It is my innermost conviction -- at least for now -- that the metaphorical and symbolical web which we call 'culture' is constituted, built and rebuilt by ever-changing, interlocking feedback loops of the associative kind. Never will we be able to draw a complete picture of those, but sometimes the cultural anthropologist will have the chance to have an indepth glance on some of them loops. In respect to cyberculture, I guess I just stumbled over one. Does anybody remember the 1980s' movie "Wargames" -- starring a then youthful Matthew Broderick? The movie's story was about some hacker-d00d (Broderick) who hacked himself beyond the firewall of some eerie system. The system proposed a game (mind!) to him which looked like some strategical nuclear-world-war simulation. The d00d took up the game ... what he didn't know was that the system was an AI which controlled the US-military's complete defence-system, including the nukes, of course. So the drama began to unfold. "Wargames" hit the silverscreen in an era when the first personal computers affordable for the broader public hit the shelves. Well, you all know the development of computers from the times of the Commodore 64 till today. What you might not be aware of is, that the essential force of economical thrust which pushes the development of computers forward is the gaming-industry, as games are the only end-user applications which really need a P4 or a Radeon 9800. For comparatively primitive tasks like text-processing a 486 is enough. And for the sake of illustrating the magnitude of this business: The turnover of the gaming-industry exceeded the turnover of the movie-industry in the fiscal year 2002 both in the US and in Europe -- and we're talking software only, that means the sales of computer-hardware like graphic-cards, game-consoles and the like are not included. This year the US Department of Defence announced that they won't go on developing their IT-equipment from scratch themselves, as they wouldn't be able to keep pace with the development of commercially developed comps. Instead in the future they will buy their components from the industry! And here's where the dog somewhat catches its tail ...

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German blogger series: expatriates in America and Germany (I) Expatriate – the word can evoke a person rejecting his or her native country on the one hand, one rediscovering an affinity for that country amidst new surroundings on the other, or simply immersing oneself in new surroundings.

4 short articles about german webloggers living in the us:

Andreas Schaefer, the anonymous author of Siebenviertel, Konstantin Klein, and Scott Hanson.

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Lucy Traunmüller from Donau-Universität Krens wrote her Master Thesis (in german) about the Subject: Weblog Communities. Betrachtung eines Praxisbeispiels. You can read the Thesis in Fulltext. It is 63 Pages an 681 KB big.

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Some links to ressources of anthropology and internet, found at University of Regina:

• The Internet and Usenet Global Computer Networks: An investigation of their culture and its effects on new users. A Masters thesis by Tim North. (c) 1994. The thesis is an anthropological look at the culture of the Internet and Usenet.
• Anthropology Nine Hundred Years After the Invention of Hypertext. David Zeitlyn.
• The Future of the Past: Archaeology and Anthropology on the World Wide Web. John W. Hoopes.
• Applied Anthropology on the Internet

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By accident I just found a really weird paper from 1997. It's only purpose is to educate anthropologists in the use of animated images (Anim-GIFs) for presentation of research. It was published in CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY METHODS.

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It looks like the University of Washington is some steps before other universities regarding research about and with the internet (see also prev. post). They also have an Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies: "The Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies is an online, not-for-profit organization whose purpose is to research, teach, support, and create diverse and dynamic elements of cyberculture." In short you can find book reviews, courses, events and links on their page.

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EXHIBITION: "Game on -- The culture and history of video games". The Barbican Gallery, London. 16 May – 15 September 2002. "Game On is the first major UK exhibition to explore the vibrant history and culture of video games from 1962-2002. This highly interactive exhibition examines the game design process from conceptual drawing through to the finished game and identifies the key creative people who make them. It will explain the developments in hardware technology from the colossal computers of the early 1960s to the recent consoles like X-box, GameCube and PlayStation 2, illustrating how content and technologies need each other to move forward successfully. The influence games have had on culture in Europe, North America and Japan will be explored, and a series of eight new commissions by contemporary artists, architects and designers responding to games, complements the show." You can download the exhibition's very informative press release as a .doc-file.

CLASS: In 2002 there was a class at Stanford University called History of Computer Game Design: Technology, Culture, Business: "This course provides a historical and critical approach to the evolution of computer and video game design from its beginnings to the present. It brings together cultural, business, and technical perspectives. Students should come away from the course with an understanding of the history of this medium, as well as insights into design, production, marketing, and socio- cultural impacts of interactive entertainment and communication". The course was part of the larger project How They Got Game: The History and Culture of Interactive Simulations and Videogames.

DEGREE: At Liverpool's John Moore University (UK) you can even do a MA Degree in Digital Games: "The course not only provides excellent employment routes for prospective students but is also an opportunity to engage in research into this subject. We strongly believe that digital games are one of the most significant and potent cultural forms of our time and therefore deserve serious academic study. This underpins our approach throughout".

