The ancient media formations attendant upon sound, orality and aurality comprise one of the found... more The ancient media formations attendant upon sound, orality and aurality comprise one of the foundational communicative practice of human sociality and culture. Yet, despite the deep anthropological and historical centrality of sound to the human sensorium and cultural creativity, it has only been in the last twenty years or so that "sound studies" has emerged as a distinctive field within (and alongside) media and communication studies. This course will explore the contours of this exciting emergent field, as well as the core concepts that orient the bearing of its scholars towards the critical analysis of sound as phenomenon, cultural event, and social practice.
This article examines the performativity of intellectual property in digital gaming environments,... more This article examines the performativity of intellectual property in digital gaming environments, with a focus on Massively Multi-Player Online Games (MMOGs). The analysis centers on the creation and management of goodwill, an intangible asset of considerable value to corporations based on affective bonds between consumers, corporations, and their commodities in the marketplace. Most critical analyses of intellectual property consider neither the centrality of goodwill to corporate management of their intellectual properties in digital environments, nor the significance of the legal conditions that structure activity in such contexts. We develop a theoretical framework based on cultures of circulation involving network sociality, circuits of interactivity and the extensibility of the computer/user interface. This enables us to better understand shifting relations of power and reciprocity between corporations and consumers in digital gaming contexts, where the division between player...
These materials are made available for use in research, teaching and private study, pursuant to U... more These materials are made available for use in research, teaching and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source. The publisher or original authors may retain copyright to the materials. Towards a general theory of the philanthropic activities of the wealthy
This is an introduction to the special issue of “Ethics as Methods: Doing Ethics in the Era of Bi... more This is an introduction to the special issue of “Ethics as Methods: Doing Ethics in the Era of Big Data Research.” Building on a variety of theoretical paradigms (i.e., critical theory, [new] materialism, feminist ethics, theory of cultural techniques) and frameworks (i.e., contextual integrity, deflationary perspective, ethics of care), the Special Issue contributes specific cases and fine-grained conceptual distinctions to ongoing discussions about the ethics in data-driven research. In the second decade of the 21st century, a grand narrative is emerging that posits knowledge derived from data analytics as true, because of the objective qualities of data, their means of collection and analysis, and the sheer size of the data set. The by-product of this grand narrative is that the qualitative aspects of behavior and experience that form the data are diminished, and the human is removed from the process of analysis. This situates data science as a process of analysis performed by th...
Four conservative paradigms have dominated social research in the United States on mass media and... more Four conservative paradigms have dominated social research in the United States on mass media and information technologies. Developmentalism, a view that links urbanization, media growth and social progress, has shaped the study of international communications (Lerner, 1958; Pool, 1971; Schramm, 1964). Pluralism, a perspective that views state-media relations as the product of political bargaining among interest groups that represent all segments of society, has led research on the politics of electronic communications (Deutsch, 1966; Krasnow and Longley, 1973). The influence of information technologies on the shape of the economy, on profits, productivity and industrial relations is guided by post-industrialism. It focuses on how this increases the power of information professionals and generally liberates workers from the drudgery of traditional industrial labor (Porat, 1976; Bell, 1973, 1977, 1979). Finally, a mass society perspective guides most research on the media and the private sphere of leisure. The diffusion of mass culture provides a pay-off for whatever subjugation the individual must endure in the workplace; but a mass society of atomized individuals is its unfortunate and unanticipated consequence (de Fleur and Ball-Rokeach, 1975)· These paradigms have proven useful in directing attention to the growing impact of electronic media on economic, political, and social life. Challenges to these dominant perspectives have been slow to develop primarily because the focus of debate in critical theory has been on the cultural realm (Robins and Webster, 1979). In this article we summarise recent developments in radical social theory which offer trenchant critiques of these positions. Developmentalism has been challenged by a renewed analysis of capitalist control of information as a system of global domination; pluralism by efforts to re-think the role of the state; post-industrialism by a critical attention to contemporary labor processes; the mass society thesis by alternative hypotheses on the nature of the private sphere and of consumption. In presenting these alternative theoretical perspectives we also indicate how they may be used to inform critical empirical research, and to work against the dominant traditions.
In recent years researchers addressing issues revolving around the transition to socialism have d... more In recent years researchers addressing issues revolving around the transition to socialism have developed theories transcending the sterile antinomy of Leninist vanguardism and social democratic reformism. The purpose of this article is to explore aspects of class relations and class structure in the transition to socialism from such a nondogmatic perspective. Our thesis is that the noninsurrectionist transition to socialism in advanced capitalist democracies should be looked for in the gradual transformation of relations of control at the point of production rather than in the revolutionary ascendancy of the proletariat. This article attempts to chart this potential transformation of productive relations.
