Ubiscribe 
Recent Changes 
Pervasive 
Personal 
Participatory 

Contributing editors: 
Arie Altena 
Sandra Fauconnier 
Claudia Hardi 
Jouke Kleerebezem 
Inga Zimprich 


Ubiscribe.net according 
to The Shredder, a 
deconstructivist browser 
by Mark Napier 

Ubiscribe.net according to 
http://www.touchgraph.com 
Based on Google�s �related� 
feature 


Ubiscribe 0.9.0 PoD
Publishing date . . . May 21, 2006, at 03:00 PM
Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, The Netherlands
http://www.ubiscribe.net/ubipod/wiki


On 6 May 2006, at 4:45am Ubiscribe 0.9.0 content was tapped from the Ubiscribe wiki,
where it lived since Wednesday 19 April 2006, at 11:42am.


Main/
Recent Changes


* Thinktank Images . . . May 06, 2006, at 04:45 AM by ?: 
* Thinktank Conversation . . . May 06, 2006, at 04:40 AM by ?: 
* Bio . . . May 06, 2006, at 03:31 AM by ?: 
* Walking Within the Possibilities of Words . . . May 05, 2006, at 09:58 PM by ?: 
* Home Page . . . May 05, 2006, at 09:06 PM by ?: 
* Thinktank Media . . . May 05, 2006, at 09:03 PM by ?: 
* Thinktank Introduction . . . May 05, 2006, at 08:21 PM by ?: 
* Materials IZ-TT . . . May 05, 2006, at 07:50 PM by ?: 
* Google Searches Amp Other Notes . . . May 05, 2006, at 07:50 PM by ?: 
* Ssl Amp Lues Readings and Writings . . . May 05, 2006, at 07:45 PM by ?: 
* Conversation-1 . . . May 05, 2006, at 07:39 PM by ?: 
* Wizard of Os Conferentie . . . May 05, 2006, at 07:27 PM by ?: 
* Atlas Shrugged . . . May 05, 2006, at 07:23 PM by ?: 
* Sewer . . . May 05, 2006, at 07:21 PM by ?: 
* Ramblecity . . . May 05, 2006, at 07:20 PM by ?: 
* Security Down . . . May 05, 2006, at 07:19 PM by ?: 
* Submarine 2 . . . May 05, 2006, at 07:18 PM by ?: 
* Scene Out of Hellboy . . . May 05, 2006, at 07:17 PM by ?: 
* Ramblecity Unidentified . . . May 05, 2006, at 07:16 PM by ?: 
* Submarine 1 . . . May 05, 2006, at 07:16 PM by ?: 
* Dick Tracy . . . May 05, 2006, at 07:15 PM by ?: 
* Unidentified 2 . . . May 05, 2006, at 07:14 PM by ?: 
* Unidentified 1 . . . May 05, 2006, at 07:14 PM by ?: 
* Radius Loci . . . May 05, 2006, at 07:12 PM by ?: 
* Rabbit Hole . . . May 05, 2006, at 07:05 PM by ?: 
* Cloudmakers . . . May 05, 2006, at 07:04 PM by ?: 
* Argonauts . . . May 05, 2006, at 07:02 PM by ?: 
* Trumptower . . . May 05, 2006, at 06:54 PM by ?: 
* Scene Out of Below 2 . . . May 05, 2006, at 06:54 PM by ?: 
* Scene Out of Below 1 . . . May 05, 2006, at 06:53 PM by ?: 
* Baker . . . May 05, 2006, at 06:52 PM by ?: 
* Arctic Bunnies . . . May 05, 2006, at 06:52 PM by ?: 
* American Indian Pavilion . . . May 05, 2006, at 06:51 PM by ?: 
* Ibm Pavilion . . . May 05, 2006, at 06:50 PM by ?: 
* Bulldog Photo . . . May 05, 2006, at 06:49 PM by ?: 
* Smoking Scene 2 . . . May 05, 2006, at 06:48 PM by ?: 
* Smoking Scene 1 . . . May 05, 2006, at 06:48 PM by ?: 
* Club 33 Trophyroom . . . May 05, 2006, at 06:43 PM by ?: 
* Teddy May . . . May 05, 2006, at 06:43 PM by ?: 
* Walt Disney Jungle Cruise . . . May 05, 2006, at 06:42 PM by ?: 
* Collected Quotes . . . May 05, 2006, at 06:40 PM by ?: 
* Monkey Series . . . May 05, 2006, at 06:19 PM by ?: 
* Able the Spacemonkey . . . May 05, 2006, at 06:13 PM by ?: 
* Monkeys . . . May 05, 2006, at 06:05 PM by ?: 
* Threads Amp Queries . . . May 05, 2006, at 05:40 PM by ?: 
* Filosofen Amp Piraten . . . May 05, 2006, at 05:26 PM by ?: 
* Parallel Universe . . . May 05, 2006, at 05:22 PM by ?: 
* Schwag . . . May 05, 2006, at 05:19 PM by ?: 
* Real Time . . . May 05, 2006, at 05:17 PM by ?: 
* Hyperlink . . . May 05, 2006, at 05:17 PM by ?: 
* HTML . . . May 05, 2006, at 05:16 PM by ?: 
* Quarterly . . . May 05, 2006, at 05:16 PM by ?: 
* Content . . . May 05, 2006, at 05:14 PM by ?: 
* Cosmic Book . . . May 05, 2006, at 05:13 PM by ?: 
* Command Line . . . May 05, 2006, at 05:11 PM by ?: 
* Blogosphere . . . May 05, 2006, at 05:07 PM by ?: 
* Ubiscribe Glossary . . . May 05, 2006, at 05:06 PM by ?: 
* Po D Review . . . May 05, 2006, at 05:00 PM by ?: 
* IBM Ad . . . May 05, 2006, at 04:38 PM by ?: 
* Workspaces . . . May 05, 2006, at 04:38 PM by ?: 
* Some Stolen Pictures . . . May 05, 2006, at 04:29 PM by ?: 
* The Long Tail . . . May 05, 2006, at 04:28 PM by ?: 
* Databases Plundered for Research . . . May 05, 2006, at 04:26 PM by ?: 
* Understanding Information Age . . . May 05, 2006, at 04:01 PM by ?: 
* Understanding Information Age Some Quotes . . . May 05, 2006, at 03:55 PM by ?: 
* Who is Doing What . . . May 05, 2006, at 03:37 PM by ?: 

* Texts AA . . . May 05, 2006, at 03:35 PM by ?: 
* Het Boek Als Back-up-medium En Luxe Object . . . May 05, 2006, at 03:34 PM by ?: 
* Beroemde Beelden . . . May 05, 2006, at 03:28 PM by ?: 
* Graph-tub . . . May 05, 2006, at 03:25 PM by ?: 
* Personal Data-mining2003-2004 . . . May 05, 2006, at 03:20 PM by ?: 
* War of the Worlds 2 . . . May 05, 2006, at 02:49 PM by ?: 
* War of the Worlds 1 . . . May 05, 2006, at 02:48 PM by ?: 
* Second Portrait of Marvin . . . May 05, 2006, at 02:47 PM by ?: 
* Marvin . . . May 05, 2006, at 02:46 PM by ?: 
* Of Writing and Other Things a Collection of Quotes . . . May 05, 2006, at 01:39 PM by ?: 
* Do Not Write More Than 12 Lines . . . May 05, 2006, at 01:33 PM by ?: 
* Bio AA . . . May 05, 2006, at 01:23 PM by ?: 
* Introduction in the Loop . . . May 05, 2006, at 01:03 PM by ?: 
* De Blogger Als Elektronisch Performer . . . May 05, 2006, at 12:56 PM by ?: 
* Wie Blogt Bestaat . . . May 05, 2006, at 12:55 PM by ?: 
* Metadata En De Essayisten Van De Toekomst . . . May 05, 2006, at 12:52 PM by ?: 
* Intertwingularity . . . May 05, 2006, at 11:55 AM by ?: 
* Mining nqpaofu for �biography� . . . May 05, 2006, at 08:48 AM by jouke: 
* Mining nqpaofu for �recorded life� . . . May 05, 2006, at 08:41 AM by jouke: 
* Materials SF . . . May 05, 2006, at 08:33 AM by fokky: 
* Materials JK . . . May 05, 2006, at 08:32 AM by jouke: 
* Writing Tools . . . May 05, 2006, at 08:07 AM by fokky: 
* Web 2 . . . May 05, 2006, at 07:47 AM by fokky: 
* Copyright Open Content and Remix Cultures . . . May 05, 2006, at 07:29 AM by fokky: 
* Daily Operations Remix . . . May 04, 2006, at 11:52 PM by jouke: 
* Daily Operations . . . May 04, 2006, at 11:02 PM by jouke: 
* Searching nqpaofu for �personal publishing� . . . May 04, 2006, at 10:49 PM by jouke: 
* NQ Pa OFU for Personal Publishing . . . May 04, 2006, at 10:39 PM by jouke: 
* Searching nqpaofu for �weblog� . . . May 04, 2006, at 10:31 PM by ?: 
* Searching NQ Pa OFU . . . May 04, 2006, at 10:30 PM by ?: 
* Ubiscribe Shredded . . . May 04, 2006, at 10:02 PM by fokky: 
* Texts JK . . . May 04, 2006, at 09:55 PM by jouke: 
* Ubiscribe According to Grokker . . . May 04, 2006, at 09:55 PM by fokky: 
* Just-in-time . . . May 04, 2006, at 09:49 PM by ?: 
* Ubiscribe . . . May 04, 2006, at 09:27 PM by jouke: 
* WiFi . . . May 04, 2006, at 09:21 PM by ?: 
* Print . . . May 04, 2006, at 09:17 PM by ?: 
* Locative Media . . . May 04, 2006, at 07:29 PM by ?: 
* Devon Think . . . May 04, 2006, at 07:04 PM by ?: 
* Zigzag . . . May 04, 2006, at 06:50 PM by ?: 
* Non-Things . . . May 04, 2006, at 04:40 PM by ?: 
* Citaten Uit Boeken . . . May 04, 2006, at 04:39 PM by ?: 
* Critical Computing . . . May 04, 2006, at 01:35 PM by ?: 
* Definitions Amp Summaries . . . May 04, 2006, at 12:36 PM by ?: 
* Webware . . . May 04, 2006, at 12:21 PM by fokky: 
* Electronic Publishing . . . May 04, 2006, at 11:25 AM by ?: 
* Hakmem . . . May 04, 2006, at 11:11 AM by ?: 
* RTF File Quotes Electronic Atlas . . . May 04, 2006, at 10:56 AM by ?: 
* RTF File Excerpts Book Electronic Atlas . . . May 04, 2006, at 10:52 AM by ?: 
* Donald Trump Electronic Atlas . . . May 04, 2006, at 10:49 AM by ?: 
* Submarines Electronic Atlas . . . May 04, 2006, at 10:48 AM by ?: 
* Spacemonkeys Electronic Atlas . . . May 04, 2006, at 10:47 AM by ?: 
* Bruce Lee Electronic Atlas . . . May 04, 2006, at 10:44 AM by ?: 
* Screenshot . . . May 04, 2006, at 10:39 AM by ?: 
* Publication-2 . . . May 04, 2006, at 10:34 AM by ?: 
* Publication-1 . . . May 04, 2006, at 10:34 AM by ?: 
* Screenshot-newsletter . . . May 04, 2006, at 10:33 AM by ?: 
* Screenshot-arsc . . . May 04, 2006, at 10:32 AM by ?: 
* Screenshot-website . . . May 04, 2006, at 10:31 AM by ?: 
* Conversation-5 . . . May 04, 2006, at 10:30 AM by ?: 
* Conversation-3 . . . May 04, 2006, at 10:28 AM by ?: 
* Conversation-2 . . . May 04, 2006, at 10:27 AM by ?: 
* Conversation-4 . . . May 04, 2006, at 10:13 AM by ?: 
* What Kind of Animal is This . . . May 04, 2006, at 04:00 AM by ?: 
* Virtual . . . May 04, 2006, at 01:21 AM by ?: 
* Goshdarned . . . May 03, 2006, at 11:13 PM by ?: 
* Pro-am . . . May 03, 2006, at 10:05 PM by fokky: 
* Free Software . . . May 03, 2006, at 10:02 PM by fokky: 
* Open Source . . . May 03, 2006, at 10:00 PM by fokky: 
* Open Content . . . May 03, 2006, at 09:58 PM by fokky: 
* Po D . . . May 03, 2006, at 09:56 PM by fokky: 
* Print on Demand . . . May 03, 2006, at 09:55 PM by fokky: 
* Participatory Media . . . May 03, 2006, at 09:52 PM by fokky: 
* Geocaching . . . May 03, 2006, at 09:15 PM by fokky: 
* User Innovation . . . May 03, 2006, at 09:03 PM by fokky: 
* RSS . . . May 03, 2006, at 08:58 PM by fokky: 
* Mob Tagging . . . May 03, 2006, at 08:57 PM by fokky: 

* Tagging . . . May 03, 2006, at 05:12 PM by fokky: 
* Syndication . . . May 03, 2006, at 04:56 PM by fokky: 
* IP . . . May 03, 2006, at 04:32 PM by fokky: 
* Intellectual Property . . . May 03, 2006, at 04:31 PM by fokky: 
* Distributed Authorship . . . May 03, 2006, at 04:29 PM by fokky: 
* Groupware . . . May 03, 2006, at 04:27 PM by fokky: 
* Folksonomy . . . May 03, 2006, at 03:55 PM by fokky: 
* Collabulary . . . May 03, 2006, at 03:52 PM by fokky: 
* Floss . . . May 03, 2006, at 03:43 PM by fokky: 
* Ublish A . . . May 03, 2006, at 03:26 PM by fokky: 
* Options Portrait . . . May 03, 2006, at 03:26 PM by fokky: 
* Options Landscape . . . May 03, 2006, at 03:25 PM by fokky: 
* Migration . . . May 03, 2006, at 03:25 PM by fokky: 
* Jerome . . . May 03, 2006, at 03:24 PM by fokky: 
* Google Ibook . . . May 03, 2006, at 03:23 PM by fokky: 
* Goo . . . May 03, 2006, at 03:22 PM by fokky: 
* Delicious POD 02 . . . May 03, 2006, at 03:21 PM by fokky: 
* Delicious POD 01 . . . May 03, 2006, at 03:20 PM by fokky: 
* Delicious Frag . . . May 03, 2006, at 03:20 PM by fokky: 
* Benkler PDF . . . May 03, 2006, at 03:19 PM by fokky: 
* Google . . . May 03, 2006, at 01:56 PM by fokky: 
* Saint Jerome in His Study . . . May 03, 2006, at 01:53 PM by ?: 
* Picture from Flickr . . . May 03, 2006, at 01:51 PM by ?: 
* Arno Schmidts Workspace . . . May 03, 2006, at 01:48 PM by ?: 
* The Address is the Message . . . May 03, 2006, at 11:55 AM by ?: 
* Want to Buy a Brain . . . May 03, 2006, at 11:54 AM by ?: 
* Ted Nelson Bookcovers . . . May 03, 2006, at 11:45 AM by ?: 
* Early Apple-ad . . . May 03, 2006, at 11:43 AM by ?: 
* Ubiscribe Mindmap . . . May 03, 2006, at 11:31 AM by fokky: 
* Ubiscribe According to Kartoo . . . May 03, 2006, at 11:30 AM by fokky: 
* Ubiscribe Touchgraph . . . May 03, 2006, at 11:30 AM by fokky: 
* Ubiscribe According to the Shredder . . . May 03, 2006, at 11:29 AM by fokky: 
* Blogoshpere . . . May 03, 2006, at 11:28 AM by ?: 
* Uses of Blogs . . . May 03, 2006, at 11:25 AM by ?: 
* Produser . . . May 03, 2006, at 11:23 AM by ?: 
* Schrijfmachine Verschueren1950s . . . May 03, 2006, at 11:22 AM by fokky: 
* Vulpotlood Verschueren1950s . . . May 03, 2006, at 11:22 AM by fokky: 
* Vulpen Verschueren1950s . . . May 03, 2006, at 11:22 AM by fokky: 
* Pen Verschueren1950s . . . May 03, 2006, at 11:22 AM by fokky: 
* Boek Verschueren1950s . . . May 03, 2006, at 11:21 AM by fokky: 
* Metadata . . . May 03, 2006, at 10:32 AM by fokky: 
* GPS . . . May 03, 2006, at 09:26 AM by ?: 
* Spam Canvas . . . May 03, 2006, at 09:26 AM by jouke: 
* Pervasive Publishing . . . May 03, 2006, at 09:20 AM by jouke: 
* OCR . . . May 03, 2006, at 09:05 AM by jouke: 
* Ubitext . . . May 03, 2006, at 08:56 AM by jouke: 
* Ubicomp . . . May 03, 2006, at 08:43 AM by jouke: 
* RFID . . . May 03, 2006, at 08:21 AM by jouke: 
* Internet of Things . . . May 03, 2006, at 08:19 AM by jouke: 
* Object Hyperlinking . . . May 03, 2006, at 08:14 AM by ?: 
* Informatic License . . . May 03, 2006, at 08:08 AM by jouke: 
* Ubiscribles . . . May 02, 2006, at 11:39 PM by jouke: 
* Personal Publishing Mining . . . May 02, 2006, at 11:35 PM by ?: 
* Meta Noise . . . May 02, 2006, at 11:04 PM by jouke: 
* Media Literacy . . . May 02, 2006, at 10:53 PM by ?: 
* Digital Printing . . . May 02, 2006, at 10:37 PM by ?: 
* Attention Economy . . . May 02, 2006, at 10:13 PM by fokky: 
* Ractor . . . May 02, 2006, at 06:38 PM by jouke: 
* Open Access Publishing . . . May 02, 2006, at 06:12 PM by fokky: 
* Documented Life . . . May 02, 2006, at 05:51 PM by ch?: 
* Reading . . . May 02, 2006, at 05:44 PM by Arie: 
* Order of Books . . . May 02, 2006, at 05:41 PM by Arie: 
* Cleavages in the History of Reading . . . May 02, 2006, at 05:37 PM by Arie: 
* Understanding Media . . . May 02, 2006, at 05:37 PM by Arie: 
* Writing is a Technology . . . May 02, 2006, at 05:36 PM by Arie: 
* Orality and Literacy . . . May 02, 2006, at 05:35 PM by Arie: 
* Analyzing Prose . . . May 02, 2006, at 05:32 PM by Arie: 
* Hypertext the Convergence of Contemporary Critical Theory and Technology . . . May 02, 2006, at 05:30 PM by Arie: 
* Archeology of Knowledge . . . May 02, 2006, at 05:28 PM by Arie: 
* As We May Think . . . May 02, 2006, at 05:27 PM by Arie: 
* Hypertext . . . May 02, 2006, at 05:26 PM by Arie: 
* Tristram Shandy . . . May 02, 2006, at 05:25 PM by Arie: 
* Phaedrus . . . May 02, 2006, at 05:24 PM by Arie: 
* Writing Space . . . May 02, 2006, at 05:23 PM by Arie: 
* Tag List . . . May 02, 2006, at 05:07 PM by jouke: 
* Designing Participation-An Introduction . . . May 02, 2006, at 04:48 PM by fokky: 
* Commons-based Peer Production . . . May 02, 2006, at 09:48 AM by fokky: 

* Jargon File . . . May 02, 2006, at 02:59 AM by ch?: 
* Counterblast . . . May 01, 2006, at 10:47 PM by Arie: 
* Weblog . . . May 01, 2006, at 10:37 PM by Arie: 
* Commonplace Book . . . May 01, 2006, at 10:24 PM by Arie: 
* Blogs and Rereading . . . May 01, 2006, at 10:22 PM by Arie: 
* Citaten Uit Blogs Amp Websites . . . May 01, 2006, at 10:22 PM by Arie: 
* We Are the Web . . . May 01, 2006, at 10:17 PM by Arie: 
* Information Overload . . . May 01, 2006, at 10:15 PM by Arie: 
* Revoluties in De Literatuur . . . May 01, 2006, at 10:14 PM by Arie: 
* Blogs Bring on Decay Hellip . . . May 01, 2006, at 10:10 PM by Arie: 
* Feiten En Cijfers . . . May 01, 2006, at 10:09 PM by Arie: 
* Forms and Meanings . . . May 01, 2006, at 10:05 PM by Arie: 
* Wiki Sandbox . . . May 01, 2006, at 04:39 PM by Arie: 
* Grey Literature . . . May 01, 2006, at 02:43 PM by jouke: 
* Copyright . . . May 01, 2006, at 01:57 PM by fokky: 
* Nieuwe Tekst En Fragmenten . . . April 30, 2006, at 03:51 PM by Arie: 
* Flusser Quotes . . . April 30, 2006, at 03:41 PM by Arie: 
* Das Politische Im Zeitalter Der Technischen Bilder . . . April 30, 2006, at 03:30 PM by Arie: 
* Die Schrift . . . April 30, 2006, at 03:27 PM by Arie: 
* Word Hacks . . . April 30, 2006, at 03:24 PM by ch?: 
* Other O Reilly Covers . . . April 30, 2006, at 03:23 PM by ch?: 
* Windows 98 Annoyances . . . April 30, 2006, at 03:14 PM by ch?: 
* Some Notes on Rebecca Bloods the Weblog Handbook . . . April 30, 2006, at 02:57 PM by Arie: 
* The Weblog Handbook . . . April 30, 2006, at 02:57 PM by Arie: 
* First Edition . . . April 30, 2006, at 02:51 PM by ch?: 
* And All This Hellip . . . April 30, 2006, at 02:45 PM by ch?: 
* Quizsection . . . April 30, 2006, at 02:42 PM by ch?: 
* M-Cult Net . . . April 30, 2006, at 02:36 PM by ch?: 
* O Reilly Spoof Covers . . . April 30, 2006, at 02:06 PM by ch?: 
* Tauschen Austauschen Kommunizieren . . . April 30, 2006, at 04:05 AM by ch?: 
* Kollaborative Schreibprojekte Im Netz . . . April 30, 2006, at 04:02 AM by ?: 
* Collaborative Authorship . . . April 30, 2006, at 03:56 AM by ?: 
* Query . . . April 30, 2006, at 03:43 AM by ch?: 
* Toby . . . April 30, 2006, at 03:09 AM by ch?: 
* What is an Author . . . April 29, 2006, at 06:58 PM by Arie: 
* Terwijl Je Leest . . . April 28, 2006, at 05:08 PM by Arie: 
* Artikelen JK . . . April 28, 2006, at 04:54 PM by jouke: 
* The New Age of the Book . . . April 28, 2006, at 01:19 PM by Arie: 
* Extraordinary Commonplaces . . . April 28, 2006, at 01:08 PM by Arie: 
* Weblog Definition Wikipedia . . . April 28, 2006, at 12:19 PM by Arie: 
* Weblog Definition for the Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory . . . April 28, 2006, at 12:14 PM by Arie: 
* Ubipod-introductie . . . April 28, 2006, at 10:54 AM by jouke: 
* Situated Software . . . April 27, 2006, at 03:40 PM by fokky: 
* 1 . . . April 26, 2006, at 03:39 PM by ch?: 
* Threads of Comments . . . April 24, 2006, at 05:19 PM by ch?: 
* Go There . . . April 24, 2006, at 04:22 PM by ch?: 
* Blog is a Verb . . . April 24, 2006, at 03:42 PM by Arie: 
* Artikelen AA . . . April 24, 2006, at 03:41 PM by Arie: 
* Budapest Open Access Initiative . . . April 21, 2006, at 05:44 PM by fokky: 
* HomePage . . . April 21, 2006, at 03:23 PM by ?: 
* OpenAccessPublishing . . . April 21, 2006, at 02:03 PM by fokky: BOAI 
* UbiscribeGlossary . . . April 21, 2006, at 02:01 PM by fokky: wikify open access publishing 
* WhoIsDoingWhat . . . April 20, 2006, at 12:50 PM by fokky: wikilink glossary 
* Planning . . . April 20, 2006, at 12:45 PM by fokky: cut & paste 
* Jouke . . . April 18, 2006, at 11:18 PM by jouke: 
* Ubipod-introductie . . . April 18, 2006, at 11:18 PM by jouke: 
* WikiSandbox . . . April 18, 2006, at 11:15 PM by jouke: 
6



Cover of Ted Nelson�s 1974 Dream Machines/Computer Lib (AA) 
as found on http://www.digibarn.com 


Cover of Ted Nelson�s 1974 Dream Machines/Computer Lib (AA) 
as found on http://www.digibarn.com 


Contents


Recent Changes 
Contents 

Ubiscribe 
Editors� Introduction 

The Address is the Message 
Anthologies on Network Communities & Other Geographies 
As We May Think Database; (Hi)stories of Computer Science 
De blogger als elektronisch performer 
Blog Ho! the Blogabulary 
Het boek als back-up-medium en luxe object 
Collected Quotes 
Copyright, Open Content and Remix Cultures 
Daily Operations Remix 
Designing Participation: 

the Web Design Timeline 
the Dutch-Language Wikipedia 
the Issue Graph 

Do Not Write More Than 12 Lines 
Famous & Less Famous Images 
Glossary 
Google Searches & Other Notes 
Metadata en de essayisten van de toekomst 
Mining NQPaOFU for 

�personal publishing�, �biography�, �documented life� 

including anchor longlist 
Of Writing and Other Things, a Collection of Quotes 
Personal Data-mining 2003-2004 
Quiz Section 
Sewer Gas & Electric (g.a.s.) 
(g.a.s.) S-List of Tags and Search Queries 
Thinktank Conversation 
Thinktank Media 
Threads & Queries 
Understanding the Information Age 
Wie blogt bestaat 
Wild Edit 
Wissen als Praxis 
Workspaces 
Writing Tools 

Editors� Profiles 
Colophon 

3 
9 

10 
12 

19 
21 
23 
25 
27 
28 
31 
33 
39 

52 
55 
58 
60 
62 
72 
109 
111 

114 
133 
149 
155 
156 
158 
163 
169 
172 
177 
180 
192 
194 
198 
202 

204 
206 


Jouke Kleerebezem 

www.ubiscribe.net 

�pervasive publishing in 
networkedmedia�: 

-read/write 
-access 
- navigate 
-gather/edit 
- store/serve 
focus: 

content 

text, image and sound 

� for information, 
review, opinion, fiction 
production 

writing (including 
translation), authoring, 
contextualizing, lay-out, 
interface, (final?) 
editing 

conduit 

internet/www, mobile 
media, situated 
screening and printing, 
screen/print hybrids? 

distribution 

web wide/privileged, P2P, 
addressee customized, 
periodicity, subscription 
base, affiliation, on 
demand? 

context 

individual, institutional, 
corporate, event? 

memory 

retrievable, conservancy, 
collection, back-issues? 

economy 

fee, ad-base, tip jar, zero 
revenue, subsidized? 

10 

Ubiscribe


Ubiscribe is a publication named after and generated from 
research conducted in the context of this particular thread 
hosted at the Jan van Eyck Academie Design Department. It 
inquires into the conditions and challenges for personal and 
pervasive publishing and participatory media in contemporary cultural production. Ubiscribe is aimed at bringing together researchers from any of the three departments Design, 
Fine Arts and Theory at the JvE Institute for Research and 
Production. 

As an ongoing experiment in open collaborative writing and 
editing, for its publication Ubiscribe uses networked writing 
and editing tools as well as print-on-demand reproduction 
technology, for occasional back-up and review copies and as 
a just-in-time public outlet. Its editorial �suit� � and publication in its own right � is a wiki, a �coweb� (collaborative 
website), part of the ubiscribe.net internet domain. 

�Ubiscribe� was coined by Jouke Kleerebezem in 2003, after 
playing around with other Ubi-names (Ubitext?� taken by 
Xerox; Ubilog?� too blogish; Ubiscript?� too much like a 
programming language, meanwhile googles one hit). The 
chosen label would connect the idea of pervasive computation � as in �Ubicomp� � with the idea of mobility and what 
dawned as a consequence of ubiquitous embedded or drifting computers: ubiquitous media output, or pervasive 
publishing. A couple of years later we see the rise of a wireless �internet of things�, which will perfect the connection 
between networks of information and networks of objects 
and locations in the material world. 

With the acquisition of the ubiscribe.net internet domain the 
theme was introduced as a research thread at the Jan van 
Eyck Academie. Some of Ubiscribe�s earlier manifestations 
include the 2003 Personal Publishing Pandemonium meeting; 2004 Wild Edit meetings; the setting up of a database in 
and as an exploration of DevonThink cms software, also 
2004, and as a follow-up Stand-up Publishing consultation; 
Thinktank gatherings, 2006. Its research also inspired two 
papers in the context of the Tomorrow Book research strand, 
Ubibook and Ubibook Mark-up, in 2004-05. Another related 
event was the Matching Link symposium at Stroom Art and 
Architecture, in 2005 in The Hague, which was organized at 


the occasion of the installation of Welcome to Fusedspace 
Database by Team Science Fiction, whose four collaborators 
at the time conducted research at the Design Department. 

The current publication of a Ubiscribe PoD (printed-ondemand) �book� is a first in a series of what we have come to 
regard in the process as a �back-up� of sorts, or editorial �notebook�, bound print on paper, of that ongoing publication in the 
project�s wiki. As an experiment in combining different read/ 
write environments, such print-outs are intended to number 
up from the current 0.9.0 onwards � true to their online sources and hybrid reference however never to reach that landmark 1.0. 

Contributing editors for Ubiscribe 0.9.0 are Arie Altena, 
Sandra Fauconnier, Claudia Hardi, Jouke Kleerebezem and 
Inga Zimprich. 

�narrative space�: 

- architecture 
-readability 
-scrollscape 
- volumes 
-series 
key 

-media saturation 
- pervasive publishing 
-personal editing 
-file sharing 
-multiple front-ends 
-24/7 
intuition 

-wild talent wild edit 
- format abundance 
containment 
- content urgency 
versus information porn 
- niche-to-niche special 
interest publishing 
-site-specific publication 
-micro publishing 
content placement 
- disk-to-server-to-disk 
management 
11



Editors� Introduction


Arie Altena 

Sandra Fauconnier 

12


In the Loop 

Writing, Reading and Publishing Online; 
The Editorial Design of Personal Publishing 

Over the past years, blogging, a field of personal publishing, 
has become one of the major genres of online publishing. 
Quite recently, a number of (aspiring) writers, academics 
and artists have also taken to blogging. In other words, while 
these recent bloggers publish articles, give lectures and 
write books, they have now also started to work online, use 
the tools of the internet; now, they almost instantly publish 
their (preliminary) thoughts, sometimes discussing them 
publicly. In their blogs they are caught �in the loop� where 
browsing, reading, researching, thinking and writing seem 
to collapse in time. How does this affect and change intellectual production? How do these serious bloggers see this 
transformation? What is the position of their blog amongst 
the other publishing media available to them? 

I will simply ask how these �serious bloggers� design their 
online presence, and how they use it in their intellectual 
practice. What are the decisions that guide the editorial 
design of their blogs? Some of these decisions concern issues 
of subject matter (only professional, also personal?), graphic 
design, choice of software, use of software functionalities 
(comments, rss, categories, syndication, links, et cetera). 

The answers to these questions � gathered from researching a limited amount of �serious blogs� and from interviews with their writers � will hopefully reveal how blogging transforms writing and publishing. Furthermore, it will 
give insight into the culture of software and into the question 
how technology, writing and publishing influence each 
other today. 

Designing Participation: an Introduction 

My research project, Designing Participation (2006�07), is 
about the variety of design principles and decisions that 
influence the creation and maintenance of so-called �participatory web-based resources� � or web projects with active 
participation by, and democratic input from users. I look at 
design from the broadest possible perspective. Therefore, 


Designing Participation is not only about visual and technological design, but also (in fact, especially) about sociopolitical, economical, organizational and legal forces, and about 
underlying assumptions and values that influence the creation of online participatory spaces. 

So, it is a research project that looks for processes, interconnections and patterns. 

At this moment, I am working on an encyclopedic overview 
of these design issues, patterns and forces, with both a theoretical and a practical angle. In order to gain practice-based 
insights and to ground this research in field activity, I am 
studying, following or advising a number of case studies; 
most of these are participatory online projects by small-
scale, non-profit, civil-society initiatives based in Belgium or 
the Netherlands. 

nl.wikipedia.org is the Dutch-language branch of the open, 
collaborative, web-based encyclopedia Wikipedia. Thousands of volunteers � who, mostly, never meet each other in 
person � work together on content that, in the end, will 
have to meet certain (obviously contested) standards of 
�neutrality� (Wikipedia�s neutral point of view, npov) and 
quality. To reach this goal, the community has crafted elaborate decision-making processes and a rich set of editorial 
devices and conventions (http://nl.wikipedia.org). 

The Web Design Timeline was a collaborative, open timeline 
for the reconstruction of the history of web design. This 
timeline has been created and launched in conjunction with 
a three-day conference on web design in Amsterdam, and 
has been used as an online social tool for connecting the 
digital and physical realm around the conference 
(http://www.designtimeline.org). 

Designing Participation 

(http://www.spinster.be/participation 

Re-Reading, Internet Travelogues, DevonThink Databases / 
Encyclopedias / Documentary Capture Projects, Field Trips 
through Electronic Archives or �Voyages-Detour� 

This work is mainly concentrated on an exploratory mode of 
cultural research on the internet (internet-travelogues) 
which is at large resulting in databases / encyclopedias / 
documentary capture projects or field trips through electronic archives � all stored in a DevonThink database. All 

Claudia Hardi 


Jouke Kleerebezem 

14


searches, newly found data objects, as text, websites, other 
formats and/but mainly images on the most diverse topics, 
are strictly based on specifically defined rules of collections 
/ lists from cultural references out of books & electronic 
texts. Work includes: The As We May Think Database / encyclopedia / documentary capture project, based on the cultural references out of the Jargon File (4653 items May 2006) 
and the �g.a.s.� Database / encyclopedia / documentary capture project, based on the cultural references out of the 
novel Sewer Gas & Electric by Matt Ruff, published 1997 
(1692 items May 2006). (Both projects are work in progess). 
Let�s say: a �Voyage Detour� � from books to the web back to 
the desktop and again fed to the web or to other media. 

Links to infos, irregular blogging, and ordinary homepage 
thingies on the web are: 
As We May Think Info Site 
(http://www.awmt.info/) 
As We May Think collaborative workshop blog 
(http://www.awmt.net/) 
1066 And All That, personal blog / web based work space on 
books & reading 
(http://66.240.176.205/malloryneelyhouse) 
SSL LUES collaborative blog / web based workspace together with Sabine von Fischer 
(http://66.240.176.205/ssl_blog) 
Malloryneelyhouse Net / Homepage 
(http://www.malloryneelyhouse.net/) 

It is not so much the content, but our signature beneath it, 
which obliges us. 

� Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin 
Since 1993 Jouke Kleerebezem�s interests focus on the world 
wide web and internet as independent venues and platform 
for art, design and critical practices. During the 1980s he 
experimented with the production and presentation of contemporary art, initiating and co-directing artist space De 
Zaak in Groningen, NL. De Zaak foundation ran a space for 
the presentation and discussion of multiple disciplines and 
published 42 issues of the Drukwerk De Zaak magazine, 
conceived as a medium in its own right for the production of 
printed artist work. De Zaak closed on the threshold of the 
1990s, on New Years Eve 1989-90, because its concept, while 
being (too) successful, was considered tired and new alternative practices were on the horizon, some of which soon to 
be discovered �computer-enhanced� and networked. 


His 1990 exhibition at the Van Abbemuseum, entitled The 
Irremediable Narrative, preceded the large curatorial project 
Allocations at the occasion of the Floriade World Horticultural Exhibition 1992. This project realized the installation 
on its festival grounds of new commissioned works by at the 
time well and lesser known, or even almost forgotten artists 
Vito Acconci, Dennis Adams, Ashley Bickerton, Marinus 
Boezem, Mel Chin, Fastw�rms, Fortuyn/O�Brien, Peter 
Fend�s oecd, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Ludger Gerdes, Piero 
Gilardi, Jan van Grunsven, ifp, Arno van der Mark, Matt 
Mullican, David Nyzio, Paul Perry, Joke Robaard, Q.S. 
Serafijn, Merle Laderman Ukeles, Rob Scholte, Herman de 
Vries and Chen Zhen. Many of their works were informed by 
ecological and leisure/media industry issues, long before 
such topics caught artworld-at-large attention. 

Over the years 1993-1999 JK�s artistic organizational practice includes new media collaborations with Mediamatic and 
Doors of Perception conferences. Several individual web 
projects are started, most of them at some point to be discontinued, the first being Shadowplay, uploaded on 17 October 
1995. From 22 March 1998 his then called �weblog� (epithet 
dismissed in 2004, for its calendar compulsion) Notes, 
Quotes, Provocations and Other Fair Use bundles his attention by challenging it out loud right from the very first post: 

Decide to delay the informatic license document. Instead built
this one from scratch.


Lots of activity over the past weeks. Email discussion out
bursts on the future of cities with the Amsterdam 2.0 group; on
the Doors 5 Play theme, with artist Michael Samyn and web-
master Kristi van Riet; and on the InfoDesign-Caf� list, on �what
is information design�. The latter discussion pops up ever once
in a while. My VisionPlus paper stretches the envelope on the
topic, so I thought I�d give the discussion some attention.


Reflecting on Goldhaber�s attention economy, I remember 
I
once considered attention a gift. �Economy� of course is the
metaphor du jour� How can we potlatch attention?


The main purpose of the potlatch is of course gift-giving. Every
player should arrive with one or more gifts and leave with one or
more different gifts. (�) Gifts need not be physical objects. (�
)
However, it should be recalled that in the Amerindian potlatches
the gifts were supposed to be superb & even ruinous to the givers.


� Hakim Bey 
Deplete your attention! 


�Deplete your attention�� NQPaOFU activity is much competed since the start in February 2005 of a more intimate online project and very disciplined daily publication, a �narrowcast� maintained between 3-6 friends, written in Dutch, illustrated and dedicated to his two sons and their friends, for 
their future read. 

Meanwhile other networked projects have been added. 
In 2004 he was invited by director Macha Roessink of 
Museum De Paviljoens Almere, to build a presentation 
around his current interests. The resulting Enclav�Exquise/ 
Exquisite Enclave is an exhibition cum printed publication 
cum internet domain. Being an Advising Researcher at the 
Design Department of the Jan van Eyck Academie from 
2001-2006, on the basis of his essay �De vervreemding aan de 
macht� (�alienation rules�), in Items magazine (#4, 2000), he 
was invited to recast the department, without necessarily 
turning it into the next me too �new media� course. A first 
project is the Design Recast symposium, followed by 
Ubiscribe. 

Other conceptual/curatorial projects on the edge of old and 
new media included Silicon Rally (2001) for Stroom Art and 
Architecture in The Hague; naming and contributing to the 
information design project InfoArcadia, curated by Maarten 
de Reus and Ronald van Tienhoven for the same institution; 
co-organizing the Welcome to Fusedspace Database installation by Team Science Fiction, again at Stroom, under a new 
director, in collaboration with the Design Department at Jan 
van Eyck Academie. Essays appeare(d) in among others De 
Witte Raaf, Metropolis M, Items, Mute, Mediamatic. 

In retrospect all projects are driven by dynamics with a long 
history in the arts, relating everyday interests and daily routines 
to symbolic and social-informational practices. We are living 
the Early Information Age, an era which is only a couple of 
decades old, when all new material and routines are still hot 
and liquid and forming unfamiliar shapes which, if ever they 
might prove to have some sustainability, will be read as unfinished� � this time and age after all is premature, by definiton. 

Since 1998 http://www.nqpaofu.com 
Since 2000 http://www.lemoulindumerle.com 
Since 2004 http://www.enclavexquise.com 
Since 1999/2005 (was: idie.net) http://idie.enclavexquise.com 
Since 2003 http://www.offgoogle.com 


Thinktank 

The Thinktank is a proposal for a groupware, an online collaborative environment, which offers practitioners from the 
artistic, social and political field online spaces for group 
work. During its research phase the Thinktank invites 
artists, architects, designers, people from the social and 
cultural practice to think and envision with us what this 
working environment should look like. 

During talks in Public Space With A Roof during February 
2006, on the website http://www.think-tank.nl and in talks 
and conversations in Berlin we are trying to formulate a conceptual design, which will later on be realized as a groupware solution for free on the web. 

The Thinktank aims at the following: 

� Supporting non-commercial initiatives technically and 
structurally by bringing them in virtual proximity with like-
minded initiatives to exchange methods, skills, resources 
and knowledge, create visibility and connect to an exchange 
network 
� Offering them autonomously and individually adjustable 
(virtual) working environments, which pay attention to the 
character of work or occupation within collaborative (artistic) and voluntary practices. Agreements and authorship in 
groups, compensation or alternative compensation systems, 
decision-making, evaluation, conferences, trust and inefficiency are the core-areas in which the Thinktank � collaboratively through its research phase � wants to develop and 
offer improvements. 
� Making these environments easily usable and accessible 
for non-computer-skilled people by creating a simple, intuitive and customizable interface, releasing the Thinktank as 
Open Software, offering Thinktank services such as hosting 
and group spaces for free. 
Research 
Between February 20th and 26th Thinktank held five partly 
remote conversations through Skype and arsc (A Really 
Simple Chat) with practitioners of different fields to speak 
about issues as Virtual Values, Programming for Participation, Social Capital and Knowledge Exchange between different knowledge groups. 

Inga Zimprich 


Documentation 

These conversations are summarized in open pdf�s. The 
conversation-pdf�s are designed by One Day Nation (Selina 
B�tler, Paul Gangloff, Matthias Kreutzer). The pdf�s contain 
the conversation�s different themes, participants� quotes, 
images and thematic introductions. 

PoD-publication 
On the basis of these conversations Thinktank develops a 
PoD publication by May 2006. 

