun who invented dance music, and how is her influence undermining capitalism as we know it? Did three high school kids who remixed Nazis into Smurfs in the 1980s change the future of the video game industry? Can hip-hop really bring about world peace? Each chapter crystallizes the idea behind one of these fringe movements and shows how it combined with technology to subvert old hierarchies and empower the individual.
With great wit and insight — and a cast of characters that includes such icons as the Ramones, Andy Warhol, Madonna, Russell Simmons, and 50 Cent — Mason uncovers the trends that have transformed countercultural scenes into burgeoning global industries and movements, ultimately changing our way of life.
Publisher Free Press, a division of Simon and Schuster, New York, 2008.
ISBN 1416554017, 9781416554011
290 pages
PDF (updated on 2012-8-7)
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