... In The Cultural Life of Intellectual Properties, Rosemary Coombe considers mass media signifi... more ... In The Cultural Life of Intellectual Properties, Rosemary Coombe considers mass media signifiers and popu-lar cultural readings of corporately controlled commodity-signsbillboard advertisements and brand names, logos, cartoon characters, and celebrity imagesthat ...
Based on recent concerns with the notion of authenticity and effective politics in contemporary p... more Based on recent concerns with the notion of authenticity and effective politics in contemporary popular culture and scholarship on culture, this essay uses a case study of the legal and popular controversy surrounding the Negativland recording, "The Letter 'lj' and the Number '2 '. " The analysis points to the organic development of alternative logics in the changing landscape of popular culture. Moreover, we point to the relationship between the ''pastiche'' style of the Negativland recording as a metaphor for authenticity and justice in postmodern rock culture. I have often recalled with fondness and admiration what Kant has said about ethics and the stars. Nothing so filled Kant with awe than the starry skies above and the moral law within, the stars being for Kant (and Aristotle too) obedient to the highest and most surpassing lawfulness, and Law being for Kant a kind of star to guide us through the swirl of appearances .... To suffer a disaster is to lose one's star (disastrum), to be cut loose from one's guiding or lucky light. Laying claim to neither the logos nor the nomos of the stars, I suffer a dtsastronomic, disastrolog1cal, deconstructive setback.... It is not a question of knowing what to put in their place, but of
The primary purpose of this essay is to examine the development of modes and forms of manage-rial... more The primary purpose of this essay is to examine the development of modes and forms of manage-rial control over the labor process in the capitalist mode of production. By studying the labor process the most crucial dimensions of capitalist domina-tion are revealed to us: ...
598 DEPAUL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 50:597 oped in analog environments, we have found this thesis perhaps... more 598 DEPAUL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 50:597 oped in analog environments, we have found this thesis perhaps even more pertinent in digital contexts. In The Cultural Life of Intellectual Properties,2 Rosemary Coombe explored mass commercial culture and popular cultural ...
The ancient media formations attendant upon sound, orality and aurality comprise one of the found... more The ancient media formations attendant upon sound, orality and aurality comprise one of the foundational communicative practice of human sociality and culture. Yet, despite the deep anthropological and historical centrality of sound to the human sensorium and cultural creativity, it has only been in the last twenty years or so that "sound studies" has emerged as a distinctive field within (and alongside) media and communication studies. This course will explore the contours of this exciting emergent field, as well as the core concepts that orient the bearing of its scholars towards the critical analysis of sound as phenomenon, cultural event, and social practice.
This article examines the performativity of intellectual property in digital gaming environments,... more This article examines the performativity of intellectual property in digital gaming environments, with a focus on Massively Multi-Player Online Games (MMOGs). The analysis centers on the creation and management of goodwill, an intangible asset of considerable value to corporations based on affective bonds between consumers, corporations, and their commodities in the marketplace. Most critical analyses of intellectual property consider neither the centrality of goodwill to corporate management of their intellectual properties in digital environments, nor the significance of the legal conditions that structure activity in such contexts. We develop a theoretical framework based on cultures of circulation involving network sociality, circuits of interactivity and the extensibility of the computer/user interface. This enables us to better understand shifting relations of power and reciprocity between corporations and consumers in digital gaming contexts, where the division between player...
These materials are made available for use in research, teaching and private study, pursuant to U... more These materials are made available for use in research, teaching and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source. The publisher or original authors may retain copyright to the materials. Towards a general theory of the philanthropic activities of the wealthy
This is an introduction to the special issue of “Ethics as Methods: Doing Ethics in the Era of Bi... more This is an introduction to the special issue of “Ethics as Methods: Doing Ethics in the Era of Big Data Research.” Building on a variety of theoretical paradigms (i.e., critical theory, [new] materialism, feminist ethics, theory of cultural techniques) and frameworks (i.e., contextual integrity, deflationary perspective, ethics of care), the Special Issue contributes specific cases and fine-grained conceptual distinctions to ongoing discussions about the ethics in data-driven research. In the second decade of the 21st century, a grand narrative is emerging that posits knowledge derived from data analytics as true, because of the objective qualities of data, their means of collection and analysis, and the sheer size of the data set. The by-product of this grand narrative is that the qualitative aspects of behavior and experience that form the data are diminished, and the human is removed from the process of analysis. This situates data science as a process of analysis performed by th...