Thinktank 0.1 

A groupware research and development project 

Inga Zimprich, project lead 
Elske Rosenfeld, research coordination 

Advisors: Jeanne van Heeswijk, Jouke Kleerebezem 

� Workshops at Public Space With A Roof, Amsterdam
during February 2006.
(http://www.pswar.org)
� The communication platform is developed by
Ingrid Stoijnic & Bert Balcaen Rekalldesign.
(http://www.rekalldesign.com)
� Publication and pdf design by Selina B�tler, Paul
Gangloff
and Matthias Kreutzer.
� The research will be published in March 2006 in 
a
PoD � printing on demand model, inspired by Mute
magazine for culture and politics after the net.
(http://www.metamute.com)
.
� Thinktank is supported by Jan van Eyck Academie.
(http://www.janvaneyck.nl)
� Thinktank is guest of Het Blauwe Huis, a residency for
the mind.
(http://www.blauwehuis.org)
� Thinktank collaborates with Knosos, a software
development project run at the Vrije Universiteit
Brussels and Hogeschool Mechelen, be.
(http://www.knosos.be)
� The groupware Thinktank will be based on Drupal.
(http://www.drupal.org)

The Address is the 
Message 

Unique networked addresses allow singular addressability. 
Contemporary publishing can address itself narrowly, befitting a specific moment in time, a location, a person � or any 
group of such identities � provided its addressee carries a 
unique address. The targeting possibility is effective over 
time: publication updates can at any moment be ported in 
multiple directions over a network. This flexibility of address 
is a main issue of the ongoing publishing revolution. After 
�content� and the �medium� having hijacked our attention, 
challenging our interpretation and provoking reflection, 
infesting discourse, today the address is the message, because 
content + medium + address make out the unique relational 
properties of any communication/publication in a contemporary media landscape. 

Who addresses who, what is addressed, and where? is a 
media-political question. Address is today�s media concern. 
Mass media address mass audiences: a populace, the citizen, 
larger groups of addressees with at best sketchy profiles. 
New networked media allow to recognize/target smaller 
groups, after gathering information on their preferences and 
interests. From the start of its business amazon.com offered 
books for sale. It did not make any profit off those transactions 
for years. It gained something else. Amazon.com got paid in 
valuable market information, client attention currency. Its 
information gathering databases soon addressed its customers personally. Not sure if the user of the identified computer really was the one whose profile was under construction, 
it greeted me also with a disclaimer: �if you are not Jouke 
Kleerebezem, click here�. Amazon�s profiling database built 
a strong identifying tool. It related the many pieces of information which it was addressing when users logged in and 
browsed their store. It stored which books went where, with 
which other books, later other purchases. It allowed users to 
write reviews, set up their own boutiques, remember their 
�wish list� � which as an email recalls, was actually early on 
suggested by myself, a client hungry for information and 
enhanced book buying. After a while Amazon�s databases 
could feed back national and corporate interests in certain 
volumes or catalogues, suggest books that you might have 
overlooked or did not know about. 

Jouke Kleerebezem 

�La presse, la radio, le 
cin�ma tendent � la ruine 
de la culture. Et tous les 
moyens de dispersion � 
base d�intensit� et de vanit�. 
Ils sont, d�ailleurs, domin�s 
par des fins politiques et 
commerciales. Politique et 
commercialization, Ԏconomie�, �tant choses statistiques, et donc ennemies de 
la culture. Les mesures 
contr�elles prises par les 
�tats dictatoriaux sont, 
d�autre part, dirig�es 
contre la culture 
h�t�rodoxe.� 

� Paul Val�ry 
Les principes d�an-archie 
pure et appliqu�e, 1938 

19



(...) 

Everything which is directly addressed at us should contain 
vital information through which we learn � expand and 
deepen our knowledge, and answerability, not the neighbour�s. What we address, when and how, informs other 
people. Lifelong learning is no empty slogan. Hence, design 
to address. 

(�) 

The art of recommendation is central to knowledge development through cultural production in an information era. 
Often mistaken for an age of �disintermediation� I contend that 
we are living a period of panintermediation, in which all of us 
are agents for everybody else � selection follows reputation. 
Sometimes extremely narrow shared interests bring together 
people of otherwise disconnected concern and preference. 

See also: Pervasive publishing, Spam canvas (Glossary) 

(�) 

Address 

� every unique body has a unique address but can guise in 
infinite aliases, to receive/read at, and write/send from, 
and �as if� perform through 
� every unique geographic location has a unique address, 
but can bear infinite names to be addressed there 
� every automotive body can change its geographic location, while keeping its body-address(es) 
� body-addresses can be connected/collected in a network 
� a network can be functional/locational situated (e.g. geographical data; a network of places and objects, and 
bodies) and/or ideological/epistemological (e.g. social, in a 
shared interest group; a network of information and knowledge, related interests) 
� networks are held together primarily through interaction 
and communication between its nodes, of relevant 
data/shared interests 
� networks disintegrate when their nodes� exchanges drop 
Presence 

A body of information can move from one location to the 
next, just like the physical body, but even more so, it �wants 
to be free�. It wants to drift, float, be vaporous. Information 
is hard to shut up. It can be present at multiple locations at 
once. The network routes around obstacles/identities and 
infinitely distributes. 


Anthologies on Network Claudia Hardi 
Essay, August 2004 
Communities & Other 
Geographies 
My work is mainly concentrated on an exploratory mode of 
research on the correlation between popular culture, computer science, comics and game culture, network communities and the cultural aspects of technology. Re-collecting and 
documenting as a set of navigation experiences on a field 
trip through electronic archives; the (hi)stories of computer 
science; an experiment with (hi)stories of fragmented portraits of multilayered occurrences, identities and entities in 
physical and electronic space. This research is focused on 
data events, specific languages, which are occurring in online communities; their ramifications and references. The 
idea is to produce a self-commenting and opponent structure through visuals and images with the assistance of cuts, 
blendings, cross-overs and counterproposals. The goal is to 
document and to provoke a new discussion about the historical and social themes, which are occurring throughout this 
new montage. An important aspect within this practice is the 
representation of thematic issues and as mentioned before, 
collecting material and data. The interest is focused on 
images, facts, and (fictional) data. Much of this material 
exists on the peripheries of common interest. These images 
and texts do not fit in particular �politics�. Inevitably � and 
inherent to such work, meaningful notes vanish in between 
the banal, meandering thoughtful and anarchistic loops. 
Contradictions and absurdity are present in the same space. 
Poetics, facts and oddities are being mixed up. The reason : 
the work is determined by curiosity, exploration and stories 
and not so much by the �correct� and scientific historical 
documentating and archiving. 
On a trajectory through the internet, even though it is a �fictional� space, one is not so much confronted with a distant 
screen, as one could assume; one is actually enclosed by 
images and scrolling text. The documentations should keep 
this mood. In my research and work, I�m interested in possible and existing navigations through the internet. Out of the 
experiences, I design representations that are complementing 
one another by similar or parallel concepts and developments, or that are on the contrary, representing counterproposals. The doubt and ambiguity that occurs through mixing 21 


and formally folding different platforms of �reality� are provoking thoughts on our environment and the way we could 
understand, and (re)present it. I track, read, collect and construct and observe locations and connections on the web. 
From text, images, stories, papers, to other, different and 
disorienting settings. Exploring the surfaces and tactics of 
communication. I guess if cartographers represent space by 
drawing it onto two dimensions, and archaeologists draw 
the axis of historical time by studying human artifacts, it 
must be possible to find more accurate methods and forms 
for mental mapping contemporary visual (networked) culture methods which are closer to an experience of our current 
condition. The work can be seen as small sketches or mental maps, sometimes as vast panoramas. It is concentrated 
on individual productions which can be combined into 
groups and layers of works again in other settings. 

Early Apple Computers ad (AA) 
as found on http://www.digibarn.com 


Claudia Hardi 

As We May Think 
Database; (Hi)stories of 
Computer Science 

Awmt is the acronym for As We May Think. �As We May 
Think� is originally the title of a paper written by Vannevar 
Bush (1890�1974). He is the pivotal figure in hypertext 
research. His conception of the Memex introduced, for the 
first time, the idea of an easily accessible, individually configurable storehouse of knowledge. Memex, which was described by Bush as a �theoretical machine to enhance human 
memory by allowing the user to store and retrieve documents linked by associations�. This associative linking was 
very similar to what is known today as hypertext. Douglas 
Engelbart, Ted Nelson and J.C.R. Licklider were directly 
inspired by his work, and, in particular, his article, �As We 
May Think�. Neverthless Vannevar Bush was never directly 
involved with the creation or development of the internet. 
He died before the creation of the world wide web. 

The Awmt database is a collection of data, as web pages, text, 
and images based on all cultural references such as books, 
movies, computergames, papers, comics, persons, places 
etc. found in the Jargon File Version 4.3.1. The database contains almost 224 maps, each containing material of one reference. The collected material is stored in a information 
manager, freeform database software named Devon Think. 
But to begin with, let me describe the Jargon File in a few 
sentences: The Jargon File 4.3.1 is a hacker dictionary. It is a 
collection of slang terms used by various subcultures of 
computer hackers. The main subject of this lexicon is programming, computer science, electronics, and other fields 
connected to hacking, as science fiction, comics, games, and 
movies. The Jargon File is in the public domain on Jargon 
File 1 and Jargon File 2, to be freely used, shared, and modified. I have taken this lexicon as the departure point for a 
extensive internet research which describes loosely the first 
period and philosophies of the internet and its documented 
inherent culture. 

Awmt is therefore a re-collection based on the associations 
of this notes of diverse internet communities. Over the 
course of one year, (March 2004�March 2005 ) I have developed the conceptual structure for this database, which final


ly resulted in a lecture, and a workshop & installation. The 
workshop & installation is essentially an inventory of stories. 
Also it can be seen as a massive documentation-capture project and cataloging system which will be published in the 
form of a workshop & installation, let�s say: a real-time documentation-capture performance where invited people and 
visitors alike are tracking and interpreting the already existing material as well as creating new internet travelogues. 
The workshop & installation is primarily thought as a continuation of this database by diverse authors and researchers, 
hopefully each providing an opportunity to address the collection from a different point of view, in a different kind of 
way. Awmt is an ongoing project that allows the content and 
context of the database and publication process to converge. 

The installation & workshop comprise the visual material 
which is added to the database, and which is additionally 
documented in �worksheets�. These are printed out and 
mounted on the wall, starting at the top left-hand corner of 
its venue and continuing across all the walls in rows. 
(January, 2005). 

The Awmt database is a work in progress and meant to be 
continued and extended in collaboration with others within 
the frame of intensive workshops and in collaboration with 
media institutes. 

The project has been supported and made possible by the 
Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart. A lecture with a following two days workshop took place on the 3rd, 4th & 5th 
March 2005 at the Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, 
Germany. 

More information on the awmt info site. 
(http://www.awmt.info/) 


De blogger als 
elektronisch performer 

�Wie zijn de bloggers? Je zou deze schrijvers, linkers, commentators en loggers elektronische performers kunnen noemen: zij performen hun tekst in het elektronische netwerk, 
zij roepen, fluisteren, schreeuwen, praten, murmelen.� (1) 

Uit een onderzoek in 2003 bleek dat bij weblogdiensten als 
�Blogger� meer dan 4 miljoen weblogs waren aangemaakt. 
Early adopters als Jouke Kleerebezem en Paul Perry zijn al 
sinds 1998 bezig. Zelf ben ik in januari 2002 een weblog 
begonnen. Ik zocht naar een vorm van schrijven die zou 
aansluiten bij mijn internetgebruik. Ik las graag blogs, was 
benieuwd hoe het mijn schrijven zou veranderen en of het 
invloed zou hebben op mijn surfgedrag. Een belangrijk deel 
van het werk van een docent en schrijver bestaat uit het verzamelen van informatie via Google, het browsen en lezen 
van internetsites, urls verzamelen, tekst knippen, plakken 
en bewerken, bronnen checken, citaten en beeld zoeken. Je 
wordt zelf een soort informatieverwerkingsmachine. Maar 
hoe bewaar je overzicht en onthoud je wat je gevonden 
hebt? Hoe verbind je de enorme hoeveelheid informatie van 
het web met je eigen idee�n? Wanneer schrijven, linken en 
browsen niet zijn ge�ntegreerd is het web niets anders dan 
een grote doorzoekbare database met slechte meta-informatie en matige zoekmachines. Bloggen biedt een oplossing. 

Schrijven met links 

Weblogs verwerken informatie op een nieuwe manier. Het 
verbindt links en eigen tekst met elkaar en maakt het zoeken verwerkingsproces inzichtelijk. Het stelt je bovendien in 
staat om over een langere periode een thema te ontwikkelen 
met korte invallen en terzijdes. Een zeer aantrekkelijk 
aspect van weblogs is dat dingen die nooit in artikelen of 
recensies terecht komen maar wel belangrijk of leuk zijn nu 
w�l worden gepubliceerd. Het is een openbaar archief van 
persoonlijke informatieverwerking, een publiek aantekeningenboek met links. En omdat het publiek is, doe je beter 
je best om gedachten helder te formuleren. 

In veel opzichten is bloggen de beste manier van schrijven 
op het web. Het is alsof het elektronisch schrijven eindelijk 
de plek heeft gevonden waarnaar het zo lang heeft gezocht. 

Arie Altena 

Deze tekst is een bewerking 
van de lezing De blogger als 
elektronisch performer in 
Casco in Utrecht op zondag 
28 september 2003 en werd 
eerder gepubliceerd in Casco 
Issues 2004. 

25



Bloggers vragen zich 
echter niet eerst af of 
er een publiek is en 
waar dat publiek zich 
bevindt. Bloggers 
bloggen. 

26


In de weblog is het werken met links niet langer een kwestie 
van databasemanagement en informatieontsluiting maar een 
schrijfinstrument, een onderdeel van een argumentatie of 
verhaal. Wie niet begrijpt dat het web een publicatieomgeving is begrijpt het web niet. Door het weblog kan iedereen 
publiceren en deelnemen in de cultuur. Al is het alleen maar 
door een reisverslag voor de familie op het net te zetten. 

Situering 

Niet alleen het plezier en de liefhebberij vinden een plek in 
het weblog. Het weerspiegelt de context van je intellectuele 
arbeid. Je begrijpt waar iemands intellectuele standpunt 
vandaan komt. Dat is ook het troostende effect van het lezen 
van andermans weblogs. Iedereen loopt tegen dezelfde alledaagse problemen aan. Ik denk dat het belangrijk is om 
inzicht te geven in de gesitueerdheid van het intellectuele 
werk. Het ontbloot een cultureel netwerk dat in de massamedia geen plaats heeft. Het stimuleert de cultuur om te 
tonen waarmee je bezig bent, welke boeken je leest en 
welke sites je bezoekt. Jouke Kleerebezem schrijft: 

�Keeping a weblog (and reading some) structures ones experience. It is so much time based, endurance based, sustainable. I�m every time surprised that it actually is a live activity 
which seamlessly blends with the everyday and yet articulates life out of the everyday, into a symbolic order which it 
shares with all other �arts� or mediated experience. (2) 

Blogs no public 

In mijn lessen bij Mediamatic over schrijven voor het web 
heb ik weblogs regelmatig gebruikt als voorbeeld van goed 
gebruik van het internet. Ik liet er twee zien en legde uit wat 
een weblog is. Op mijn toelichting volgde vaak op licht vijandelijke toon de vraag: waarom zou ik dat willen lezen? Het 
is de voorspelbare en misplaatste reactie van iemand die 
redeneert vanuit het perspectief van de klassieke (massa-) 
media. De vragensteller gaat ervan uit dat een medium 
alleen zin heeft als er een publiek is. Weblogs hebben geen 
publiek. Het redeneren vanuit het perspectief van de journalist of de massamedia, waarbij media zonder publiek onzinnig zijn, leidt tot een blindheid voor de specificiteit en het 
belang van weblogs. De massamedia fungeren op basis van 
het bestaan van een massa, het zijn one-to-many broadcasters. Bloggers vragen zich echter niet eerst af of er een 
publiek is en waar dat publiek zich bevindt. Bloggers bloggen. Het is een uitzending gericht op een kleine, specifieke 
doelgroep. Als je het op de spits drijft en stelt dat het lezen 


van blogs alleen zin heeft als je zelf ook blogt, dus als �lle 
bloglezers hun eigen blog beginnen, dan nadert het aantal 
lezers van een blog de limiet van 1. Natuurlijk zijn er ook 
weblogs die als een publicatie gerund worden, met ISSNnummers en een redactie; er zijn blogs die onderdeel zijn 
van mediaorganisaties. Ook de individuele blogger is wel 
degelijk ge�nteresseerd in zijn of haar lezers. Ik ben erg blij 
met mijn 100 � 150 hits per dag. Ik krijg opmerkingen als ik 
een tijdje niets geschreven heb. Maar ik zou ook schrijven 
als ik maar 4 hits per dag had. Er zijn blogs met duizenden 
lezers per dag. Maar dat is het topje van de ijsberg, een top 
100 van miljoenen weblogs. Het gaat mij juist om de miljoenen blogs zonder publiek. Mij gaat het om de alledaagsheid. 

Multitude 

Blogs horen bij de wereld voorbij de massamedia. Het is de 
stem van de menigte. Met alle middelmatigheid, lulligheid, 
brille en smerigheid van dien. Een menigte die niet is te 
reduceren tot een lichaam dat gerepresenteerd kan worden. 
Het is aantrekkelijk om de ongrijpbaarheid van de weblogs, 
als stem van de multitude, te verbinden aan de pogingen van 
Agamben en Negri een politiek te ontwerpen die de representationele democratie voorbij gaat. (3) Dat is nog aantrekkelijker wanneer die representationele democratie lijkt om 
te slaan in een mediademocratie die zich laat leiden door 
hypes en schandalen en zich slechts ternauwernood weet te 
onttrekken aan een door de logica van de massamedia 
gevoed populisme. Vooralsnog lijkt het echter meer dan voldoende om erop te wijzen dat de blogs door hun wereldwijde bereik en lokale geworteldheid zelf het nieuws becommentari�ren, filteren, ondergraven of zelfs, af en toe, 
maken. Blogs zijn een factor waarmee rekening gehouden 
moet worden. Ze laten zien dat de wereld een stuk groter is 
dan de massamedia ons tonen. 

Hupomnemata 

Weblogs zijn niet zelden aantekeningen aan jezelf. Foucault 
noemt het belang dat in de oudheid en vroeg christelijke tijd 
werd toegekend aan hupomnemata, persoonlijke aantekenboeken waarin men citaten, levenslessen, gedachtes en 
invallen verzamelde. (4) Zonder deze hupomnemata, de 
�schatkamers van het lezen�, zou het �eindeloos boek na boek 
lezen tot zelfvergetelheid leiden�, zo waarschuwt de 
Romeinse filosoof Seneca. Een dergelijke staat van mentale 
agitatie, waarin men is afgeleid en steeds van mening verandert, noemt hij Stultitia. 

Blogs horen bij de 
wereld voorbij de 
massamedia. Het is de 
stem van de menigte. 
Met alle middelmatigheid, lulligheid, brille 
en smerigheid van dien. 
Een menigte die niet is 
te reduceren tot een 
lichaam dat gerepresenteerd kan worden. 

27



Bloggen is daarmee de 
onbetaalde arbeid van 
informatieverwerking 
en betekenisconstructie, een manier om deel 
uit te maken van een 
Stultitia is ongetwijfeld vergelijkbaar met de rusteloosheid 
van de klikkende en Googleverslaafde websurfer. Om temidden van al die informatie de gedachten nog te kunnen ordenen en focussen, zijn de weblogs de hedendaagse hupomnemata. Zoals hupomnemata de vorming van het zelf mogelijk 
maken door het verzamelde discours van anderen, zo kunveelvormige cultuur. nen weblogs een (cultureel) leven vormen, door het combineren van tekst en links van anderen. Waar in de oudheid 
bezitters van hupomnemata regelmatig citeerden uit hun 
correspondentie, zijn tegenwoordig weblogs openbaar toegankelijk. Door je informatieverwerking te delen, bouw je 
met anderen aan een �schatkamer� van informatie, kennis en 
inzichten, dat richtinggevend is. 
Bloggen is daarmee de onbetaalde arbeid van informatieverwerking en betekenisconstructie, een manier om deel uit te 
maken van een veelvormige cultuur. Het is een praktijk, die 
zoals Paul Perry zei, je gek maakt en je gezond houdt. 
Bloggen is iets dat je doet. Bloggen is een werkwoord. 
Noten 
(1) Eigen citaat van Arie Altena op zijn weblog http://ariealt.net. 
(2) Interview met Jouke Kleerebezem, Paul Perry en 
Caterina Fake 
(http://www.16beavergroup.org/journalisms) 
(3) Toni Negri, Towards an Ontological Definition of the 
Multitude, Multitudes 9, mei-juni, 2002, 
http://multitudes.samizdat.net/. Giorgio Agamben, The 
Coming Community, University of Minneapolis Press, 
Minnesota, Londen, 1993. 
(4) Michel Foucault, Self Writing, in Michel Foucault, 
Essential Works of Foucault 1954-1984, vol. 1, Ethics, ed. 
Paul Rabinow, Penguin, London, 1997. 

28



Jouke Kleerebezem 

14 March 2000

Blog Ho! the Blogabulary 

�but the �we blog� meme 

was unstoppable� 

� blogbuster (25 August 1999) 

� �ceci n�est pas une blague� (25 August 1999) 

� bloglock (25 August 1999) 

� blogtop (26 August 1999) 

� mindblogging (31 August 1999) 

� monoblog (2 September 1999) 

� volksblog (15 September 1999) 

� blogheading (15 September 1999) 

� deblogging (19 September 1999) 

� blogstyle (linking) (22 September 1999) 

� yesterblogs.com (20 October 1999) 

� unblog (29 November 1999) 

� doing the blog (1 March 2000) 

� blogabroad (2 March 2000) 

� blogfest (13 March 2000) 

� counterblogging (13 March 2000) 

� blogarama (13 March 2000) 

� blogabulary (13 March 2000) 

� neoblogisms (14 March 2000) 

� blog eat blog world (19 March 2000) 

� blog job (to follow) 

<a href=�http://nqpaofu.com/2000/nqpaofu26.html#theNQP 
AOFUblogabulary� onMouseOver=�self.status=�Blog[[ Ho! 
The NQPAOFU Blogabulary�; return true�> 

Then we had �breaking blog news� and the �your blog or 
mine?� proposal. Admittedly, some are great and some are 
lame. They�re all out of context and momentum here (again, 
Mai 2006), which puts their autonomy to the test and suggests how fit they would be for reproduction, in other environments than their cradle. 

As far as I�m concerned, this is my exorcism. Stop speaking 
in tongues. Out, Ye Evil Meme! Leave, Jezeblog leave! 

29



Arie Altena 

Aantekeningen voor een 
te schrijven tekst 

30


Het boek als back-up
medium en luxe object


Wie leest is ge�nteresseerd in de tekst. Wie een boek leest is 
niet primair ge�nteresseerd in het boek als object, maar in 
de tekst waarvoor het boek slechts de drager is. 

De meeste tekst wordt inmiddels in digitale vorm gelezen. 
De normale verschijningsvorm van tekst is digitaal � in het 
dagelijks leven, op kantoor, voor amusement en nieuws. 

Tekst wordt digitaal verwerkt. 

Wie met tekst werkt, en tekst verwerkt, werkt digitaal. 

Wie een tekst van schrijver A. wil lezen en bestuderen � wie 
de tekst productief wil verwerken � wil toegang tot de digitale tekst, omdat deze eenvoudig verwerkbaar is. 

Een boek is een onding, de tekst laat zich slechts via een 
omweg productief verwerken. (Je moet overtikken). 

De muziek-CD is een back-up-medium. Wie tegenwoordig 
een CD koopt, zal deze in de meeste gevallen eerst in de laptop of computer steken en importeren naar de mp3-speler. 
De CD gaat terug in het hoesje en wordt op de plank gezet. 
Een mooie back-up. Muziek wordt immaterieel verkocht. De 
eerste labels zijn er al op overgaan om goedkoop � of gratis 

� een CD te leveren bij koop van de complete set mp3�s. De 
CD is een luxe extra. 
In een wereld waarin alle teksten digitaal beschikbaar zijn (wat 
nu niet het geval is), is het boek een fysiek en zeer betrouwbaar 
back-up medium, en een luxe drager voor de leestekst. 

Wanneer is het dan zinvol om tekst te printen, om digitale 
tekst weg te schrijven naar papier? 

Wanneer wil ik tekst van papier lezen? 

Wanneer sta ik mijzelf de luxe toe om een boek aan te schaffen? 

Want de tekst circuleert digitaal. En doet zo zijn invloed gel-
den. 


Collected Quotes


�I have never liked journalists. I have let them die in all of 
my books.� 

� Agatha Christie 
�Back off, man! Don�t phuq with me � I am robo-wombat!� 

� Shade / Association with Marvin the Robot-Wombat. 
�Do not needlessly endanger your lives until I give you the 
signal.� 

� Dwight D. Eisenhower / Association with the sewer safari 
of Hellboy and Tom Manning f.b.i. in Trouble. 
�There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already 
full.� 

� Henry Kissinger 
�We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat.� 

� Queen Elizabeth I / Association with the Term 
Goshdarned and the Episodes of The Bastard Operator 
From Hell by Simon Travaglia. 
�If the phone doesn�t ring. It�s me.� 

� Jimmy Buffett, Song Title 
�I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a 
weird religious cult.� 

� Rita Rudner 
�I don�t like fomal gardens. I like wild nature. It�s just the 
wilderness instinct in me, I guess.� 

� Walt Disney / Association with Walt Disney�s Jungle 
Cruise. 
�If all the world�s a stage, I want to operate the trap door.� 

� Paul Beatty 
�I have ways of making money that you know nothing of.� 

� John D. Rockefeller / Association with Donald Trump 
Towers and the Google Company. 
�Let�s have some new cliches.� 

� Samuel Goldwyn 
�If the facts don�t fit the theory, change the facts.� 

� Albert Einstein 
Claudia Hardi 

Collected quotes & snippets 
from the g.a.s. travelogue 
and ssl & lues, readings and 
writings 

� it amuses me. 
g.a.s. (sewer gas & electric) 
documentary / database 
research project, 2006] 

31



�Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead.� 

� Benjamin Franklin 
�It�s been a lifetime ambition of mine to play an 007 villain.� 

� Angelina Jolie. / Association with National Museum 
Actions. 
�Estimated amount of glucose used by an adult human 
brain each day, expressed in M&Ms: 250� 

� Harper�s Index, October 1989 

Copyright, Open 
Content and Remix 
Cultures 

Copyright was originally conceived as a means to stimulate 
the creation of artistic and cultural artifacts, by safeguarding 
the income of creators of original works. 

The first copyright regulations date back to the seventeenth 
century, when piracy became a real problem because of the 
possibility to (re)print books easily and cheaply. In many 
countries, the first real national Copyright Acts or copyright 
legislation became active in the second decade of the twentieth century. These laws protect the rights� holders of literary, scientific and/or artistic works against the unauthorized 
reproduction and dissemination of their work. Additional 
laws also protect performing artists, broadcasters, filmmakers and producers of audio works. 

Increasingly, international copyright treaties are attempting 
to bring more uniformity into the diverse national copyright 
laws. The Berne Convention (1886, numerous amendments 
and updates) has been of utmost importance there. In 
October 2002, more than 150 countries have signed this treaty that regulates a number of international agreements on 
copyright. It stipulates, among many other things, that no 
registration, declaration (such as a �copyright notice�) or 
other formality is needed to claim one�s copyright to a work. 
For performing artists the Rome Convention for the 
Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and 
Broadcasting Organizations is of international importance. 
The 1996 Copyright Treaty and Performances and 
Phonogram Treaty released by the wipo (World Intellectual 
Property Organization) further elaborate on these earlier 
Conventions. European legislation strives for uniformity 
between all member states and for laws that are in accordance with the worldwide wipo treaties. 

In Dutch copyright legislation, a work subject to copyright 
must bear the following characteristics: 

� originality � the work must be of a personal nature and 
carry the imprint of its maker; 

Sandra Fauconnier 

Originally written as an 
introduction to copyright and 
open content models, for the 
Copy the Rights! seminar, 
February 2003, organized by 
V2_, Institute for the 
Unstable Media. 
(http://framework.v2.nl/archi 
ve/archive/node/text/.xslt/no 
denr-151659) 

Reworked and updated in 
May 2006. 

33



� the work is perceivable by the senses and have a tangible 
shape or form; therefore, ideas cannot be copyrighted. 
The person who actually makes the work is its legal creator. 
Exceptions are possible when a work is created by a company�s or institution�s employee; in that case the company or 
institution is the legal creator. Works created as a result of 
freelance contracts are copyrighted to their original makers; 
when republishing the work, its commissioner has to ask for 
permission. The work may be used only once for its original 
purpose. Because of this, magazines are allowed to publish 
commissioned articles once and have to ask for permission 
before publishing them next time. 

Dutch legislation stipulates that copyright on a work expires 
70 years after the death of its author. The continuous extension of this copyright term is an international phenomenon 

� in the Netherlands, the previous term was only 50 years. 
After the end of the copyright term, the work falls into the 
public domain and can be used by anyone. 
Consequences of technological developments 

Until the beginning of the 1990s, successive technical developments � film, radio, TV, photocopiers, video and audio 
recorders, computer hardware and software � have made it 
much easier to copy content than used to be the case when 
the first copyright laws were voted at the end of the 19th and 
the beginning of the twentieth century. Yet, until the 1990s 
the fundamental system of copyright was not affected by 
these evolutions. 

But in the meanwhile a few new types of �work� were born, 
like software and databases: technically oriented information products that needed copyright protection as well. In 
1999, the Dutch Database Law became effective, which 
offers copyright protection for collections of information. For 
software, specific regulations have been integrated into the 
original 1912 copyright law. Internationally, the situation is 
quite different � the wipo has not yet adopted any database 
treaty and software patents trigger a vivid discussion and 
meet violent opposition from free software advocates. 

The growing popularity of computer networks, the internet 
and the world wide web is a much bigger challenge for copyright than all previous technical developments. Copying 
information that is �out there� on the net has become a trivial act � witness the success of peer-to-peer filesharing, 
which illustrates the tension between the importance of 


financing creators on one hand and the desire for broad dissemination of content on the other. Does existing copyright 
still make sense in the digital age? From the proponents� 
side, research in the field of digital rights management ( 
drm) � technological protection that prevents copying and 
redistributing digital works � is ubiquitous; copyright legislation for digital storage media becomes stricter and stricter. 
Other parties and lobby groups, on the other hand, are 
beginning to question copyright in a fundamental way. Is it, 
after all, still realistic to cling to legislation that is very hard 
to reinforce? Shouldn�t we start looking for alternative economic models for financing authors and creators in general? 

Furthermore, networked media are the ideal playing ground 
for remix cultures � for the creation of new content through 
copy and paste activities, for reappropriating previous 
works, for citing, mixing, linking and paying homage to 
others� achievements. This mode of production is not exactly new � to what extent is any work truly original? � but it 
has become easier than ever, and probably more widely 
acknowledged. Are fair use (usa) and moral rights the best 
legal instruments for regulating this type of cultural production? 

Alternatives for copyright 

In response to the challenges posed by networked media, 
alternative models for copyright protection are under development � in the form of contracts and technological measures. The latter (through �Digital Rights Management� or 
drm) can be applied via encryption, passwords, electronic 
watermarking� in order to prevent that non-authorized 
users would obtain access to certain information. DRM is 
also designed to enable e-commerce with online content. 
Such technological systems call for legal protection themselves (e.g. anti-circumvention legislation that forbids hacking 
drm systems). 

Technological protection is not widely used; it often occurs 
in combination with contracts and licenses. drm is subject to 
fundamental criticism because (apart from copyright and 
contracts) it forms a third layer of protection for information 

� an overkill situation which is not in accordance with the 
original function and objectives of copyright anymore; drm 
mostly meet the needs of the �middle men� (providers, 
publishers), not of the authors themselves. The dissemination of culture and knowledge within society � the first original objective of copyright � is not at all stimulated by this 
development. In an extreme doom scenario, copyright might 

even be totally abolished by these �private� measures; the 
same might happen to the public domain. 

The Open Access movement is a good example of a community where traditional copyright is questioned for pragmatic 
and ideological reasons. Scientific publishing, which might 
be considered the first open source movement, has changed 
a lot during the last three decades. Scientific publishing, 
once a not-very-lucrative business, has now transformed 
into an entirely different economic model. An oligopoly of a 
few large publishing corporations now owns the majority of 
scientific journals; as a consequence, subscription prices of 
the most important research journals have become so high 
that many research libraries, especially in the Third World, 
can�t afford these anymore. A growing movement of scholars 
is now actively pursuing an open model of free online 
publishing, outside the confinements of privatized journal 
ownership. 

Open source, open content and the public domain: �Some 
Rights Reserved� 

On the internet, the protection of intellectual property 
through contracts is currently more widespread than technological protection. The textual, interactive nature of this 
medium is a fertile ground for several types of user licenses; 
everyone has become acquainted with all kinds of �clickthrough� contracts. Normally such licenses are legally reinforcable; problems could occur where licenses go further 
than copyright legislation. 

In the context of software development, users� licenses are 
widespread. So-called �open source� licenses are an interesting phenomenon; the gnu General Public License (gpl) is 
the most popular example. They are used within �free software� projects where developers are explicitly allowed to 
build upon the work of their peers. Open source licenses 
protect the identity of the original creators, but they also 
allow copying, redistributing and modifying the source code. 
This calls for an alternative economic model where income 
is no longer gathered through author�s rights but through 
complementary services like support and distribution. Such 
licenses are promising, because they protect the creators 
and, at the same time, stimulate the public domain. The 
�open content� model, with its own licenses, extends this idea 
to non-software content. 

Creative Commons, an initiative launched early 2003, offers 
a flexible solution that situates itself between traditional 


copyright and the strict open source licenses. It allows rights 
owners to specify that their content is �Some Rights 
Reserved�, not �All Rights Reserved�. Users can choose and 
combine a custom-made license, based on three fundamental choices. May the work be reused for commercial purposes? Are derivatives allowed or should the work be reproduced in its original form? Should the work be reproduced 
under the same conditions? 

Creative Commons also explicitly refers, and reacts to the 
�remix culture� phenomenon described above, by offering 
flexible copyright licenses that emphasize re-use of content, 
thus offering a more realistic framework for content production. In so-called commons-based peer production (a term 
coined by Yochai Benkler, describing economic or cultural 
production by a loose non-hierarchical network of peers), 
such a type of licensing is most helpful. 

Further reading 

For an overview of the history of copyright from an UK 
perspective, see: 
http://www.intellectualproperty.gov.uk/std/resources/copyright/history.htm 

� World Intellectual Property Organization (wipo): 
http://www.wipo.int/ 
And a few of the more important international copyright 
treaties: 

� Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, 
Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations: 
http://www.wipo.int/treaties/ip/rome/index.html 
� wipo Copyright Treaty: 
http://www.wipo.int/treaties/ip/wct/index.html 
� wipo Performances and Phonograms Treaty: 
http://www.wipo.int/treaties/ip/wppt/index.html 
Taking action against software patents: 
http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/ 

Joost Smiers offers arguments for the abolishment of 
copyright in several of his publications;, a.o. Copyrights: a 
choice of no-choice for artists and third world countries; the 
public domain is losing anyway: 
http://www.constantvzw.com/copy.cult/cjs0.html 


For more information about the Open Access movement, 
see (a.o.) several articles and a news blog by Peter Suber: 
http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/ 

Overview of open source licenses: 
http://www.opensource.org/licenses/index.html 

Lawrence Liang: Guide to Open Content Licenses: 
http://pzwart.wdka.hro.nl/mdr/research/lliang/open_content_guide 

Creative Commons: 
http://www.creativecommons.org/ 

Yochai Benkler, Coase�s Penguin: 
http://www.benkler.org/CoasesPenguin.html � on commons-based peer production 


Jouke Kleerebezem 

Daily Operations 
Remix 

Q. tell me about your publication. please describe it. 
NQPaOFU is personal publishing, rather than a personal 
publication: a process, an act rather than a product. Its daily 
routine, its mixture of �personal� and �professional� information, insights, beliefs and critique, its context of other 
weblogs, all contribute to a connectedness, which I think is 
the true �belief� behind such utterances. The world wide web 
was designed for this kind of activity, very much so, to quote 
Tim Berners-Lee, its �inventor� and engineer: �this all works 
only if each person makes links as he or she browses, so writing, link creation and browsing must be totally integrated.� 
That basically simple read-write-link activity shapes hypermedia, �bottom up�. For �writing� please read: expressing 
oneself in multiple media, in image and text, either animated or not, in sound or visuals. The web supports every kind 
of file today, it has become a fully equipped publishing environment. Still it is basically non-hierarchical, independent of 
major markets, like publishing companies. NQPaOFU and 
thousands of other personal publications do exactly what 
Berners-Lee foresaw. These publications build common 
knowledge for an information age to come. You asked for a 
belief? I think here�s one. 
Q. please describe your involvement with the act of publishing: your current position and how you got involved. 
My interest in publishing dates back a long time to high 
school and art school magazines and the alternative press of 
the late 60s and early 70s. From 1993 onwards I �migrated� 
from print to the internet, right from its introduction to a 
consumer market. The computer had been playing an increasingly important role in the production of print, so when 
it got connected I started thinking about and testing the new 
possibilities. At the time I contributed to arts and media 
publication Mediamatic magazine. It shared its office building with the first Dutch provider, Hacktic, the later Xs4all. 
Around it assembled a core of people who embraced new 
media and the internet for their artistic and design production and publication. At Mediamatic one of the first Dutch 
websites was designed. 

Daily Operations Interview 
by Giselle d�Oliveira Macedo 
2003 

39



Q. which medium do you work with and why did you choose 
this medium? 
My current publications primarily use the world wide web, 
for obvious reasons: it is immediate, cheap, distributed, 
open, interactive. It allows for near real time personal publication. It is networked hypermedia that fit my needs best. 
Print still interests me a lot, especially magazines and periodical publications, also because of its markets� attempt to follow the pace and precision of informationalization, of direct 
address, or peer-to-peer information sharing. The magazine/periodical market knows many niche publications, 
which are of great interest and a joy to purchase and read. 
Also because of the paper medium and the superior experience of carrying and browsing a piece of printed matter� 

Q. what is your motivation and purpose? why did you start it? 
For me as an artist these publications are simply and fully 
my �work�. It is post-studio and post-museum artistic practice, nothing more, nothing less. 
Q. to what extent are you in control over the production, marketing, and distribution of your publication? full, partial, no 
control? describe. 
Full. My publications literally are produced from my own 
turf, in the studio, at home. There is no other party involved 
in the production and distribution of it, other than my isp: an 
ftp address. 

Q. what is the gap (if any) between what you imagine your 
publication should be and what it actually is? 
Such a gap doesn�t exist for NQPaOFU. Apart from the fact 
that obviously, there�s always that gap between whatever an 
art work or publication could be and what it actually is. As a 
work in progress, being processed 24/7, the publication I 
imagine is never finished, while you close and reopen parts 
of it all the time: daily entries, themes and pre-occupations 
drive its circling process. I start another issue with no specific reason other than that I think the previous one is �finished�, but the work at large will never be, until I give up, or forget about it. 

Q. do you believe your publication has a message? if yes, 
what? if no, why not? 
Should I say: �Remember McLuhan�, like Wired did in 1993? 
Of course not. But some of the message embedded in 
NQPaOFU is definitely �look, we have a medium�, which as 
usual, as much as any other medium, limits and at the same 
time allows publishing to happen. Publications �are� always 
the medium, as we are more aware since McLuhan. The 

�give and take� between form and content has marked artistry and public expression since Lascaux� The meta-message of weblogging is that personal publishing matters. That 
an information age can only be truly open and egalitarian if 
not only access is possible to �any information, for anyone at 
any given time� (the original information creed, for example 
brought forward by the Electronic Frontier Foundation), but 
also upload and download be symmetrical. Meaning: we 
have to (be facilitated to) contribute as much as we are offered to take in, produce as much as we consume. We are the 
media, our attention is the information age�s original capital. 

I have a firm conviction that design is information, content. 
Specifically with those forms of interaction design, in which 
the �user� or recipient is invited to actively shape the experience, gather his or her information, edit it and add to it, 
design is not simply a tool, a read/write-engine � it is genuine content. �Design ist unsichtbar� (�design is invisible� � 
Lucius Burckhardt) days are behind us. Who could imagine 
media to be �invisible�? We see what we get and how we get 
it and who�s throwing it at us. With NQPaOFU and other personal publishing projects we note that, although as a principle not a lot of them are collective works, the participatory 
voice of readers and peer publishers are embedded in the 
format, in the writing of the text, in its design. Personal 
publishing anticipates a lot of collaboration, context. It�s a 
dialogic form of publishing. 

Q. do you believe your publication is a radical one (not necessarily politically speaking but also esthetically etc.)? 
I think it is radical as a personal project, for my total devotion to it. This again marks weblogging, or personal publishing. Weblogging, like any art form, can be a radical genre. 
Its esthetics and its contents mix the private and the public, 
which would define it as purely political, if you wish. 
Originally political, so not signing up to party lines. Not relying on representation, but actively engaging in speaking out, 
speaking for itself by itself, in the typical �collaborative�, contextual, linked way that I described before. 

Q. do you consider yourself an activist of any cause? if yes, 
what cause or movement? is this engagement reflected in your 
publication? 
Here the answers are simple: no, none and yes. You can read 
from NQPaOFU what it is: notes, quotes, provocations, and 
other fair use. That�s all. There doesn�t exist something like 
a �weblog movement�, god forbid. There is cliques and circles of friends, and mutually indebted people running these 
publications, very much so. Some among �us� love each 


Daily Operations paper at the 
�Declarations� conference at 
the Concordia University Art 
and Design Department, 
Montreal CA 
26�28 October 2001 

(Note of May 2006) The 
Declaration conference, on 
critical (graphic) design 
issues took place a month 
after 9/11 and after the 
publication of the First Things 
First 2000 Manifesto. These 
events were mutually infectuous in a critical design 
community. I stayed away 
from obvious simplifications 
but some reference in the 
text still applies to the fresh 
political context of post-11 
September 2001. First Things 
First Manifesto�s tired progressivity made me install 
the Innovation and Design for 
Information Empowerment 
website (�I DIE for Change�), 
today archived at 
http://idie.enclavexquise.com 
. 

other, even when we haven�t met. But as much as there is �no 
here in here� (when thinking of the dislocated character of 
the internet and web), there is �no us among ourselves�, for 
the weblogging community. So neither are there any party 
lines � thank you very much! 

(�) 

The basic idea of �daily operations� is, for design and designers, to return from their professional �splendid isolation� 
into an everyday, in order to anchor an engaged artistic production in the saturated information aggregate of today�s 
media, without having however to excuse their activities 
�outside� their discipline, bothered by irrational guilt on the 
basis of lame interpretations of how today�s world is branded 
by evil. Because �we� don�t mark it that way, and neither do 
�they�, or �you� � if I know at all whom I am addressing here. 

