Teodor Mitew
I am a Senior Lecturer in Digital Media and Communication in The University of Sydney.
My academic trajectory has been characterized by interdisciplinary research across a wide range of digital media using the toolkit of science and technology studies and actor network theory. My work critically examines the socio-technical nuances of the Internet of Things, smart clothing, distributed networks, and object ecologies.
My academic trajectory has been characterized by interdisciplinary research across a wide range of digital media using the toolkit of science and technology studies and actor network theory. My work critically examines the socio-technical nuances of the Internet of Things, smart clothing, distributed networks, and object ecologies.
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I call it the naked king spell.
I call it the naked king spell.
The talk will be structured as a provocation examining the notion of anticipatory materiality in the context of the internet of things and 3D printing. As objects become more and more sociable - think smart fridge, smart car, etc. - they become less and less ‘stable’ [think of rocks, coffee mugs, etc as examples of material stability], and more and more like a twitter feed. 3D printing only compounds this process as the material is literally liquefied and injected based on computer code – in effect the code is primary, and tangible materiality is secondary in this process. The resulting materiality is literally ‘on demand’ – in that it exists as relational data first and foremost and as material artefacts only when demanded; and anticipatory - in that the main characteristic of connected objects is their capacity to initiate action based on predictive algorithms.
The paper uses as its case study the #DraftOurDaughters campaign, which is documented in its entirety from inception to completion. The anonymous conversations conceptualising the campaign, as well as the rapid prototyping and ideation process informed by the swarm's quick feedback loop, are analysed with a conceptual apparatus informed by actor network theory, and then mapped to design process research. Concepts native to the open source movement make the foundation of the framework analysing the collaborative dynamics and production of content (Raymond 2001, Robb 2007), further developing open source remix as a fundamental mechanic to content production. Further analysis is performed using concepts from systems theory (Baran 1962), swarming in conflict scenarios (Arquilla and Ronfeldt 2000), and approaches to fourth generation warfare (Lind and Thiele 2015). The behavior of the swarm in response to an identified goal is mapped to concepts central to design process methodology (Dubberly 2008).
The main focus of the argument is in developing a coherent and systemic perspective on the logistics of distributed memetic production in online spaces potentiating swarm-like behavior in their user-base. The authors examine this process in its entirety, from the logistics of swarm formation to the rapid prototyping of ideas leveraging short feedback loops, and the collaborative creation of semantically targeted media. Anonymous online spaces such as 4chan are identified as environments fostering a powerful feedback loop of distributed ideation, content production and dissemination. Through examining these phenomena, the paper also provides perspective on the manifestation of collaborative design practice in online participatory media spaces.
implications for the notions of social identity and agency. The paper argues that this problematic is fundamentally a
function of a social projection ill-equipped for encounters with objects becoming actively sociable, and suggests an
examination of networked human-object assemblages with a conceptual apparatus borrowed from actor network theory.