Four conservative paradigms have dominated social research in the United States on mass media and... more Four conservative paradigms have dominated social research in the United States on mass media and information technologies. Developmentalism, a view that links urbanization, media growth and social progress, has shaped the study of international communications (Lerner, 1958; Pool, 1971; Schramm, 1964). Pluralism, a perspective that views state-media relations as the product of political bargaining among interest groups that represent all segments of society, has led research on the politics of electronic communications (Deutsch, 1966; Krasnow and Longley, 1973). The influence of information technologies on the shape of the economy, on profits, productivity and industrial relations is guided by post-industrialism. It focuses on how this increases the power of information professionals and generally liberates workers from the drudgery of traditional industrial labor (Porat, 1976; Bell, 1973, 1977, 1979). Finally, a mass society perspective guides most research on the media and the private sphere of leisure. The diffusion of mass culture provides a pay-off for whatever subjugation the individual must endure in the workplace; but a mass society of atomized individuals is its unfortunate and unanticipated consequence (de Fleur and Ball-Rokeach, 1975)· These paradigms have proven useful in directing attention to the growing impact of electronic media on economic, political, and social life. Challenges to these dominant perspectives have been slow to develop primarily because the focus of debate in critical theory has been on the cultural realm (Robins and Webster, 1979). In this article we summarise recent developments in radical social theory which offer trenchant critiques of these positions. Developmentalism has been challenged by a renewed analysis of capitalist control of information as a system of global domination; pluralism by efforts to re-think the role of the state; post-industrialism by a critical attention to contemporary labor processes; the mass society thesis by alternative hypotheses on the nature of the private sphere and of consumption. In presenting these alternative theoretical perspectives we also indicate how they may be used to inform critical empirical research, and to work against the dominant traditions.
In recent years researchers addressing issues revolving around the transition to socialism have d... more In recent years researchers addressing issues revolving around the transition to socialism have developed theories transcending the sterile antinomy of Leninist vanguardism and social democratic reformism. The purpose of this article is to explore aspects of class relations and class structure in the transition to socialism from such a nondogmatic perspective. Our thesis is that the noninsurrectionist transition to socialism in advanced capitalist democracies should be looked for in the gradual transformation of relations of control at the point of production rather than in the revolutionary ascendancy of the proletariat. This article attempts to chart this potential transformation of productive relations.
... In The Cultural Life of Intellectual Properties, Rosemary Coombe considers mass media signifi... more ... In The Cultural Life of Intellectual Properties, Rosemary Coombe considers mass media signifiers and popu-lar cultural readings of corporately controlled commodity-signsbillboard advertisements and brand names, logos, cartoon characters, and celebrity imagesthat ...
Based on recent concerns with the notion of authenticity and effective politics in contemporary p... more Based on recent concerns with the notion of authenticity and effective politics in contemporary popular culture and scholarship on culture, this essay uses a case study of the legal and popular controversy surrounding the Negativland recording, "The Letter 'lj' and the Number '2 '. " The analysis points to the organic development of alternative logics in the changing landscape of popular culture. Moreover, we point to the relationship between the ''pastiche'' style of the Negativland recording as a metaphor for authenticity and justice in postmodern rock culture. I have often recalled with fondness and admiration what Kant has said about ethics and the stars. Nothing so filled Kant with awe than the starry skies above and the moral law within, the stars being for Kant (and Aristotle too) obedient to the highest and most surpassing lawfulness, and Law being for Kant a kind of star to guide us through the swirl of appearances .... To suffer a disaster is to lose one's star (disastrum), to be cut loose from one's guiding or lucky light. Laying claim to neither the logos nor the nomos of the stars, I suffer a dtsastronomic, disastrolog1cal, deconstructive setback.... It is not a question of knowing what to put in their place, but of
The primary purpose of this essay is to examine the development of modes and forms of manage-rial... more The primary purpose of this essay is to examine the development of modes and forms of manage-rial control over the labor process in the capitalist mode of production. By studying the labor process the most crucial dimensions of capitalist domina-tion are revealed to us: ...
598 DEPAUL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 50:597 oped in analog environments, we have found this thesis perhaps... more 598 DEPAUL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 50:597 oped in analog environments, we have found this thesis perhaps even more pertinent in digital contexts. In The Cultural Life of Intellectual Properties,2 Rosemary Coombe explored mass commercial culture and popular cultural ...
Uploads
Papers by Andrew Herman