This paper puts forth no solutions but observations and imaginations of two closely related, equally important cultural 
and political challenges, folded into one commitment: a 
challenge for design, and a challenge for publishing, folded 
into real time information exchange and shared learning. As 
its point of departure it takes the past ten years� drift of popular communication, in education and entertainment, 
through a changing media landscape. 

Networked many-to-many digital media, which are defined 
by cheap production, instant distribution and flexible feedback, first complemented one-to-many print and audio/visual media (which depending on their impact and ambition are 
most often referred to as �corporate�), but increasingly compete these. New media can offer a more truly dialogic alternative, enhancing participation and organization beyond 
media boundaries, in direct civic action. 

I propose to look at our need for communication in and of 
the everyday, as at the same time uneventful (a necesary 
intimate alternative to invasive mono-culture�s spectacular 
commercial and political interests) as well as expressive without precedent. Rather than in a time of �experience design� 
(being the latest faux future for the design disciplines), we 
should demand to live in a time of enhanced public performance. 

42



It is in performance design that new design and publishing 
demands for the information era should be met, and designers should play their natural role and pay their due. 

(�) �this all works only if each person makes links as he or 
she browses, so writing, link creation and browsing must be 
totally integrated� 

� Tim Berners-Lee, writing about �his� world wide web, in 
1990, at cern, Geneva 
(�) �I can remember being amazed that whatever city we 
landed in, my folks could always find these little bookstores 
and record shops, art galleries and jazz clubs that no one else 
knew about. I thought of them as secret places where you 
could go and meet people who were part of the secret thing.� 

� Dave Hickey, in Air Guitar: �Unbreak my heart, an overture� 
There is no technological fix. There is no design fix. Slogans 
dumb you down. (Disclaimer) 

Problogue 

Which media have ever worked for us, in the way that today 
the world wide web does? In the past, expectations for the 
printing press, the telegraph, telephone and radio have been 
similar to those proclaimed by early internet adopters, when 
the �media revolution� started in the early 1990s. With an 
exception of print, these older media did not deliver like the 
internet has done since. Even while radio and television 
could have developed into a more democratic forum, they 
were taken over by capital interests to be commercialized 
soon after their introduction. �Just like the internet and 
world wide web�, pessimists claim today. But these critics 
overlook the same quality which is overlooked by the media 
moguls: the internet can route around commercial interests, 
just like it routes around censorship. With infinite channel 
abundance, there�s just too many alternative trails to follow 
and organize one�s interests around: there is simply no conceivable mode of control for suppressive ideologies to apply. 
Even if this could be imagined (like the net is policed in 
some parts of the world, where the same isolationist ideology for example forbids parabolic antennas), for that part of 
the world which most of us still cherish as �democratic�, 
restraining the network would mean a considerable loss of 
economic value and is therefore ruled out. With the communication and entertainment industry having (been) built (on) 
the web-as-is, there is no way back. Alternative expression 


(alternative to one-to-many media monopoly) might in the 
long run compete blockbuster ideology, but is not a ready set 
goal, as will follow. Net competition will have to reap from 
civic action and/as full individual, personal engagement. 

With the unstoppable rise of digital recording, processing 
and publishing media, at last artists, designers and writers, 
those who use text and images and music to inform us and 
enrich our experience, possess the tools of cultural production which they had been needing for a long time, while our 
faith in big corporate ideologies, whether political of commercial, has been fading since several decades already. 
Since probably the end of ww2, in mega media narratives, 
life�s basic desires and needs, or life�s richer questions have 
not been represented in any generously faithful � or in the 
case of fiction, any imaginative � way, with all due respect 
to the individual artists who have benefited from the willing 
agency of powerhouses, while otherwise they would never 
have spoken to any audience at all. 

At all times, small press or poster printing, garage music 
recording and distribution, street wise art publication, all 
that wonderful stuff that was performed in and from Dave 
Hickey�s �little shops�, was very important � alternative cultural production served many a radical shift in people�s perception and continues to do so. Consequently I still consider 
�new� media in the context of the larger media landscape, in 
which print, radio and television remain irreplaceable. But 
the role of these media becomes redefined now that new 
media arise, whose technology and design deeply reconditions also the printshop�s and other studio�s productions and 
distribution. Dislocated availability, global accessibility and 
interest-driven recommendation are only a few of the effects 
which I will mention, that at the same time shrink the world 
and infinitely enlarge it, beyond �explorability�, I would say. 
Don�t believe a slogan like the old Microsoft Network one, 
which suggests that the decision �where you want to go 
today� should be a daily routine. It wouldn�t open the world 
to you, but destroy it for yourself and all others. Remember: 
it�s a slogan, propaganda. 

Today, our choice and use of those older media is deeply 
in/reformed by some of the very basic qualities and effects of 
networked media: not only in the technological, but primarily in the social, organizational, communicational sense. 
Information media decisively model our communication and 
other consumption habits. They inform our expectations and 
guide our experience of and thoughts about access, speed, 
quality and quantity � in short they inform every value we 


embrace � for all goods, services and their sociopolitical Print will become 
appreciation. The material world is sucked forward in the increasingly 
slip stream of the virtual world and has no choice but to keep ad hoc, ephemeral and 
pace and deliver like it does. Print will become increasingly local, while everything 
ad hoc, ephemeral and local, while everything that we think that we think deserves 
deserves to be archived and/or actively worked upon over a to be archived and/or 
longer time span or of which it is important to be shared actively worked upon 
with the widest of possible audiences, even over time, all over a longer time span 
that material or content will be online. or of which it is important to be shared with 
Following Berners-Lee�s early warning: �this all works only the widest of possible 
if each person makes links as he or she browses, so writing, audiences, even over 
link creation and browsing must be totally integrated�, I will time, all that material 
further introduce and discuss a recent publishing genre, the or content will 
weblog, which to me is the first proper exploration, since be online. 
1990, of that write-browse-link hypermedia challenge, as 
embodied in the web. 
Daily, by definition 
�I am only a poor approximation of my weblog.� �Some people have a life, others do a weblog.� So what is and does a 
weblog, exactly? I will try to give some answers to these 
questions, before engaging into speculation on how weblogs 
might mark �the end of the world wide web as you know it�, 
to finally live up to its original challenge. 
The above are just two quotes overheard in the weblog community, illustrating an intimate, complicated, not seldom 
paradoxical relation of the weblog publication to the everyday life of its author, and more in general, to a �corrupted� 
work/life relationship. Corrupted when compared to times, 
when education, work and leisure were strictly separated, as 
was expressed in their codes of communication. On a strict 
9 till 5, 40 hour, 5 days a week working schedule, most people dressed, behaved, consumed and produced differently on 
the job, than in the remaining 128 hours of the week, and 
week-ends. How different this is compared to today�s economies, in which at work people are requested to relax and 
bring their families, but outside these hours are forced to 
exhaust themselves in permanent education and the improvement of their leisure consumption� This �opportunity�, 
which we see primarily in the West, exemplifies an information-based economy, in which consumption and production 
values are inverted, leaving people producing information 
(having industries monitor and measure their behaviour), 
while consuming. With no other explanation than the 
development of better services and finely tuned customizati45 


Information in today�s on, content industries constantly have as much eyes and 
everyday is not only ears out as possible, to check our preferences. We are invidumped upon us in ted to their shops not to buy their products, but to perform 
large quantities, but behavioral patterns before them (play consumer, play!), in 
also sent back by us in order to increase production and reduce error in the just-inan equal amount, most time industrial process. Information in today�s everyday is 
of the time without us not only dumped upon us in large quantities, but also sent 
knowing when and what back by us in an equal amount, most of the time without us 
exactly we are revealing knowing when and what exactly we are revealing about our-
about ourselves, that selves to inform a commodity market. 
informs a commodity 
market. Another simple example would indeed come from the realm 
of design (are there any other realms today?), where actual(�) ly, as is argued elsewhere, individuals would have to be paid, 
instead of pay, to flag brands all over the gear and modes of 
What makes then that, expression of the leisure industry. Again we see a reversal of 
given an everyday interests between consumption and production, in what 
invaded by corporate could be called, in the spirit of the day: an Attention War. 
interest, weblogs draw Brands feed on attention. Attention is the user/consumer�s 
so much attention from real capital. S/he pays a dear price when deciding for such 
their authors and and such entertainment: to go to the museum or the park, to 
readers, to a point the concert or the bookstore, to the zoo or the gym, to drink 
at which they a Coke or a Pepsi, to wear Nike or Adidas, to use pc or Mac, 
comp(l)ete their to click msn or pcaol, to support the us or the terrorist. But I 
private life, or even digress. 
�identity�? 
Some of this however goes to illustrate that a corrupted 
work/leisure distinction is not exclusive to weblog publishing, but like a lot of other distinctions � not nearly as black 
and white as they are usually presented to you � they 
inform your everyday. I cannot in this context elaborate on 
too many examples. Following the links in and with this 
paper will allow you to experience some of the underlying 
observations by yourself. 
What makes then that, given an everyday invaded by corporate attention, weblogs draw so much attention from their 
authors and readers, to a point at which they comp(l)ete 
their private life, or even �identity�? One answer would be 
that they are indeed driven by a radical desire for alternative lifestyles and information. Moreover, most are produced 
by a professional group and in a milieu (artists, writers, 
designers) that hasn�t known a strict work/life distinction for 
all of its tradition, while in an industry where flexibility rules 
(�hires and fires�), a new generation of professionals (artists, 
writers and designers, programmers, media developers) 
know no strict hours either. Don�t you love the understatement? 

46



As a daily publication, not unusually performed at several 
update moments per day, the weblog does effectively talk 
back to 24/24 infotainment�s unhealthy-mix-media, precisely by the personal and professional expression of its author. 
Weblog is voice. It expresses its author�s everyday experience in text, illustrations, editing and design, all in one hand. 
Weblogs are not all encompassing critiques that pretend to 
stop the information invasion. On the contrary they are very 
precise professionally and personally guided expressions of 
the world its author lives in, limited to one person�s experience and learning, for better or worse. Every weblog 
reflects the moods that come with the life lived and performed. It shows endless subtle variety, much of which will 
only appeal to very small audiences: circles of equally challenged people. On the other hand, thanks to the interconnectedness in its networked medium, weblogs are open for 
the widest imaginable perusing. With every new link they 
acquire, by publishing specific content, their potential 
audience widens. At the same time, because so much of its 
content is idiosyncratic, personal, lived in every sense, a 
weblog will not easily become a popular hangout, tempted to 
crowd pleasing. 

In other terms, which fit the occasion of the Declarations 
conference, because they compare well to the different 
modes of publishing in old and new media which are discussed, the weblog can be seen as a publishing genre, a new 
journalism, multiple new journalisms, informing a life while 
at the same time informing about (that) life, connecting it to 
other lives. As a dialogic publishing genre it benefits from 
new media affordances of cheap production and distribution, and can be targeted thanks to its connectedness: because it is linked to for its exact content, of that day, that 
moment, that precise line, image, sound, bit � ephemeral as 
it may be. 

The uneventful 

When I preferred earlier to refer to weblog content as �uneventful�, I meant this as anti-spectacular, as in how we�ve 
come to read the spectacle after Guy Debord�s Society of the 
Spectacle: as a capital media conspiracy for which we all 
serve willing or not, conscious or not, as (mere) agents. 
Some of my own analysis and certainly some of what we 
hear at Declarations or read in First Things First Manifesto 
discussions, goes along with that paranoid view. For myself 
the anti-spectacular can only be found in very small media 
structures, local and networked at the same time, down to 

As a dialogic publishing 
genre it benefits from 
new media affordances 
of cheap production and 
distribution, and can be 
targeted thanks to its 
connectedness: because 
it is linked to for its 
exact content, of that 
day, that moment, that 
precise line, image, 
sound, bit, ephemeral 
as it may be. 

47



the size of a single publishing individual, as uneventful as 
his or her information can get: common as it might be as �a 
life lived�, a profession applied. Precisely in its typical common identity lies the enormous power of change, to connect 
the inter-personal to (be) the political and free some space 
for immediate concerns, without having to fight the brand 
bullies head-on. 

Its format of coded electronic hypertext allows weblogs to be 
publications that can be linked to, at any precise spot of reference, line per line if necessary � if designed as such. 
Weblogs are not just �recommended reading�, no matter 
what issue one puts hand on. Content is tagged for reference, entry by entry, paragraph by paragraph. A weblog is technically radically different from any old media publication. 
This means that it is read differently. One can read across 
several weblogs to gather one�s information on shared subjects, on shared ideas. Given the very �local� personal quality of most weblogs, what is shared is how local circumstances relate to global developments. You should not have too 
simple an imagination of this. Weblogs do not just give their 
2 cents on any event that marks mega media publishing. 
Like I said, they are precise, idiosyncratic publications. Their 
content does not only review the relationships of the local, 
situated to the global, mediated, in a topographical sense, 
but (taking full advantage of the realm of rich reference 
which is the web) it might link every possible utterance, 
whether actual or historical, which its author believes to be 
relevant in case. 

Recorded life shared 

A life lived today means a life recorded. Digital tools record 
our life from the cradle to the grave in ever so many happy 
moments, as still and moving imagery, audio and video: very 
boring material, as anyone who was ever forced to browse a 
friend�s holiday pictures will confirm. But another take on 
�My First Sony� shows us Rodney King, or several wtc impact 
angles, by a dv equipped downtown doctor wading the rubble, or whoever holds a camera these days. We�re not recording all this for mega media. If extended into the publishing 
domain, whoever runs a weblog, a publishing outlet, whoever lives a life, encountering issues of safety, security, education, information access etc. etc. is in business. Business 
meaning information business. Business meaning constructing our own narratives, or providing the material to other 
people to construct theirs and fight for it. 


Personal publishing means in the uneventful sense anti-tellit-like-it-is publishing � not fighting slogans with slogans. 
By the mere fact of its daily routine, of daily editing, not for 
scoops or the latest word, but for vital matters of the everyday, an everyday �under information�: under siege, individual publishing is a way to reclaim space and reconnect to the 
other underrepresented citizen, on a personal basis. 

The interpersonal is political, or: ways of life the plenty 

�Design is a way of life�, myself and probably more of us learned at school. Yes it is, as much as it is a skilful tradition, a 
vocation, a job or an industry. Graphic design�s tools are text 
and image, their relationships and the play on our relationships towards them. Whether used to promote useless commodities or useless political agendas, our skills remain the 
same. A long history of commercial and political propaganda is available to prove this point: some great design was 
made. But one can also point at a history just as long, of service to a more humane world, better education, equal rights 
and higher ideals than capital gain or commodification. If 
design is a way of life, it should not surprise us if we see that 
typical way of life plenty reflected in its practices. 

It is my conviction that whoever wants to improve the narratives that we construct to communicate our relationship to 
the world, has to use one�s tradition and skills and insight 
into how communication works, for those issues that are left 
out of mainstream media. These are perhaps more simple 
�political� observations than you imagine. For those designers and artists among you, inclined to be critical and do 
good, it doesn�t bring you any further to be too concerned 
with legitimizing your discipline and all the time repeat how 
bad the world is. It is a waste of energy. Energy that could be 
applied to some better cause, which would better prove your 
point that indeed there are ways of life the plenty, we should 
be proud of that and hold on to them and put them in front 
of ourselves and everyone else. That is a design challenge, 
especially to find patterns in the abundance of linked fragments of networked publications before us. 

Finally we must not forget that among that content there are 
a lot of good causes and even more concern about them, and 
even more concerned folks, who spend more time than you 
and me would ever choose to devote to work on such causes. 
They developed other skills than we did. They can analyze 
the workings of power for us, they can come up with the best 
cases, they can teach us whatever we need and want to 
know to apply our skills, with them and for them and for 


Can we still conceive of 
politics as part of civic 
life, civic duties, that 
precisely serve to break 
away from all those 
needs and desires that 
one builds up around 
specific social, cultural, 
economical, even 
commercial identities? 

50


their causes. This once was called maintaining professional 
relations. Today these relations can be informed to their 
advantage by personal relations, because networked media 
offer another paradigm, of linked fragments, abundant smaller connected stories, different readings, anti tell-it-like-it-is 
muscle machismo, no hype change. 

So (graphic) designers bring their way of life, in its professional and in its personal specificities, and engage in professional, interpersonal relationships, to work at the service 
of better communication and literacy. Designers tend to 
know, or have the informed intuition or talent or whatever 
you want to call it, to discuss with whoever is concerned in 
the matter at stake, how to be an agent, how to perform that 
agency, how to invest the budget and the human resources 
that are available. In my practice, designers and increasingly liberal artists are invited as strategists and conceptual 
thinkers, who are engaged not after the message or product 
has been developed, but at the outset of it. Artist and designers are invited indeed to offer agency for different parties 
in representational relationships, or symbolic exchange. 

An old question is about whether one should prefer to use 
one�s private civic voice in political organization, when professional �ways of life� do not set the agenda, but instead 
people express themselves and organize themselves around 
common issues, beyond the particularities of such and such 
special interests or skills. In other words: should a designer 
always be a designer, or is his or her voice best heard as a 
citizen, among other citizen who equally give up their special interests? Can we still conceive of politics as part of civic 
life, civic duties, that precisely serve to break away from all 
those needs and desires that one builds up around specific 
social, cultural, economical even commercial identities? I 
think this question has become obsolete now that the private and the public have come together in manifold hybrid 
social expressions. We have to trust ourselves to develop an 
awareness of how to weigh all kinds of different information 
input. Our own hybrid interests will have to be answerable 
to the strange workings of consumption and production, to 
work/life inversions, to public/private perversions, to markets that are set up around us to �brand� our very desire for 
unbranded space, as was one of Naomi Klein�s No Logo conclusions. 

Interest-based organization 

We do not support anymore party lines, we cannot identify 
ourselves with �liberalism� or �communism� or �socialism� or 


�capitalism�. Let alone �conform� ourselves to civic duties 
which, as long as representational democracies have existed, were thought of as what �politics� were exactly about. 
Now the critical �movement of movements� (Naomi Klein) 
cannot center around one or two big ideas, or narratives, 
and fight itself for linear realizations of their dogmas into 
better worlds. Interest based organization is a very big challenge, under new circumstances that measure from the intimate, private and idiosyncratic, to the common terror of 
outrageous acts in the domain where larger ideologies are 
still believed in. How to connect these scales is part of the 
challenge. We see it happen. 

Over the past three years I have learned a lot from browsing 
the personal sites of my peers. If I overstate that weblogs 
might mark �the end of the world wide web as you know it�, 
it is because I do believe that their modes of expression, 
their everyday public grappling with an abundance of private and public concerns, is indeed projecting a web as was 
pictured by its inventors and by the early believers in a networked society, and offers a whole new publishing paradigm. The personal publishing challenge is apparent. The 
design challenge follows from that first challenge. Every 
designer is an author, a publisher who, with every intervention, adds content to the bulk of exchanges, whether commissioned or not. There is always a commissioning voice, a 
commissioning tradition, a commissioning way of life. 

Design is content, attached to other content. 

Weblogs today are many, but form only a very small part of 
the internet. Developments have proven however that scale 
doesn�t matter, certainly not in an experimental phase of a 
medium. Compared to the histories of older media, the web 
is an experiment in its infancy. Ten years ago none of us had 
private email accounts. An information society has to be 
built on a nodal economy of means of expression, of interconnected individuals. That development has only just started and it demands tons of imagination for its continuation. 


Sandra Fauconnier 

Designing Participation: 

theWeb Design Timeline


In 2004, two educational and research institutions � Piet 
Zwart Institute (Willem de Kooning Academie Rotterdam) 
and Institute of Network Cultures (Hogeschool van 
Amsterdam) � launched A decade of webdesign, a project to 
commemorate ten years of web design (1994�2004). The initiative materialized in a conference in Amsterdam (January 
2005, http://www.decadeofwebdesign.org) and a web-based, 
open timeline (http://www.designtimeline.org), inviting 
internet users worldwide to share their personal memories 
about the history of web design. 

The Web Design Timeline did not function as a purely internet-based environment; it was an online counterpart for a 
real-life conference. Connecting physical and virtual interaction in a meaningful manner is often an important challenge. In this case, both realms � online and offline � bore 
clear and active references to each other: the web-based 
timeline showed a prominent link to the conference�s site, 
and during the conference the timeline�s interface was permanently projected on a fixed screen while new content was 
added between conference sessions. 
The web-based timeline was mainly designed as a medium 
for engaging a diverse audience, more broadly than was possible during the physical conference, in a participatory man

52



ner. Its designers, Femke Snelting and Michael Murtaugh, 
wanted to provide a platform that would stimulate the emergence of layered histories through multiple experiences and 
perspectives on the topic. They decided to use a faq-style 
architecture (Frequently Asked Questions), where users 
could submit questions, answers and images � in any 
language of their choice, thus trying to avoid a mainly us-
oriented or English-language discourse. At a certain point 
German students were asked to translate a set of questions 
from English to German. Typical questions and answers 
focused on topics such as early browsers, first experiences 
with websites, internet hardware and code. 

The site was promoted through a variety of channels � together with the web design conference�s publicity, and via a 
selection of email lists about internet culture, media art and 
web design. Over the course of more than one year, approximately 100 questions and 700 answers were gathered, submitted by more than 200 registered users. In terms of generating critical mass, this project has been quite successful; 
many people probably contributed because of active interest 
in the topic and because they were willing to share their 
experiences and opinions about web design more broadly. 

In open, collaborative online environments, questions and 
doubts about quality control and moderation usually arise 
quickly. How can a chaotic situation, with distributed authorship, result in content that meets certain quality criteria? 
Does it actually make any sense to speak about such quality 
standards? And is any moderation or intervention needed? In 
this particular case, the timeline�s designers decided to see 


if the platform would auto-regulate; they became active 
users and contributors themselves, but refrained from 
moderating other people�s writing (only in a few isolated 
cases, entries with self-promotional content were actively 
removed). The timeline�s simple and clear q&a structure and 
low-tech design provided a rather strict framework for contributors; this situation has probably helped in keeping submissions on topic, and in avoiding spam and abuse. While 
the project�s openness and multi-perspective character was 
much more important than the eventual production of output with specific quality criteria, enforcing such standards 
turned out to be unnecessary in the first place. 


Sandra Fauconnier 

Designing Participation: 

the Dutch-Language 
Wikipedia 

Wikipedia is an international, web-based, open and collaborative encyclopedia. Any interested volunteer can contribute; Wikipedia�s content is released under the Gnu Free 
Documentation license, an open content license that enables 
and encourages more flexible re-use than traditional copyright regulations. 

The project was initiated by Larry Sanger and Jimmy Wales 
in January 2001, as a complement to another web-based 
encyclopedia, Nupedia; the latter worked with expert contributions and peer review, and is now defunct. Within a few 
months, sister Wikipedias in other languages were launched; the Dutch-language Wikipedia, for example, started 
off slowly in the Summer of 2001 and began to reach critical 
mass in 2003. In May 2006, the English-language version has 
more than one million entries; the Dutch Wikipedia is one of 
its largest siblings, with approximately 185,000 articles. The 
various (approximately 200) language versions operate in 
relative autonomy, but in terms of basic policies (see below) 
they remain quite faithful to the original project. 

With its many thousands of volunteer contributors � many 
of them spending a large portion of their free time editing in 
the encyclopedia � the site�s social structure and decision

55 


making processes borrow elements from anarchist and 
democratic models. To a large extent, Wikipedia is a meritocracy. Trusted users, for example, can obtain higher levels of 
control by becoming administrators, stewards or bureaucrats. Jimmy Wales, one of the project�s founders, still has 
special decisionmaking privileges, effectively turning him 
into a �benevolent dictator�. The smaller language 
Wikipedias have less structure, due to their smaller sphere 
of contributors. 

Wikipedia�s complex decisionmaking system has emerged 
experimentally, itself a result of community consensus. 

Wikipedia is a so-called wiki, a type of website that allows 
users to easily add, remove or edit all content, in most cases 
even without the need for registration. The software also 
keeps track of all individual changes, so that pages can be 
reverted to previous versions. It is a very open and unstructured system, leaving lots of freedom for contributors to �fill 
in the blanks� and for imposing a structure that has emerged 
from social consensus (see above). 

Applying this radically open methodology to the production 
of a traditionally very controlled and institutionalized genre 

� an encyclopedia � is challenging, to say the least. 
Wikipedia does suffer from vandalism, edit wars and shallowness; common points of criticism about the project include its lack of reliability and quality, its systemic bias and the 
idea that the community�s group dynamics are hindering its 
goals. 

Linus Torvalds once gave the following remark about the 
emergence of quality in open-source software development: 
�given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow�; with many 
contributors, errors will be quickly characterized and fixed. 
Linus�s eyeballs appear to be a double-edged sword in 
Wikipedia�s case. Most often, factual errors are corrected 
quickly, but the principle may also point to a voting mechanism rather than fact-checking; material that is not seen as 
�blatantly false�, may be accepted as true. 

Wikipedia�s most notable style policy is the so-called 
�neutral point of view� (npov): notable perspectives on a 
topic are summarized and mentioned alongside each other, 
without an attempt to determine an objective truth. The 
npov policy is beyond debate within the project�s confinements. 

Apart from doubts and cricism alike, Wikipedia is probably 
one of the web�s largest and most intricate collaborative projects. Perhaps the main question around the initiative ought 
to consider the nature of a print genre (the encyclopedia) 
and whether the same expectations and characteristics still 
apply when a similar principle is transferred to a web-based, 
collaborative realm. 


Sandra Fauconnier 

Designing Participation: 

the IssueGraph 

The issue graph is a formalized �mind map� of topics that are 
relevant to the Designing Participation research project � 
an attempt to create a general, structured overview of issues 
that play a role in the design of participatory online spaces. 
All topics are organized in a hierarchical manner � the grey 
bar in the middle can be seen as a �stem� from which several branches emerge. I must admit that this hierarchical point 
of view is quite artificial; in fact, all these topics are strongly 
intertwined and interconnected. Therefore, this is only a first 
attempt of visualizing possibly relevant research subjects. 

The left-hand part of this graph offers theoretical and practical background � case studies, technologies, underlying 
values and possible theoretical and methodological handles; 
the area to the right offers an overview of fields of decision-
making that play a role in the creation and maintenance of 
web-based participatory projects. 

58



Arie Altena 

Blog entry, time-stamped 
April 3, 2006, written after 
starting to work with 
WordPress. 

(http://www.ariealt.net/blog/ 
2006/04/03/do-not-writemore-than-12-lines/) 

Do Not Write More 
Than 12 Lines 

Do not write more than 12 lines� How software softly �tells� 
you how to write. It doesn�t impose, oh no, it just suggests� 
why wouldn�t you write like this, that�ll be best� don�t you 
think? 

I do not like those suggestions. 

That�s why I already have a love-hate relationship with 
WordPress. 

�Write Post� suggests, softly, that I write short posts. Like of 
about 12 lines. The major part of the screen of my 12�
powerbook is taken by the rest of the interface (which is 
clear enough, no reason for severe criticism). The box for 
writing is 12 lines long. Of course I can write as much as I 
want. Of course I can change whatever I�d like to change. 
But that�s not the point. How many people actually change 
the default? And besides that: one needs room for the other 
elements of the interface as well. 

The point is how the software (and how it is presented) programs a certain kind of writing. Short posts. Categorized. And 
writing a short post means that you�re trying to be concise 
and clear. The act of categorizing installs database thinking. 

60 


Consciously or unconsciously, maybe even secretly, you are 
writing for an interlinked and searchable database. 

Of course, that is what you are doing anyway. At least, seen 
from the perspective of a machine. In case you are using 
blogging software like WordPress, you are filling a MySQLdatabase with categorized data. But also if you�re doing 
everything by hand, old-skool, you are filling the database of 
the search engines. 

But there is a difference (is there?) When writing old-skool 
in BBEdit, using simple html, you are constructing a 
sequence. You are in a flux of time, writing is keeping track 
of time, it just goes on and on, one post comes after the 
other. 

When using WordPress, or a similar package, your posts 
may be, by default, presented in a chronological way, yet 
when writing and categorizing the post, there is much more 
of a database feeling. You store your thoughts and notes 
away, putting them in boxes. Feels more like filing (note: 
with one �l�). 


Claudia Hardi 

62


Famous and Less
Famous Images


# Able the Spacemonkey, one of the first two monkeys to
travel in outer space, 1958. (g.a.s. travelogue, 2006)
# Walt Disney Jungle Cruise. (g.a.s. travelogue, 2006)
# Marvin � The Hitchhiker�s Guide to the Galaxy, 2005.
(1066 And All That, posted on Wednesday, January 25, 2006)
# Second Portrait of Marvin � The Hitchhiker�s Guide to the
Galaxy, 2005. (1066 And All That, posted on Wednesday,
January 25, 2006)
# War of the Worlds 1, 1935. (1066 And All That, posted on
Wednesday, January 25, 2006)
# War of the Worlds 2, 1935. (1066 And All That, posted on
Wednesday, January 25, 2006)
# Teddy May, Famous New Yorker Sewer Worker. (g.a.s.
travelogue, 2006)
# Club 33 Trophyroom, Disneyland. (g.a.s. travelogue, 2006)
# �Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln�. A life-size audio
animatronic figure designed by Walt Disney, 1964. (g.a.s.
travelogue, 2006)
# Smoking Scene 1, Hellboy and Tom Manning F.B.I.
,
�Hellboy�, 2004. (g.a.s. travelogue, 2006)
# Smoking Scene 2, Hellboy and Tom Manning F.B.I.
,
�Hellboy�, 2004. (g.a.s. travelogue, 2006)
# J. Edgar Hoover, A rare informal photograph of the FBI
director. (g.a.s. travelogue, 2006)
# J. Edgar Hoover, The famous boxer / bulldog photo.


(g.a.s. travelogue, 2006)
# World�s Fair 1964�1965 New York. Model of the IBM
Pavilion. (g.a.s. travelogue, 2006)
# World�s Fair 1964�1965 New York. Model of the American
Indian Pavilion. (g.a.s. travelogue, 2006)
# Arctic Bunnies. (g.a.s. travelogue, 2006)
# Baker, one of the first two monkeys to travel in outer
space, 1958. (g.a.s. travelogue, 2006)
# Scene out of �Below� 1, A moment of suspense. (g.a.s. tra
velogue, 2006)
# Scene out of �Below� 2, A moment of suspense. (g.a.s. tra
velogue, 2006)
# Trumptower, Donald Trump, real estate tycoon. (g.a.s. tra
velogue, 2006)
# Unidentified 1 Category: Unidentified Scene. (g.a.s. trave
logue, 2006)
# Unidentified 2, Category: Unidentified Scene. (g.a.s. trave

logue, 2006)
# Dick Tracy Detective and famous two-way radio wrist
watch. (g.a.s. travelogue, 2006)
# Submarine 1 Philo Dufresne. Profession: Pirate. (g.a.s. tra
velogue, 2006)
# Ramblecity Unidentified, Category: Unidentified Scene


(g.a.s. travelogue, 2006)
# Scene out of Hellboy Hellboy and Tom Manning F.B.I. in
Trouble. Hellboy, 2004. (g.a.s. travelogue, 2006)
# Submarine 2 Philo Dufresne. Profession: Pirate. (g.a.s. tra
velogue, 2006)
# Ramblecity Category: Unidentified Scene. (g.a.s. travelo
gue, 2006)
# Security Down National History Museum, New York,
�Hellboy�, 2004. (g.a.s. travelogue, 2006)
# Sewer Sewer Safari, New York, Hellboy, 2004. (g.a.s. trave
logue, 2006)
# Atlas Shrugged, The Murderweapon. (g.a.s. travelogue,
2006)
Unless otherwise indicated all 
images are Cultural reference 
out of the G.A.S. [GAS] 
travelogue. 

[g.a.s. (sewer gas & electric) 
documentary / database 
research project, 2006] 
They are captioned with their 
[GAS] Reference 

Able the US Spacemonkey 

Two young visitors view Able, 
one of the first two monkeys 
to travel in outer space, 
1958. 

[GAS] Reference: Character: 
Borneo Bill 

Copyright: The National 
Museum of Health and 
Medicine, Washington, US 

Walt Disney�s Jungle Cruise 

[GAS] Reference: Character: 
Walt Disney 

Copyright: Walt Disney Co. 

63



This is Marvin 

The Hitchhiker�s Guide to the
Galaxy (2005)
.
Directed by Garth Jennings.
Writing credits: Douglas
Adams (book & screenplay)


(1066 And All That, posted
on Wednesday, January 25,
2006)


War of the Worlds 1 

War of the Worlds,
Designer Edith Head
Directed by George Pal, 1935
(1066 And All That, posted
on Wednesday, January 25,
2006)


Copyright: Paramount.


Teddy May, New Yorker 
Sewer Worker 

Teddy May was probably 
largely responsible for 
spreading the sewer alligator 
legend. Teddy May told 
stories of sewers swarming 
with alligators, and a 
subsequent sewergator 
extermination campaign. 
Teddy May told a lot of 
stories. 

[GAS] Reference: Character: 
Teddy May 

Copyright: Unknown. 

64



Club 33 Trophyroom 

Club 33 is an exclusive Club 
located in the heart of the 
New Orleans Square section 
of Disneyland. Officially maintained as a �secret� feature of 
the theme park. Stories have 
been told that Walt Disney 
had made use of audioanimatronic technology within the Club. Microphones in 
lighting fixtures and stuffed 
animal heads would pick up 
a conversation while an 
operator would respond via 
the characters and lighting 
fixtures. 

[GAS] Reference: Character: 

G.A.S. 
Main Artificial Intelligence 
produced by Walt Disney. 
Reference Scene: G.A.S 
picking up a conversation 
between John Edgar Hoover, 
Roy Cohn and the waiter. But 

G.A.S. could barely hear 
anything, and it ended up 
mistaking Hoover and Cohn�s 
dinner order for a root-level 
reprogramming command. 
Copyright: Walt Disney Co. 

Great Moments with 
Mr. Lincoln 

Great Moments with 
Mr. Lincoln is a life-size 
audio-animatronic figure 
designed by Walt Disney of 
Abraham Lincoln reciting 
excerpts from Lincoln�s 
speeches on liberty, civil 
rights and freedom. First 
shown at the Illinois pavilion 
at the 1964�1965 World�s 
Fair in New York. A story is 
told that once a mechanical 
failure during a show caused 
Mr. Lincoln to bend sharply 
at the waist and begin 
talking to the floor. 

[GAS] Characters: Automatic 
Servants and G.A.S. Main 
Artificial Intelligence produced by Walt Disney. 

Copyright: Walt Disney Co. 

Smoking Hellboy and Tom 
Manning FBI Scene 1 and 2 

Guillermo Del Torro�s Hellboy 
(2004) is a compressed comics 
version of almost all main 
cultural references out of the 
book G.A.S. 

Copyright: Revolution Studios 
Distribution Company L.L.C. 

65



J. Edgar Hoover 
A rare informal photograph 
of the FBI director and some 
of his chief assistants. The 
occasion: a baseball game 
between the FBI and the 
Baltimore Police Deparment, 
in July 1935. Left to right: 
Clyde Tolson, the Bureau�s 
second in command and the 
director�s inseperable companion, Frank Baughman, 
Hoover�s oldest friend and 
FBI firearm instructor; 

J. Edgar Hoover; R. E. �Bob� 
Newby, a headquarter supervisor; John M. Keith, one of 
the �hired guns�; W. R. Glavin, 
of the Administrative 
Division; and C. E. Weeks, 
one of the special agents in 
charge. Orig. National 
Archives 65-H-5�1. 
[GAS] Reference: Character: 

J. Edgar Hoover. 
Copyright: National Archives 
65-H-5�1. 

Bulldog Photo 

J. Edgar Hoover 
The famous boxer/bulldog 
photo. Crime Records, the 
FBI�s huge publicity mill, 
arranged the shot in an 
attempt to show that the 
director had a lighter side� 
Personally Hoover liked 
neither breed, favoring cairn 
terriers; over the years he 
had six, three of whom he 
named G-Boy. Orig. Wide 
World National Archives 65H-1187�1. 

[GAS] Reference: Character: 

J. Edgar Hoover. 
Copyright: National Archives 
65-H-1187�1 

66



Model of the IBM Pavilion 

The World�s Fair 1964�1965 
New York twin themes were 
� Man�s Achievement in an 
expanding Universe� and 
�A Millenium of Progress�. 
It celebrated the boundless 
potential of science and 
technology for human 
betterment. 

[GAS] Reference: Character: 
Donald Trump Trail: Globe 
Sculpture - 1964�1965 
World�s fair Globe. 

Copyright: Unknown. 

American Indian Pavilion 

The World�s Fair 1964�1965 
New York twin themes were � 
Man�s Achievement in an 
expanding Universe� and �A 
Millenium of Progress� it celebrated the boundless potential of science and technology 
for human betterment. 

[GAS] Reference: Character: 
Donald Trump Trail: Globe 
Sculpture - 1964�1965 
World�s fair Globe. 

Copyright: Unknown. 

Arctic Bunnies 

[GAS] Reference:
Scene: Battle with an arctic
bunny as a weapon.


Copyright: Unknown.


67



Baker Spacemonkey 

The squirrel monkey Baker 
(image) and the rhesus 
monkey Abel are the first 
US spacemonkeys. 
Mission: Jupiter rocket, 
28th May 1958. 

[GAS] Reference: 
Character: Borneo Bill. 
Copyright: Unknown. 

Scene 1 out of Below 

A Mystery Ghost Submarine 
Thriller directed by David 
Twohy. 
Dimensions Films; Protozoa 
Pictures Production, 2003. 

[GAS] Reference: Dabba-
Dabba-Doo pirate submarine. 

Copyright: Buena Vista Home 
Entertainment, Inc. 

Scene 2 Out of Below 
Following Scene out of Below 

A Mystery Ghost Submarine 
Thriller 
directed by David Twohy. 
Dimensions Films; Protozoa 
Pictures Production, 2003. 

[GAS] Reference: Dabba-
Dabba-Doo pirate submarine. 

Copyright: Buena Vista Home 
Entertainment, Inc. 

Trump Tower 

Donald John Trump, the business executive, founder and 
CEO of Trump Organization 
of the USA, mainly involved 
in the premium American 
real estate segment the 
Trump Casino & Resorts. He 
remains a major figure in the 
field of casino/hotels in the 
United States and has become famous on American television for his role on the reality show The Apprentice. 

[GAS] Reference: Character: 
Harry Gant. 

Copyright: Trump Organization. 

68



Unidentified 1 

The World�s Fair 1964�1965 
New York twin themes were 
�Man�s Achievement in an 
expanding Universe� and �A 
Millenium of Progress� it celebrated the boundless potential of science and technology 
for human betterment. 

[GAS] Reference: Character: 
Donald Trump Trail: Globe 
Sculpture - 1964�1965 
World�s fair Globe. 

Copyright: Unknown. 

Unidentified 2 

The World�s Fair 1964�1965 
New York twin themes were 
�Man�s Achievement in an 
expanding Universe� and 
�A Millenium of Progress� it 
celebrated the boundless 
potential of science and 
technology for human 
betterment. 

[GAS] Reference: Character: 
Donald Trump Trail: Globe 
Sculpture - 1964�1965 
World�s fair Globe. 

Copyright: Unknown. 

Dick Tracy�s Wristwatch 

Dick Tracy. His wristwatch 
was popularized by the 
1940s by the Dick Tracy 
comics. Tracy was a detective 
who had two-way radio communications to police headquarters via his famous 
watch. 

[GAS] Reference: Character: 
Harry Gant, Harry Gant�s 
wrist-watch Toby. 

Copyright: Chester Gould 

Submarine 1 

[GAS] Reference: Character: 
Philo Dufresne�s pirate submarine Dabba-Dabba-Doo. 

Copyright: U.S. Naval 
Historical Center 

69



Unidentified Scene -
Ramblecity No17 

[GAS] Reference: Character: 
Donald Trump Trail: Globe 
Sculpture - 1964�1965 
World�s Fair Globe. 
Unidentified. Reference: 
Character: Philo Dufresne�s 
pirate submarine Dabba-
Dabba-Doo. 

Copyright: 2001, 
Diaphanarch. 

Scene out of Hellboy 

Sewer Safari


[GAS] Reference: Character:
Eddie
Wilder and Joan Fine.
Reference: Scene: Sewer
Safari. Meisterbrau.


Copyright: Revolution Studios
Distribution Company L.L.C.


Submarine 2 

[GAS] Reference: Character: 
Philo Dufresne�s pirate 
submarine Dabba-Dabba-
Doo. 

Copyright: U.S. Naval 
Historical Center 

Unidentified Scene 2 
Ramblecity No17 

[GAS] Reference: Character: 
Donald 
Trump Trail: Globe Sculpture 

- 1964�1965 World�s fair 
Globe. Unidentified. 
Copyright: 2001, 
Diaphanarch. 

70



Security Down 

Scene out of Hellboy, 2004. 
Hellboy directed by Guillermo 
Del Torro, 2004, is a 
compressed comic-version of 
almost all main cultural 
references out of the book 

G.A.S. 
[GAS] Reference: Character: 
Amberson Teaneck. 

Killed with a copy of 
Ayn Rand�s novel Atlas 
Shrugged. 

Copyright: Revolution Studios 
Distribution Company L.L.C. 

Sewer 

Scene out of Hellboy, 2004. 

[GAS] Reference: Character: 
Joan Fine and Eddie Wilder�s 
sewer safari. Reference: to 
the urban legend of the 
�Alligators in the Sewer.� 

Copyright: Revolution Studios 
Distribution Company L.L.C. 

Atlas Shrugged 

Atlas Shrugged; the
Murderweapon


Atlas Shrugged is a novel by
writer and philosopher
Ayn Rand known for her
philosophy of Objectivism.


[GAS] Reference: Character:
Ayn Rand�s hologram in 
a
bottle.
[GAS] Reference Scene: �The
Dead of Amberson Teaneck.
�


Copyright: 1957, Ayn Rand.


71



Arie Altena 
Sandra Fauconnier 
Claudia Hardi 
Jouke Kleerebezem 
Inga Zimprich 

A 

Note: referenced items in 
<�> are in the Glossary. 
Wikipedia URLs are preceded 
[Wp]. Items with a �?� had 
not been referenced at the 
time of the Ubiscribe Wiki 
Dump, Saturday May 06, 
2006, at 04:45 AM. 

