Mark Surman on Sun, 14 Jan 96 22:40 MET |
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Introduction.... |
WHO? My name is Mark Surman. I've been invited onto this list by Pit Schultz. WHAT? My main interests include: utopian popular culture and media revolutions, the development of democratic communications systems, public access TV, public space on private networks, and information technology policy (especially in Canada). During the 40 hours that take up most of my week, I work for Web Networks (the Association for Progressive Communications member node in Canada). In previous incarnations, I've worked in both commercial and public access TV. WORDS! I have written a number of papers and articles that may be of interest to the people on this list. I'll try to post some of the shorter ones in the coming weeks. The longer papers described below can be accessed via the Web or by e-mail/paper-mail on request. WIRED WORDS: Utopia, Revolution and the History of Electronic Highways (http://kows.web.net/wiredwords.html) Wired Words is about the magic wand of digital revolution. It chronicles the similarities between the popular culture of the 'Cable Revolution' of the 1970s and the 'Information Highway Revolution' of the 1990s. It looks at the 'wired words' that pop up in both eras, and connects these words to a form of technological politics which is disempowering, and anti-democratic. Written in May 1995 FROM VTR TO CYBERSPACE: Jefferson, Gramsci and the Electronic Commons (http://kows.web.net/ecommons.html) A paper on electronic public space and democratic communications. It brings together the history of community access television and experiences of activism on the Internet in an effort to vision the future of the "electronic commons" amidst a world of commercial broadband "superhighways". Written in April 1994 BILL AND DAVE'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE: NBC, Microsoft & the Cycles of History This short paper draws a 'spiritual' connection between NBC founder David Sarnoff and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Written in December 1995. (I'll probably mail this one to the list.) Comments on these papers always welcome... ******************************** Mark Surman Content & Publications Developer Web Networks/NirvCentre msurman@web.net ********************************