JOURNAL: "Game Studies: The international journal of computer game research" is "a crossdisciplinary journal dedicated to games research, web-published several times a year at www.gamestudies.org. Our primary focus is aesthetic, cultural and communicative aspects of computer games. Our mission -- To explore the rich cultural genre of games; to give scholars a peer-reviewed forum for their ideas and theories; to provide an academic channel for the ongoing discussions on games and gaming".

I'm more and more inclined to think that Andrew Phelps expressed the truth when he said/wrote: "[...] tracking the rise of games as a medium of popular culture, and perhaps THE medium of the times". --zeph

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Since Wednesday, April 23, 2003 a new blog (by Elizabeth Lane Lawley, Clay Shirky, Ross Mayfield, Sébastien Paquet & Jessica Hammer) called many-to-many is online, discussing social software: "Social software blends tools and modes for richer online social environments and experiences. Some examples of social software are weblogs, wikis, forums, chat environments, or instant messaging, and related tools and data structures for identity, integration, interchange and analysis. For more, see Liz's primer on what we're up to." via Got Game?

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Brigitte Zarzer of Telepolis did a short Interview with Eben Moglen (Professor of Law at the Columbia University in New York and Board Member of the Free Software Foundation). On 5th of June Mr. Moglen will join the Open Cultures-Conference in Vienna and deliver a speech called: "Free Software, Free Culture: After the dotCommunist Manifesto". In the Telepolis-Interview he said: "Free software provides the all-important layer that determines how the network around us functions in a form that users, individually and collectively, can modify and share. This means that the technology of the network serves its users, and evolves to meet their needs, rather than being controlled by those who manipulate them. [...] Free software means having a network that is conceived in freedom, of the people, by the people, and for the people." The interview is available in english and german. In this context I have to point you to Chris Kelty's (a member of Ethno::log :o) article Free Software/Free Science. Some current developments as a side-note: The city of Munich, Germany just recently decided (Spiegel-article in german) to change the Operating System of its ICT-infrastructure. More than 14.000 computers owned by the city's administration will get rid of MS-Windows and instead will run on Linux in the near future. And there's a healthy chance of whole Germany's administration switching to Linux, too. via Telepolis, First Monday, and Spiegel online.

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Conference: Wireless Internet Opportunities for Developing Nations, June 26, 2003, New York City "As you are certainly aware, Wireless Internet applied to large-scale broadband distribution is the hottest trend in the information technology sector with far reaching implications for the connectivity of underserved areas. On June 26th, W2i, the Wireless Internet Institute and the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force are joining forces to organize the Wireless Internet Opportunities for Developing Nations conference at UN Headquarters in New York City. The conference will bring representatives of developing countries together with leading technology vendors, carriers, investors, regulators, entrepreneurs and field practitioners from around the world. Participants will examine development potential created by emerging wireless technologies and discuss recommendations to governments, regulators and Wireless Internet stakeholders to foster rapid market growth and bridging connectivity gaps. Participants will include IBM, Intel, Agere, the World Bank, the FCC, the MIT Media Lab, the Wi-Fi Alliance, and a number of leading wireless Internet stakeholders. The conference will include plenary sessions and brainstorming workshops to facilitate experience sharing and interaction among participants. A showcase adjacent to the conference will also allow field practitioners and technology developers to share best practices and innovative solutions, an opportunity that your organization may like to consider. Given your interest in these topics and the high profile of this meeting, we wanted to alert you so that you can reserve the June 26th, 2003 date on your schedule and register at your earliest convenience to participate in the conference plenary and workshop sessions. Special rates for both the conference and the Millenium UN Plaza Hotel are available until May 30th. Details on the program and participating industry leaders can be found here, where you can register on-line. If you have any question, please do not hesitate to contact us via e-mail or phone: (617) 439 5400. Daniel Aghion Executive Diretor Sarbuland Khan Acting Executive Coordinator" via Anthro-L

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Geekcorps volunteers work in third world countries helping companies become technically competent IT businesses. Richard Koman interviews Geekcorps founder Ethan Zuckerman.

The article cover also the nascent Internet revolution going on in ghana. It seems that there are mainly two thing boosting internet in ghana, and they are different from the causes doing that in western countries: "There were two very real reasons for Net connectivity in Ghana. One was communication with the diaspora. So many Ghanaians live in Europe and the U.S. that email is a very effective way of bridging that gap. The other thing was the notion that there could be a market for Ghanian goods and services worldwide, and that market was going to be a lot more reachable online than it would be from any other medium. " Via Schockwellenreiter

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Ross Mayfield discusses online-games as social software: "What's interesting about virtual worlds is how when people meet each other in them their real identity is the least explicit of all the models. But gradually as they observe how each other acts in the game and chat, more clues are revealed about who they really are and trust increases. Modes of communication outside the gaming environment are commonly used and occassionally real world relationships are cemented by in-person meeting. Andrew pointed out that the ultimate test of trust is to hand over logins to someone else so they can literally walk in their virtual shoes. Kind of like giving the keys to your car and house in absence of insurance or rule of law." In his story he links to several other resources on the topic, too. via Ross Mayfield's Weblog

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