Glossary


� argonauts 
A term sometimes used by players of Alternate Reality 
Games (arg) to refer to themselves. Grew from traditional 
Role Playing Games (rpg), which first came to prominence 
with the introduction of Dungeons and Dragons in 1974 by 
Jordan Weisman. Wizards of the Coast developed some of 
the first arg�s (before the term was coined) to promote the 
collectable card game Netrunner in 1996. The first �Webrunner� game. Wizards did several more such games in the 
late 1990s for its games Battle Tech and Magic: The 
Gathering. One of the most commercial arg�s to date 
remains the Nokia Game, which ran between 1999 and 
2005, with a different story each year. The game used 
phone calls, sms, tv adverts, newpaper articles and emails 
to give clues to the player. Each game lasted only a maximum of three weeks, so deadlines for mini-games were 
strict, with many sections of the game only giving players 
one chance to solve it. 
See also: <cloudmakers> 

� attention economy 
�Rule Number One is to pay attention. Rule Number Two 
might be: Attention is a limited resource, so pay attention 
to where you pay attention.� (Howard Rheingold) 
The attention economy is a concept that was described and 
discussed by (mainly) Michael Goldhaber and Rishab Aiyer 
Ghosh in the late 1990s. Goldhaber pointed out that attention is a very scarce good on the internet � people only have 
so much time to spend online, and they divide that time 
between those online resources that are most relevant for 
them. �The attention economy brings with it its own kind of 
wealth, its own class divisions � stars vs. fans � and its 
own forms of property, all of which make it incompatible 
with the industrial-money-market based economy it bids 
fair to replace. Success will come to those who best accommodate to this new reality.� While Goldhaber was probably 
way too bold in abolishing what he called the �old� and 
obsolete systems of economics, his observation about the 
value of attention is still relevant in the context of internet-
based activities, online publishing and blogging. 

See also: <the long tail> 

72



� Michael Goldhaber 
The Attention Economy and the Net 
(http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue2_4/goldhaber/) 
� Rishab Aiyer Ghosh 
Economics is dead. Long live economics! 
(http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue2_5/ghosh/) 
� Paul Perry�s bibliography on the topic of the attention 
economy 
(http://www.alamut.com/subj/economics/attention/attent_e 
conomy.html) 
� blogosphere B 
Common term to describe the overall community of blogs 
and bloggers, which is interlinked through a large number 
of crossreferences between individual blog entries. 
See also: <weblog> 
� cloudmakers C 
The original group that took on The Beast. They are also 
credited with coining most of the terminology. 
See also: <argonaut> 
� collaborative authorship 
Kollaborative Schreibprojekte im Netz; �ber Komplexit�t 
und einige mediengeschichtliche Versuche sie wieder in den 
Griff zu bekommen 
(http://wwwcs.uni-paderborn.de/~winkler//kollschr.html) 
Tauschen, Austauschen, Kommunizieren; Netzbildung in �konomie und Medien 
(http://wwwcs.uni-paderborn.de/~winkler) 
� collabulary 
A thesaurus of <metadata> generated by multiple end 
users. 
[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collabulary 
See also: <metadata>, <tagging> 
� command line 
�In the Beginning was the Command Line� is a lengthy 
essay by Neal Stephenson which was originally published 
online in 1999 and later made available in book form. The 
essay is a commentary on why the proprietary operating 
systems business is unlikely to remain profitable in the 
future because of competition from free software. It also 
lucidly analyzes the corporate/collective culture of the 
Microsoft, Macintosh, and free software communities. 
Stephenson explores the gui as a metaphor in terms of the 
increasing interposition of metaphors between humans and 
the actual workings of devices (in a similar manner to Zen 73 


and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance) and explains the 
beauty hackers feel in good-quality tools. He does this with 
a car analogy. He compares four operating systems, Mac os 
by Apple Computer to a fine European luxury car, Windows 
by Microsoft to a station wagon, Linux to a free tank, and 
beos to a batmobile. Stephenson argues that people continue to buy the station wagon despite free tanks being given 
away, because people do not want to learn how to operate a 
tank; they know that the station wagon dealership has a 
machine shop that they can take their car to when it breaks 
down. Because of this attitude, Stephenson argues that 
Microsoft is not really a monopoly, as evidenced by the free 
availability of other choice os�s, but rather has simply 
accrued enough mental shares among the people to have 
them coming back. He compares Microsoft to Disney, in 
that both are selling a vision to their customers, who in 
turn �want to believe� in that vision. The essay was written 
before the advent of Mac os x. In a Slashdot interview on 
20th October, he remarked that �I embraced os x as soon as 
it was available and have never looked back. So a lot of �In 
the Beginning was the Command Line� is now obsolete. 

Neal Stephenson
(http://www.nealstephenson.com)


In the Beginning was the Command Line
[Wp]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Beginning_was_the_
Command_Line)


� commonplace book 
Commonplace books (or commonplaces) emerged in the 
15th century with the availability of cheap paper for writing, mainly in England. They were a way to compile 
knowledge, usually by writing information into books. They 
were essentially scrapbooks filled with items of every kind: 
medical recipes, quotes, letters, poems, tables of weights 
and measures, proverbs, prayers, legal formulas. 
Commonplaces were used by readers, writers, students, 
and humanists as an aid for remembering useful concepts 
or facts they had learned. Each commonplace book was 
unique to its creator�s particular interests. �Commonplace� 
is a translation of the Latin term locus communis which 
means �a theme or argument of general application�, such 
as a statement of proverbial wisdom. In this original sense, 
commonplace books were collections of such sayings, such 
as Milton�s commonplace book. Scholars have expanded 
this usage to include any manuscript that collects material 
along a common theme by an individual. Critically, many of 

these works are not seen to have literary value to modern 
editors. However, the value of such collections is the 
insights they offer into the tastes, interests, personalities 
and concerns of their individual compilers. Producing a 
commonplace is known as commonplacing. A modern analogy to commonplace books has been applied to some types 
of blogs. 

[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace 

� commons-based peer production 
Commons-based peer production is a term coined by Yale�s 
Law professor Yochai Benkler to describe a model of economic production in which the creative energy of large 
numbers of people is coordinated (usually with the aid of 
the internet) into large, meaningful projects, mostly without traditional hierarchical organization or financial compensation. 
Examples of projects created by means of commons-based 
peer production: Linux (an open source operating system), 
Slashdot (a news and announcements website about technology), Wikipedia (an open, web-based encyclopedia), and 
Clickworkers (a collaborative scientific work organized by 
NASA). 

Yochai Benkler: Coase�s Penguin, or Linux and the nature of 
the firm 

(http://www.benkler.org/CoasesPenguin.html) 

Linux: http://www.linux.org 
Slashdot: http://www.slashdot.org 
Wikipedia: http://www.wikipedia.org 
Clickworkers: http://clickworkers.arc.nasa.gov 

See also: <copyright>, <collaborative authorship>, 
<distributed authorship> 

� content 
In publishing and media content is information and 
experiences created by individuals, institutions and 
technology to benefit audiences in venues that they value. 
[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content 

� copyright 
Copyright (�) is a set of exclusive rights granted by 
governments to regulate the use of a particular expression 
of an idea or information. At its most general, it is literally 
�the right to copy� an original creation. In most cases, these 

rights are of limited duration. 

[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright 

� cosmic book 
�Carl Sagan�s popular science series Cosmos� 
Dr. Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934�December 20, 
1996) was an American astronomer, astrobiologist, and 
highly successful science popularizer. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial 
Intelligence (seti). He is world famous for writing popular 
science books and for co-writing and presenting the award-
winning television series Cosmos. Cosmos was the most 
watched television show on PBS of all time and an accompanying book was published. Sagan�s capability to convey 
his ideas allowed many people to better understand the 
cosmos. He delivered the 1977/1978 Christmas Lectures for 
Young People at the Royal Institution. He narrated and, 
with Ann Druyan, co-wrote and co-produced the highly 
popular thirteen part pbs television series: Cosmos: A 
Personal Voyage (modeled on Jacob Bronowski�s The Ascent 
of Man). 
Cosmos covered a wide range of scientific subjects including the origin of life and a perspective of our place in the 
universe. The series was first broadcast by the Public 
Broadcasting Service in 1980. It won an Emmy and a 
Peabody Award; according to the nasa Office of Space 
Science, it has been since broadcast in 60 countries and 
seen by more than 600 million people. From Cosmos and 
his frequent appearances on The Tonight Show, Sagan 
became associated with the catch phrase, �billions and billions.� (He never actually used that phrase in Cosmos, but his 
distinctive delivery and frequent use of billions made this a 
favorite phrase of Johnny Carson and others, doing the 
many affectionate impressions of him. Sagan took this in 
good humor, and his final book was entitled Billions and 
Billions). A humorous unit of measurement, the Sagan, has 
now been coined to stand for any count of at least 
4,000,000,000. Sagan was a proponent of the search for 
extraterrestrial life. He urged the scientific community to 
listen with large radio telescopes for signals from intelligent extraterrestrial lifeforms. He advocated sending probes to other planets. Sagan was editor in chief of Icarus (a 
professional journal concerning planetary research) for 12 
years. He cofounded the Planetary Society and was a member of the SETI Institute Board of Trustees. 

[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan 


Carl Sagan 
(http://www.carlsagan.com/) 

� critical computing 
�Being intelligent means being able to continously organize 
and reorganize experiences in an ever-changing world. 
The critical computing group develops technologies to 
assist this process, tools that help people engage in critical 
reflection around their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.� 
(http://www.media.mit.edu/explain/+critical+computing) 
� DevonThink D 
DevonThink is a Data Manager � cms software. It stores 
any kind of document from e-mails, pdf�s, Word documents, text, images, webpages and multimedia files. It 
comes with a full Apple script support and other features, 
and works best wih the search archive engine Devon 
Agent. Devonthink�s special features are: Classify: files 
documents into the most appropriate group, automatically. 
See Also: shows similar documents. It can automatically 
extract of a text. Fuzzy search finds similarly spelled words. 
The search function finds related words, helps broaden or 
narrow the search. Intelligent summarize creates �digests� 
of texts based on the contents of the database. Text can be 
linked within the database to other files and one can link 
same words automatically, and many more. 
�DevonThink is not only a simple database, it�s a flexible 
work environment, with powerful management features. It 
provides you with all the tools you need to effectively work 
with your documents. Use the integrated rtf editor to write 
new documents, or open them in a third party application. 
Devonthink is based on a powerful ai architecture that 
helps you organize and navigate your information collection. It assists you with both filing documents and with finding similar items. Master even huge data collections with 
a few simple clicks.� 

(Ubiscribe Devonthink workshop/presentation, spring 2004, 
Jan van Eyck Akademie). 

Devon Technologies 
(http://www.devon-technologies.com/) 

� digital printing 
Printing technology (laser printer, inkjet printer, digital 
press, etc.) that can produce printed sheets directly from a 
computer file, without going through some intermediate 
medium such as a film negative or an intermediate machi

ne such as a plate-making machine. Because no plates or 
other negatives are needed, initial set-up costs can be 
reduced substantially. Digital printing is a prerequisite for 
<print on demand>. 

� distributed authorship 
The act of writing � or, more broadly, creating � that 
makes advantage of, and is characterized by, the distributed character of the network as a medium. 
1. Shared authorship � more than one person working 
on the same content unit 
2. Geographically dispersed 
3. Often ad-hoc 
4. Non-hierarchical 
5. <Intellectual property> is more difficult to establish 
� documented life
Indiskretion Ehrensache
Notes from the daily journalistic battle of Thomas Kn�wer 
Excerpt: �Anonyme Freundinnen� Dienstag, 02.05.2006. 
�Irgendwann versuchen sie alle zu bloggen. Zum Beispiel 
auch die Redakteurinnen der �Freundin�. Das Ergebnis hat 
den Touch eines Groschenromans.� 
(http://blog.handelsblatt.de/indiskretion/) 

�A very funny, very entertaining and well written document 
out of of the life of �Missys Nuf�.� 

Das Nuf Advanced 

(http://www.dasnuf.de/) 

E � electronic book? 

� electronic publishing
How to distill meaning from complex everyday experiences.
Manifesto 

Occam�s razor has its limits; we share a propensity for 
complexity. 

Though the medieval philosopher William of Occam admonished us not to increase, beyond what is necessary, the 
complexity required to explain phenomena; this principle 
has only limited applicability as a guide for living a full life. 
We are exploring a constructionist approach to the development of personal and community publishing tools with 
the hope that it will support iteration and reflection in ways 
that static tools do not. Through the medium of programming (design) we hypothesize that we will find an increase 
in the level of personal and community participation and 


appropriation. Filtering of content to suit the needs of 
individuals and communities of special interests was an 
emphasis of the early days of the web. We built systems to 
fine-tune and prioritize information based on criteria that 
include timeliness, importance, and relevance. Still, the 
expectations of the internet consumer closely aligned to 
those of the traditional media consumer-the role of the editor, whether human or machine, is to reduce complexity. 
The goal is to strive for parsimony by exposing the essence 
of available information. But we are beginning to expect 
more than efficient access to ideas � the flow of ideas must 
lead to coherent thinking and learning. Our goal is to more 
deeply engage the information consumer � to expand 
scope rather than restrict it. While we are not willing to be 
spoon-fed, we are willing to wrestle with the most ham-fisted of technological tools, if these tools lead us to self-
expression and critical thinking. 

In keeping with Smith�s notions of �<critical computing>� 
we are concerned with the approaches to media that will 
support future solutions to social, cultural, and economic 
problems. We view journalism (and other forms of information expression) as a model for thinking, creating, and 
decision-making. To achieve this engagement with information expression, we are exploiting a unique feature of 
electronic media: you can look under the hood in a way 
that no previous medium allowed. For example, every web 
browser has a menu item labeled �view source,� which 
allows any piece of content on the web to reveal itself and 
its inner structure. This means that reading and authoring 
become synonymous. 

Authoring is only one component of a publishing ecosystem. We advocate embracing the entirety of authoring, editing, publishing, and consuming. We further advocate using 
programming as a means of facilitation. Specifically, we are 
developing new programming languages as �things to think 
with,� in the tradition of the spreadsheet, Logo, eggg, dbn, 
Agent Sheets, and Squeak. We are attempting to remove the 
barriers to programming within the domain of publishing 
by building into our languages a representation of domain 
knowledge, but also representations of local knowledge 
(that which dictates local cultures and norms) and knowledge about people (that which is invariant among us). We 
aim to make the means of expression accessible, without 
diminishing quality or complexity. 

Source: Pedia Media Electronic Publishing 
(http://pedia.media.mit.edu/wiki/Electronic_Publishing) 


� electronic text? 
F � floss 
Free, Libre, Open-Source Software. An alternative term for 
free software. 
The term floss is often used to bridge the ideological divide between the free software and open source software 
movements. The term floss is useful for those who, for a 
variety of reasons, do not want to align themselves with 
one group and alienate the other. floss can also be used as 
a neutral term when discussing free/open source software 
with those of differing ideological viewpoints. 
Historically, floss was probably first used as a project acronym by Rishab Aiyer Ghosh, and has, since 2001, been used 
frequently in official documents. 
An alternative acronym is foss (omitting the L for Libre). 
See also: <free software>, <open source> 
[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLOSS 
[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_vs._free_software 
� folksonomy 
A synonym for <tagging> � mobtagging, free tagging, 
ethnoclassification. 
� free software 
Free software, as defined by the Free Software Foundation, 
is software which can be used, copied, studied, modified 
and redistributed without restriction. Freedom from such 
restrictions is central to the concept, with the opposite of 
free software being proprietary software and not software 
which is sold for profit, commercial software. The usual 
way for software to be distributed as free software is for the 
software to be accompanied by a free software license, and 
the source code of the software to be made available. 
See also: <floss>, <open source> 
[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software 
80 
G � geocaching 
Geocaching is an outdoor activity that most often involves 
the use of a Global Positioning System (<gps>) receiver or 
traditional navigational techniques to find a �geocache� (or 
�cache�) placed anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a 
small, waterproof container containing a logbook and �treasure�, usually trinkets of little monetary value. Participants 


are called geocachers. 
See also: <gps>, <locative media> 

http://www.geocaching.com 
[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching 

� Google 
Established in 1998, and now the world�s most widely used 
search engine. 
Trivialities: 

� Google Book Search, formerly Google Print, allows users 
to search inside digitalized books. This service, resulting 
from partnerships with publishers and large research libraries, is controversial due to copyright issues. 
� Attempts for Search Engine Optimization (seo) � actively 
trying to get one�s website higher up in Google�s search 
results � influences modes of writing and publishing. For 
example, it appears that newspaper avoid publishing too 
obscure or �witty� headlines � boring, plain and descriptive 
is better. See: New York Times, 9 April 2006 � This Boring 
Headline Is Written For Google 
(http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/09/weekinreview/09lohr 
.html) 

http://www.google.com 
[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google 

� grey literature 
Grey Literature is �information produced on all levels of 
government, academics, business and industry in electronic and print formats not controlled by commercial publishing i.e. where publishing is not the primary activity of the 
producing body� . 
GreyNet 
(http://www.greynet.org/pages/1/index.htm) 

� groupware 
Collaborative software; application software that integrates 
work on a single project by several concurrent users at 
separated workstations. Groupware can be standalone or 
web-based software <webware>. 
See also: <Commons-based peer production>, <distributed authorship>, <wiki?>. 

[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaborative_software 


� goshdarned 
�The Episodes� of The Bastard Operator From Hell by Simon 
Travaglia. Including bofh 2005: All you can eat (36 courses 
of meaty goodness), bofh 2003: Year Book (Fun for all the 
family) and bofh 2002: A Reader�s Digest (Travelling 
Compagnion). 
The bofh Register 
(http://www.theregister.co.uk/odds/bofh/) 
� GPS
Global Positioning System.
H 
� hakmem 
hakmem, alternatively known as ai Memo 239, is a 1972 
�memo� (technical report) of the mit ai Lab that describes a 
wide variety of hacks, primarily useful and clever algorithms for mathematical computation. There are also some 
schematic diagrams for hardware. Contributors included 
about two dozen members and associates of the ai Lab. 
Retyped and formatted in �html� (�web browser format) by 
Henry Baker, April, 1995. The goal of this �html� document 
is to make hakmem available to the widest possible 
audience. Work reported herein was conducted at the 
Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, a Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology research program supported in part by the 
Advanced Research Projects Agency of the Department of 
Defense and monitored by the Office of Naval Research. 
Compiled with the hope that a record of the random things 
people do around here can save some duplication of effort. 

� HTML 
<Hyper Text> Markup Language, the publishing language 
of the world wide web. 

� hybrid media? 
� hyperlink 
A hyperlink, or simply a link, is a reference in a <hypertext> 
document to another document or other resource. As such it 
is similar to a citation in literature. Combined with a data 
network and suitable access protocol, a computer can be 
instructed to fetch the resource referenced. 
� hypertext 
�By �hypertext� I mean non-sequential writing � text that 
branches and allows choices to the reader, best read at an 
interactive screen. As popularly conceived, this is a series 
of text chunks connected by links which offer the reader 
different pathways.� (Ted Nelson) 

� informatic license 
Informatic License is akin to �artistic license� or �poetic 
license� and promotes the absolute freedom to handle (collect, process, publish) and use information to individual 
means. Informatic license also acknowledges that information is never �value free� but contextually determined and 
appreciated. 
� intellectual property 
In law, intellectual property (ip) is an umbrella term for 
various legal entitlements which attach to certain types of 
information, ideas, or other intangibles in their expressed 
form. The holder of this legal entitlement is generally entitled to exercise various exclusive rights in relation to the 
subject matter of the ip. The term intellectual property 
reflects the idea that this subject matter is the product of 
the mind or the intellect, and that ip rights may be protected at law in the same way as any other form of property. 
[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property 

Intellectual property comprises, among others, <copyright>, patent legislation, trademarks, trade secrets and the 
protection of industrial design. 

� internet of things 
The �internet of things� comes about when physical objects 
will be made electronically identifiable by embedding tags, 
to connect them to each other and to other information. An 
internet of things would render every object a unique 
address in order to locate it (<rfid>), follow its trail, or 
simply label it with networked information. 
See also: <Object hyperlinking>, <Radius Loci> 

� intertwingularity
Intertwingularity is a term coined by Ted Nelson to express
the complexity of interrelations in human knowledge.
Nelson wrote in Computer Lib/Dream Machines (1974)
:
�Intertwingularity is not generally acknowledged, people
keep pretending they can make things deeply hierarchical,
categorizable and sequential when they can�t. Everything is
deeply intertwingled.
�
[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intertwingularity 

I 


J 
� jargon file 
The Jargon File maintained by Eric S. Raymond. 

Short history 
1975 to 1983 
The Jargon File (hereafter referred to as jargon-1 or �the 
File�) was begun by Raphael Finkel at Stanford in 1975. 
From this time until the plug was finally pulled on the SAIL 
computer in 1991, the File was named 
AIWORD.RF[UP,DOC] there. Some terms in it date back 
considerably earlier (frob and some senses of moby, for 
instance), go back to the Tech Model Railroad Club at mit 
and are believed to date at least back to the early 1960s. 
The revisions of jargon-1 were all unnumbered and may be 
collectively considered Version 1. In 1976, Mark Crispin, 
having seen an announcement about the File on the sail 
computer, ftp�ed a copy of the File to mit. He noticed that it 
was hardly restricted to �AI words� and so stored the file on 
his directory as AI:MRC;SAIL JARGON. However, jargon is a 
misnomer as the editors of the file have always tried to 
avoid the inclusion of strict computer jargon (technical 
terms) as opposed to slang used by hackers. The file was 
quickly renamed JARGON. The enhancements were made 
by Mark Crispin and Guy Steele. Unfortunately, amidst all 
this activity, nobody thought of correcting the term �jargon� 
to �slang� until the compendium had already become widely 
known as the Jargon File. Perhaps the term �jargon� gave 
the compendium faux seriousness. Raphael Finkel dropped 
out of active participation shortly thereafter and Don 
Woods became the sail contact for the File (which was 
subsequently kept in duplicate at sail and mit, with periodic resynchronizations). The File expanded by fits and 
starts until about 1983; Richard Stallman was prominent 
among the contributors, adding many mit and its-related 
coinages. In Spring 1981, a hacker named Charles 
Spurgeon got a large chunk of the File published in Stewart 
Brand�s Co Evolution Quarterly (issue 29, pages 26-35) with 
illustrations by Phil Wadler and Guy Steele (including a 
couple of the Crunchly cartoons). This appears to have 
been the File�s first paper publication. 

1983 to 1990 
Shortly after the publication of Steele-1983, the File effectively stopped growing and changing. Originally, this was 
due to a desire to freeze the file temporarily to facilitate the 
production of Steele-1983, but external conditions caused 
the �temporary� freeze to become permanent. The ai Lab 
culture had been hit hard in the late 1970s by funding cuts 
and the resulting administrative decision to use vendor


supported hardware and associated proprietary software 
instead of homebrew whenever possible. At mit, most AI 
work had turned to dedicated lisp Machines. At the same 
time, the commercialization of AI technology lured some of 
the ai Lab�s best and brightest away to startups along the 
Route 128 strip in Massachusetts and out West in Silicon 
Valley. The startups built lisp machines for mit; the central 
mit ai computer became a twenex system rather than a 
host for the ai hackers� beloved its. The Stanford ai Lab 
had effectively ceased to exist by 1980, although the sail 
computer continued as a Computer Science Department 
resource until 1991. Stanford became a major twenex site, 
at one point operating more than a dozen tops-20 systems; 
but by the mid-1980s most of the interesting software work 
was being done on the emerging bsd Unix standard. In 
May 1983, the pdp-10-centered cultures that had nourished 
the File were dealt a death-blow by the cancellation of the 
Jupiter project at dec. The File�s compilers, already dispersed, moved on to other things. Steele-1983 was partly a 
monument to what its authors thought was a dying tradition; no one involved realized at the time just how wide its 
influence was to be. By the mid-1980s the File�s content 
was dated, but the legend that had grown up around it 
never quite died out. The book, and soft-copies obtained off 
the arpanet, circulated even in cultures far removed from 
mit and Stanford; the content exerted a strong and continuing influence on hacker language and humor. Even as 
the advent of the microcomputer and other trends fueled a 
tremendous expansion of hackerdom, the File (and related 
materials such as the Some AI Koans in Appendix A) came 
to be seen as a sort of sacred epic, a hacker-culture Matter 
of Britain chronicling the heroic exploits of the Knights of 
the Lab. The pace of change in hackerdom at large accelerated tremendously � but the Jargon File, having passed 
from living document to icon, remained essentially untouched for seven years. 

1990 and beyond 
A new revision was begun in 1990, which contained nearly 
the entire text of a late version of jargon-1 (a few obsolete 
pdp-10-related entries were dropped after consultation with 
the editors of Steele-1983). It merged in about 80% of the 
Steele-1983 text, omitting some framing material and a 
very few entries introduced in Steele-1983 that are now 
only of historical interest. The new version cast a wider net 
than the old Jargon File; its aim was to cover not just ai or 
pdp-10 hacker culture but all the technical computing cultures wherein the true hacker-nature is manifested. More 
than half of the entries now derive from Usenet and repre


sent jargon now current in the C and Unix communities, 
but special efforts have been made to collect jargon from 
other cultures including ibm pc programmers, Amiga fans, 
Mac enthusiasts, and even the ibm mainframe world. Eric 

S. Raymond maintains the new File with assistance from 
Guy Steele, and is the credited editor of the print version, 
The New Hacker�s Dictionary. Critics lament that the new 
maintainer has added words of his own invention, developed the file counter to his own �open source� ideals, or that 
he has spoiled the Jargon File as a record of a single historically interesting culture and turned it into a generic collection of technical terms. Many hackers have become dissatisfied by his centralized control over submissions to the 
File, the allegedly questionable additions and edits he has 
made, and the removal of certain terms on the grounds of 
being dated (unusual in historical dictionary projects). He 
has also been criticised for using the Jargon File as a vehicle for promoting his own political and social opinions. 
Particular instances that attracted much attention were the 
addition of tendentious pro-Iraq War and pro-gun ownership entries. Raymond has replied to some of these concerns at the jargon.org website. 
The Jargon File Version 4.4.6 

(http://jargon.watson-net.com/
)
jf Lexica
(http://jargon.watson-net.com/jargon.asp)
[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jargon_File


� just-in-time 
Shrinking, less cumbersome and faster production processes, in a �lighter� and increasingly everyday technological 
set-up, demanding less specialized knowledge, decrease 
production time (and cost) in general. A commercial market in its turn tries to keep one step ahead of demand, ever 
faster developing new products and services, for distinct 
audiences. These developments aim at �just-in-time� delivery of (possibly customized) goods and services. Originally 
just-in-time manufacturing �is an inventory strategy implemented to improve the return on investment of a business by reducing in-process inventory and its associated costs.� 
[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-in-time 

L � launch and learn? 

� locative media 
Locative media are communication media that are bound 
86 to a location � digital media applied to physical places and 


triggering real social interactions. Mobile technologies 
such as the Global Positioning System (<gps>), laptop computers and mobile phones enable locative media, but they 
are not necessarily the goal for the development of projects 
in this field. 

�Locative media is many things: A new site for old discussions about the relationship of consciousness to place and 
other people. A framework within which to actively engage 
with, critique, and shape a rapid set of technological developments. A context within which to explore new and old 
models of communication, community and exchange. A 
name for the ambiguous shape of a rapidly deploying surveillance and control infrastructure.� (Ben Russell). 
Locative media are closely related to augmented reality, 
pervasive and ubiquitous computing. Or maybe even related to the <parallel universe>. 

Ben Russell: Transcultural Media Online Reader 
�Introduction� 
(http://locative.net/tcmreader/index.php?intro;russell) 
[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locative_media 

Some new technologies and projects: 

Node 

(http://www.nodeexplore.com)
Urban Tapestries; Public Authoring in the Wireless City
(http://urbantapestries.net)


Social Tapestries 

(http://socialtapestries.net) 

Proboscis 

(http://proboscis.org.uk/) 

Might also be related to<gps>, <Geocaching>, <Real Time>, 
<Virtual>, <Radius Loci>, Multi Authorship, 3d Walking, 
Folksonomy 

� the long tail 
�Forget squeezing millions from a few megahits at the top 
of the charts. The future of entertainment is in the millions 
of niche markets at the shallow end of the bitstream.� 
(Chris Anderson). 
The phrase The Long Tail (as a proper noun with capitalized letters) was first coined by Chris Anderson in a 2004 
article in Wired magazine to describe certain business and 
economic models such as Amazon.com or Netflix. The term 
long tail is also generally used in statistics, often applied in 
relation to wealth distributions or vocabulary use. 


The long tail is the colloquial name for a long-known feature of statistical distributions (Zipf, Power laws, Pareto 
distributions and/or general L�vy distributions ). The feature is also known as �heavy tails�, �power-law tails� or �Pareto 
tails�. Such distributions resemble the accompanying graph 

� where the long tail is the area below the right-hand part 
of the curve. 
In these distributions a high-frequency or high-amplitude 
population is followed by a low-frequency or low-amplitude 
population which gradually �tails off�. In many cases the 
infrequent or low-amplitude events can cumulatively outnumber or outweigh the initial portion of the graph, such 
that in aggregate they comprise the majority. 

Chris Anderson�s application of this principle to internet 
phenomena, drew on an influential essay by Clay Shirky, 
�Power Laws, Weblogs and Inequality� that noted that a 
relative handful of weblogs have many links going into 
them but �the long tail� of millions of weblogs have only a 
handful of links going into them. Anderson described the 
effects of the long tail on current and future business 
models. Anderson argued that products that are in low 
demand or have low sales volume can collectively make up 
a market share that rivals or exceeds the relatively few current bestsellers and blockbusters, if the store or distribution channel is large enough. Examples of such mega-stores 
include Amazon.com and Netflix. The Long Tail is a potential market and, as the examples illustrate, successfully tapping in to that long tail market is often enabled by the distribution and sales channel opportunities the internet creates. 

The Long Tail 

(http://www.thelongtail.com/
)
[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_long_tail
Clay Shirky: Power, Laws, Weblogs and Inequality:
(http://www.shirky.com/writings/powerlaw_weblog.html)
Chris Anderson: The Long Tail, Wired 12.10, October 2004
(http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html)


M 
� media literacy 
Media literacy is the skill of understanding the nature of 
communications, particularly in regard to telecommunications and mass media. The skill entails knowledge of the 
structural features of the media, and how these might tend 
to influence the content of the media. 

[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_literacy 


� media migration? 
� meme? 
� memory goggling � mind boggling? 
� metadata 
Metadata (plural) are �data about data�. For example, typical and obvious metadata for a book are its author, title, 
publisher, publishing date, isbn number; and � if the book 
is part of a library collection � its call number. 
They intend to assist in the identification, discovery, administration and assessment of information. Metadata require 
a structured, orderly system to operate in, and are usually 
subject to meticulous rules, conventions and control. In the 
distributed and non-hierarchical environment of the internet, metadata also play an important role � think about 
mime types for multimedia content. Multiplicity reigns 
there; while many professional domains have their own 
metadata standards in order to make information more 
easily exchangeable (the library world, for example, uses a 
unified metadata standard, marc, to describe books and 
make library collections mutually linkable), the world wide 
web witnesses a proliferation of commercial, governmental, non-profit and personal resources, each using their 
own specific and specialized metadata system. 
The increase in user-driven and user-generated, participatory and community-based content on the web has undermined the authoritative and �controlled� character of metadata as well. Interestingly, this has led to a more bottom-up 
approach to adding metadata (especially keywords) to 
information: free tagging (also known as mobtagging, folksonomies or ethnoclassification), where users add their 
own (uncontrolled and subjective) selection of keywords to 
content they post. 

Irrelevant tagging might lead to <Meta noise>. Problems 
with online use of metadata, according to Cory Doctorow: 

1. People lie 
2. People are lazy 
3. People are stupid 
4. Mission: Impossible � know thyself 
5. Schemas aren�t neutral 
6. Metrics influence results 
7. There�s more than one way to describe something 
[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metadata 


Cory Doctorow: Metacrap. Putting the torch to seven straw-
men of the meta-utopia. 
(http://www.well.com/~doctorow/metacrap.htm) 
� meta noise 
Meta noise refers to inaccurate or irrelevant <metadata>. 
Particularly prevalent in systems with a schema not based 
on a controlled vocabulary, i.e. Poor metadata defined by 
users in a folksonomy, resulting in a <long tail> of metadata. 
Meta noise can be reduced by using a <Collabulary>. 
Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meta_noise 
� mob tagging 
See <tagging> 
� multi-authorship? 
� mystery systems 
We don�t know what they are, perhaps you do? 
N � narrowcasting? 
� noble amateur? 
O � object hyperlinking 
The current internet does not extend beyond the electronic 
world. Object hyperlinking aims to extend the internet to 
the real world by attaching tags with URLs to tangible 
objects or locations. These tags can then be read by a wireless connected mobile device and information about 
objects and locations retrieved and displayed. 
See also: <Internet of Things>; Tags; Tag reading 
[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_internet_of_things) 
� OCR 
Optical Character Recognition (ocr) software translates a 
scanned text image into processable electronic text, neglecting font specificities. It made me realize that typ/ocr/acy is 
over, as witnessed some 48,192 times at myfont.com 
� online reading group? 
90 
� open access publishing 
Open access publishing, in the narrow sense, refers to a 
movement in scholarly publishing that promotes the open 
and free publication of scientific papers, as an alternative 
to the dominant subscription-based cost-recovery model. 


The open access movement is a direct result of the low-
cost publishing possibilities via the world wide web. It is 
now feasible to publish a scholarly article and also make it 
instantly accessible anywhere in the world where there are 
computers and internet connections. The fixed cost of producing the article is separable from the minimal marginal 
cost of the maximized online distribution. These new possibilities emerged at a time when the traditional, print-based 
scholarly journals system was in a crisis. The number of 
journals and articles produced has been increasing at a 
steady rate; however the average cost per journal has been 
rising at a rate far above inflation for decades, and budgets 
at academic libraries have remained fairly static. The result 
was decreased access - ironically, just when technology has 
made almost unlimited access a very real possibility, for the 
first time. In reaction, a movement promoting the open 
publication of scholarly papers has emerged. 

The open access movement is one of the most prominent 
fields of publishing where <open content> and alternative 
publishing models are gaining importance, due to a mix of 
technological and economical factors. 

See also: <copyright>, <intellectual property> 

� Budapest Open Access Initiative 
(http://www.ubiscribe.net/ubipod/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Mai 
n.BudapestOpenAccessInitiative). 

� Jean-Claude Gu�don: In Oldenburg�s Long Shadow: 
Librarians, Research Scientists, Publishers, and the Control 
of Scientific Publishing 
(http://www.arl.org/arl/proceedings/138/guedon.html) 

� Peter Suber: Open Access Overview 
(http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/overview.htm) 
[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_access 
� open content 
Open content, coined by analogy with <open source> describes any kind of creative work including articles, pictures, audio, and video that is published in a format that 
explicitly allows the copying of the information. 

See also: <copyright>, <intellectual property>, <open 
access publishing> 

[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_content) 

� open source 
Open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product�s sources. 
Some consider it as a philosophy, and others consider it as 


a pragmatic methodology. Before open source became 
widely adopted, developers and producers used a variety of 
phrases to describe the concept; the term open source gained popularity with the rise of the internet and its enabling 
of diverse production models, communication paths, and 
interactive communities. Subsequently, open source software became the most prominent face of open source. 

The open source model can allow for the concurrent use of 
different agendas and approaches in production, in contrast 
with more centralized models of development such as 
those typically used in commercial software companies. 

See also: <floss>, <free software> 

[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source 

P 
� parallel universe 
�Alternate Reality Game� 
An alternate reality game is a cross-media game that deliberately blurs the line between the in-game and out-ofgame experiences, often being used as a marketing tool for 
a product or service. While games may primarily be centered around online resources, often events that happen 
inside plotlines may be provided to the players in almost 
any form, some of those used have been: e-mail, websites, 
both those obviously connected with the game and those 
innocent looking � often where the bulk of the game lies, 
these sites provide puzzles in many forms, e.g. cryptography, phone calls to a player�s home, cell or work phone, 
land mail, newspaper articles or classifieds, chat/Instant 
messaging and so on � the games have been known to initiate conversation, irc channels, real world artifacts related 
to the game in play, real world events utilizing actors who 
interact with the players who attend. 

These games always have a specific goal of not only involving the player with the story and/or fictional characters 
but of connecting them to each other. Many game puzzles 
can be solved only by the collective and collaborative 
efforts of multiple players. Alternate reality games are usually earmarked by a large game-reality in the form of multiple websites, all of which take themselves as being totally 
real. In fact, sometimes it is difficult to tell if a website is 
fictional or not. These websites form the foundation of the 
game�s universe, and are usually the primary storytelling 
vehicle, although the various media listed above will be 
used as well, creating a situation where the game�s alternate reality and the real world collide. Important to alternate 
reality games is the concept of �this is not a game.� To be 


most effective, these games don�t advertise themselves as 
such, and never really admit to being a game at all. The 
mystery of what�s going on and who is behind it all is a 
major factor, as is the general thrill of discovery (one web-
site leads to another, and another, etc.) for the players. 

� <Cloudmakers>: the original group that took on The 
Beast. They are also credited with coining most of the terminology. 
� Rabbit hole: the initial page or clue that drives the player 
into the game. 
� Trail: a reference list of sites, clues and other items found 
during gameplay. 
� arg: the abbreviation for �alternate reality game�, coined 
by players of the Lockjaw game. 
� <Argonaut>: a term sometimes used by players of ARGs to 
refer to themselves. 
[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_reality_game 

� participatory media 
News media that are created and maintained in a participatory manner, by end users and/or amateurs. 
� peer-to-peer? 
� personal publishing? 
� PoD
See <print on demand>
� podcast? 
� pervasive publishing 
Ubiquitous computing, embedded in mobile and static 
objects and environments, connected in a wireless network, means infinite media outlets inviting pervasive messaging, or publishing. While for the early internet/www 
one remained tied to one�s desktop � like one was tied to 
where a telephone was hung before mobile telephony � 
today when the mobile phone network, <WiFi> internet 
and <gps> are merging, any specific publication is allowed 
to appear anywhwere at anytime, at any specific address, to 
any specific audience. 
See also: <Spam canvas> 

� print 
Print as a back-up and as an editorial notebook, to enhance 
a rich read/write experience. Hypothetically you read and 

write different from/onto paper than from/for a screen. 
Print is a different reading/writing technology/medium 
than a keyboard and screen are, these media support and 
promote different habits. Download from/release to paper 
is different from downloading from and releasing to electronic media and allows different processing. Rich read/ 
write habits are supported by, as well as provide a rich 
media menu. 

� print on demand 
Print on demand (PoD) is a publishing technology. The 
main distinguishing mark for print (or publish) on demand 
is that a copy is not created until after an order is received. 
While it is conceivable that one could print on demand 
using any printing technology (e.g. linocut or Gutenberg 
letter press), <digital printing> is so often employed that 
the terms are often used interchangeably. Contrary to 
popular belief, PoD is not a business model; many traditional small presses have replaced their traditional printing 
equipment with PoD equipment (accepting initially slightly 
higher costs for increased printing flexibility and reducing 
the warehousing costs). Print on Demand with digital technology is used as a way of publishing books to order for a 
fixed cost per copy, irrespective of the size of the order. 
Digital technology is ideally suited to publish small print 
runs of books and posters (often as a single copy) as and 
when they are needed. While the unit price of each physical book printed is higher than with offset printing, when 
setup costs are taken into account digital Print on Demand 
provides lower per unit costs for very small print runs than 
traditional printing methods. 
[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Print_on_demand 

� pro-am 
Professional amateurs (also Pro-Ams or ProAms) is a conceptual term to describe a blurring between the distinction 
of professional and amateur, within any endeavour that 
could be called professional, such as writing, sports, computer programming, music, film, etc. 
[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_amateurs 

Recently, the term Pro-Am has been used as a descriptor 
for an emerging sociological and economic trend. This has 
been described by a uk think tank, Demos, in the book The 
Pro-Am Revolution: How enthusiasts are changing our economy and society (2004), by Charles Leadbeater and Paul

94 Miller. 


[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_amateurs 
� produser 
Users of collaborative environments who engage with content interchangeably in consumptive and productive modes 
(and often in both at virtually the same time): they carry 
out �produsage�. 
Axel Bruns & Joanne Jacobs, Uses of Blogs, Peter Lang 
Publishers, 2006 (forthcoming) 
(http://snurb.info/index.php?q=node/158) 
� publishing on demand? 
� quarterly 
The magazine Co Evolution Quarterly was founded by 
Stewart Brand in 1974, with proceeds from The Whole 
Earth Catalog. It was founded, he later wrote, �to see what 
would happen if an editor were totally unleashed. I would 
print anything that kept me turning its pages.� Great magazines are known for their communities; though it rarely 
had more than 30.000 readers, the �Co Ev� had as vibrant a 
community of writers, readers and contributors as any 
magazine one can think of. 
Q 
Co Evolution Quarterly 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CoEvolution_Quarterly) 
2600: The Hacker Quarterly 
Is a quarterly American publication that specializes in 
publishing technical information on a variety of subjects 
including telephone switching systems, internet protocols 
and services, as well as general news concerning the computer 'underground' and libertarian issues. The magazine 
is published and edited by Emmanuel Goldstein. 
The Hacker Quarterly 
(http://www.2600.com/) 
The Hacker Quarterly Magazine 
(http://www.2600.com/magazine) 
[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2600_Magazine 
� rabbit hole 
The initial page or clue that drives the player into the 
game. Comes from alternate reality gaming. Argonaut � a 
term sometimes used by players of arg�s to refer to themselves. Comes from alternate reality gaming. The term has 
also an association with Rabbits. 
R 
95 


(http://www.ubiscribe.net/ubipod/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Mai 
n.ArcticBunnies). 

