Project 4 Progress: We Are ‘The Smash Bros.’

By stephensurlin on December 2nd, 2009, 1:18 am 0 Comments

Here are some links for you to see how I’ve interconnected these popular networking sites. The Rhizome page has more information on my project. My ongoing online intervention is a performance piece. I’ve created an ‘online’ musical persona; and with this group I will explore the aesthetics, processes and potential for “human” interaction and expression of self to others (this self is hopefully made more distinct through hacktivist ideologies and practices, like the manipulative quality of HTML).

WordPress.com

MySpace.com

Twitter.com

YouTube.com

BandCamp.com

Rhizome - This site has an extensive explanation of what this project is about.

Category: blog | Tags: course Facebook game hacktivism Internet myspace public remix Rhizome twitter video game youtube | Permalink: Project 4 Progress: We Are ‘The Smash Bros.’

Electronic Disturbance Theater (EDT)

By saracurley on September 13th, 2009, 10:37 pm 3 Comments

The FloodNet Tactical System

Electronic Disturbance Theater (EDT) is an organization that was assembled in 1998 by Ricardo Dominguez and a group of collaborators in order promote the use of non-violent street-based tactics in cyberspace. the group was originally initiated by the Zapatista of  Chiapas, Mexico, to fight government oppression. Through the use of email, Java, and HTML, sympathetic supporters of the Zapatistas would download an applet called FloodNet. This applet allowed supporters to select words to use as “bad URLs” that produce an error message on the web page. For instance, some supporters used the names of Zapatistas killed by the Mexican army as “bad URLs”. These were inscribed in the website as an error message, and  used to represent the idea-based art behind the operation. If enough of the supporters ran the applet at the same time, it would overload the server of the oppositions website. The overload of the server would prevent the web page from loading.

This type of performance art mimics that of a sit-in demonstration in which protesters block the entrance to a building. The creators of the Electronic Disturbance Theater used the tactics of the 1960s Civil Rights movement as their inspiration for the idea behind the entire organization. They felt as though the non-violent demonstration would annoy the opposition, rather than destroy or disrupt it.

The Electronic Disturbance Theater created a low cost and highly effective way to let it be known world wide that the Zapatistas were being oppressed by their government. They made great use of the tactile media that was available to them when they were facing a difficult time. The FloodNet software was a very effective way to solve their problem, so effective in fact that it was used again to combat the World Trade Organization in 1999 by the group.

Category: blog | Tags: hacktivism | Permalink: Electronic Disturbance Theater (EDT)

Reading #1: Abstract Hacktivism

By Justin on September 9th, 2009, 1:39 pm 0 Comments

An essential text, abstract hacktivism: the making of a hacker culture, by Otto Von Busch and Karl Palmås, discusses a shift in cultural production and social navigation as they relate the practice of hacking to phenomena such as shopdropping, craftivism, fan fiction, liberation theology, and Spanish social movement YOMANGO.

Download the book in PDF, which is licensed under the General Public Licence, and read the section called, Hacking and Heresy, pages 27 – 60 (please note the page numbers in the bottom corners of each page). Don’t worry, the reading isn’t actually as long as it sounds, and if there’s anything particularly tough for you to understand, don’t spend a lot of time with it, just keep reading—there’s lots of material to talk about in this section!

Be prepared to discuss something particularly interesting (or confusing) from the reading on Monday in class. Feel free to blog about anything particularly interesting from the reading in the meantime.

Category: readings | Tags: course discussion hacktivism text theory | Permalink: Reading #1: Abstract Hacktivism