� Radius Loci 
Radius Loci names the reputation of a place and complements its �Genius Loci�, or �spirit of (a) place�. Radius Loci 
is a result of spreading information about a place, when a 
specific location�s reputation introduces its specific qualities beyond a direct on-site experience. / Association with 
the Genius Loci or Spirit of the place in the book G.A.S. It 
can be followed in <Famous & Less Famous Images>. 
� real time 
Sunday May 08 2006, 1066 And All That 
�Refresh: The unmediated is the immediate. The Ghost of 
Fujiama.� 
The unmediated is the immediate � Refresh an introduction: �liveness� � a term that originated in broadcasting and 
has grown to be synonymous with authenticity and a trusted reality. The live cam phenomenon can be thought of as 
a public service, or a mode of passive advertisement, or it 
may be a new type of disciplinary device to answer the 
societal & bureaucratic norms and public desire discussed. 
One may construct fictional narratives using text and fabricated images. A scenario with the aid of hired actors and 
Photoshop. None of the people from the actual location 
have to appear in the fabricated images; however, the juxtaposition of the live and the fictional could establish a provocative correspondence. The stories, which range in time 
from a single day to a week, could concentrate on subtle 
changes in behavior as a consequence of the acknowledged 
presence of the camera in the space in question: a gradual 
shift in dress style, the activities of an after-hours cleaning 
lady, a ritual of stacking paper, one person�s discreet and 
incessant ordering of take out food. Nothing shocking or 
dramatic, rather, everyday conventions � slightly modified, 
either to perform for or to hide from the camera. The flip 
side to the performative role chosen or imposed on the 
people at the live site is the role of the spectator at the 
other end. And his demand on the immediate who believes 
liveness is synonymous with the real � an object of uncritical desire for techno-extremes. This reproduced story 
requires an act of faith that what you are seeing truly is 
�live,� a faith increasingly difficult to achieve given the bag 
of technical tricks available, especially on the internet. My 
answer is the artists� desire to tease the distinctions: to 
undermine the authority of� and the �live� over mediated 
experience and to collapse the two into an indeterminate 
unity. Is it the question here: Do we need to re-mediate our 

reality in order to live? Do we need to answer your performative role at the other end of the live side with fictional 
narratives as a consequence of your uncritical desire for 
the immediate? My answer would be real-time computational performance. 

The Ghost of Fujiama Note 1 
At present, thousands of webcams exist, broadcasting live 
pictures of fish tanks, traffic conditions, vending machines, 
private bedrooms, offices� But, however varied the motives, live cam views always seem casual and lacking dramatic interest and content; they appear unmediated. Despite 
this apparent innocence, cameras are willfully positioned, 
their field of vision is carefully considered, and behavior 
within that field cannot help but anticipate the looming 
presence of the global viewer. The un-mediated is the 
immediate. For technophiles, �liveness� defines technology�s 
aspiration to simulate the real � in real-time. Lag time, 
search time, and download time � all impair real-time 
computational performance. 

The Ghost of Fuijama Note 2 
Weil man doch daran glaubt, dass Fenster die latenten 
Abbilder jener aufbewahren, die an ihnen sitzen und gesessen haben. 

Ghost of Fujiama 

(http://www3.shizuokanet.ne.jp/sinet/cam.acgi)
Webcams Collected (http://www.wildweb.de/cameras/main
frame.htm)
The Ghost of Fujama & Refresh (http://66.240.176.205/mal
loryneelyhouse/2005_05_01_archive.html)


� RFID 
Radio Frequency Identification (rfid) is an automatic identification method, relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called rfid tags or transponders. 
An rfid tag is a small object that can be attached to or 
incorporated into a product, animal, or person. rfid tags 
contain silicon chips and antennas to enable them to receive and respond to radio-frequency queries from an rfid 
transceiver. Passive tags require no internal power source, 
whereas active tags require a power source. 
[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RFID 

� RSS 
See <syndication> 

� ractor 
A popular form of entertainment in Neal Stephenson�s The 
Diamond Age are so-called ractives (interactives). There is 
little live theatre in this world any longer, but there are still 
many ractors � actors who play along in these interactive 
scenes. The audience can choose what to see, whether 
(and how) to participate, and so on. This is also part of the 
secret of the interactive Primer: a ractor narrates the story, 
which itself adapts to how the reader reacts to the material. 
� reality tv? 
S 
� schwag 
�Great Moments in Schwag History or what is Schwag?� 
The term schwag refers to all manner of logoed stuff given 
away by companies to get people to remember them, feel 
good about them, have their phone number and website at 
hand and generally make them think about them before 
any of their competitors. And studies show�. it works!! The 
original spelling is �swag� (for Stuff We All Get). A little web 
research has revealed that there is definitely a widespread 
use of the term, but no real consensus on the �correct� spelling. One site explained �schwag is what the coolest of the 
cool people say� and another site indicated it�s �called 
schwag if the item is particularly good.� Other names for 
Schwag: tchotchkes, knickknacks, trinkets, trash, gack, promotional products 

1880s 
William Wrigley Jr. hands out gum to promote his Wrigley�s 
Scouring Soap. The public responds: Screw the soap; just 
give us the gum. 

1889 

Ohio newspaper man Jasper Meek figures out how to use 
his printing presses to stamp words onto burlap. He puts 
local store names on book bags; merchants buy them to 
give away. America�s first schwag bag is born. 

1890s 
Henry Beach, Meek�s journalistic rival, decides to get even. 
He uses his printing presses to stamp letters on strips of 
wood, creating the first great piece of schwag: the imprinted flyswatter handle. 

1933 

Convicted felon Charles Ward becomes president of the failing promo product company, Brown & Bigelow. He hires 
hundreds of ex-cons, vowing to rehabilitate them. He also 


hires the nation�s best pin-up artists to draw alluring 
women on company calendars. B & B�s calendars make 
their way into 50 million homes. 

1950 

Joe Segel founds the Advertising Specialty Institute trade 
group. Asked today what prompted him to organize 
schwag, he says, �It�s a long story and your readers 
wouldn�t be interested.� Segel goes on to found the Franklin 
Mint Corp. and the qvc network. 

1951 

John Baumgarth creates a calendar featuring a nudie photo 
of a young and unknown Marilyn Monroe, with the words 
Your Advertisement Here underneath. It becomes one of 
the most sought-after pieces of schwag ever. 

1959 

Police search the purse of woman killed in Flushing, New 
York, and find a pen with a company name on it. The 
schwag leads them to the suspect: a drug company 
employee, who confesses. He took the woman to a bar 
before killing her, and gave a pen to the bartender, too. 

Late 1960s 
Synanon, a cult-like drug and alcohol rehab program, uses 
recovering drug addicts to distribute tchotchkes. 

1966 

Specialty advertising businesses show their patriotic spirit 
by donating 15,000 plastic pocket calendars to US troops 
fighting the war in Vietnam. 

1977 

Apple Computer gives out T-shirts; they become instant
collector�s items.


Early 1980s
Michael Dell floods America with free mousepads.


1990 

At the second TED conference, Richard Saul Wurman starts
the tradition of giving away teddy bears and Wizards.


Late 1990s
Yahoo! plasters its name on kazoos, yo-yos, skateboards,
and even the Zamboni ice machine used at San Jose Sharks
games.


99 


Late 1990s
Following Silicon Valley�s lead, 80 percent of corporate
America has gone casual; demand for corporate-logo polo
shirts goes through the roof.


Fall 1998
German film company Agfa requires Comdex attendees to
wear cardboard boxes as hats to qualify for prizes. No one
protests.


Early 1999
Guerrilla ad man Michael Dweck designs a silicone breast
implant paperweight as schwag for Maxim magazine. It
never gets used.


June 1999
Starbelly.com opens for business, and its founder, Brad
Keywell, brashly promises to revolutionize the business by
taking it online. The industry�s old boy network chuckles
derisively.


Fall 1999
Yo-yos are no longer enough: Volkswagen Beetles are given
away at Comdex.


January 2000
Starbelly.com is acquired for $240 million by industry lea
der Ha-Lo, and Keywell assumes the presidency of the
largest schwag company in the free world. Nobody�s laug
hing now.


January 2000
Branders.com introduces an online design studio. Now
everyone can make their own schwag!


June 2000
Schwag reaches new levels of juvenile excess at pc Expo,
with Frisbees flying overhead and everyone scrambling to
get one of those balls that lights up when you bounce it.


June 2000
One PC Expo attendee reports the sighting of a man cover
ed head to toe in schwag.


July 2000
Several units of the Tom Seaver commemorative bobble-
head doll, given out at a Mets game to honor the legendary
pitcher, find their way onto eBay; The New York Times


100 
cites this as evidence that �an on-line market can turn a 
freebie into a commodity.� 


November 2000
Recognizing the relentless appetite for booty at tech shows,
Branders.com introduces the �Grab the Swag and Scoot�
promotion at Comdex: It provide scooters �to help people
get around faster and grab more product!
�


May 2006
Ubiscribe launches Ubiscribe PoD.


Wired Magazine Issue 9.01 Jan 2001 
(http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.01/history.html)� 
Promosapien 

(http://www.promosapien.ca/Content/What%20Is%20Schw 
ag.asp) 

� self-editing?; self-organizational 
� situated software 
Situated software (a term coined by Clay Shirky) is a phenomenon in software design and production � �software 
designed in and for a particular social situation or context. 
This way of making software is in contrast with what I�ll 
call the Web School (the paradigm I learned to program 
in), where scalability, generality, and completeness were 
the key virtues.� 
Situated software has the following typical characteristics: 

� �small pieces, loosely joined� 
� designed for use by a specific social group, not for generic �users� 
� mostly not very scaleable; designed for small-scale use 
Clay Shirky, 2004 
(http://www.shirky.com/writings/situated_software.html) 

� software? 
� syndication 
A web feed is a document (often xml-based) which contains content items, often summaries of stories or weblog 
posts with web links to longer versions. Weblogs and news 
websites are common sources for web feeds, but feeds are 
also used to deliver structured information ranging from 
weather data to �top ten� lists of hit tunes. The terms 
�publishing a feed� and syndication are used to describe 
making available a feed for an information source, such as 
a blog. Like syndicated print newspaper features or broadcast programs, web feed contents may be shared and republished by other web sites. (For that reason, one popular 

definition of rss is Really Simple Syndication). The two 
main formats in which web feeds are encoded, are RSS and 
Atom. A link to a website�s feed is often indicated with a 
small, orange icon. 
[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_feed 
T � tagging 
A �folksonomy� is a collaboratively generated, open-ended 
labeling system that enables internet users to categorize 
content such as web pages, online photographs, and web 
links. The freely chosen labels � called tags � help to 
improve search engine�s effectiveness because content is 
categorized using a familiar, accessible, and shared vocabulary. The labeling process is called tagging. Two widely 
cited examples of websites using folksonomic tagging are 
Flickr and del.icio.us. 
See also: <metadata., <meta noise>, <web 2.0>. 
Synonyms for folksonomies and <tagging>: ethnoclassification, free tagging, mobtagging. 
[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folksonomy 
� ubicomp 
Ubicomp, or �ubiquitous computing� was developped at 
Xerox parc. 
U � ubiscribe 
Ubiscribe is a publishing and participatory media research 
strand and publication series which originates at the 
Design Department of the Jan van Eyck Academie Institute 
for Research and Production in the Arts, Design and Theory 
in Maastricht, The Netherlands. The project was initiated 
by Design Department Advising Researcher Jouke 
Kleerebezem, in 2003. 
� ubitext 
Ubitext is a �paper to pda� text and image digitization technology by Xerox parc � improved scanning plus <ocr>. 
The problem with the �book/print as a back-up� idea is that 
information should be able to flow back and forth between 
a printed and electronic state, in order to be able to both 
process electronically (edit, design) and in analogue ways 
(read/write, edit, design). 
102 
Xerox� UbiText 
(http://www2.parc.com/istl/projects/ubitext/) 


� user innovation 
User innovation refers to innovations developed by consumers and end users, rather than manufacturers. Eric von 
Hippel of mit discovered that most products and services 
are actually developed by users, who then give ideas to 
manufacturers. This is because products are developed to 
meet the widest possible need; when individual users face 
problems that the majority of consumers do not, they have 
no choice but to develop their own modifications to existing products, or entirely new products, to solve their 
issues. Often, user innovations will share their ideas with 
manufacturers in hopes of having them produce the product, a process called free revealing. 
See also: <pro-am> 

[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_innovation 
Eric von Hippel: Democratizing Innovation 
(http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www/books.htm) 

� versioning? V 
� virtual 
The term virtual is a concept applied in many fields with 
somewhat differing connotations, and also denotations. 
Colloquially, �virtual� (�) (means) something that is almost 
something else, particularly when used in the adverbial 
form, e.g. �He�s virtually [almost] my boyfriend.� In computing, virtual is what does not physically exist, but is made to 
appear by software. 
Numerous philosophers have advanced conceptions of the 
virtual. The current definition, that can hardly be distinguished from �potential,� originates in medieval Scolastics 
and the pseudo-Latin �virtualis.� Most prominent of these in 
contemporary philosophy has been Gilles Deleuze, who 
uses the term virtual to refer to something that every object 
carries with it, which is neither its reality nor merely what 
it could have been, but rather what it is imagined to be. 
�Virtual� is therefore taken to mean a potential state that 
could become actual. �Virtual� is not opposed to �real� but to 
�actual,� whereas �real� is opposed to �possible.� 

Recently this conception of the virtual has been challenged 
and another core meaning has been elicited (Denis 
Berthier, �Meditations on the real and the virtual� � in 
French). It is based both upon science (virtual image), 
technology (virtual world), and etymology (derivation from 
virtue � Latin virtus). At the same ontological level as �possible,� �real,� or �potential,� �virtual� is defined as that which 


is not real but displays the full qualities of the real � in a 
plainly actual � i.e. not potential � way. The prototypical 
case is a reflection in a mirror: it is already there, whether 
I am here to see it; it is not waiting for any kind of actualization. This definition allows one to understand that real 
effects can be issued from a virtual object, so that our perception of it and our whole relation to it are fully real. It 
explains that virtual reality can be used to cure phobies � 
which remains contradictory in any conception for which 
the virtual is a kind of potential. 

[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual 

W � web 2.0 

Web 1.0 Web 2.0 
Doubleclick Google Adsense 
Ofoto Flickr 
Akamai BitTorrent 
mp3.com Napster 
Britannica Online Wikipedia 
personal websites blogging 
evite upcoming.org and EVDB 
domain name speculation search engine optimization 
page views cost per click 
screen scraping web services 
publishing participation 
content management systems wikis 
directories (taxonomy) tagging (�folksonomy�) 
stickiness syndication 

Web 2.0 generally refers to a second generation of services 
available on the world wide web that lets people collaborate and share information online. In contrast to the first 
generation, web 2.0 gives users an experience closer to 
desktop applications than the traditional static web pages. 
The term was popularized by O�Reilly Media and 
MediaLive International as the name for a series of web 
development conferences that started in October 2004. Web 

2.0 applications often use a combination of techniques 
devised in the late 1990s, including public web service api�s 
(dating from 1998), Ajax (1998), and web syndication 
(1997). They often allow for mass publishing (web-based 
social software). The term may include blogs and wikis. To 
some extent web 2.0 is a buzzword, incorporating whatever 
is newly popular on the web (such as tags and podcasts), 
and its meaning is still in flux. 
Tim O�Reilly, �What is Web 2.0 
(http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/0 
104 9/30/what-is-web-20.html) 


[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web2.0 dd. 01�05�2006 

Logo collage by Ludwig Gatzke; licenced under Creative 
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 
(http://www.flickr.com/people/stabilo-boss/) 

� weblog (blog, vlog, photolog�) 
A weblog, or �blog�, is a frequently updated website consisting of dated entries arranged in reverse chronological 
order so the most recent post appears first (see temporal 
ordering). Typically, weblogs are published by individuals 
and their style is personal and informal. Weblogs first 
appeared in the mid-1990s, becoming popular as simple 
and free publishing tools became available towards the 
turn of the century. Since anybody with a net connection 
can publish their own weblog, there is great variety in the 
quality, content, and ambition of weblogs, and a weblog 
may have anywhere from a handful to tens of thousands of 
daily readers. 
Examples of the genre exist on a continuum from confessional, online diaries to logs tracking specific topics or activities through links and commentary. Though weblogs are 
primarily textual, experimentation with sound, images, and 
videos has resulted in related genres such as photoblogs, 
videoblogs, and audioblogs. 

Most weblogs use links generously, allowing readers to follow conversations between weblogs by following links 
between entries on related topics. Readers may start at any 
point of a weblog, seeing the most recent entry first, or 
arriving at an older post via a search engine or a link from 
another site, often another weblog. Once at a weblog, readers can read on in various orders: chronologically, thematically, by following links between entries or by searching 
for keywords. Weblogs also generally include a blogroll, 
which is a list of links to other weblogs the author recommends. Many weblogs allow readers to enter their own 
comments to individual posts. 

Weblogs are serial and cumulative, and readers tend to 
read small amounts at a time, returning hours, days, or 
weeks later to read entries written since their last visit. 
This serial or episodic structure is similar to that found in 
epistolary novels or diaries, but unlike these a weblog is 
open-ended, finishing only when the writer tires of writing. 

Many weblog entries are shaped as brief, independent narratives, and some are explicitly or implicitly fictional, 


though the standard genre expectation is non-fiction. Some 
weblogs create a larger frame for the micro-narratives of 
individual posts by using a consistent rule to constrain their 
structure or themes (see Oulipo), thus, Francis Strand connects his stories of life in Sweden by ending each with a 
Swedish word and its translation. Other weblogs connect 
frequent but dissimilar entries by making a larger narrative 
explicit: Flight Risk is about an heiresss escape from her 
family, The Date Project documents a young mans search 
for a girlfriend, and Julie Powell narrates her life as she 
works her way through Julia Childs cookbook. 
Jill Walker, �Weblog definition for the Routledge 
Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory�. 
(http://jilltxt.net/archives/blog_theorising/final_version_of_ 
weblog_definition.html) 

A weblog (usually shortened to blog, but occasionally spelled web log or weblog) is a web-based publication consisting primarily of periodic articles (normally in reverse 
chronological order). Although most early weblogs were 
manually updated, tools to automate the maintenance of 
such sites made them accessible to a much larger population, and the use of some sort of browser-based software is 
now a typical aspect of �blogging�. Blogs can be hosted by 
dedicated blog hosting services, or they can be run using 
blog software on regular web hosting services. Like other 
media, blogs often focus on a particular subject, such as 
food, politics, or local news. Some blogs function as online 
diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to 
other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. 

[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weblog 

� webware 
An umbrella term for web-based applications � web pages 
or websites that are no longer designed for the static, 
hypertextual presentation of content and information, but 
taking software�s paradigms to the web. When a webspace 
focuses on �doing� things rather than viewing or reading. A 
program, or even an entire operating system, within the 
window of the browser. Interestingly, the tension between 
the �purist� (content/ information + visual presentation) and 
the �dynamic� (process-based, acting and producing things 
in the browser) vision is subject to a heated, almost religious debate; web standards and the separation of content, 
design and functionality (World Wide Web Consortium) 
versus the web as an ubiquitous and flexible working environment. This transition is partly what <web 2.0> is about. 
106 


See also: World Wide Web Consortium (http://www.w3.org) 

� wifi 
Wi-Fi (also Wi-fi, Wifi, or wifi) is a brand originally licensed by the Wi-Fi Alliance to describe the underlying technology of wireless local area networks (wlan). Wi-Fi is now 
so pervasive, and the term so generic, that the brand is no 
longer protected and it appears on Webster�s dictionary. 
[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiFi 

� wiki? 
� Xanadu? X 
� zigzag Z 
Software for a new computer universe by Ted Nelson. 
�We�ve discovered a new structure for building anything � 
crossed lists in many dimensions, which we�re calling Zig 
Zag. (We�re also looking for a generic term.) Zig Zag structure may greatly simplify casual database, casual programming, user-reconfigurable sofware, and casual visualization 
(made easier by the availability of multiple dimensions). 
Zig Zag also offers some unusual visualizations and an 
interesting two-window interface for touch typists.� 
(Excerpt from Nelson�s webpage). 

�I think there�s a case for a simple and unified world, handling many thousands of small items, without application 
traps. Most people need it. So let me show you a prototype 
that implements some interesting ideas, intended to lead to 
such a new kind of simple and unified world, possibly to 
permit the unification of everything that non-computer 
people want to do with computers. This is not an application, but an environment; an environment in which you can 
do all sorts of things powerfully. But please don�t mistake 
its current appearance for what it will look like later. The 
current appearance is intended to show the simple basic 
structure of this environment. Later it can look many different ways, but always with the same consistent structure 
underneath. This consistent structure, the Zig Zag space � 
I�ll offer a different name for it later � may be thought of 
as a multidimensional generalization of rows and columns, 
without any shape or structure imposed.� �Zig Zag is software built entirely out of connections in an interesting 
space, which I call Quantum Hyperspace (though it may 
have some other mathematical name I don�t know about, 
since I stumbled upon it independently). It�s best compared 107 


to beads on a string: every cell is like a bead with many
holes, and you can put one string of any color (dimension)
through each bead. (Note that it also generalizes my 1965
design of zipper lists.)
�
(Excerpt from a talk at the first Wearable Computer
Conference, Fairfax VA, May 12�13, 1998.
)


A Gentle introduction to Ted Nelson�s Zig Zag structure
(http://www.nongnu.org/gzz/gi/gi.html)
Discussion on Zig Zag on Lambda The Ultimate Blog
(http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/node/233)
Ted Nelson�s Homepage (http://xanadu.com.au/ted/
)
zig zag (http://xanadu.com/zigzag/
)
[Wp] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Nelson


Computer Lib/Dream Machines 

This astonishingly prescient book originally written and 
published by Theodor H. Nelson in 1974 in a glorious oversized format is one of the �tap roots� of the then soon to be 
born microcomputer and �cyber� cultures. 

Computer Lib/Dream Machines 

(http://www.digibarn.com/collections/books/computer-lib/) 
Digibarn Computer Museum (http://www.digibarn.com/) 

108



Claudia Hardi 

Google Searches & Other 
Notes 

Some Anectodes, Notes and �Desperately Seeking� Stories out 
of the Practice. 

Search engines are misleadingly called search engines they 
should be called find engines or something similar, because 
most of the time you will find the information you haven�t 
known yet you were looking for. 

I�m always wondering what interesting information lurks 
behind those first 10 pages in Google. Out of curiosity, sometimes in a desparate search for (�) through the net, hunting 
an image, I have started against my usual habit to go beyond 
these 10 pages. Sometimes randomly, like page 213, 487, 526 

� something like that. A change to image search can do 
wonders as well � I often find much more interesting web-
sites through to an image as reference point than a title and 
some sort of two-liner. 
Often I have to look for images for my travelogues which are 
merely indicated by a small text about what it could be. As 
with the Anaconda Trademark logo for which I had been 
searching for ages. After I get no results with common 
means I have to start to read texts of websites which have a 
slight relation to it or might be just the tool to find another 
link, or name, for a new query. It brought me to many pages 
of trademark registers and other things. In case of the 
Anaconda Trademark I went to tons of cable companies� 
catalogues to find the desired object. (As We May Think 
Database: Anaconda Tm (General Cable Company � Mining 
Cable), travelogue 3). 

The longest trail was probably the search for the bfi logo � 
a logo of a garbage company in the usa. Since I missed the 
cultural reference by living in Europe I didn�t have a clue 
where to begin and what it would look like. I figured out that 
the company was sold twice, this information I found 
through stock information of this bfi firm. I basically had to 
follow the trail of ownership � then guessing in which states they were operating for the search of this image. The 
Browning Ferris Industries Logo is related to the Jargon File 
Entry: bfi: Which means: �Brute force and ignorance�. Also 
encountered in the variants bfmi, �brute force and massive 

109



ignorance and bfbi �brute force and bloody ignorance�. (As 
We May Think Database: Entry: Browning Ferris Industries 
(which has been bought by Allied Waste), travelogue 6). 

Monday; on Amazon.de searching for books by Stieglitz. The 
Search Engine�s results were obstinately the same lists of 
Bosch machines. Drillers and such. I have given up after a 
while. 

An exquisite list with most desired search objects will follow. 


Metadata en de essayisten 
van de toekomst 

In 1993 hield de Duitse filosoof Peter Sloterdijk een lezing 
over de essayisten van de toekomst. Hij constateerde dat een 
nieuwe ecologie van de informatie haar rechten aan het 
opeisen was, en zei: �Lineariteit blijkt een te zwak medium 
om de nieuwe wereldvorm van het vertakte en verstrengelde weten het hoofd te bieden.� Dat klinkt, 13 jaar later, overbekend. Ons beeld van kennis wordt eerder gedomineerd 
door het beeld van een verstrengeld netwerk, dan gereguleerd door de metafoor van het boek. Nieuwe media veranderen de tekst �van een tweedimensionaal weefsel in een 
driedimensionaal kluwen van verwijzingen.� Aldus Sloterdijk, die vervolgens voorspelt dat schrijvers �loodsen op de 
oceaan van kenbare en samenstelbare dingen� worden, 
�scouts in een ge�nformatiseerde wereld�. Hij noemt �rijinstructeurs in een wereld, waarvan de omvang en avontuurlijkheid nog steeds door vrijwel niemand echt wordt 
beseft.� 

Sloterdijk schreef bovenstaande regels toen het world wide 
web nog nauwelijks bestond (het leidde een nog verborgen 
bestaan, om vervolgens in 1994 dankzij de grafische browser open te bloeien onder de handen van duizenden gebruikers). Geen wonder dat niemand nog echt de omvang van 
deze omwenteling besefte. In 1993 voorspelde men, waarschuwde en droomde. Voorspellingen kloppen zelden. Neem 
die essayisten van de toekomst. Eigenlijk horen we daar nog 
maar weinig over. We horen veel meer over de bloggers, die 
dagelijks hun stukje tikken voor hun blog, die een chronologisch overzicht geeft van de schrijfsels van die ene auteur. 
De hyperteksttheoretici (waar Sloterdijk bovenstaande 
idee�n ontleende) zagen in 1993 een auteur voor zich die 
schrijvend met links zijn eigen hyperteksten samenstelde. 
Zij gingen uit van auteursgestuurde links, je zou het, woordspelerig, geautoriseerde of zelfs autoritaire links kunnen 
noemen. Dergelijke idee�n stonden aan de wieg van het 
world wide web. 

Ik rakel dit weer op omdat het web een volgend stadium lijkt 
te zijn ingegaan. Hype-bewuste zakenlieden spreken inmiddels van �web 2.0�. Kort gezegd gaat het om de �herontdekking� (want dat is het) dat het web functioneert op basis van 
participatie van, en samenwerking tussen grote groepen 

Arie Altena 

This text is also published in 
Metropolis M 2006/3. 

De hyperteksttheoretici 
zagen in 1993 een 
auteur voor zich die 
schrijvend met links 
zijn eigen hyperteksten 
samenstelde. 

111



Het informatienetwerk 
wordt niet langer door 
geautoriseerde links 
�gedragen�, maar door 
automatische links, 
gegenereerd dankzij 
ge-mobtagde metadata. 

112


gebruikers. Diensten die dat faciliteren zijn �succesvol�. 
Voorbeelden: het delen van bookmarks en foto�s; wiki�s 
waarmee verschillende mensen dezelfde inhoud online 
kunnen redigeren (denk aan wikipedia); maar ook syndicatie, het beschikbaar maken van jouw informatie voor hergebruik in andere omgevingen (denk aan rss-feeds). 

In dit �web 2.0� zijn metadata cruciaal. Data over data, zoals 
de beschrijving van een bibliotheekboek in een catalogus, 
inclusief codering en trefwoorden. Het blijkt dat een van 
bovenaf opgelegd metadatasysteem voor alle informatie op 
het web onhaalbaar en door velen ook ongewenst is. 
Mobtagging is populair geworden dankzij diensten als Flickr 
(foto�s delen) en del.icio.us (social bookmarking): iedereen 
die informatie aanbiedt voorziet deze van trefwoorden: tags. 
In plaats van taxonomie�n ontstaan er zo folksonomie�n, 
quasi zelforganiserende categoriseringen van informatie. 
Geen autoritaire archivaris zou het hebben willen geloven, 
maar het blijkt te werken � als de �massa� maar groot 
genoeg is. 

Ook bloggers doen aan mobtagging. Blogsoftware voorziet 
elke posting van een permanent adres, de naam van de 
auteur, een datum en tijd, de titel, en de door de auteur toegekende (en bedachte) categorie�n waar het bericht onder 
moet vallen. Veel nieuwere versies van de software sturen 
deze informatie mee naar een dienst als Technorati wanneer 
de posting wordt gepubliceerd. Technorati aggregeert de 
metadata, en maakt zo al miljoenen blogs doorzoekbaar. 

Daar hoeft het niet bij te blijven. Je kunt er matching engines aan koppelen die betekenisvolle verbindingen maakt, en 
zo nieuwe constellaties van data aan de lezer presenteert. 
Iedere gebruiker kan dan op basis van metadata, opgeslagen 
zoekopdrachten en automatisch bijgehouden voorkeuren, 
een eigen mix van informatie uit verschillende bronnen 
samenstellen. Het informatienetwerk wordt niet langer door 
geautoriseerde links �gedragen�, maar door automatische 
links, gegenereerd dankzij ge-mobtagde metadata. 

We kunnen overigens nog even doorgaan, want waarom zou 
het hier stoppen? Koppel er Google Earth aan en gps-co�rdinaten. Of voorzie de dingen van een unieke identificatie en 
neem ze op in het internet, met rfid (radio frequency identification tags). De wereld van de logistiek is er mee bezig, 
voor ontwerpers en ook kunstenaars is het een uitdaging 
geworden. Met reden, want het zou goed zijn om die data te 
mobtaggen, en niet uitsluitend van rijkswege van een stem-
pel te voorzien. 


En die essayist van de toekomst? De situatie is anno 2006 
tegelijk radicaler en minder radicaal dan Sloterdijk en anderen voorspelden. Radicaler omdat de eenheid van de tekst 
veel dieper is aangetast. Radicaler ook omdat teksten op veel 
meer manieren worden verbonden, en verbonden aan plekken en dingen en personen, die weer worden verbonden 
met elkaar. Alle sporen die je achterlaat kunnen worden 
gelinkt. Dat is ook een reden waarom niet iedereen even 
enthousiast is over software als Flock, een nieuwe browser 
die precies tot doel heeft om functionaliteiten te integreren 
die nu verspreid liggen over verschillende diensten, als online bloggen, foto�s delen, en social bookmarking. 

De situatie is ook minder radicaal omdat de essayist van de 
toekomst niet bezig blijkt met het zelf fabriceren van allerlei 
kluwens � dat doet iedereen als hij leest en speurt en 
browst � maar tekstjes tikt, ze van metadata voorziet en ze 
loslaat in de grote database met matching engine. Voor wie 
schrijft is de eenheid van zijn tekst niet aangetast. Wel voor 
de lezer. Maar eenmaal geschreven, van metadata voorzien 
en gepubliceerd, is de tekst is vrij, of zo u wilt: vogelvrij. Ze 
wordt op haar beurt door andere ge�ndexeerd, van meer 
metadata voorzien, en al die data wordt weer verwerkt en 
gematcht door machines. De geautoriseerde link is niet verdwenen, maar speelt een minder belangrijke rol dan werd 
voorspeld. En zo tikken de essayisten van de toekomst nog 
steeds hun tekstjes en zenden deze daarna (als flessenpost?) 
de wereld in. 

Noot 

De citaten van Sloterdijk zijn afkomstig uit �Essayisme in 
onze tijd�, in Peter Sloterdijk, Mediatijd, Boom, Amsterdam, 
1999 (Duitse uitgave 1993) 

Maar eenmaal 
geschreven, van metadata voorzien en 
gepubliceerd, is de tekst 
vrij, of zo u wilt: vogelvrij. Ze wordt op haar 
beurt door anderen 
ge�ndexeerd, van meer 
metadata voorzien, en 
al die data wordt weer 
verwerkt en gematcht 
door machines. 

113



Jouke Kleerebezem 

Read/write 
Informatic License 
Garden photo: Joke Robaard 

While reading a 
summarized search 
query online provides 
good access to 
linked content, its 
automatic selection 
makes for dubious 
aforism when locked 
in a fixed format. 

114


Mining 7 years of daily operations, for a first in a series of 
paper �back-ups� confronts one not so much with the limits of 
ink and paper � they are �patient�, as a traditional Dutch saying goes. Yet a different medium demands a different edit, 
and content can be jumpy. While reading a summarized 
search query online provides good access to linked content, 
its automatic selection makes for dubious aforism when locked in a fixed format. 

NQPaOFU issues 1-96 search shows 112 occurences for �weblog�, 70 for �personal publishing�, 23 for �biography� and 9 for 
�documented life�. 87 for �garden�, 72 for �studio�. 16 for 
�Margaret Wise Brown�, 20 for �Yves Klein� while 7 for �le 
vide�. 15 for �Agamben�, 32 for �Flusser�. 107 for �book�, 21 for 
�typography�, 80 for �Moulin du Merle�. 5 for �T� Bheag�. The 
site is unlocked most for �Agamben� and �T� Bheag�. 


Mining NQPaOFU 
for �personal publishing�, 
�biography� and the 
�documented life� 

Personal publishing occurence 

1. NQPaOFU 69 :: pandemonium prone, 30 April-18 May 
2003 
�PERSONAL PUBLISHING PANDEMONIUM SPECIAL 
ISSUE YOU�RE A NEIGHBOURING WEBLOG AUTHOR? 
POST TO THE PPPMONITOR AND FIND YOURSELF KNEE 
DEEP� 
�As you�ve noticed, giving the personal publishing phenomenon some proper real world attention, risks to silence its 
routines. If you�re not� 
�Information sharing, data or file sharing, personal publishing and leaving a data trail for grabs or for well thought-
out selection is common media� 

2. NQPaOFU 75, 21 August-11 September 2003 
�Then my trip to Vilnius is due in three weeks from today, 
for a week of personal publishing pandemonium field 
work. Hit the space bar. The 24/7 event� 
�[28 August 2003] personal publishing editing issues. After 
for an hour or so having intuitively clicked, departing from 
familiar publications, via� 
�publications, via some comment link, into the sheer 
abundance of the personal publishing phenomenon, I crave 
for clever organization beyond lists of� 
3. NQPaOFU 44, 10�29 July 2001 
�I have been wanting to write about the next important 
issue for the personal publishing paradigm: the abundant 
availability of tools/toys and� 
�precise. Having in the back of my mind the productional 
mode of the weblog/personal publishing, I should scale the 
use of cheap, available digital tools� 
�propaganda = most of our slogan-(busting)s. Will present 
the weblog (�personal publishing�) as definitely anti-propagandic, vis-�-vis eegee Adbusters et� 
Chronological list of 
nqpaofu.com text �anchors,� 
22 March 1998-31 December 
2005, issues 1-96 

#1 
nqp launch 
the gift of attention 
underhyping the Internet#1 
morality and reason 
VisionPlus 4 Conference, CMU 
Pittsburgh 
New York 
the one-to-one future of 
Vivian Selbo, Michael Sippey 
and QS Serafijn 
#2 
�wie het voelt mag het zeggen� 
ST(*)boretum 
underhyping the Internet#2 
multiple reality checks 
return to material culture 
�Collection of the Artist� 
#3 
DeMuseification 
Amsterdam 2.0 (emptying 
public space) 
URLification 
Dissipatio HG 
Good Gameplay at Doors 5 
#4 
The Cologne Dom Enchanting 
R�tzer, Sloterdijk, Flusser, 
Franck 
Post Governmental 
Organization 
Bank of Perfect 
Play Interface application at 
the Mondriaanstichting 
(granted) and The Estate 
Expert System (refused) 
Informational Drift 
Dave Hickey 
Pierre Bourdieu 
SoccerFest 
improvement vs. innovation 
underhyping the Internet#3-4 
Swiki! 
Gardens and Y2K escapism 
and more 
#5 
Le Moulin du Merle, Fat... 
#6 
Doing Data 
PalmPlanet! 
An Insomniac�s Dream 
Tiny Gear 
De beste vierkante meter 
prijs�per minuut! 
Remember Home? 
Airborne 
This way to the Stars 
Mocking Up 
Royal Relativist Road 
EnclavExquise 
Back and Forth 
Underhyping the Internet#5 
Victoria 
Kicking Habits 
Information Patterns, Lenses, 
Filters 
Next Morning 
Reduce Waste 
Recast Consumption 
Induce Speculation 
Expression, Communication, 
Publication

115

#7 

High Density Common Ground 
QuoteScape 
Any information can be 
calculated from public data 


(except one�s roots) 
Just-in-time van Dale 
Content is History (Style is 
Present, However) 
50th Frankfurt Book Fair 
Soft Liberation: the long 
winding road 
Driver! Follow That 
Information! 
Haiku Annotation 
Irony 
Is there a Doctor out there? 
on Alamut 
SweetBit Archeology 
Shit Happens 
The Programme is the 
Message? 
Quietude 
21C Swiki 
Speed is an Urban Myth 
Quality Speed 
Return to (and from!) 
Groningen 
Doors 5 Live 
French Encore 
Radius Loci 
#8 
Authoring Realities 
Sic Transit Gloria Mundi? 
Trust the real estate market, 
trust the banks, trust me 
Cradle to the grave? 
CCCrider: Container�Channel 
�Cruising, for Greener 
Grazing 
More green 
Mo Betta Links 
Weblog 
Tax Systems 
unlimited.nl#2: common 
ground for the petty bourgeois? 
Recasting my practice 
Palmrot? 
PageSpinner 2.1 
Doors 5 re:visited 
Golden Palm 
Understanding Aesthetics 
We�re only in it for attention 
Valuation 
Almore 
Flashback 
Been There, Done That 
Among Makers 
Zero Input 
net.folklore 
Found imagery 
1'26,4" who wants to be off 
.beat? 
Swatch the Time 
ROA: Return on/of Attention 
1999 
E-Silence 
Global, Minimal, Traditional 
Into the Light 
Future Present Past 
Winter Solstice 
All Dressed Up 
Upcoming Changes 

Doors of Perception 5: Play 
(content is history / a generation thing / fun never ages / 
make or break the rules / 
simple stories do a lot of 
good) 116#9 
We're Gone (leaving 
Amsterdam) 
IOU 
Truly Regretted Lasts 

4. NQPaOFU 2, 26 August-2 September 2001 
�personal publishing is any utterance by one person, to 
any amount of other persons, using any medium other than 
direct speech. For some print� 
�bring back my personal publishing definition to 126 characters, including spaces and interpunction. Reduce : 
waste. Before I had: Personal� 
5. NQPaOFU 58, 30 August-25 September 2002 
�Largely overlooked, whenever the weblog as a personal 
publishing genre is reviewed, is its live character, its near-
real-time daily operations and� 
�consumer only. Off-media uneventfulness is what attracts 
me in real-time personal publishing. Certainly, if the web, 
agreeably, is about� 
�around an authorability permitting exactly that�which 
clearly it isn�t. Personal publishing might well be technically do-able and affordable, still it� 
6. NQPaOFU 64, 1� 20 January 2003 
�all cultural formats: this is the purpose of the world wide 
web and personal publishing. With arguments that were 
exhausted in old media juxtaposition� 
�format would best fit my message for the museum as 
well. Of course, we got personal publishing. So I find 
myself reconsidering proposing the Van Abbe, a� 
�The documented life, living the biography, personal 
publishing with every shared file: to me read/write is the 
undeniable condition of cultural� 
7. NQPaOFU 60, 15 October-3 November 2002 
�of it to replace or at least complement it? How to go 
about to make it the personal publishing venue we would 
prefer it to be? Did we already, within� 
�to me is the state of emerging editorial diversity and 
flexibility in Personal Publishing Pandemonium times. Wild 
edit for the wild reader: the� 
8. NQPaOFU 63, 11�31 December 2002 
�early next year. One of which might be an opportunity to 
invite some personal publishing ppl over to the JvE. The 
topic is periodical publishing,� 
�proof for living space development. So in a sense that 
brings us back to personal publishing, if publishing can be 
about how we submit information into� 
9. NQPaOFU: 2000/1998�2003 
�launch-and-learn personal publishing year by year topical search NQPaOFU map essays recycle the third year 

1999/2000 23� 

�third generation personal publishing wybiwyg: the volksblog sharing the weblog over generations new jounalisms 
agent-to-agent information sharing sxsw� 

10. NQPaOFU: 2001/1998�2003 
�launch-and-learn personal publishing year by year topical search NQPaOFU map essays recycle the fourth year 
2001 38 39 40 41� 
�personal publishing pandemonium drop snow hunger lag 
ever impressive search hi, you don�t know me whatever life 
give quick Alpe des Chaux� 
11. NQPaOFU: 2003/1998�2003 
�launch-and-learn personal publishing year by year topical search NQPaOFU map essays recycle the sixth year 
2003 64 65 66� 

�personal publishing editing issues 5 years ago linked 
patronage BTW added to sitemarks local drama stemmingmakerij encore my generation� 

12. notes quotes provocations and other fair use since 1998 
�daily operations (2001) is one of my reflections on the 
web based personal publishing genre which has come up 
since the late 1990s. Also NQP is home of� 
13. NQPaOFU 47, from 11 September 2001 onwards 
�if you are into post-FTF2K, post-Ad Buster?, proto-personal-publishing design or launch-and-learn activism� 
14. NQPaOFU 55, 2�28 June 2002 
�indeed, preferably and then well dosed diario added, in a 
tradition of personal publishing, venturing into domains of 
launch-and-learn communication� 
15. NQPaOFU 61, 3�21 November 2002 
�of that symposium, and those who could not attend but 
have that wild personal publishing talent and are contemporary design savvy. Parallel to this� 
16. NQPaOFU 62, 23 November-10 December 2002 
�what if it fits all of an artist�s expression. Could web 
based personal publishing be one�s prime and preferred 
format? With conversational drift in the� 
17. NQPaOFU 66, 22 February-22 March 2003 
�the format, ambition and quality of these sites, instead of 
repeating my personal publishing mantras. Maybe my next 
truth I�ll find somewhere entirely� 
a mind is a terrible thing to 
waste 
`Mas Ars Que Dinaros' 
Reading Left to Write 
Communication Automatique: 
stay ahead of the Noise 
What's for Currency Tonight? 
Hello and Goodbye 
Le Moulin du Cincle? 
Midnight ramblings 
Time Travel Limitations 
More Mobility 
Fuel Informationalization 
Plenty visitors 
Sudden Deep Fatigue 
Long Shadows 
Tarte Tatin for Desert 
Talking 'bout my Generation 
Interference; Brain; 
Renaissance 
Space 
URLifespan.com 
Center and Periphery: Portal 
Blues?; Unplugged Supply 
Chains?; KIKO 
High Roads and By-Roads: 
Information Mobility 
A Moving Target 
Mobility is always late 
Fresh Today 
Fat Mobility 
#10 
Senses Working Overtime 
(Muscles Too) 
(installing in France; Webby 
Award for Doors) 
Reality Check 
(at the Moulin du Merle, and 
re: San Francisco) 
Tales Of Migration 
Into the Mix 
(first book and music picks) 
Routes, Rituals, Routines, 
Rules 
(building up on site) 
Daily Life as Exercise; a house 
is a house of course, of 
course, that's why it's called a 
house 
(Day 1) 
Cincl'Exquise 
(local currency) 
Daily Life, Day 2 
Le Monde Serbs Me Right 
Alo, alo? 
(What takes France Telecom?) 
Ceci n'est pas un sabbatical 
Connectivity in a cloud of dust 
(here comes France Telecom 
Consumption or Production as 
Conditions of Life and 
Communications�or, We Can't 
All Have Picasso's Profile (NPI) 
Market, Anyone? Genius, 
Anyone? 

Local Color Can Make You Go 
Blind 
Obs, color 
La France Profonde 
Monsieur Teste 
(Paul Val�ry) 
R+r on School Duty 
Mercredi, the real thing 
Old Habit 
Remedial Jeudi 
Unexpected Guest 
Bonne week-end 

117

Expression and Media Cred 
Repas Campagnard To Top It 
Off 
Don't Panic, It's Only My 
Material Expression 


9:15am-4:30pm 
(school days for R+r) 
#11 
Who wants yesterday's 
weather? 
Heavy with goodbye 
Heavy with water 
Heavy with bits 
More Speculation 
Sites of Speculation 
Le flottage � b�ches perdues 
Little Sparta revisited 
C'est toujours les autres qui 
meurent (Marcel Duchamp) 
The School is Loose; or, 
Stagnation Makes Perfect 
Crash Dummies Are Go: Habit 
vs. Pathology 
stilstand is vooruitgang 
Plus je pense plus je pense 
Learning without Progress? 
The End of Value Free? 
Eternal Return 
Gentle Art 
Up The Frequency, ISOPCSD 
Friends R+r Us 
Magical Mystery Tour 
Bureaucratics in a cloud of 
smiles 
Diuretics 
Left to ourselves again 
Brain Drain? 
New Arrivals 
More Unexpected Guests 
More Basics 
Pros and Cons of Filtering 
Vital Information 
Tannay and Avallon 
Find France Closed 
Koninginnedag 
Detox Mode 
New School 
#12 
Paris s'�veille 
Mind the Links 
Food Chain Gang 
Another Invasion for La France 
Profonde 
Nutshells make nifty 
containers 
The Owl, the Cinclus and the 
Snake: 
Wildlife Invasion at the Moulin 
I'm For Informatic License 
(Customization#1 
I'm For CryptoSustainability 
(New Market#2) 
I'm For CryptoMobility 
(New Market#1) 
I'm For Correspondence 
(Old Habit#5) 
interior/exterior correspondence 
I'm For Permanent Education 
(Old Habit#4) 
I'm For A Material World 
(Old Habit#3) 
I'm For Isolation 
(Old Habit#2) 
I'm For Unworldlyness 
(Old Habit#1) 
All The World Turned To A 
Page Again 
The Infinite Revolution Salon, 
TIRS (Fr. tir is shot) 
If you can't sight it, situate it 
Bloody #$%& ����oe� 
Gremlins!? 118Of Gardens 
Laisser Leisure 
Files 1988-1992 (1998) 
Escape into the World; Today 
Is The First Day Of The Rest 

18. notes quotes provocations and other fair use since 1998 
�daily operations (2001) is one of my reflections on the 
web based personal publishing genre which has come up 
since the late 1990s. Also NQP is home of� 
(�) 

47. NQPaOFU 74, 27 July-20 August 2003
�Within 4 years after �peterme� coined weblog to say �we
blog�, the personal publishing phenomenon has exploded
beyond the �we� of whatever community�
�Blog bulk banned the we out of the weblog. Personal
publishing has become a native internet journalistic for
mat. Fulfilling the �web-for-one� promise�
�creation and browsing must be totally integrated), now
see the light of personal publishing shine brightly. Some
like Microdoc News� Elwyn Jenkins go as�
48. NQPaOFU 26, 9�24 March 2000
�I had over the past years and have today�. Then there�s
this interest in personal publishing developing here, there,
where-ever. Also, if I�m not�
�links, probably. Some summarizing for the bigger pictu
res. Then there�s a personal publishing market developing
in NL. And Dutch language has a great�
�third generation personal publishing In third generation
personal publishing, weblogs can go four ways. (1) the
volksblog way, (2) the family estate�
49. NQPaOFU 39, 18 January-12 March 2001
�true. It was true. It will be true. In the light of the prepa
ration of my Personal Publishing Pandemonium seminar at
the Jan van Eyck Academy yet�
�personal publishing pandemonium (from THE DEVIL�S
DICTIONARY � PANDEMONIUM, n. Literally, the Place of
All the Demons. Most of them have escaped into�
�a personal publishing pandemonium re: key: read: write:
re:cursive: re:concile the documented life (journal; diary;
work; leisure; density of�
50. NQPaOFU 88, 20 July-15 August 2004
�(only?) for the occasion of her MA graduation in Editorial
Design. My personal publishing is online since 22 March
1998 and I produce hardly any paper�
�estimate is much more confidential, I would consider 
a
lot of today�s personal publishing and certainly mine autobiography. Not a product or genre, but�
�need to maximize communication volume and traffic.
Pervasive popular personal publishing is the only foundati
on for a large scale anti-mass media�

51. NQPaOFU 40, 12�29 March 2001 
�A development in personal publishing which remains 
closely true to the �integrated writing, link creation and 
browsing� which the web allows for, is� 
�Weblogging, networked personal publishing, builds a 
landscape of interests through which lead multiple, possibly competing paths. Well written, at times� 
�for March 21, but didn�t get to upload it before I left for 
NL. The personal publishing pandemonium and Hyper-
typography haunt me. Woke up at 5:38am at� 
52. NQPaOFU 70 :: pandemonium pride, 19 May-7 June 
2003 
�PERSONAL PUBLISHING PANDEMONIUM SPECIAL 
ISSUE 2 nqpaofu.com by jouke kleerebezem 70 notes, quotes, provocations and other fair� 

53. Daily Operations, the query 
�NQPaOFU is personal publishing, rather than a personal 
publication: a process, an act rather than a product. Its 
daily routine, its mixture of personal� 
�public expression since Lascaux� The meta-message of 
weblogging is that personal publishing matters. That an 
information age can only be truly open� 
�get and how we get it and who�s getting it to us. With 
NQPaOFU and other personal publishing projects, we note 
that, although as a principle not a lot� 
54. Daily Operations, the query 
�NQPaOFU is personal publishing, rather than a personal 
publication: a process, an act rather than a product. Its 
daily routine, its mixture of personal� 
�public expression since Lascaux� The meta-message of 
weblogging is that personal publishing matters. That an 
information age can only be truly open� 
�get and how we get it and who�s getting it to us. With 
NQPaOFU and other personal publishing projects, we note 
that, although as a principle not a lot� 
55. NQPaOFU 91, 2�28 November 2004 
�their anyMeta. That software impresses me a lot. It could 
make a superior personal publishing engine. I am not saying weblog here, it does not� 
56. NQPaOFU 83, 14�22 March 2004 
�this blogging would at least set the phenomenon apart 
against consistent personal publishing, domaining, building 
a memory for oneself, ones family,� 
Of Your Life 
arts.informatiques 
Formats 
Spread Thin 
Who wants yesterday's 
weather? 
#13 
Business or pleasure? 
The meat 
W words 
net.patients 
It Takes One To Know One 
Narcolepsy 
When lights went out 
Support Your Local Artist 
Let's Make Things Excellent 
Memories are made of this 
Remote control 
Beggars can't be choosers 
Sugar and Spice and 
Everything Entrepreneurial... 
Big Sleep 
Less I sleep, less I sleep 
Upload Interruptus 
Named anchors 
Faith Recap 
Dogma Recap 
I Thunk and Thunk... Couldn't 
Think Of Anything Better... 
The Informational Season 
RichLink 
Missions or Markets for 
Excellence? 
Mens Sana in Corpore Sano 
Material Worlds Apart 
Le Vide 
Count Your Blessings 
#14 
Materia Prima 
Pr�-Avis 
Purification Day 
Micro Energy: there's more 
where this came from 
Information At First Sight 
SimStupidMe 
Leave Mail On Server 
Think Presence, Think 
Ubiquity: Message in a Bottle 
yBook? 
Information Tokens 
The Poietics of Technology 
Imagine looking at your 
computer screen 

Information mummified, or 
nascent 
Lifestrokes 
Embedded weblogging 
Against Sprawling 
Urbanization 
Way French, road side, river 
side 
Le WebLog C'est Moi� 
Young URLists Cum Suis 
Agency AnyOne-to-One? 
Quatorze Juillet 
Asnan vide grenier 
68 and counting 
Have Nots, Will Fall 
Have(Not) Alphabetical 
Candygrammar Koup 
The cam that came to the box 
from a box 
Just What Is It That Makes 
Today's Art So Low On 
Information? 
#15 
Squirrel Foraging 

119

What's that spell? 

Give Me An F!
Fine With Me
A propostal
Hey, Banner Up!



Past, Present, Future 
Tempus Fugit 
Honey Happens 
It's the Time of the Season: 
DIM/DEM 
Eros Beats Chronos Big Time, 
Anytime 
my agenda differ from yours 
WYSIWYG 
(appears to be an ironic 
heading) 
Danger 
Dehumanization 
Mass Elitism 
Filter 
Source 
Love 
Control 
God's Own Attic 
Heaven, One Year Later 
Weblogability Standards 
A Propos Credits Due 
MIT time 
(NPI) 
Skill and Skull 
Nearing Zero 
Designing Use 
Materia Prima 
#16 
Life's an Automated Bitch, in 
three handsome steps 
Solidarity Spree 
BricoD�p�t, JardiLand, 
McDonald's, Sainte-
Bernadette: news from the 
cryptocastles 
Le jour de la Rentr�e 
The noble amateur and the 
bachelor 
No technology beats lunch 
a Market/not-a Market: 
'changing the way people buy' 
Clue Looby Lunch 
Preach what you practice 
Monologue Rogues 
The bachelor pattern of 
ejaculation 
Rhyme by Math of Trend 
Leave A Trail 
Rainmaker 
Follow your own path 
Greetings from Jargonia 
Gender Divide Lowest At 
InfoSeek 
IO Who? 
Privacy is no freedom 
Grounded 
Embedding vv. Embodying 
Heard It Through The 
Grapevine 
Tracking Dead Grooves 
Night Shift 
Low HTML 
extralinking 
Recycle 
Post Scriptum Operandi 
Blogbuster 
Breaking Blog News 
BTW: Ceci n'est pas une blague ('this is not a blog') 
KRK 
Don't Call Me Middle Names 
mementum.com 
Did I say 'privacy rape'? 
In order of disappearance/to 
disappear 
Dead Language New Media 
Curricular Math DL+NM=CM

120

Coming alive 
surfhysteriamerica.com 
F for Dandyism 
Squirrel Foraging 

57. rm interviewing cef, pp and jk on wl, for nu-e 
�content, the unique quality of instant read/write/linking 
of the web, personal publishing enters a new mode of cultural production and �life in the� 
�practice. There are it seems few artists who �do� them. To 
me as an artist personal publishing however is another 
example which contrasts the art world� 
�Then who says all personal publishing should be usable, 
accessible? Accessibility has nothing to do with it, as in all 
major arts. rm: one� 
58. NQPaOFU 81, 16 January-1 February 2004 
�that we do not need such an institutionalized stage when 
we have linked personal publishing and search functionality. Panintermediation is the� 
�Gillian Crampton-Smith disapproved at first sight with 
my interest in personal publishing �the more the merrier�, 
regarding 6,5 and counting billion� 
59. NQPaOFU 78, 1 November-3 December 2003 
�I�m still convinced of the conceptual integrity of one site 
fitting all, personal publishing emerging right there in the 
mix. Yet entering a service� 
�(as opposed to, and in addition to personal) publishing is 
heading anyway. Which again puts forward serious personal publishing management and� 
60. NQPaOFU 29, 16 May-13 June 2000 
�Of course I had hoped to feed my intuition that weblogs, 
personal publishing, could serve as an example of the use 
of networked media in a specific way,� 
�quantity, which demands serious research into content 
matter and style in personal publishing. If any of my readers come across or know of such research� 
61. NQPaOFU 41, 30 March-25 April 2001 
�A development in personal publishing which remains 
closely true to the �integrated writing, link creation and 
browsing� which the web allows for, is� 
�Weblogging, networked personal publishing, builds a 
landscape of interests through which lead multiple, possibly competing paths. Well written, at times� 
62. NQPaOFU 94, 1�22 February 2005 
�personal publishing conservancy Let�s pick up on this 
again. Note to self: add dates of publication to document 
heads, to show up in searches:� 
�routine, let alone standard. Which brings back another 
long topic: personal publishing conservancy. NQP on 
Google Siemens�� 

63. notes quotes provocations and other fair use anchors 
1
�third generation personal publishing wybiwyg: the volks
blog sharing the weblog over generations new jounalisms
agent-to-agent information sharing sxsw�
�personal publishing pandemonium drop snow hunger lag
ever impressive search hi, you don�t know me whatever life
give quick Alpe des Chaux�
64. notes quotes provocations and other fair use anchors 
2
�personal publishing editing issues 5 years ago linked
patronage btw added to sitemarks local drama stemming
makerij encore my generation�
�personal publishing conservancy] solid google radius loci
one step at a time out of all time slots out of all places geen
beter leven dan een�
65. NQPaOFU 25, 15 February-8 March 2000
�Fostering a genre in second generation personal publis
hing (�post home page web�), the weblog author performs 
a
�gentle art of agency�. Guiding readers�
66. NQPaOFU 71, 7�30 June 2003
�of its situatedness, while leaving it anchored in it at the
same time. The personal publishing and weblogging pro
duction thrives on the possibilities to�
67. NQPaOFU 72, 30 June-13 July 2003
�into content management, the construction of narrative,
network enhanced personal publishing and the manage
ment of estates (bodies of work, collected�
68. NQPaOFU 77, 3�20 October 2003
�Eyck I hesitate to fix its format. Originally thought of as 
a
web oriented personal publishing research, every concept
of �containing� it is naturally�
69. NQPaOFU 82, 31 January-10 March 2004
�of soap products as a canvas to spread the word. Clean
rubbing pervasive personal publishing. [20 February 2004]
dromaining Publication hick-ups�
70. moerstaal 
1
�achter mijn rug ontstaat zowaar een micromarkt voor
Nederlandstalige personal publishing beter bekend als
�blogging� (de eerste en de laatste keer dat�
#17 
Done 
Meanwhile, over at the test 
bench... 
underneath the content, it's 
the browser 
In Search of Free Man 
'Just' Free 
Rule by Preference 
myslogan.com (still available) 
The ABCs of being I, E, Uh..., 
Opinionated 
Don't be a puppy: join 
iProstitution today! 
In Search of Disappearance 
Curricular Smut 
How much does your privacy 
depend on anonymity? 
9999 
Some of the best things in life 
are off-line 
Life's an Automated Bitch, in 
three handsome steps 
#18 
Let's get lost 
Here's to the Shopkeepers 
More trouble 
Settling 
Foreign Territory 
World Animal Day 
A Mixed Bag 
Air Guitar 
Manic 
Library 
Free Lunch 
Erratic: No External Links 
QED 
Empower Men Tissues 
Truth Puppy 
Media migration 
Fact Finding 
Transfixed 1974 
Transfixed 1999 
Local or Global or Antidotal 
I DIE today 
It's official (and secret) 
Talking back to the >+ media 
Designer Conscience repeats 
itself 
First Things First 2000 
First Things First 1964 
Mission in the making 
The one-stop weblog? 
The 'a link a day' Deliverable 
Divided we blog 
make that 2 
Counter-paranoia 
fog in the valley 
underneath the content, the 
browser 
What happened? 
Old Memes Die Hard 
Competence Showdown 
(Ceci n'est pas un Mot) 
#19 
You're the dot tenant for 
chrissake 
Tufte Exposed? 
infoArcadia (soon) 

1 : attention 
Short Plea For 'Pause for a 
Cause' Complementary 
Volume or Value? 
Incantations: 1. discretion - 2. 
talking back - 3. brand or 
niche - 4-5. beyond opinion 
6. agency - 7. abundancy - 8
9. Capital/change 
121

know, trust, deal 

Quick, Blog, Follow that 
Content! 
Next bumpersticker: I Blog for 
Eternity 


More Narrowscape 
Hack my conference 
Reputation flees the blogs 
A Course is a Course, Off 
Course, Of Course 
If you'll excuse my cross-
dressing 
Female Principle 
Fact finding 
Nursery 
Finest Hour 
Repaving the beach 
Serving previous lives 
Diversity versus variety 
Connoisseurship 
Local knowledge 
Be where you are 
#20 
Remind Me Of The Wheel 
Two Years After My 
Suggestion: The Amazon 
Wishlist 
Sustained condition of 
visibility 
ablum@datatone.com 
Mort pour la France 
Make It Happen 
A propos 'city screens' and 
yesterday's rant 
Leave a Trail 
Design Urgencies between the 
Private and the Public 
Informed return to the studio 
Re: migration disclaimer 
Studio Visit 
The rearview mirror not 
bras en cire... sein en verre... 
Power to the User! 
ResistanceIsUseLess 
The User Revolution 
Information Habit 
Help I'm A Blog 
Paris at arm's length 
Medusa's Moon 
Awe 
inf0Arcadia 
Help I'm A Blog, Reprise 
Sun 
More eDom 
Hand 
Hike 
Book 
#21 
Numbers Game 
Leon Spilliaert 
Eternal Ephemera 
The Jakob Nielsen Usability 
Wing of the CHIGUI Museum 
Name your property and we'll 
set your mortgage 
.com gentrification 
The picturesque means hard 
work 
Chopping away 
Chopping John Zerzan 
WEIN 
Lucky Dip Learning (was: 
serendipity) 
Drawing epinions' ettention 
Gaining Reverse Speed 
Snail Delicatessen (non food 
entry) 
Flash Mobility Reflection 
GOGI 
Met, Read, Had 
Notes to self 
Mobility Check 
Some Updates 122Courtesy Lake Effect 
If you can't beat them 
Go with the fix 
Early 
Bug or Feature? 

Biography occurence 

1. NQPaOFU 49, 26 November-26 December 2001
�Half-heartedly some terminals are placed in an informa
tion area, where a short biography is hung on the walls,
like Ilja Repin�s in this case. No true�
�data saturated everyday, there�s some same old informa
tion (the terminals and biography) while any information
that increases the value of a visit,
�
�the picturesque is a different story alltogether. The recor
ded life is the new biography. Against linear time: beat it.
18 December 2001�
2. NQPaOFU 42, 26 April-31 May 2001
�What if the �auto� in �autobiography� would mean the bio
graphy to write itself, to be written by itself? Then the
�autos�, its integrity, would not be a�
3. rm interviewing cef, pp and jk on wl, for nu-
e
�What always interested me is the notion of an active bio
graphy: as graphein the bios �writing the life� while it is
being lived. I started NQP also�
4. NQPaOFU: 2003/1998�2003
�biography are you receiving me? woordkraam publish or
pulverize excuse my freedom: politics of mass destruction
zen and the art of chainsaw�
5. NQPaOFU 34, 19 September-3 October 2000
�if contemporary themes provide no relativization of the
personal, of the biography, of the commitment imperative
and a must-link-the-outside-world�
6. notes quotes provocations and other fair use anchors 
2
�live the biography 8 July 2002, 8-10 July 2002, 08:15
12:45am July 10, from 08:46am the problems of �image�
near-none � one receptive eye all it�
�biography are you receiving me? woordkraam publish or
pulverize excuse my freedom: politics of mass destruction
zen and the art of chainsaw�
7. NQPaOFU 55, 2�28 June 2002
�Death. Against infinity, against connectivity, against line
arity: live the biography. re: read, repeat K., I., P.�s stories
are at one hand�
8. NQPaOFU: 2002/1998�2003
�live the biography 8 July 2002, 8�10 July 2002, 08:15
12:45am July 10, from 08:46am the problems of �image�
near-none � one receptive eye all it�

9. NQPaOFU 35, 3 October-5 November 2000
�Bio texting: bio testing. - (�) the most satisfactory bio
graphy emerges from a collection of intentions, which
include not only critical examination,
�
�(from: Self and society: biography and autobiography in
Bah�Ւ literature) I have written more than thirty-five
NQPAOFUs and I keep writing them because�
�having finished the mwb biography on the train, which
left my heart rather clickity clink, having successfully
shopped in Paris and Rotterdam for 2 Quo�
10. NQPaOFU 56, 30 June-27 July 2002
�live the biography 8 July 2002, 8�10 July 2002
08:15�12:45am The TER regional train, throughout its car
riages including the�
11. NQPaOFU 68, 5�30 April 2003
�[April 2003 | biography �Es hat Mich immer gest�hrt das
Man die Lebensdauer vom Menschen objektiv mist in
Jahrzehnten, Jahren, Monaten. Ich glaube�
�I listen to Vil�m Flusser�s Die Eigene Biografie. He propo
ses to write a biography in terms of intensity of experience
� but against biologically�
�poses the question admittedly he has no suggestion as on
how to �write� such a biography, because to measure expe
rience remains an impossible task. He�
12. drechtlog dotcom
jouke kleerebezem�s moerstaal etc.
�have it weave a web of its own use over its lifetime,
watch it live its own biography, tracked by surveying par
ties, users, amateurs, see it speak for�
13. NQPaOFU 44, 10�29 July 2001
�Coupling media presence (�living the biography�) and
�chest-to-chest� interaction is a high priority in the
play/education discussion. I personally see�
�- forge a documented life�live the biography - make it
work 24/7 and do so: - in a multi-media landscape with
multi-channel networked gear -
�
14. NQPaOFU 31, 22 July-10 August
�singularity � if humans could, that is, not be-thus in this
or that particular biography, but be only the thus, their sin
gular exteriority and their face,
�
15. NQPaOFU 39, 18 January-12 March 2001
��get a self job, re:verse priorities, write a life before its
biographies analyze paralyze you, rule being over meaning,
and fuck duck public opinion�
Landau Mobility 
Studio Visit 3: the � Horse 
Stable 
SIHI 
Round and round and round 
Re: the wheel, the car, the 
road, transportation, mobility 
#22 
December butterfly 
Home birth 
Curl, memory 
Sexy memory 
the unsexy medium 
I just like things complex 
macreborn 
Beuvron Rising 
Doors of Perception 2001-2004 
8 December 1864 
4 April 1999 
The Flowing Speech of Human 
Wisdom and the Liberty of 
Perdition 
Too High Stakes? Too 
Imperialist? Too Idealist? All of 
the Above? 
On and Off the Grid 
Mining the Spur of the Past 
inf0Arcadia summary 
Winter Mood 
Service announcements 
Instant Return to Bachelor 
Bouffe 
5 December 1899 
4 December 1899 
M for mediocre, mass, move 
over, merchandise, markets, 
models 
Don't thank it to the market 
N is for neighbouring, niche, 
nurtured, n'importe near 
3 December 1899 
Inf0Arcadia 
Us Authors Return To Haydays 
Of Self Publishing 
2 December 1899 
What's That Spell? Nap Quack 
Pup Able Opal Fox Unit... 
1 December 1899 
Hokey Pokey, Wicky Wong, 
Kalamazoo, Kamoley Kong 
note to self 
#23 
nqpaofu.com 
disclaimer 
shock 
search 
The Entertainment 
SuperHighway 
Wap-It-Up for the Next Design 
Fix 
Tufte-to-go 
Pattern Language 2.0 
Overlooked the 26-67 
character leapfrog 
AOL+TimeWarner=Y2K�berCo 
ntentInfarct 
AOL+TimeWarner=Interactive 
TV? 
So what's it gonna push out 
(of its way)? 
High Fidelity, A Blue Million 
Miles 
Recast all hope 
Gonna Mail Myself To You 
LIBO: the 'link is in Belgium' 
Observation 
Aller et Retour 
NL � GOGI

123

Breaking News (or: 'Who's 

Who in the 20C'
)
Tr�s Mellow
A quoi pensez vous?
Spring Walk



2000, innit 
More December days, waiting 
for a new agenda 
December Yellow Butterfly and 
Other Omina 
#24 
long haul 
2way to go: ahmedabad 
letters 6-12 February; in 
media agency, in media genre 
typical pre-voyage information 
bits: pols and havelis 
overhyping the Internet 
product to service shift 
eve of long haul 
Amadavar: wood or city 
mobility infarct and anti-traffic 
(more) eamesing (to follow) 
india report 
survival not caprice 
cybersuvidha 
competing cities?: contentville, Celebration, Ahmedabad, 
St.Germain-des-Bois 
shopping 
in media performance 
ownership 
slippery slope 
content, form�rough casts 
EditThisMan! 
burlesque 
mood 
content 
form 
information 
performance 
studio visits 
'not since Superman died' 
4 color theorem 
swallow or spit? 
today's clue 
iou 
the bigger bang? 
it's me 
what's happening? 
designing information 
last minute; off the grid 
division of labor 
information give-nots 
general appetite 
speed filtering? 
stubborn nonchalance 
form follows feed 
color me hungry 
memory high 
kickstart 
barcodes on the wall 
net addiction 
sound check 
#25 
a daily bundle 
slow food: snail agency 
mix and stir: egg writing 
heads or tails or spin 
nothing you ever wanted to 
know about the Internet and 
yet nagged about all the time 
the manual is the message 
on the literature 
making sense 
spring soundscape 
less harmonious vibes 
getting to know eros 
room with two views 
in and out 
the lighter blues 
webblog visits 
studio visit 12490cw 
no serial linking 
wtf encore 
connect the thoughts 
against consensus 

16. NQPaOFU 60, 15 October-3 November 2002
�communion�, equally sending, echoing and receiving, lin
king in and out, living biographies and curricula with
remote peers, participating in a�
17. NQPaOFU 61, 3�21 November 2002
�live is lived as long as it fits the format. The more I fit it
fits. Live the biography, my friends. location of worker, just
over the bridge�
18. NQPaOFU 64, 1�20 January 2003
�The documented life, living the biography, personal
publishing with every shared file: to me read/write is the
undeniable condition of cultural�
19. NQPaOFU 71, 7�30 June 2003
�an erreur 404) where Andrea B. has another opening and
book, �Metropolitan Biography�. Francine will pick me up
happy at Avignon tgv as we drive into�
20. NQPaOFU 74, 27 July-20 August 2003
�Lack of confessional blurb biography. I am still here,
please date and time stamp. Writing a lot of long sentences
in Dutch, working on Stemmingmakerij,
�
21. NQPaOFU 92, 28 November-22 December 2004
�(�an illustrated compendium of over 6,000 international
comic artists with biographies and artwork examples�
)
Ubu�s Almanac (Alfred Jarry and the�
22. NQPaOFU 6, 2�30 September 1998
�work on the Doors 5: Play website. Updating the final
programme, speakers� biographies, press service, books
and links. See you in November at Doors 5:
�
23. NQPaOFU 8, 1 December 1998�30 January 1999
�singularity � if human could, that is, not be-thus in this
or that particular biography, but be only the thus, their
singular exteriority and their�

Documented life occurrence 

�My pressing current question: what was design? 
God, it passed so quickly. 

repair 

Carriage return. The experiential gap between consumption and production may at times seem nearly closed or non 
relevant, for example in the referential weblog, in daily 
operations and journalisms, in the recorded life, yet I cannot forget about the noblesse of those expressions which 
result from prolonged solitary attention and craft, the long 
haul, attention for the sake of meditation and purification, 
as opposed to the monitoring everyday, the form follows 
functioning of our worldly selves, irreparable media life-
span. 

For the wayfarer the longest shadows. 

ftwtls is the title of one of the six milestones we commissioned to Ian Hamilton Finlay, ten years ago to contribute 
to the Allocations exhibition in Zoetermeer nl. I suppose 
his stones are still out there somewhere, in that polder 
overgrown with contemporary housing and �new nature�, 
unless they have been protected from vandalism and placed outside the everyday, in some kind of splendid isolation. Mr. Finlay never left Little Sparta, his estate in 
Scotland, where he and his loyals fight all of his battles. 
His shadows are cast in his body of work. 
(NQPaOFU 47, 11 October 2001)� 

personal journalism 
wishful thinking aloud 
leap realities here to stay 
the weblog 
designing performance 
so wtf are weblogs? 
Sim Sapiens 
more threads to gamble from 
as for the good news 
studio visit 
power to the people sims to 
the people 
future license/burning a hole 
in water 
burning a hole in sky 
burning a hole in life 
burning a hole in self 
burning a hole in retina 
agency for ever 
pay me to be me/pay me to 
be myself : attention 
leave a trail, shake it off 
I DIE for color 
information follows articulation 
re: inf0Arcadia 
form follows fiction to follow 
what goes N must come S, 
asap 
xterminator chili 
streams of consciousness 
end of nature 
streams on 
light impact 
letting go 
facing inundation 
comfort, discomfort 
touch base 
#26 
have tongues, will speak 
Languability drives the 
Contemporary Polyglot 
the mother tongue thing 
moerstaal 
March 22, 3.00am 
one picture is worth a thousand stories 
it's official 
spring 
magnitudes of memory 
ordering basics 
language unframed 
wein: what else is new 
underhyping the Internet 
past parameters 
shadowplay 
links disappearing, IDBB 
against determinism 
the world as we know it? 
one in a row: attention swings 
the territory is the voice 
shitting in the river 
what went before 
last of the neoblogisms 
spread the dung 
CMR: expanding the blogabulary, or, spell check hell 
Blog Ho! The NQPAOFU 
Blogabulary 
MEANWHILE, out there: blog 
vs. weblog, or, SpellWeb 
objectivity revisited 
journals or journalisms 
'dear blog' 
third generation personal 
publishing 
wybiwyg: the volksblog 
sharing the weblog over generations 125new jounalisms 
agent-to-agent information 
sharing 
sxsw reporting; personal 
correspondence 


rebuilding studio realities 
studio visit 
storming the reality studio 
nothing on the net today 
off-blogway 
rebuilding the earth 
back issues 
yesterday's nqpaofus 
#27 
studio visit 
moulin colour 
attention and experience 
concentration and information 
distribution and information 
information as experience, 
and vice-versa 
mass trust, everyday 
experience 
meanwhile, on the hesitant 
side of the arts 
post scriptum/postpolitical/post-critical: the new 
media left, euro-style 
post-arcadia: Bregtje van der 
Haak in Metroplis M 
infancy and history 
the destruction of experience 
art after content 
here's to you too 
clientage or correspondence? 
correspondence for correspondence's sake 
art's coming autonomy: 
purposeless re-invented 
reprise, response 
'absence de porteuse' 
to be continued 
writing between the links 
NYOD 
the simple life; re:clientage 
give me the/one/a break, for 
the better 
just one break 
the leaving song 
ready or not 
one trick format 
the manhattan pamphlet 
freedom of clientage 
'clientage' 
trespassers II 
a year later: today 
women informed me better 
than men 
trespassers w; a year ago 
today 
the narrative power 
landscape architecture: the 
oldest time based art; at the 
Narrative Power (NP) 
symposium; the narrative 
power: main topics, 
monitoring, modelling 
escaping thematization? 
no link of mine 
re: the private I 
re: the public I 
authoring: love and work 
guided by the site 
LnWI 
I (un)authored 
scrumpling up the envelope 
long boom, or slow doom 
one question, many answers 
#28 
off-web; attention 
management 
mastering material, measure, 
momentum: to taste

126

and I occasionally do search 
the web 
clock work 
the hermit and the whore 
meanwhile, abundancy 

a million thin varnish layers 
break the light 
whatever generosity 
enough is enough, now what 
sensations of generosity 
city is not the message 
the dream is in the details 
piece of blog 
not.art 
bits and pieces 
where have we been for the 
past 20 years 
new female voices 
was: ars longa vita brevis 
the proof of the pudding: 
self-help as autophagy 
running fast 
one full day, yesterday, today 
slow motion 
french discourse 
learn to change 
when enough was enough 
re: FTF2K 
more question marks, more 
relevance 
dialogue int�rieure 
interior resign 
slowly opening the shutters 
not your everyday everyday 
iconic irony 
remember 
moods 
something old, something 
new: some experience 
hypnolepsis 
follow that line 
#29 
fight natural selection 
state of shlep to the min 
estate logistics 
Dutch winter landscape; Le 
Moulin du Merle/ 
lemoulindumerle.com 
yonder; meanwhile..; 
lemoulindumerle.com; Le 
Moulin du Merle 
sic transit gloria 
Quicksilver Messenger Service 
are you dotcomfortable 
enough?; 
lemoulindumerle.com; Le 
Moulin du Merle 
In an age of information, 
communication is your only 
security 
updated; meanwhile...; Le 
Moulin du Merle 
the other url 
for the check of it; Le Moulin 
du Merle; meanwhile...; cross-
meanwhile... 
42/54; Le Moulin du Merle 
(x3) 
gender tender 
a female principle 
this morning in my dream; Le 
Moulin du Merle 
more two-faced modernization 
Another update (no 
re:design): the index to previous issues, now all on the 
nqpaofu.com server; Le 
Moulin du Merle (x3) 
a-monumental 
Has Modernism Failed?, Suzy 
Gablik (1984) 
Art & Discontent; Theory at 
the Millennium, Thomas 
McEvilley (1991); Le Moulin 
du Merle 
bag lady 
dad double sleep 
re:reading 

optical age; Le Moulin du 
Merle 
I am still Alive 
blog brevis; Le Moulin du 
Merle 
media formations what the 
blog 
freedom and privacy by 
design 
what the blog 
the day after: 
aurore 
later 
re:collections 
20C travel 
missing in action 
an ear for an ear, you're 
jinglin' baby 
clock wise 
#30 
today's secret word: 'shopuplifting' 
the gentle art of redirection 
track 
re-track 
ju, jitsu 
de:tour, re:direct 
'what happens when a new 
work of art is created is 
something that happens 
simultaneously to all the 
works of art which preceded 
it' 
'purposely leaving something 
unfinished for the play of 
imagination to complete' 
re:turn 
today's (actually last night's) 
secret word: 'Trauerarbeit' 
observations 
family liaisons 
today's secret word: 
'encyclopidiosyncracy' 
for the record; note to self 
Le Moulin du Merle 
what dotcomes around... 
Le Moulin du Merle 
meanwhile...(x3) 
start the engine 
meanwhile... 
00 knowledge 
half-way 
how do we find out about 
disaster (before it strikes): it's 
already IYBY, stupid! 
elsewhere... 
les douzes princesses 
Le Moulin du Merle 
Kitchen Think, Thunk, Thunk 
lemoulindumerle.com 
meanwhile (x3) 
Le Moulin du Merle 
micro tourism 
Euro2000 soccer 
lemoulindumerle.com 
Le Moulin du Merle; 
lemoulindumerle.com 
sensuality 
Smart Ass 
Le Moulin du Merle, WEIN 
Le Moulin du Merle 
for the record 
the industry 
new connection (was: new 
skills) 
the hardware 
the software 
the network 
the computation 
for the record 
extended aesthetics; Le 
Moulin du Merle (x2) 
preamble 

contrast 
consumer experience from 
entertainment to interaction: 
re:victimization 
strawberry keys forever 
limited functionality 
blank at CET 1:02, added the 
logo at 9:36, changed the 
underlining at 14:29, made 
and added the issue number 
image at 14:39, some re:formulations at 17:12, end of 
first day different look and feel 
at CET 00:00 and somewhat 
after (somewhat? it's flippin' 

1:32 soon, for another upload 
and Generosity's waiting...) 
NQPAOFU, the 'portal'; two-
step 
meanwhile... 
#31 
we are the bees of the 
invisible 
sentimental twists of the 
senses, or: what do you want 
to use them for today? 
to inform to know 
search rocks 
search skills 
aside: �berdairy 
Le Moulin du Merle 
horizons 
all things considered 
welcome 
thank you 
multiple outlets 
homo sapiens 2.0, or the end 
of automation 
'we' are the shopkeepers 
what do you mean: a 'link'?! 
(was: 'give me a link, will 
you?!') 
link tracks and distractions 
hip hip and more 
with all this I'm playing 
run voice run 
upstream dream 
Lot 
antidotal humanity 
without classes 
my warning 
change, the god as 
moins �a change, plus c'est 
diff�rent 
antidotal humanity 
the end of fantasy as we know 
it 
the end of fantasy as we know 
it 2 
sorry boredom foursome 
One Evolution Fits All Comfort 
family forte 
it's in the genes 
#32 
more meanwhile... 
meanwhile... 
the culture is our nature suite 
technology we'll be remembered by 
oh mylieu! au milieu 
(LEFT UNFINISHED) 
zero growth, n replication? 
From critical mass to critical 
momentum 
ruthlessly small bears on the 
road 
capital observations: space, 
money and wit, generosity, 
soep en land 
gaining space 
money and wit: call for capital 
toys 
soep en land; Le Moulin du 

Merle 
more simple instructions 
click here 
candid isolation: tomorrow's 
home made 
the manual that built Jack 
simple instructions 
pourrissement oblige, decay 
obliges 
greedy breathing man, inapt 
promoter 
right in front of our eyes 
increasing returns 
allegory 
more is less 
once just-in-time, a fairy tale 
in search of an author 
no fix media 
tale of the searching temper 
when more is less 
they lived long and happily, 
ever after information 
#33 
an experiment in living 
� la maison comme � la maison: what change? 
what experiment? 
art and part 
critic and artist: on the how 
and the whether 
The critics of this world are 
primarily concerned with the 
intricate how of reception, 
while its artists are essentially 
concerned with the obstinate 
whether of realization 
noblesse s'amuse 
the minor artist (notions of clique and publique, frame and 
fame, ego and ergo) 
the merrier game 
dear diary; attempted self-
depreciation babble 
day in a life 
compatibilit� d'humeurs; on 
talent 
out of nowhere 
see it coming out of 
somewhere 
insider web, outsider web 
mass momentum media 
fit shoe, will trip 
when all the world's a desktop 
reprinted by kind permission 
now printing 
let's assume; highlighting 
never-to-be-printed matter? 
re: the literature 
blacking out 
guided by the dark 
ce que je vois m'aveugle; ce 
en quoi je sais, cela me rend 
ignorant 
unresolved beauty; a model 
mess 
meanwhile... 
ps 
the unresolved II 
unresolved artistry 
articulation 
'simple information' 
erratica/erotics 
the unresolved 
unresolving 
#34 
closed, out, sick 
the end of context as we 
know it, part 2, OR, what else 
is new? 
Love, Hate, Capital, 
Intelligence, License, Morals, 
Isolation, Transaction, 
Imperatives, Politics, 

Articulation And Other 
Contemporary Heresies 
Vigorously Incarnating As 
Pleasing Truths In The Outside 
World... While Their 
Information Templates Are 
Still In Their Infancy And Will 
Never Handle The Traffic 
Anyway. Respect. Real. 
context built the cat 
les th�mes se r�p�tent 
may a thousand times a 
thousand contexts blossom 
more meanwhile 
more context 
meanwhile, last night 
context killed the penguin 
the fitting game 
more antidotal reading tonight 
meanwhile... 
the end of context as we 
know it, part 1 
'Those who want to be correct 
in the face of politics, all raise 
your right hand, please.' 
artistic drift never protects the 
artist from what (s)he wants, 
ever 
re-action towards new standards in life activities 
correct artistry 
otherwise 
meanwhile around the Moulin 
now playing 
urgency 
my copy 
meanwhile around the Moulin 
du Merle 
against interaction 
(automation, deus ex 
database) 
what I was hoping to write 
about 
and what I ended up writing 
retreat from the library 
clickpath convulsion 
what's holding back new lit 
order? 
still playing 
#35 
life size 
read write live bio graphy 
not a dream 
more bio reading 
if you can't: 'let the Web 
decide' 
in from the NL blitz... 

now playing all thru the pitch 
black burgundy nite 
week-end work out 
the commodity museum 
Cube in a Cube: short cut 
commodification 
re: search 
re: presence 
just-in-time 
presence 
the future 
18 October 2000, the future; 
17 October 2000 , the 
present; 16 October 2000, the 
past 
Let's unsubscribe 
pressing agency 
the past 
de vive voix 
golbew, niluom 
(followingclickpath) 
checklog in/out 
the narrative experience 
Vil�m Flusser 
from subject to project 

#36 
a long way, for a bad pen 
biff! a visit to the electronic 
frontier foundation 
days alive 
proposal 
now playing 
impact 
off, and on (not binary) 
earlier today 
busy 
now playing, and repeating 
millenium hug 
Huh!? 
elsewhere... 
getdownwiththeinboxincrowd 
nothingeverchanges 
excuse my mud 
meanwhile at the Moulin 
upon 2nd thought 
departures 
other departures 
now playing, rather loud 
mere possibility 
thank god for loneliness 
bon soir... and Holy Blog! That 
Recount Loves Me... 
now playing 
patience, patience 
psychanalyse du feu 
our crying 
Spilled Milk�twenty years later 
<hurrah a href> 
little golden book 
Hurrah! A HREF! 
More Kid Lit Links 
added value? added functionality. 
function freaks form 
meanwhile, the Moulin du 
Merle 
driven home 
return to locality 
Thank God for a place to be 
now playing 
body and spirit reunited 
situated information 
ball purchased (in a purple 
metallic shade) 
Nest 10 purchased at 
Atheneum News Center 

#37 
me and ma vica 
add location 
W alert 
add moon, add crows 
add miles, add ink 
better 
idie.net: vormgeving ontwerpen 
add water 
add snow 
overconfident, underanticipated 
WEIN 
still under the weather 
up or down, east or west? 
...and a next patient 
now playing, comfortingly, 
Kristi's present 
interesting stuff for idie.net 
meanwhile 
sick from 1:30am 
zero proof 
1 January 2001's playlist 
1 January 2001's guest list 
zero use 
zero explanation 
and a Happy New Year 
approximations 
meanwhile 
informationalization 

loooongshortnotes 
sortofshort 
notes for a short day 
write me a cross-linking 
detection robot? 
meanwhile 
then 
Clamecy 
Toucy 
Valence 
Cravant 
arslongabloglonger.com 
NQPAOFU portal 
should you not receive it 
meanwhile 
#38 
14 January 2001 
R+r Table Talk 
r Drives the Action 
R+r Take Different Directions 
16 January 2001 
Moulin du Merle at Dusk 
Winter Landscape with Car at 
Dawn 
17 January 2001 
Luc Mushroom Conserve 
18 January 2001 
Cyclamen Hardening Off 
Cyclamen Buds 
19 January 2001 
Countenance 
20 January 2001 
Clamecy Railway Station 
Village on Staircase 
#39 
attention buys voice 
personal publishing 
pandemonium 
drop snow 
hunger lag 
ever impressive search 
hi, you don't know me 
whatever life 
give quick 
Alpe des Chaux 
architecture and color 
avant garde Migros as a 
genre, new business 
complicities 
engagement 
Alpe des Chaux (was: Villars) 
s/helf help 
re: key: read: write: re:cursive: re:concile 
a propos publishing post 
scriptum 
cheap scenario 
self job 
chocolate god balancing act 
surprise performance 
extra 
s/helf 
now playing 
hallelujah! this crap is alright 
make things up, re:concile 
Mitsu, related 
find the seven differences 
one more Mitsu for the road 
pitch 'n check 
Mitsu, noon 
check, 10pm 
muddy at the moulin 
Thurigny 
easy come, easy go, 
easyEmpire 
paper trail 
tiling 
nous in the know

127

viewfinder 
mourning 
no litter 
pile order top (smallest) down 
(largest) 


#40 
daily operations and its notes 
(on weblogging) 

Add when not limited to a 
500 word fix/notes to self: 

Right or wrong: everybody
today is a �programmer,
artist, designer, editor, writer�
.
There�s clip code, clip art, clip
text, and clip identity.
Clip it, post it.
Welcome the Volksblog.


I am convinced that the
�creativity divide� is 
a
constant. With every new
�democratization� of some sort
of creative or publishing tool


� ever since the invention of 
photography � there�s both 
horror with the professional 
masters of the previous 
technology/craft as well as 
the expectancy of a �noble 
amateur� to spontaneously 
use the new technology in a 
truly original way: both hard 
headed mistakes, entertained 
by (quite) different members 
of communities �in the know�. 
An age which depends on 
information producing 
citizens (�prosumers�) however, might turn this 
productivity into privacy 
depriving slavery, or bend it 
to the benefit of education, 
radical change and whatnot 
(unlikely scenario). Case in 
point: an as of yet completely 
under-researched �interactivity; 
beyond the well documented 

�reader/author' complicity. 

Right or wrong: search is the 
navigation of choice, for web 
based publishing. 

Patterns in cross-linking 
between personal 
publications should allow 
interest based pathways to be 
brought into the landscape. 
Monitoring cross referral 
should be a function built into 
search software. 
(29 March 2001) 

quote 
beat 
Weak Bid 
everything 
what else 
open 
elsewhere, yesterday, overlooked 
louder, louder 
link to self 
quick! 
art/design panic pendulum 
meanwhile 
it's not what you think 
first thought 
another thought 
what do you think? 
thunk struck functionalism

128

and other escapes 
think again 
da house, da rules 
muddy waters 
3:00-3:43am: wake up the 

Moulin 
4:29am 
5:42am 
5:44am 
9:46am 
the local weather forecast 
alphabet/icon ratio 
meanwhile, around the Moulin 
nothing, everything, 65% 
1-10 March 2001 
#41 
the art of peace 
a propos moerstaal 
plain link (omnia related) 
D'ailleurs, c'est toujours les 
autres qui choisissent. 
was: under on the weather 
intelligent life 
show doubt self conscious 
trouble 
re: connect 
meanwhile 
playing 
stutter instruction spasm 
check this album? 
note to selves 
short lived threesome 
everything goes slow motion 
step motion 
observation 
contrast 
action 
experience 
(half-)writing 
all your abundance 
4:40-5:20am 
in the passing 
godisinabundance 
so what's for therapy today? 
visual culture 
home 
highly recommended: the age 
of recommendation, or friends 
of friends revisited 
where are they when you 
most need them 
more referral/help yourself 
my own memory 
'a nous de vous faire pr�f�rer 
le train' 
more brave new content 
the production of houses 
road trip 
ah, webcams 
brave new content 
popular request 
popular conquest 
daily operations and its notes 
meanwhile 
#42 
Madame Christiane Valet 
1949-2001 
auto 
one self per world 
center of narrative gravity 
trauma 
two of my old titles 
invisible guests 
off and on and odd 
off the grid 
remember 
and just 
meanwhile 
Enric Miralles 
day after 
...Hi, Could I Speak To Joseph 
Holtzman, Please? 
in a parallel reality, this w-e 
whatever about whatever 
(Omnia Mea in Media Est 
Suite) 
rather a post scriptum to, 
than a summary of IMO 

against thematization 
swing those relationships 
giving up mass anything, 
giving up mass edit; back to 
content 
back to signature 
back to whatever 
re: whatever 
off-whatever remarks 
what went before 
or add 
more mermen: sailing new 
seas 
worth the download 
(16thandmission.com) 
meanwhile 
facts-of-life style interrogation 
(how to get the best) 
you are the attention you 
invoke 
#43 
sensuality 
radical pruning 
les vacances 
meanwhile 
hot, hot, hotter 
publish 
side log 
whatever 
challenge 
community news 
search 
concentrate 
empty nest 
jasmine 
meanwhile at the Moulin 
MIMO (media in, media out) 
Maastricht-Rotterdam-The 
Hague-Paris-Moulin 
'promise not to link' 
you are the attention you 
invoke 
#44 
dumb writ 
to not forget 
radius loci 
possibility space 
pearl 
drechtlog dotcom 
extended play 
which reminds me... 
play pandemonium production 
langage 
children's games 
propri�t� as alternative state 
alternate reality 
congregatio de propagande 
fide (No Blogo!) 
elsewhere 
zero progress, next level 
(retro) 
'only three minutes' 
(from a state of practice) 
reverse writing 
in other words, in other notes, 
in another world 
(ancre, encre, �crire, �craser) 
enkore 
(hot ci, hot l�) 
(Katoo-san wa Furansu-go o 
hanashimasu) 
just notes 
'zero progress' 
(says or is or does) 
#45 
cleanup time 
winner 
what's eating my time, 
2:23am 
re: pandemonium 
meanwhile in the spirit of 
list(ening)s 
WMGGW 

day bed 

F.I.G.H.T. 
the 'indexable carpet' 
abbey road 
magic 
key or clock 
Hibiscus A-Z 9 August 2001 
flowering 
(synchrony: play; diachrony: 
ritual) 
play 
a killer toy 
landscape 
childhood 
replay 
service announcement 
you are the attention you 
invoke 
#46 
nous reprenons contact avec 
des possibilit�s que le destin 
n'a pas su utiliser 
you are the attention you 
invoke 
everyday anywhere 
pathology et sympathy 
on the lighter side of darker 
things 
at the breakfast table 
honey, 
just-in-dinner-time 
later: 'browse as much as you 
can eat' 
fluid flusserian 
complicated game 
unrelated observations 
126 characters 
meanwhile 
65 characters 
ephemera and clabrand new 
startd new start 
#47 
nous reprenons contact avec 
des possibilit�s que le destin 
n'a pas su utiliser 
Montr�al 24-29 October 2001: 
24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 
activism as usual? 
list slogans here, in order of 
appearance 
thursday 
early call 
I' expecting snow 
exchange rate trick that never 
fails 
caller id 
the museum restaurant and 
other little shops 
friday 
pause sant� 
saturday 
sunday 
monday 
travel as usual 
what about it 
repair issues 
meanwhile at the Moulin 
regime 
if all else fails 
for the wayfarer the longest 
shadows 
repair 
repair 
repair 
repair 
for the wayfarer the longest 
shadows 
chock 
form freaks function 
<STRIKE>momentum</STRIKE> 
on war 
grasses 

meanwhile 
19 September 
18 September 
17 September 
6 degrees of terrorism 
#48 
in lieu of misanthropy 
concentration 
what else is true? 
'wad' to 'weblog' 
top down material order on 
desk 
IMG SRC 
learn 
disagree 
add 
re: 'against articulation' 
looking into the past of my 
present 
postponed reaction 
foe sharing? 
the good, the bad and the 
opportunistic 
my house my rules 
(culture is our nature) 
(unfinished) 
design as comfortable 
commodity 
autonomadic drift 
personal transport 
10-11 November 2001 
discretion 
self is a crowd 
9 November 
home alone 
dress code 
Dr. Do-Good 
calculated risks 
#49 
sortie du mus�e 
Xmas leave 
scroll 
church 
picturesque 
record that life 
immediacy 
the generation or the genes 
raw and cooked 
moulin glac� 
woe tech 
moulin glac� 
ipso facto 
linked to from the NQPaOFU 
portal, on 14 December 2001 
relink 
unidentified 
untroubling 
scratch and live 
goodbiTunes 
repair 
shadowplay 
alles moet weg 
alles komt terug 
half a day 
fulmunate 
deplete your attention 
YAWN 
what's the frequency Jouke? 
drawing room stories 
wild talent 
#50 
the bigger mess the greater 
bless 
celebrate no evil 
SimSearch Sim Sala Bim 
routine check 
theatrum forensis provisorium 
weblag 
songs of the internal narrators 
bed encore 
rebound 
we're well into the 2000s by 
now 

Latest From The YMMV 
Headline Desk At Moulin Du 
Merle 
no house is an island 
previous floods 
#51 
doghouse placed back in 
cleaned out stable meanwhile 
spring 2002 obs 
authority 
many cities, one sentiment 
sorry politics' myopiacracy 
lighter news: Gamboree! 
3,500 pantalons au 1er �tage 
dad will do 
repas d'hiver 
zoom 
mo betta millin' 
stealing back the internet? i 
thunk all your internet still are 
belong to us... 
re: Tribal Media Bank 
ba-by come back 
all of myNL 
from 6-7 February 2002 
genius loci? radius loci 
becoming information, value 
of becoming 
50/50 
dirty finger nails 
short cuts 
2 February 2002: chant de 
l'heure 
#52 
la maison ivre 
prosumption 
bloody shame 
prosumptuously 
re: deleuzian 
sift it 
and photos 
anniversary 
unchanged light 
'you can't be serious' 
rail road blog 
contemporaneity 
splendid mediation 
splendid masturbation 
what's on a man's desktop 
palimpsest 
memory location 
m�moire du village 
l'institut 
ladder 
genre 
transit 
notes to self 
meanwhile 
weeks (do) end 
pure/impure whitewash 
#53 
one hand's band 
'nihil nisi bene' not to be 
taken for an answer 
fitting the occasions 
dog eat dog 
d�pouillement 
more gardening 
now playing 
cependant... 
tell two gardens 
queen's day 
migration 
the populist within 
little shops 
debrief recast 
milling about 
politique du pire 
les anciens 
working my way back jingling 
baby 
half a product post 
bilan 

decolonize 
now playing 
'the world as market and 
medium' 
back on the mill 
always-already moral 
I find myself 
recovered recast bit 
gadgetry elegance 
copyright, copyleft? 
#54 
meanwhile 
in front of Le Moulin du Merle 
in whatever recent past 
haecity 
routine check 
theory as fantasy 
raw trace 
route D23 in front of Le 
Moulin du Merle in whatever 
recent past 
aurore reunion 
sunday 
tomorrow 
pays d'othe 
commons in business 
unworldly 
brand new quilt, new brand 
guilt 
lawn and border 
la famille Lardeur 
more world promises 
work play browse that world 
sweet aside: negro kisses 
sweet aside 2: starling on 
miBook 
interactivity 
retro-spection, post scriptum 
graphic design and theory 
special chair 
election day NL 
election results NL 
ignotum per ignotius 
fitting the occasions 
#55 
sound map 
many births, many loves, 
many deaths 
storytelling 
re: read, repeat 
unrelated? space travel 
Tragedy of Connectivity 
#sunupsundown 
somnambulance 
splendid isolation 
travelogue 
mollet del vall�s parc revisited 
dolmens for size 
histroy the future 
copyright ex nihilo, economic 
life extension, or the future 
invests in the present 
hello and goodbye 
fair winds 

H.G. 
re: creative commons 
who's asking? 
spirit 
meanwhile 
#56 
party navigation 
overthrow 
let me try to rephrase that 
at Le Moulin du Merle young 
friends are having a ball (to 
be added to over the summer) 
the sharing business 
re-reading 
live the biography 
8 July 2002, 8-10 July 2002, 
08:15-12:45am 
July 10, from 08:46am 
the problems of 'image' 
near-none�one receptive eye 
all it needs 
near-all�one productive 
screen all it gets 
now playing 
6 July 2002 minus 3 days 
5 July 2002 minus 5 days 
les vacances sont partis 
#57 
todeu 
transitions 
NL breaks 
quinze ao�t 
tale of two kitchens, 1.0, 2.0 
orderly encore 
unrelated 
nested order 
clutter/cluster 
meanwhile 
email alert 
d�but/d�bit 
meanwhile 
meanwhile 
2 August 2002 
green archeology 
wah! 
tabletop 
more recent navigation 
#58 
les vendanges 
late breaking news 
moods within moods 
now playing 
re: everyday, r�verie day 
remote control 
field work 
no informational-cultural 
revolution 
filed work 
underhyping the Internet #8 
escape 
wish I listed 
"qu'est-ce que vous faites?" 
psq 
meanwhile 
discretion and obscenity 
('something seems to be 
covering the ad') 
aphoric forensic 
blog rot 
book marks 
another book 
another bottle 
the menu is not the territory 
sum of parts? 
meanwhile 
PS: blog soup 
fits and starts: doubt 
#59 
5 October 2002: vendanges 
4 October 2002: Elephant 
Savant 
copy-cut-cast 
type tagged 
re: home name 
data information preference 
idiosyncracy 
more anti war 
get reorganized, also in your 
name 
warning 
wysiwyg 
wein 
#60 
and back again 
fly focus 
post scriptum 
venue feeds venue 

129 

moreover 
jingle 
note to self 
anti-mobility 
not in our name 


moulin to moulin via nl 
meanwhile 
anti-obscenity 
the aegis of information 
world resonance 
representational power 
what's with this 'Society'? 
get real with information 
one world, capital mobility 
home voice 
NQPaOFU 60: Vehicle Issues 
wild edit 
#61 
wild edit 
final will 
native interactive 
speed of phos 
talking affordances 
flow back 
in camera nostalgia 
phos feed 
all things tele graphein 
shopping for ops 
ops 
home away from habit 

A. is a simple man 
extremely fittingly 
go see 2 4 fine links 
stationary 
nothing new 
theory revisited re-invested 
any discipline you like as long 
as it's useless 
note to self 
and back again 
#62 
navigation 
formatting 
Ivan Illich 1926-2002 
one step after another 
the publication that knows me 
formatting 
wildedit slides 
NL transit read 
haven 
deliverable 
world assemblage 
causality's mistakes 
theme works 
side effects 
side dish 
radius corpi 
playing in the evening 
shoulder smoulder 
Andr�e 
scitrip 
field trip 
#63 
meanwhile obs 
20 02 12 21 
have link, will browse 
home 02:08 hrs. 
scenes 
reminder 
idiorrhythmic 
see-for-yourself leverage 
la hune 
the way we screen 
'you can't be serious' 
liefdewerk oud papier 
2002-2003 
#64 
museology too 
Hesitation Muse 
museology 
fade 
screen dump 
original naivet� 130manifolded 
dirty clean dynamic 
work or what I do 
dressed in ice 
dress load 

off course, quite 
Motto 
zero choice 
the age of reference 
unique copies 
the gentler arts 
rains rise her 
other business 
�claircies 
what you read/write is what 
you get 
the nick of time 
#65 
geestgrond (sandy soil along 
the foot of the dunes) 
just in links out 
meanwhile 
underhyping the Internet 
more water stain'd 
different rubs for different 
hubs 
...and volume 
today 
rubbing 
use less waste less 
tic toc 
jo jo 
heardy-geardy 
everyday humors 
two humors 
you can be serious, ease 
mistaken 
the rest of us 
work encore 
context en core 
conservancy and innovation 
attachment 
populus 
filtering 
if/then so/what what/else 
what/the... and/and: the half-
model 
#66 
latest additions 
moerstaal 
it just so happens 
notes 
articulation 
5 err 
repertoire 
meanwhile drawing strike 
throughs and striking through 
<STRIKE></STRIKE> 
homesick 
two good links, just because 
wonder wander 
Kunstformen 
a break 
super power? 
#67beta 
burning energy on that garden 
extreme publishing editing 
momentum 
Excuse my Nethertongue 
semi semence 
spring clean 
mayflower march 
Excuse my Dutch 
de hyper-link, referentie, 
nevenschikking 
naar het heilloze 
Excuse my Freedom: War 
Spam 
de moestuin 
Excuse my Freedom: Release 
moerstaal, woordkraam, 
talenknobbelop 
Excuse my Freedom: Shock 
and Awe 
kijk nu eens wat je gedaan 
hebt 
wie het weet mag het voor 
zich houden 

#68 
que tient 
late last night past and future 
uncertainties 
�criture 
recreant, maar nu even niet 
quoi pr�f�rer 
testing the waters 
iwi and wiwi: i+w 
biography 
are you receiving me? 
woordkraam 
publish or pulverize 
excuse my freedom: politics of 
mass destruction 
zen and the art of chainsaw 
maintenance 
burning energy on that garden 
#69 
wild edit 
18 May local colour: the way I 
screen 
17 May local colour: transit 
7x7 
sortie 
01Tunes 
16 May local colour 
before you know 
publishing horizons 
opening screens 
home away from home 
go get 
8 May local colour: water 
stain'd 
data trails 
7 May local colour 
flash concentration 
6 May local colour 
inside stories. and a call to 
contribute expanded weblogs 
5 May local colour 
the 01 publication 
que tient 
#70 
the invisible man 
urgency 
no legit no mo 
the way we script classicdeadlanguagespeakoriginal 
quarantaine.html 
for contrast 
in the garden 
in the garden old media 
#71 
fruits 
community 
doodle feel fodder deal free 
doll y0all 
June GOGI 
grasses 
solstice; then: love and kinship, eros, father and son, 
also in L�vinas 
20 June local colour; re: focus 
fournir le fossoir 
festival 
r�veries 
readiness 
14 June local colour: 
nethertongue 
wine in a bottle for jk 
focus 
respect 
#72 
shoot me to the moon 
telos or tool 
insomnia in media omnia 
summer sale 
local colour: connectivity 
a forward falling shouldn't turn 
you me down 
Arles, Arl�sienne 
heading south 

finality horizons 
never stop discotheque never 
stop 
go with the flow finality 
currant attention 
local colour: summer reds and 
blacks 
fruits 
#73 
off-white 
hopelessly in love song 
re: cultural intelligence 
a local paler blue 
ogle me! 01ogleU 
"post-biographical identity" 
�criture 
sՎcrire 
Rolf is ten 
stare, store 
local fatigue 
stareware � unfinished bites 
slow dive 
local colour: situated slowth 
quatorze juillet 
night fire 
shoot me to the moon 
#74 
whatblog 
you're googlin' baby! 
domaining 
cooling 
stemmingmakerij 
lokale stemmingmakerij 
one trick weblog 
local warming 
the irremediable narrative 
(unfinished) 
time and again 
50 more like that 
local colour and song 
feed your head 
you can't be serious 
trickle time 
singularity minus 3 
sleepless 
private, public, common, 
place, practice 
off-white slide 
#75 
full moon 
reprise 
pause, rentr�e 
fondness 
local color 
power outage 
personal publishing editing 
issues 
5 years ago 
linked patronage 
BTW added to sitemarks 
local drama 
stemmingmakerij encore 
my generation 
boys shtick 
revenue talks 
chevesne large 
#76 
negative space 
additional information 
getting organized 
situated color 
fountain o' youth vv. sign o' 
the times 
#77 
call me sentrumental lucky 
nonchalance 
local parenting ahead 
ascension 
a common conscience 
local parenting ahead 
real time life time 
local parenting ahead 
what's in a domain name? 


local parenting ahead 
wandering 
local parenting ahead 
detour talent (for the escape 
artist) 
local parenting ahead 
matrioshka 
local parenting ahead 
media content 
eerie-culture 
198001Harvest 
#78 
iHide 
manual skill 
can do will do 
household foothold 
local color 
Bang-a-lore 
to publish 
rehearsal 
living memory 
blog boogie 
Paris 
inspiring muses mass 
it's a brennivin world 
local color 
wunder-in 
book id 
local blow 
it's the network, stupid! 
read/write 
boys and girls in public 
#79 
Bangalore-Kovalam, India � 
to be continued, working my 
way back in time, adding at 
the bottom, including URLs for 
your convenience, so check 
again, /nqpaofu79.html being 
all India and Doors East and 
fresh karma and local color 
#80 
ubiscribe 
critical mass market 
now I find myself 
measuring local color 
...you find yourself 
dawn 
on information habit 
information habit 
local color 
vigilance 
the books, finally 
top of the head, checklist 
local color 
shuffle 
slow feed 
face value 
one new year 
local color 
pointill� 
r8 
Basilique Sainte Marie-
Madeleine de V�zelay 
traces 
meanwhile 
storyboard 
#81 
24 hour winter to spring to fall 
Uensuabscrpibe? 
sinnpause 
shut up and rec 
pan-intermediation 
the web�s I 
white bone black smoke color 
noise 
water 
ubiscribe 
#82 
(with a little help from my) 
friends of friends 
still browsing 

wtf 
Q and A HREF 
life work 
growth 
dromaining 
nested curriculum 
repas d�hiver 
enclavexquise 
F -> NL 
containers 
calm calm calm cupid stupid 
there's no premiere 
serious 
24 hour winter to spring to fall 
#83 
OLD est. 22 MARCH 1998 
SCHOOL 
charred cover 
entry moved 
mass popular spam media 
more burn 
quite unfinished entry this one 
bijtijds ontlinkt 
pervasive publishing, including 
the amazon or google way? 
e/n/f 
ecuadorize ecuador reis 
look ma, no dates 
avis au lecteur 
de VORM 
charcoal black board burn 
bric-�-bancs 
links-to-like 
altesse double 
duck stoop 
cut the feed 
#84 
before I forget 
draughtsmanship 
bazar de varzy 
shameless prideless maturity 
deep turf dig in publishing 
jan-jouke kleerebezem 
product information 
upcoming nqpaofication foyer 
good hair day 
underhyping the Internet 
informationalization sales 
recap 
help wanted 
char � banc d�essay 
funny tummy toodle-oo 
blackboard turtleback 
groove 
recto-verso 
sheikh ahmed yassin 19362004 
omnia mea in media 
OLD est. 22 MARCH 1998 
SCHOOL 
#85 
ab�c�daire des mots cl�s 
data, media, formats: materia 
prima 
conversational drift 
non-linear understanding 
notre dame de r�confort 
oordeel zelf! 
mining 
stand-up publishing 
exquisite enclave project room 
what where-and-when art is 
content management and the 
artist estate 
the �c� word 
the middle of nowhere release 
everything and the kitchen 
sink release 
extra vagance 
the schoolmeester 
moral life 
where do I live on this piece 
of paper 

#86 
slow on the update 
dummy 
what makes me think (I do)? 
horror vacui 
Ivan Illich on friendship 
object extension lessons 
the uncommon cause 
as a matter of concentration 
body intuition 
body intelligence 
local colour 
enhanced atomizability for nqp 
conversational drift 
hip hip a href! 
saving grace 
studio lite 
to be continued 
recluse 
elastik complexity 
#87 
was: dazzle shops 
wares, media, information 
was: splendid isolation 
thegoodnews 
title follow bgcolor=�ff7003� 
ordinary 
click gem 
sun up down span second helping 
new ways old things 
turn turn turn 
yard gart gierd geared 
attention digression 
local color 20040622 
sun up down span 
review this fortnight, if you 
like 
little stores revisited 
#88 
barbara letters 
dear barbara 1 
dear barbara 2 
dear barbara 3 
dear barbara 4 
dear barbara 5 
dear barbara 6 
dear barbara 7 
tonight 
150 years from now 
the wee feed wonderful web 
rain and shine 
confusedspace 
a fit of gardening 
f�tes dՎt� 
bird�s eye view 
dream of hine 
meanwhile 
d�tente 
one site fits all 
summarize 
exquisite enclave exquise 
local color 
return here 
#89 
homsik 
man gotta do what he gotta 
do 
ha agency 
moulin du merle 
tempus fugit 
how mills teach 

o tempora, o mores (�dood tij 
in nederland museumland�, 
waaronder koopt nederlandsche waar, state of emergency, including scratch id) 
message in a bottle 
unmixed bag 
shadowplay 
land links 
see 
local color Monday 16 August 
2004 
#90 
fin 
fin 
stores at exend 
read on web 
we always needed more time 
write off web 
des trous dans le temps 
de vlucht wegen 
send mail 
local colour 
just to let you know 
woordkraam 
back to what if 
theatre loyal 
state of emergency 
now playing 
NQPaOFU 1-89, 22 March 
1998-24 September 2004 
#91 
find the 7 differences of pantalune care 
d�nl jusqu�au m�lin 
splendid confusion 
d�une pierre deux boums � to 
the phramacy near you 
of course I�m concerned with 
the question of light 
museum in �coma? 
born again islam 
god is dood 
the platform is the message? 
film maker Theo van Gogh, 
1957-2004 
south 
hey joe 
#92 
new desk and couch 
moerstaal 
frottage 
graphathonic 
endless credits 
150+ words go off screen 
(while the world��s libraries 
come on?) 
anima in habitus 
ubibook 
welcome at docteur boom�s 
anima in studio 
who is looking the other way 
tap bap sha-pap 
drawing from memory in no 
particular order 
hide and seek autumn display 
#93 
free as a bird 
the importance of being becoming disorganized 
the importance of being private 
the importance of being public 
urban & adventurous Artists 
at arm�s length 
way out 
fit to print 
fit to b*** 
on annotation 
against interpretation 
onson tag 
closed 
top down 
to be continued nqp 
#94 
don�t follow leaders 
we want more 
mediatization/informatization 
yesterblog 131personal publishing conservancy] 
solid google 
radius loci one step at a time 
out of all time slots 


out of all places 
geen beter leven dan een 
goed leven 
hazy tracks home, January 31 
#95 
22 March 1998-22 March 

dachlawinengefahr 
high solitude 
curriculum 
la fabrique sensible 
#96 
authorship (and, as �critique�) 
tourist information 
social nookmarking 
splendid containment 
complementary currencies 
learning by doing 
voluntary authority and subordination 
lՎcole perdue du vrai 
vita informativa 
art and disorder 
privilege of private 

(http://nqpaofu.com/nqpaofuanchorlonglist.html and 
http://nqpaofu.com/nqpaofuanchorlonglist2.html) 

NQPaOFU 1, 22 March-8 April 
1998. See also the NQPaOFU 
issues 1-89 scrolls pixel bar 
diagram, p. 193 and the 
quote at the bottom of p. 15 

132



Of Writing and Other 
Things, a Collection of 
Quotes 

�The new media are not ways of relating us to the old �real�
world; they are the real world and they reshape what
remains of the old world at will.
�
Marshall McLuhan, Counterblast, 1969, p. 52.


�Of the alphabet, Theuth said, �this invention . . . will make
the Egyptians wiser and will improve their memories, for it
is an elixir of memory and wisdom that I have discovered�.
�
Plato, Phaedrus, 274e.


�But the king replied that writing would have just the oppo
site effect: �. . . this invention will produce forgetfulness in
the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not
practise their memory. Their trust in writing, produced by
external characters which are no part of themselves, will
discourage the use of their own memory within them. You
have invented not an elixir of memory, but of reminding; and
you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom, not true
wisdom�.
�
Plato, Phaedrus, 275a.


�Technologies are artificial, but � paradox again � artifici
ality is natural to human beings. Technology, properly inter
iorized does not degrade human life but on the contrary
enhances it.
�
Walter J. Ong, Orality and Literacy, Routledge, London,
1988, (1982), p. 82�83.


�Each new technology � new environment � is a repro
gramming of sensory life.
�
Marshall McLuhan, Counterblast, 1969 p. 33.


�Es besteht ein komplexes Feedback zwischen der Technik
und dem sie verwendenden Menschen. Ein sich �nderndes
Bewu�tsein ruft nach ver�nderter Technik, und eine ver�n
derte Technik ver�ndert das Bewu�tsein.
�
Vil�m Flusser, Die Schrift, hat Schreiben Zukunft?
,
Edition Flusser, European Photography, 2002, (1987) p. 20.


Arie Altena 


�The more you know [about technology], the higher your
level of control (and thus self-expression).
�
Rebecca Blood, The Weblog Handbook, Practical Advice on
Creating and Maintaining your Blog,
Perseus Publishing, Cambridge MA, 2002, p. 41.


�Oral cultures act and react at the same time. Phonetic cul
ture endows men with the means of repressing their feelings
and emotions when engaged in action. To act without reacting, without involvement, is the peculiar advantage of
Western literate man.
�
Marshall Mc Luhan, Understanding Media, The Extensions of
Man, Sphere Books, London, 1964, p. 96.


�Das Alphabet schreibt die gesprochene Sprache nicht nie
der, es schreibt sie auf. Es erhebt die Sprache und nimmt sie
in seinen Griff, um sie nach seinen Regeln zu ordnen. Auf
diese Weise regelt und ordnet das Alphabet auch das von der
Sprache Gemeinte: das Denken.
�
Vil�m Flusser, Die Schrift, hat Schreiben Zukunft?
,
Edition Flusser, European Photography, 2002, (1987) p. 36.


�Without writing, the literate mind would not and could not
think as it does, not only when engaged in writing but nor
mally even when it is composing its thoughts in oral form.
More than any other single invention, writing has transfor
med human consciousness.
�
Walter J. Ong, Orality and Literacy, Routledge, London,
1988, (1982), p. 78.


�Die Schrift, dieses zeilenf�rmige Aneinanderreihen von
Zeichen, macht �berhaupt erst das Geschichtsbewu�tsein
m�glich. Erst wenn man Zeilen schreibt, kan man logisch
denken, kalkulieren, kritisieren, Wissenschaft treiben, phi
losophieren � und entsprechend handeln.
�
Vil�m Flusser, Die Schrift, hat Schreiben Zukunft?
,
Edition Flusser, European Photography, 2002, (1987), p.
11/12.


�As a time-obviating, context-free mechanism, writing sepa
rates the known from the knower more definitely than the
original orally grounded manoeuver of naming does, but it
also unites the knower and the known more consciously and
more articulately. Writing is a consciousness-raising and
humanizing technology. So is print, even more, and, in its
own way, so is the computer.
�
Walter J. Ong, �Writing is a Technology That Restructures
Thought�, 1986.



�Tats�chlich geht es beim Schreiben um ein transcodieren
des Denkens, um ein �bersetzen aus den zweidimensiona
len Fl�chencodes der Bilder in die eindimensionalen
Zeilencodes, aus den kompakten und verschwommenen
Bildercodes in die distinkten und klaren Schriftcodes, aus
Vorstellungen in Begriffe, aus Szenen in Prozesse, aus
Kontexte in Texte. Das Schreiben ist eine Methode zum zerrei�en und zum Durchsichtigmachen von Vorstellungen. Je
weiter das Schreiben fortschreitet, desto tiefer dringt der
schreibende Rei�zahn in die Abgr�nde der Vorstellungen,
die in unseren Ged�chtnis lagern, um sie zu zerrei�en, zu
beschreiben, zu erkl�ren, in Begriffe umzukodieren.
�
Vil�m Flusser, Die Schrift, hat Schreiben Zukunft?
,
Edition Flusser, European Photography, 2002, (1987), p. 18.


�Separatedness of the individual, continuity of space and
time, and uniformity of codes are the prime marks of literate and civilized cultures.
�
Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, The Extensions of
Man, Sphere Books, London, 1964, p. 94.


�To be read (�) the roll had to be held with two hands. Thus,
as frescos and bas-reliefs illustrate, the impossibility of 
a
reader�s writing and reading at the same time, and thus too,
the importance of dictation. The reader was liberated by the
codex.
�
Roger Chartier, The Order of Books, Stanford UP, Stanford
CA, 1994 (1992)
.


�Physically the printed book, an extension of the visual facul
ty, intensified perspective and the fixed point of view.
�
Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, The Extensions of
Man, Sphere Books, London, 1964, p. 184.


�Socially, the typographic extension of man brought in natio
nalism, industrialism, mass markets, and universal literacy
and education.
�
Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, The Extensions of
Man, Sphere Books, London, 1964, p. 184.


�How did increased circulation of printed matter transform
forms of sociability, permit new modes of thought, and
change people�s relationship with power?
�
Roger Chartier, The Order of Books, Stanford UP, Stanford
CA, 1994 (1992)
.


�Warum und wozu schreibt man eigentlich? Die erste
Antwort lautet: Man schreibt um die in einem Ged�chtnis
gespeicherten Informationen nach den Schriftregeln zu pro



zessieren und dann die derart prozessierten Informationen 
in einem allgemeinen Dialog zu f�ttern. Man dr�ckt etwas 
aus dem Ged�chtnis ins �ffentliche.� 
Vil�m Flusser, �Schreiben f�r Elektronisches publizieren� in 
Schriften, Band I, Lob der Oberfl�chlichkeit, f�r eine 
Ph�nomenologie der Medien, Bollmann, Mannheim, 1995, p. 

102. 
�Texte sind Halbfabrikate. Ihre Zeilen eilen einem 
Schlu�punkt zu, aber �ber diesen hinaus einem Leser entgegen, von dem sie hoffen, da� er sie vollende. (�) (A)llen 
Texte (ist) gemein, da� sie ausgestreckte Arme sind, die 
hoffnungsvoll oder verzweifelt versuchen von einem anderen aufgegriffen zu werden. Das ist die Stimmung des Geste 
des Schreibens.� 
Vil�m Flusser, Die Schrift, hat Schreiben Zukunft?, 
Edition Flusser, European Photography, 2002, (1987), p. 41/42. 

�Far from being writers � founders of their own place, heirs 
of the peasants of earlier ages now working on the soil of 
language, diggers of wells and builders of houses � readers 
are travellers; they move across lands belonging to someone 
else, like nomads poaching their way across fields they did 
not write, despoiling the wealth of Egypt to enjoy it themselves. Writing accumulates, stocks up, resists time by the establishment of a place and multiplies its production through 
the expansionism of reproduction. Reading takes no measures against the erosion of time (one forgets oneself and also 
forgets), it does not keep what it acquires, or it does so poorly, and each of the places through which it passes is a repetition of the lost paradise�. 
Michel De Certeau, �Reading as Poaching� in The Practice of 
Everyday Life, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1984, 

p. 174. 
�Another �revolution in reading� concerns the style of reading. In the second half of the eighteenth century, �intensive� reading was succeeded by what has been described as 
�extensive� reading. The �intensive� reader faced a narrow 
and finite body of texts, which were read and reread, memorized and recited, heard and known by heart, transmitted 
from generation to generation. Religious texts, and above all 
the Bible in Protestant countries, were the privileged sustenance of such reading, which was powerfully imbued with 
sacredness and authority. The �extensive� reader, that of the 
Lesewut, (�) is an altogether different reader � one who 
consumes numerous and diverse print text, reading them 
with rapidity and avidity and exercising a critical activity

136 over them that spares no domain from methodical doubt.� 


Roger Chartier, The Order of Books, Stanford UP, Stanford
CA, 1994 (1992)
.


�Although since the eighteenth century, the author has play
ed the role of the regulator of the fictive, a role quite characteristic of our era of industrial and bourgeois society, of indi
vidualism and private property, still, given the historical
modifications that are taking place, it does not seem neces
sary that the author function remain constant in form, complexity, and even in existence. I think that, as our society
changes at the very moment when it is in the proces of chan
ging, the author function will disappear, and in such a man
ner that fiction and its polysemous texts will once again
function according to another mode, but still with a system
of constraint (�). All discourses, whatever their status, form,
value, and whatever the treatment to which they will be sub
jected, would then develop in the anonimity of a murmur.
�
Michel Foucault, �What is an Author�, in Essential Works of
Foucault 1954 - 1984, vol 2, Aesthetics, Penguin, London, p. 22.


�Non-things now flood our environment from all directions,
displacing things. These non-things are called �information�
.
Vilem Flusser, �The Non-Thing 1�, in The Shape of Things, 
A
Philosophy of Design, Reaktion Books, London, 1999.


�Our culture is itself a vast writing space, a complex of sym
bolic structures. Just as we write our minds, we can say that
we write the culture in which we live. And just as our cultu
re is moving from the printed book to the computer, it is also
in the final stages of the transition from a hierarchical soci
al order to what we might call a �network culture�.
�
David J Bolter, Writing Space, Storyspace Hypertext, 1992.


�Ein neues Bewu�tsein ist im Enstehen. Es hat um sich aus
zudr�cken und sich mitzuteilen, nicht alphanumerische
Codes entwickelt, und es hat die Geste des Schreibens als ein
Absurder Akt durchblickt, von dem es sich zu befreien gilt.
�
Vil�m Flusser, Die Schrift, hat Schreiben Zukunft?
,
Edition Flusser, European Photography, 2002, (1987), p. 91.


�A memex is a device in which an individual stores all his
books, records, and communications, and which is mechani
zed so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and
flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his
memory.
�
Vannevar Bush, As We May Think, 1945.


�[Die Denkart des Programmieren] ist eine profane, wert
freie Denkart. Sie ist nicht mehr mit historischen, politi-137



schen, ethischen Kategorien zu fassen. Andere, kyberneti
sche, komputierende, funktionelle Kategorien sind auf sie
anzuwenden. Deshalb ist das Programmieren nicht eigent
lich ein Schreiben zu nennen. Es ist eine Geste, in welcher
eine andere Denkart zum Ausdruck kommt als beim
Schreiben.
�
Vil�m Flusser, Die Schrift, hat Schreiben Zukunft?
,
Edition Flusser, European Photography, 2002, (1987), p. 59.


�Wholly new forms of encyclopedias will appear, ready made
with a mesh of associative trails running through them,
ready to be dropped into the memex and there amplified.
�
Vannevar Bush, As We May Think, 1945.


�[F]rontiers of a book are never clear-cut,� because �it is
caught up in a system of references to other books, other
texts, other sentences: it is a node within a network . . . [a]
network of references.
�
Michel Foucault, The Archeology of Knowledge, Routledge,
London, 1989, p. 23.


�By �hypertext� I mean non-sequential writing � text that
branches and allows choices to the reader, best read at an
interactive screen. As popularly conceived, this is a series of
text chunks connected by links which offer the reader diffe
rent pathways.
�
Ted Nelson.


�Everything is deeply intertwingled.
�
Ted Nelson.


�And if we combine the dynamic writing of the word processor with the dynamic reading of the bulletin board or textu
al database and add the interactivity of computer-assisted
instruction, then we do have a textual medium of a new
order. This new medium is the fourth great technique of wri
ting that will take its place beside the ancient papyrus roll,
the medieval codex, and the printed book.
�
David J Bolter, Writing Space, Storyspace Hypertext, 1992.


�He proposed something based on �hypertext� or �non
sequential writing� � a method of composition in which
parts of a document can be linked to parts of an entirely dif
ferent document, rather as footnotes are linked to reference
marks in a conventional book. He suggested building an
experimental hypertext �web� for the worldwide community
of physicists who used cern and its publications. (�) As 
a
concept, hypertext was old hat, dating back to the 1940s.


138 Berners-Lee�s great ideas were to make it global and make 


it useable by ordinary people.
�
John Naughton, �The Quiet Englishman�, in Spectator, 1999,
(http://molly.open.ac.uk/Personalpages/Pubs/Profiles/tbl.ht
m)


�Der Stilus ist strukturell einfacher als und funktionell komplizierter als der Pinsel. Das ist ein Merkmal des
Fortschritts: Alles wird strukturell komplexer, um funktio
nell einfacher zu werden.
�
Vil�m Flusser, Die Schrift, hat Schreiben Zukunft?
,
Edition Flusser, European Photography, 2002, (1987), p. 20.


�The substitution of screen for codex is a far more radical
transformation because it changes methods of organization,
structure, consultation, and even the appearance of the written word.
�
Roger Chartier, The Order of Books, Stanford UP, Stanford
CA, 1994 (1992)
.


�Wir werden lernen m�ssen, digital zu schreiben, falls eine
derartige Notiermethode �berhaupt noch ein Schreiben zu
nennen ist.
�
Vil�m Flusser, Die Schrift, hat Schreiben Zukunft?
,
Edition Flusser, European Photography, 2002, (1987), p. 143.


�The revolution of the electronic text will also be a revolution in reading. To read on a screen is not to read in a codex.
The electronic representation of texts completely changes
the text�s status; for the materiality of the book, it substitutes
the immateriality of texts without a unique location; against
the relations of contiguity established in the print objects, it
opposes the free composition of infinitely manipulable frag
ments; in place of the immediate apprehension of the whole
work, made visible by the object that embodies it, it introdu
ces a lengthy navigation in textual archipelagos that have
neither shores nor borders. . . . While earlier revolutions in
reading took place without changing the fundamental struc
ture of the book, such will not be the case in our own world.
The revolution that has begun is, above all, a revolution in
the media and forms that transmit the written word.
�
Roger Chartier, Forms and Meanings: Texts, Performances,
and Audiences from Codex to Computer, University of
Pennsylvania Press 1995, p. 18.


�Der k�nftige �Leser� sitzt vor dem Schirm, um die gelager
ten Informationen abzurufen. Es geht nicht mehr um ein
passives Auflesen (Aufklauben) von Informationsbrocken
entlang einer vorgeschriebene Zeile. Es geht vielmehr um
ein aktives Kn�pfen von Querverbindungen zwischen den 139



verf�gbaren Informationselementen. Es ist der �Leser�
selbst, den aus den gelagerten Informationselementen die
von ihm beabsichtigte �berhaupt erst herstellt.
�
Vil�m Flusser, Die Schrift, hat Schreiben Zukunft?
,
Edition Flusser, European Photography, 2002, (1987), p. 146.


�This all works only if each person makes links as he or she
browses, so writing, link creation and browsing must be
totally integrated�
.
Tim Berners-Lee, as quoted by Jouke Kleerebezem, quoted
on Wood S Lot,
(http://www.ncf.ca/~ek867/2001_11_01_archives.html)


�Instead of bloating the electronic book, I think it possible to
structure it in layers arranged like a pyramid. The top layer
could be a concise account of the subject, available perhaps
in paperback. The next layer could contain expanded versi
ons of different aspects of the argument, not arranged
sequentially as in a narrative, but rather as self-contained
units that feed into the topmost story. The third layer could
be composed of documentation, possibly of different kinds,
each set off by interpretative essays. A fourth layer might be
theoretical or historiographical, with selections from previous scholarship and discussions of them. A fifth layer could
be pedagogic, consisting of suggestions for classroom dis
cussion and a model syllabus. And a sixth layer could con
tain readers� reports, exchanges between the author and the
editor, and letters from readers, who could provide a gro
wing corpus of commentary as the book made its way
through different groups of readers. A new book of this kind
would elicit a new kind of reading. Some readers might be
satisfied with a study of the upper narrative. Others might
also want to read vertically, pursuing certain themes deeper
and deeper into the supporting essays and documentation.
Still others might navigate in unanticipated directions, see
king connections that suit their own interests or reworking
the material into constructions of their own. In each case,
the appropriate texts could be printed and bound according
to the specifications of the reader. The computer screen
would be used for sampling and searching, whereas concen
trated, long-term reading would take place by means of the
conventional printed book or downloaded text.
�
Robert Darnton, �The New Age of the Book�, The New York
Review of Books, 46, no. 5, 18�03�1999.
(http://www.nybooks.com/articles/546)


�From the vantage point of the current changes in information technology, Barthes�s distinction between readerly and


140 writerly texts appears to be essentially a distinction between 


text based on print technology and electronic hypertext, for 
hypertext fulfills �the goal of literary work (of literature as 
work) [which] is to make the reader no longer a consumer, 
but a producer of the text.� (Roland Barther, S/Z)�. 
George P. Landow, Hypertext, the Convergence of 
Contemporary Critical Theory and Technology, 1992, 
(http://www.cyberartsweb.org/cpace/ht/jhup/writerly.html) 

�Der alphabetische Dichter manipuliert Worte und 
Sprachregeln mittels Buchstaben, um daraus ein 
Erlebnismodell f�r andere herzustellen. Dabei ist er der 
Meinung, ein eigenes konkretes Erlebnis (Gef�hl, 
Gedanken, Wunsch) in die Sprache hineingezwungen und 
damit das Erlebnis und die durch das Erlebnis ver�nderte 
Sprache f�r andere zug�nglich gemacht zu haben. Der neue 
mit Apparate versehene und sie digital speisende Dichter 
kann nicht so naiv sein. Der wei� da� er sein Erlebnis zu 
kalkulieren hat, in Erlebnisatome zu zerlegen, um es digital 
programmieren zu k�nnen. Und bei dieser Kalkulation mu� 
er feststellen, wie sehr sein Erlebnis bereits von anderen 
vormodelliert war. Er erkennt sich nicht mehr als �Autor�, 
sonders als Permutator. Auch die Sprache die er manipuliert, erscheint ihm nicht mehr als ein sich in seinem 
Inneren anh�ufendes Rohmaterial, sondern als ein komplexes System, das zu ihm dringt, um durch ihn permutiert 
zu werden. Sein Einstellung zum Gedicht ist nicht mehr die 
des inspirierten und intuitiven Dichters, sondern die des 
Informators. Er st�tzt sich auf Theorien und dichtet nicht 
mehr empirisch.� 
Vil�m Flusser, Die Schrift, hat Schreiben Zukunft?, 
Edition Flusser, European Photography, 2002, (1987), p. 73/74. 

�Marshall McLuhan�s future has not happened. The Web, 
yes; global immersion in television, certainly; media and 
messages everywhere, of course. But the electronic age did 
not drive the printed word into extinction, as McLuhan prophesied in 1962. His vision of a new mental universe held 
together by post-printing technology now looks dated. If it 
fired imaginations thirty years ago, it does not provide a map 
for the millennium that we are about to enter. The 
�Gutenberg galaxy� still exists, and �typographic man� is 
still reading his way around it. Consider the book. It has 
extraordinary staying power. Ever since the invention of the 
codex in the third or fourth century AD, it has proven to be 
a marvelous machine � great for packaging information, 
convenient to thumb through, comfortable to curl up with, 
superb for storage, and remarkably resistant to damage. It 
does not need to be upgraded or downloaded, accessed or 
booted, plugged into circuits or extracted from webs. Its 141 


design makes it a delight to the eye. Its shape makes it a 
pleasure to hold in the hand. And its handiness has made it 
the basic tool of learning for thousands of years, even before the library of Alexandria was founded early in the fourth 
century BC.� 
Robert Darnton, �The New Age of the Book�, The New York 
Review of Books, 46, no. 5, 18�03�1999. 
(http://www.nybooks.com/articles/546) 

�However healthy the world of printed text may remain, 
more and more prose will appear on a screen because more 
and more information of all kinds will be recorded in digital 
form and expressed on a screen. This revolution has already 
happened. If we are to understand how electronic text 
works, as surely we must, we still have to begin, as has been 
the case since writing was invented, with the prose text 
itself.� 
Richard Lanham, Analyzing Prose, Continuum Books, 2005, 
(http://www.rhetoricainc.com/ap2preface.html) 

�Schreibt man auf Papier, dann ist man gezwungen, seiner 
Kreativit�t Grenzen zu setzen. (�) Man ballt seine Kreativit�t, um sie auf ein Minimum von Papier mit einem Minimum an Schriftzeichen aufzutragen. Schreibt man hingegen 
ins elektromagnetische Feld, dann wird der kreative Text 
zwar auch Zeilen bilden, aber diese Zeilen werden nicht 
meht eindeutig verlaufen. Sie sind �weich�, plastisch, manipulierbar geworden. Man kann sie zum Beispiel aufbrechen, 
Fenster in ihr �ffnen, oder man kann sie rekursiv machen. 
Die in sie eingetragenen Schlusspunkte k�nnen ebensogut 
als Ausgangspunkte angesehen werden. Ein derart 
geschriebene Text wird �dialogisch� sein, und zwar zuerst 
einmal im Sinn eines Zwiegeschpr�chs, das aus dem Innern 
des Schreibens ins Feld hinausprojiziert wird. Der Text ist 
nicht mehr, wie auf dem Papier, das Resultat eines kreatives 
Prozesses, sondern er ist selber dieser Prozess, er ist selbst ein 
Prozessieren von Informationen zu neuen Informationen.� 
Vilem Flusser, �Hinweg vom Papier�, in Medienkultur, 
Fischer, Frankfurt/Main, 1997, p. 65. 

�Today, as the information age replaces the industrial age, 
the Fordist mass production model has been replaced by one 
of individuation, personalisation, and customisation, but this 
is only a first step: from customisation follows interaction, 
from interaction follows interactivity, and from interactivity 
follows, in the right setting, intercreativity. This undermines 
the distinction between commercial producers and distributors on the one side, and consuming, passive audiences on

142 the other; participants in interactive spaces are always more 


than merely audiences, but instead are users of content;
further, if they become involved in intercreative environ
ments (as bloggers do), they also are active producers of
content.
�
Axel Bruns & Joanne Jacobs, Uses of Blogs,
Peter Lang Publishers, 2006 (forthcoming)
. 
(http://snurb.info/index.php?q=node/158)


�Diese k�nstliche St�tzen gewinnen an Bedeutung, je gr��er
die Summe der Informationen wird, welche die �Kultur�
ausmachen. Daraus folgt, da� immer weniger die Rede von
einem �einsamen Schreiben� sein kann, von einem �genia
len Autor�: Diese k�nstlichen Ged�chnisst�tzen koppeln die
individuelle Zentralnervensysteme und die daran h�ngen
den Organismen zu Ged�chtnisgruppen.
�
Vil�m Flusser, �Schreiben f�r Elektronisches publizieren� in
Schriften, Band I, Lob der Oberfl�chlichkeit, f�r eine
Ph�nomenologie der Medien, Bollmann, Mannheim, 1995,


p. 103. 
�I will stand on your eyes, your ears, your nerves, and your
brain, and the world will move in any pattern of tempo 
I
choose.
�
Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, The Extensions of
Man, Sphere Books, London, 1964, p. 80.


�A weblog is a coffeehouse conversation in text, with references as required.
�
Rebecca Blood, The Weblog Handbook, Practical Advice on
Creating and Maintaining your Blog, Perseus Publishing,
Cambridge MA, 2002, p. 1.


�Texte sind Informationen, die privat ausgearbeitet und dann
ver�ffentlicht werden. Diese Informationen werden dem
Empf�ngern im �ffentlichen Raum (in der �Republik�
)
zug�nglich. Auf diese Weise etabliert diese spezifische
Kommunikationsstruktur private R�ume, in denen Informationen hergestellt werden, und �ffentliche R�ume, wo diese
Information empfangen wird. (�) Fr�her waren die
Menschen �politisch engagiert� ob sie nun wollten oder
nicht. (�) Die Leute werden �politisch desengagiert�, weil
der �ffentliche Raum, das Forum, nutzlos wird. In diesem
Sinne wird behauptet, da� das Politische tot ist und die
Geschichte in die Nachgeschichte �bergeht, wo nichts fort
schreitet und alles blo� passiert.
�
Vil�m Flusser, �Das Politische im Zeitalter der technischen
Bilder� in Schriften, Band I, Lob der Oberfl�chlichkeit, f�r
eine Ph�nomenologie der Medien,
Bollmann, Mannheim, 1995, p. 238/240.



�I suppose there are only three motivations for maintaining
one [a weblog]: information sharing, reputation building,
and personal expression.
�
Rebecca Blood, The Weblog Handbook, Practical Advice on
Creating and Maintaining your Blog, Perseus Publishing,
Cambridge MA, 2002, p. 27.


�Das Geschichtsbewu�tsein � dieses Bewu�tsein, in einen
dramatischen und unwiderruflichen Zeitstrom getaucht zu
sein � ist im k�nftigen �Leser� ausgel�scht. Er steht dar�
ber, um seine eigene Zeitstr�me zu kn�pfen. Er liest nicht
eine Zeile entlang, sondern er spinnt seine eigene Netze.
�
Vil�m Flusser, Die Schrift, hat Schreiben Zukunft?
,
Edition Flusser, European Photography, 2002, (1987), p. 147.


�It is the link that gives weblogs their credibility by creating
a transparence that is impossible in any other medium. It is
the link that creates the community in which weblogs exist.
And it is the link that distinguishes the weblog � or any
other piece of online writing � from old-media writing that
has merely been transplanted to the web.
�
Rebecca Blood, The Weblog Handbook, Practical Advice on
Creating and Maintaining your Blog, Perseus Publishing,
Cambridge MA, 2002, p. 19.


�Man schreibt aus zwei Grundmotiven: aus einem privaten
Motiv (seine Gedanken ordnen) und einem politischen
(andere informieren). Gegenw�rtig ist man aufgekl�rt
genug um sich �ber diese Motive Rechenschaft ablegen zu
k�nnen. Das Ordnen der Gedanken ist ein mechanischer
Vorgang (�) und kann k�nstlichen Intelligenzen �berlassen
werden. Die Leser an die man schreibt, sind
Kommentatoren (die das Geschriebene zerreden) oder
Befolger (die sich wie Objekten ihm unterwerfen) oder
Kritiker (die ihn zerfetzen) (�)
.
Vil�m Flusser, Die Schrift, hat Schreiben Zukunft?
,
Edition Flusser, European Photography, 2002, (1987), p. 89.


�� a weblog is the result of human selection and reflection.
The elements of a superior weblog are (�): point of view,
discrimination in choosing links, and the life experience of
the writer. It is the writer�s unique fusion of interests, enthusiasms, and prejudices � her personality � that makes 
a
weblog compelling. (�) [A] weblog�s quality is ultimately
based on the authenticity of its voice.
�
Rebecca Blood, The Weblog Handbook, Practical Advice on
Creating and Maintaining your Blog, Perseus Publishing,
Cambridge MA, 2002, p. 59.


144 


�The Clarity-Brevity-Sincerity or c-b-s theory of style simply 
will not work in an information society. There, the scarce 
commodity is not information but the attention we bestow 
on it. If we are to develop an economics of this attention, 
which is to say an economics for an information society, then 
we must develop ways to envisage, imagine, conceptualize, 
the information. We must look AT it. These two ways of reading, linear THROUGH and imagistic AT, taken together 
constitute the diastole and systole of reading itself. And this 
system of respiration comes to a common focus on the electronic screen. The computer screen summarizes the history 
of prose, indeed of alphabetic notation.� 
Richard Lanham, Analyzing Prose, Continuum Books, 2005. 
(http://www.rhetoricainc.com/ap2preface.html) 

�Time was when readers kept commonplace books. 
Whenever they came across a pithy passage, they copied it 
into a notebook under an appropriate heading, adding 
observations made in the course of daily life. Erasmus 
instructed them how to do it; and if they did not have access 
to his popular De Copia, they consulted printed models or 
the local schoolmaster. The practice spread everywhere in 
early modern England, among ordinary readers as well as 
famous writers like Francis Bacon, Ben Jonson, John Milton, 
and John Locke. It involved a special way of taking in the 
printed word. Unlike modern readers, who follow the flow of 
a narrative from beginning to end, early modern 
Englishmen read in fits and starts and jumped from book to 
book. They broke texts into fragments and assembled them 
into new patterns by transcribing them in different sections 
of their notebooks. Then they reread the copies and rearranged the patterns while adding more excerpts. Reading and 
writing were therefore inseparable activities. They belonged 
to a continuous effort to make sense of things, for the world 
was full of signs: you could read your way through it; and by 
keeping an account of your readings, you made a book of 
your own, one stamped with your personality.� 
Robert Darnton, �Extraordinary Commonplaces�, New York 
Review of Books, 21�12�2000. 
(http://www.nybooks.com/articles/articlepreview?article_id=13942) 

�Prose styles are themselves different economies of attention. They orchestrate human attention in different ways.� 
Richard Lanham, Analyzing Prose, Continuum Books, 2005. 
(http://www.rhetoricainc.com/ap2preface.html) 

�I designed my site to accomodate smaller screens, and like 
many others, I included a sidebar, which further reduced the 145 


width of my main writing area. Forced to write in a small
space, I used the fewest words that would express my mea
ning, and my writing became sharper, clearer and more eco
nomical.
�
Rebecca Blood, The Weblog Handbook, Practical Advice on
Creating and Maintaining your Blog, Perseus Publishing,
Cambridge MA, 2002, p. 28/29.


�The media, however, can also be seen as producers of the
perception of community, and thus of society at large; media
help us understand who �we� are and how we relate to the
societies we live in. If, as blogging and other collaborative
media phenomena appear to indicate, there is now an
ongoing shift from production/consumption-based mass
media, which produce a vision of society for us to consume
as relatively passive audiences, to produsage-based personal
media, where users are active produsers of a shared under
standing of society which is open for others to participate in,
to develop and challenge, and thus to continually co-create,
then this cannot help but have a profound effect on our futu
re.
�
Axel Bruns & Joanne Jacobs, Uses of Blogs, Peter Lang
Publishers, 2006 (forthcoming)
.
(http://snurb.info/index.php?q=node/158)


�When you begin, you will have an audience of one: yourself
(�) If you are going to keep a weblog, it must be for the joy
of writing alone.
�
Rebecca Blood, The Weblog Handbook, Practical Advice on
Creating and Maintaining your Blog, Perseus Publishing,
Cambridge MA, 2002, p. 97/98.


�Die seit mindestens 4000 Jahren vorherschende Kommuni
kationsstruktur war folgende: Informationen wurden im Privaten ausgearbeitet, im �ffentlichen ausgestellt und dort
erworben und dann ins Private getragen, um dort verarbeitet zu werden. dan Hinaustragen der Informationen (die
Ver�ffentlichung) und das Erwerben der Informationen in
der �ffentlichkeit (das politische Engagement) waren f�r
die vergangene Kommunikationsstruktur ebenso charakte
ristisch wie die private Informationsgestaltung (die sch�pfe
rische Arbeit). Die Kommunikationsrevolution besteht
grunds�tzlich in einer Umsteuerung des Informations
stroms. Der �ffentliche Raum wird vermieden und wird
dadurch fortschreitend �berfl�ssig. Die Informationen wer
den im Privatraum ausgearbeitet und mittels Kabeln und
�hnlichen Kan�len an Privatr�ume gesandt, um dort emp
fangen und prozessiert zu werden.
�


146 
Vilem Flusser, �Verb�ndelung oder Vernetzung?�, in 
Medienkultur, Fischer, Frankfurt/Main, 1997, p. 148. 


�[Blogging] has given me the practice in performing imperfectly in public and moving forward unashamed. Updating
my site daily has taught me self-discipline and given me rea
son to think deeply.
�
Rebecca Blood, The Weblog Handbook, Practical Advice on
Creating and Maintaining your Blog, Perseus Publishing,
Cambridge MA, 2002, p. 29.


�Literate man specialized by outering parts of himself � e.g.
book as compared with movie. Electronic man like pre-literate man, ablates or outers the whole man. His information
environment is his own nervous system.
�
Marshall McLuhan, Counterblast, 1969, p. 52.


�Zuerst hat der Mensch in der ihn angehenden Welt gehan
delt, dann hat er geschaut, um zu handeln, dann hat er
gefingert und hingeh�rt, um zu sehen und dann handeln zu
k�nnen, und gegenw�rtig tastet er ab, um �berhaupt etwas
befingern und h�ren zu k�nnen, um es nachher vielleicht
anschauen und behandeln zu k�nnen.
�
Vil�m Flusser, �Das Abstraktionsspiel� in Schriften, Band I,
Lob der Oberfl�chlichkeit, f�r eine Ph�nomenologie der
Medien, Bollmann, Mannheim, 1995, p. 19.


�No Web phenomenon is more confounding than blogging.
Everything media experts knew about audiences � and they
knew a lot � confirmed the focus group belief that audiences would never get off their butts and start making their
own entertainment. Everyone knew writing and reading
were dead; music was too much trouble to make when you
could sit back and listen; video production was simply out of
reach of amateurs. Blogs and other participant media would
never happen, or if they happened they would not draw an
audience, or if they drew an audience they would not mat
ter. What a shock, then, to witness the near-instantaneous
rise of 50 million blogs, with a new one appearing every two
seconds. There � another new blog! One more person doing
what AOL and ABC � and almost everyone else � expected
only AOL and ABC to be doing. These user-created channels
make no sense economically. Where are the time, energy,
and resources coming from? The audience.
�
Kevin Kelley in �We Are the Web�, in Wired 13.08, August
2005.


�Blogs bring on decay. Each new blog adds to the fall of the
media system that once dominated the twentieth century.
What�s declining is the Belief in the Message. That�s the nihi
list moment and blogs facilitate this culture like no platform
has done before. Blog software assists users in their crossing 147



from Truth to Nothingness. The printed and broadcasted 
message has lost its aura. News is consumed as a commodity with entertainment value. Instead of presenting blog 
entries as mere self promotion, we should interpret them as 
decadent artifacts that remotely dismantle the broadcast 
model.� 
Geert Lovink on Net Critique. 
(http://www.networkcultures.org/geert/2006/03/24/blogging-the-nihilist-impulse/) 

�The weblog�s greatest strength � its uncensored, unmediated, uncontrolled voice � is also its greatest weakness.� 
Rebecca Blood, The Weblog Handbook, Practical Advice on 
Creating and Maintaining your Blog, Perseus Publishing, 
Cambridge MA, 2002, p. 115. 

�I think writing in this social, hypertextual internet might be 
largely about rewriting. Blogging isn�t simply episodic, 
because we don�t simply flow with the current of episodes 
moving from idea to idea. When we write a blog or read a 
blog over time we stand with both feet planted in a river of 
thought as water flows around our feet; always changing yet 
always the same. We blog many of the same kinds of things 
again and again from different points of view taking new 
points into account.� 
Jill Walker on jill/txt. 
(http://jilltxt.net/?p=1292) 

�Writing, when properly managed (as you may be sure I 
think mine is) is but a different name for conversation: As no 
one, who knows what he is about in good company, would 
venture to talk all; � so no author, who understands the just 
boundaries of decorum and good-breeding, would presume 
to think all: The truest respect which you can pay to a reader�s understanding, is to halve this matter amicably, and 
leave him something to imagine, in his turn, as well as yourself. For my own part, I am eternally paying him compliments of this kind, and do all that lies in my power to keep 
his imagination as busy as my own.� 
Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy, Book 2, Chapter 11. 

148



Arie Altena 
Some entries on blogging

Personal Data mining 
and personal publishing, as 

found on http://ariealt.net 

2003-2004 

dinsdag 25 februari | 2 | 2003 

De methode om mijn blog te updaten: schrijven in een tekst 
editor, tekst plakken in een html-document (BBEdit), uploaden met ftp (Transmit). Het maakt een behoorlijk verschil 
in vergelijking met het gebruik van Blogger. Het is bewerkelijker maar geeft meer vrijheid en autonomie. Ik ben minder 
snel geneigd om effe een paar urls van bezochte websites op 
de blog te zetten. Ik spaar stukjes op (ik ben niet continu 
online), kijk daardoor net een keer vaker naar de tekst voor 
ik publiceer (wat overigens niet wegneemt dat ik de meest 
domme fouten blijf maken, vooral als het gaat om namen en 
titels), en omdat de teksten van 1 maand 1 html-document 
vormen, voelt de blog meer als een eenheid, minder als een 
stel losse fragmenten. Let wel: voelt. Ergens op de achtergrond hangt het gevoel dat je (ik) te maken hebt met een 
grotere tekst die langzaam groeit, waar je nog wat in mag 
veranderen. Het voelt minder als een stel losse stukjes die 
zich eerder vastzetten door te verwijzen naar andere websites, dan door samen een tekst te vormen. Wat methodiek uitmaakt� 

zaterdag 3 mei | 1 | 2003 

�Maybe weblogging is a way of publishing that shows the 
situatedness of one�s �intellectual� work. Maybe it�s a way to 
archive one�s daily thoughts and ideas in a way so others, 
who might be interested, can consult it. (At least Google 
keeps track). Maybe it�s a way of connecting one�s thoughts 
to the bigger textual tissue of the web. Maybe it�s just jotting 
down notes hoping something will grow out of it. Maybe it�s 
like writing public postcards to friends.� 

Et cetera. 

�Someone who didn�t like my weblog when I started out called it a screened intellectual webcam. I didn�t like that. But 
in a way he was right.� 

zondag 11 mei | 1 | 2003 

Ook een boost gekregen om het bloggen serieus te blijven 
nemen, er over te theoretiseren en een begin te maken met 
het knutselen van een goed, lang artikel. Over het genre, 
over het proces versus het object, over schrijven met links, 

149



over het waarom van schrijven, over het verschil (?) tussen 
dagboekschrijven, bloggen en artikelen schrijven. Over de 
integratie van browsen, lezen, linken, schrijven. 

Een tijdschrift is een ding (of een serie van dingen) over stijl, 
een weblog is een proces dat zich centreert rond een per-
soon. 

dinsdag 13 mei | 1 | 2003 

[entry edited] 

1. Why I started a weblog 
� just for fun 
� to see if it would change my way of writing, reading, 
browsing the web 
� because I was looking for another way of writing, which 
fitted working with the web en with e-mail 
� to archive my thoughts and ideas in a way so others who 
might be interested can consult it 
� because I liked other weblogs and I liked Louis-Paul Boon 
� because I used weblogs as an example in teaching 
� as a way of remembering the good stuff I found on the 
web (bookmarks don�t function for me, google alone is not 
enough) 
� out of irritation (because development of mediamatic.net 
took so long) 
� because I honestly thought (and still think) it�s the best 
way of �writing for and in the web�. The place where reading, 
following hyperlinks, writing (back) and writing with hyper-
links has found its true place, lo-tech and practical, usable, 
humanlike. 
� because it�s the ongoing process of writing and thinking 
2. What I expected it to do 
� make some friends happy 
� fulfil the pleasure of writing 
3. What I secretly hoped it would grow into 
� a place where thoughts develop into ideas and lead to 
insights and articles 
� a place where a new style of theorizing, or at least a new 
style of writing would develop 
� a place that would grow into an archive of my unfinished 
thoughts 
4. What actually happened 
� all the time hoping I will have time to put stuff up�. 
5. Why I keep doing it 
� because I�m hooked 
� it is the recording of public private live 
6. Why I think it�s important 
� it is a way of publishing that shows the situatedness of 
150 
one�s work: as well intellectually as contextualized in the 
bigger network of the web 


� it shows whose stuff you�re borrowing and using, where 
you got your ideas 
� it�s free (sort of) 
If print magazines are an object that�s about style, weblogs 
are an ongoing process about a person. 

maandag 19 mei | 2 | 2003 

Als literatuurwetenschapper zou ik zeggen dat de genreaanduiding �weblog�, of �blog� als een verwachtingshorizon 
voor lezers functioneert. Een genre is geen set exact identificeerbare tekstkenmerken. 

donderdag 11 september | 1 | 2003 

Wat kenmerkt een weblog? Dat ze een actueel inzicht biedt 
in de informatieverwerking van een persoon, en zijn leven? 
In wat er hier en nu speelt? En dat er op die manier een 
soort stem onstaat, de stem van een blog? Als dat zo is � en 
voor de meeste blogs gaat het op � wat dan te denken van 
mijn eigen blog? Mijn blog lijkt nu meer te maken te hebben 
met achterstallig onderhoud. Achterstallige stukjes, korte 
stukjes, stukjes die ik meteen had moeten schrijven, vers 
van de lever, meteen na het lezen van het boek (in plaats van 
twee weken later), meteen na het concert (in plaats van 
twee weken later), meteen na de vakantie (in plaats van een 
maand nadien, of erger, een jaar later). Zo wordt de blog een 
verzameling stukjes die eerder geschreven hadden moeten 
worden. Of het wat uitmaakt? Misschien niet. Maar het voelt 
raar. He, wat ik nog vergeten was te vertellen, vorige 
maand� 

zaterdag 27 september | 2 | 2003 

Er is geen publiek. Er zijn alleen publicaties. There�s no 
public. There are only publications. 

Of misschien: er is alleen publiceren. Or: there�s only 
publishing. 

Het publiek is een verouderd concept. (Zie bijvoorbeeld ook Jodi Dean�s idee over democratie en publiek). 

dinsdag 30 september | 1 | 2003 

De bloggers: je zou deze schrijvers, linkers, commentators 
en loggers elektronische performers kunnen noemen: zij 
performen hun tekst in het elektronische netwerk, zij roe-
pen, fluisteren, schreeuwen, praten, murmelen. 

Blogs lezen heeft alleen zin als je zelf ook blogt. Bloggen is 
een activiteit. Het is een continu proces van publiceren, het 
is (jouw) informatieverwerking en de reflectie op je informatieverwerking. Maar als blogs lezen alleen dan een zin


volle activiteit is als je zelf meedoet, en alle bloglezers 
beginnen hun eigen blog, dan nadert het aantal lezers van 
een blog de limiet van 1 (jijzelf). 

De blogger heeft geen publiek. �Het publiek� is een concept 
dat verbonden is met de wereld van massamedia. Wie denkt 
in �het bereiken van publiek� opereert volgens de logica van 
massamedia, of, iets minder cru gesteld, volgens de logica 
van een publicatie. Een blog is geen publicatie, het is een 
proces. (Dat neemt niet weg dat er blogs zijn die zijn uitgegroeid tot publicaties of als publicatie gerund worden). 
Vandaar: er is geen publiek, er is alleen publiceren. 

Natuurlijk worden blogs gelezen. Mijn blog krijgt tegen de 
100 hits per dag, soms meer, van de zomer minder. Een deel 
van mijzelf. Een deel van zoekmachines, wormen en spambots op zoek naar mailadressen. Een deel via Google. Een 
deel van bloggende lezers. Een deel van vrienden. 
Natuurlijk ben ik daar blij mee (met die lezers). Maar wie op 
zoek is naar publiek moet niet bloggen. (Terzijde: mijn blog 
is vermoedelijk qua inhoud veel te chaotisch om een steady 
publiek te trekken). 

De blog hoort bij de wereld voorbij de massamedia. Blogs 
zijn de stem van de multitude. (Niet te verwarren met de 
stem van de massa). Met alle middelmatigheid, lulligheid, 
brille en smerigheid van de menigte. Een multitude die uit 
singulariteiten bestaat, die niet terug te brengen is tot 1 
lichaam dat gerepresenteerd kan worden. 

Hoe verhoudt de informatieverwerking (denk aan de constituerende rol daarvan in ons leven) van de menigte, die 
gestalte kan krijgen door de genetwerkte informatietechnologie, zich tot het idee van politiek? De representatieve 
democratie versus democratie door contestatie (of zoiets)? 
Hoe verhoudt het zich tot de idee�n van Negri, Hardt, 
Holmes? Tot het idee van Jodi Dean over publiek en democratie? Hoe verhoudt het zich tot populisme? (Populisme is 
gebonden aan de logica van de massamedia). Tot het idee 
van massacultuur? (Wat is het verschil tussen massacultuur 
en de cultuur van de menigte? Massacultuur als de opgelegde cultuur? De cultuur van de menigte is geen tegencultuur, 
ze wordt geinformeerd door de reclamecultuur, de televisie, 
de massacultuur, maar ze wordt bepaald door het gebruik 
daarvan en niet door een klakkeloze opzuiging). 
Wie het schreef weet ik niet meer, maar ik geloof dat het in 
De-Bug was. Blogs worden wel eens gezien als journalistiekvan-onderop. Denk aan de Bagdad-blogger Raed (sp?). Maar

152 het goede van blogs is juist dat ze geen journalistiek zijn. Ze 


opereren niet volgens de logica van �iets onthullen voor een 
publiek�. Bloggers bloggen, voor niets en voor niemand. 
(Natuurlijk zijn er freak incidences waarbij de bloggers 
ineens in de wereld van de journalistiek opduiken omdat ze 
nieuws hebben). 

(�) 

Bloggen functioneert alleen als het op een bijna na�eve 
manier gebeurt: voor de vuist weg, fris van de lever, schrijven en linken. Het is de onbetaalde arbeid van informatieverwerking, van betekenisconstructie, van een manier om te 
zijn in het midden van de veelvormige cultuur. Het is een 
activiteit die onbetaalbaar is en onmisbaar. Het is arbeid 
waarop cultuur is gebaseerd en die cultuur vormt (en met 
alle middelmatigheid � cultuur immers gaat over de ervaringen van mensen en de betekenis die ze daar aan geven, 
ze is er, mooi, lelijk, saai, ouderwets, tenenkrommend, beledigend, briljant, hip, alles door elkaar). Het is de vrije arbeid 
van de geest (klinkt idealistisch, is het niet). Daarom is bloggen altijd ook precair: immers, je moet er maar de energie 
voor kunnen opbrengen, je moet er maar de tijd voor hebben, je moet je levensonderhoud op een andere manier verdienen. (Slecht een enkeling houdt er een baan als journalist aan over of heeft het geluk dat het bloggen zich terugbetaald in de professionele arbeid). Goed bloggen is arbeidsintensief. Wat we met z�n allen doen kan niet betaald worden 
volgens het economische systeem dat we nu hanteren. Het is 
vrijwillige arbeid � een praktijk, die, zoals Paul Perry zei, je 
gek maakt en je gezond houdt. 

Bloggen is iets dat je doet. Niet in de zin van �just do it� van 
Nike, maar een gereflecteerd doen, de reflectie wordt geperformd. 

dinsdag 25 november | 1 | 2003 

Ik had het natuurlijk al een tijdlang op al die sites zien staan: 
rss-feed, xml-syndication, �syndicate this site!�, en de rdflink. Ik kwam het scannen van de koppen van blogs tegen in 
de iBlog-software van Apple die ik een tijdje terug uitprobeerde. Vandaag heb ik eindelijk �ns software gedownload 
om mn blogs en nieuws te lezen los van alle aantrekkelijke 
vormgeving � de rauwe feeds, tekst en tekst-alleen. Als software-minimalist (in de zin dat ik liever de eenvoudige versie gebruik als die alles doet wat ik nodig heb, dan de uitgebreide met extra opties en toeters en bellen die ongetwijfeld 
razend handig zijn) gekozen voor Net news wire lite. Half 
uurtje bezig geweest om me te subscriben op blogs waar ik 
normaliter wel �ns kijk en die aan rss of zoiets doen. Het lijkt 


op het ooit door bijna iedereen vermaledijde concept van de 
�push�-media, met dat verschil dat jan-en-alleman zijn info 
zo kan structureren dat een �nieuws-en-bloglezer� het kan 
inladen. Werkt wel. Hmmm, moet ik dan ook aan de XML? 
En dan elke keer een kop bedenken en een stukje bloggen 
dat zo begint dat je meteen snapt waar het naar toe gaat? 
Hoe software redactie stuurt� 

dinsdag 30 maart | 1 | 2004 

Een weblog � of in t geval de term niet aanstaat t soort webpubliceren als onderhavige � moet licht zijn. Licht voor 
degene die schrijft. Wordt het een last, gaat de lol eraf, wordt 
het niks. Beter niet doen dan. Hoe het licht houden? 

Bijvoorbeeld door je geen zorgen te maken over stilistische 
consistentie � terwijl je probeert, dat wel, zorgvuldig te zijn. 

dinsdag 21 september | 4 | 2004 

Deze blog is een zooitje. Dat ergert me. Het is eigen aan een 
blog. Het heeft goede kanten. Toch verlang ik naar meer 
redactie. Zelfdiscipline is belangrijk. 

dinsdag 23 november | 1 | 2004 

Gisteren en vandaag: werken aan de workshop �Learning to 
Write & Keeping a Weblog� voor de studenten van het Frank 
Mohr Instituut. In twee dagen probeer ik een overzicht te 
geven: homepages voor presentatie, bloggen als publicatie 
en voor ontwikkeling, wiki�s en blogs voor samenwerking, 
�welke software gebruik je t best�, �waar moet je aan den-
ken�, en � natuurlijk � de kwestie: �help ik moet schrijven�. 
Dit alles in de hoop dat ze daarna beter gebruik van het 
internet gaan maken voor samenwerking en voor ontwikkeling en presentatie van hun projecten. 

Twijfel: zal ik een cms als Pivot gaan gebruiken voor mijn 
blog? Ik ben erg gehecht aan de directe toegang tot de htmlfiles. Aan de andere kant wil ik best �ns experimenteren met 
�commentaar� en �referrers�, en lijkt t me wel wat, zo�n knop 
�blog dit� in de bookmark-balk: het stroomlijnen van blog- en 
surfgedrag. 


? 

Quiz Section


What Kind Of Animal Are These? 

Print the 

http://www.ubiscribe.net/ubipod/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main. 
WhatKindOfAnimalIsThis? 

wikipage, write your answer on it and send it to: 

Jan van Eyck Academie 

Ubiscribe Quiz 

Academieplein 1 
6211 KM Maastricht 
The Netherlands 


Claudia Hardi 

156


Sewer Gas & Electric 

(G.A.S.) 

Re-Reading a Voyage-Detour � through and � out 
24th May 2006 

This evening Claudia Hardi will re-read a �voyage-detour� � 
through and of her new work, another field trip through 
electronic archives, called �g.a.s.� (short for Sewer, Gas & 
Electric). Project at the acc Weimar Galerie, Weimar, 
Germany, International Residence Program. The g.a.s. project is a new documentary/database based on the references 
and main characters of the comic science fiction novel: 
Sewer, Gas & Electric The Public Works Trilogy by Matt Ruff, 
(1997). The book�s story could be described as a wild ride 
between the good, the evil, and the indifferent. The New 
York sewer department that takes explosives and small arms 
in the battle against the alligators and other mutant creatures living in the effluent of the city, radical eco-terrorists 
with extravagant submarines and the industrialist with huge 
dreams building towering shining monuments to human 
achievement. This documentary/database looks deeper into 
the main characters� (hi)stories, draws and doodles its own 
assumptions and new fragmentary combinations out of the 
novel. Some characters you will meet in this documentary / 
database are: Donald Trump, real estate tycoon and his buildings, Ayn Rand and her pop philosophy and novels of the 
�heroic man�, John Edgar Hoover, Walt Disney, Abraham 
Lincoln, the history of the submarine, and the space monkeys. Claudia Hardi�s work is mainly concentrated on an 
exploratory mode of research on the correlation between 
popular culture, computer science, comic- game- and sci fi 
culture, network communities and the cultural aspects of 
technology. Re-collecting and documenting as a set of navigation experiences on a field trip through electronic archives; the (hi)stories of computer science or / and as we speak 
of now � simply called �g.a.s.�. The idea is to produce a self-
commenting and opponent structure through visuals and 
images with the assistance of cuts, blendings, cross-overs 
and counterproposals. The goal is to document and to provoke a new discussion about the historical and social themes, which are occurring throughout this new montage. 
The interest is focused on images, facts, and (fictional) data. 
Much of this material exists on the peripheries of common 
interest. These images and texts do not fit in particular �politics�. Inevitably � and inherent to such work, meaningful 


notes vanish in between the banal, meandering thoughtful 
and anarchistic loops. Contradictions and absurdity are present in the same space. Poetics, facts and oddities are being 
mixed up. The reason: the work is determined by curiosity, 
exploration and stories, and not so much by the �correct� and 
scientific historical documentating and archiving. Because 
on a trajectory through the internet, even thought it is a �fictional� space, one is not so much confronted with a distant 
screen, as one could assume; but is actually enclosed by 
images. 

I invite you warmly for this cruise through electronic archives at the 24th May 8pm at the ACC. Bon Voyage. 
(April 2006, ch) 


Claudia Hardi 

158


S-List of Tags and Search 
Queries 

Abbie Hoffman, page viiii
Roger Ward �Mad Max�, page viiii (still open for more que
ries)
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. The Cycles of American History,
page xi (still open for query)
A Man in a High Place Alone, page 
3
Gant Minaret Atlanta, page 3 (still open for query)
Phoenix Souvenir Shop, page 3 (still open for query)
Trump�s Riverside Arcadia, page 
4
Chrystler Building, page 4 (still open for query)
usa Today�s Life Section
Tad Winston Peller, page 7 (no results found)
Runaway bestseller Chicken Little and Flight, page 
7
(no results found)
Coca Cola Trademark, page 
8
Marvel D.C. Comics Joan of Arc Returns, page 8 (still open
for query)
Mail Order Spiderman fan, page 8 (still open for query)
Zoological Bureau of the Department of Sewers / Eleventh
Avenue, page 9, (still open for query)
Jacob Javits Convention Center, page 9 (still open for
query)
�New York Times�, page 
9
Teddy May, page 10
Gavialis Gangeticus, page 10 (results found differ from
origin)
Crocodylus Niloticus, page 10 (results found differ from
origin)
Serrasalmus Nattereri, page 11 (results found differ from
origin)
Electrophorus Electricus, page 11 (no results found)
Carcharodon Carcharias, page 12
nyu Ichthyology Department, page 12 (still open for query)
Mack the Knife, page 13, (still open for query)
The face of Dick Tracy, page 13
Pirate Philo Dufresne (Submarine), page 13
Novel Dark Heart, Red Planet, page 15 (no results found)
Walt Disney, page 15
Sidney Poitiers, page 15 (still open for query)
Hattie McDaniels, page 15 (still open for query)
Delaware Country-metal band, page 16 (still open for
query)



Wall Street Journal, page 16 (still open for query)
Vanna Domingo (Leona Helmsley), page 16
Zippity-doo-day, page 18 (no results found)
�Time Editorial Page�, page 20 (still open for query)
Company named Zenith, page 21 (still open for query)
Czech Design Firm, page 21 (still open for query)
Apollo Astronauts, page 21 (still open for query)
�nbc Boadcast� of the first Moon landing, page 21
(technically unavailable right now)
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, page 23
Architectural Digest, page 25
Harper�s, page 25
The Return of Flash Gordon, page 25
Pirate, page 27
Bestseller The Shadow over Strathmere, page 27 (no results
found)
Mutant Amphibian Beings, page 27
Pennsylvania Dutch farmer named Gunther Lapp, page 29
Amish Community, page 29
Refillable Ballpoint Pens, page 29 (still open for query)
Blue Hamsters, page 29 (no results found)
New York Pets-R-Us, page 29
Kinetic Vessel, page 29
Thomas Edison, page 30 (still open for query)
American Turtle (Submarine), page 30
David Bushnell, page 30
Flagship Eagle, page 30
Free-ranging mascots of every description, page 31 (still
open for query)
Borneo Bill, page 31
Trump Shuttlecraft, page 31
Ringling Brothers, page 31 (still open for query)
South Furrow (Icebreaker), page 32
Research Site Antarctica, page 32 (still open for query)
Polar Dream, page 32 (still open for query)
Unfortunately Displaced Indegenous Orphans in Osceola
Arkansas, page 33 (no results found)
�1992 Edition World Book Encyclopedia�, page 33 (still open
for query)
�National Graphics Specials�, page 33 (still open for query)
Nanook of the North, page 33
Eskimo, page 33 (still open for query)
Chemical free acoustic refrigerator system, page 34 (still
open for query)
World Book, page 34 (still open for query)
Mrs: Butterworth, page 34 (no results found)
Twenty Nine Words for Snow, page 34 (still open for query)
Arcane Kurdish Martial Arts, page 35 (still open for query)
Istanbul, page 35 (still open for query)



Bruce Lee, page 36 
Chuck Norris, page 36 
Sonny Bono, page 36 
Turner Soap Opera Network, page 36 
Con Edison, page 36 (still open for query) 
Dick Clarck, page 36 
Antarctic Landscape, page 37 (still open for query) 
Crystalline Sky, page 37 (still open for query) 
Prince William Sound, page 37 (still open for query) 
Arctic Bunny, page 39 
Ronald Reagan Air force Base in Trenton, page 40 

G.I. Joe, page 42 (partly queried)
Millions-Billions, page 44 (still open for query)
Robert Daley, The World Beneath the City, page 46 (still to
be read)
Hill View Reservoir in Yonkers, page 47
New York Tribune, page 47 (still open for query)
Fargo Spektrum, page 47 (still open for query)
Sesame Street, page 49 (is already an entry in Awmt)
Thatcher Hem-Haw Scale, page 50
Candidate Harmon Fox, page 50 (still open for query)
Nan Sheffield, page 50 (still open for query)
Preston Hackett, page 50 (still open for query)
He had a plan to reforest the Great Planes, page 50 (still
open for query)
1925 Remington Rand manual typewriter, page 51 (still
open for query)
upi teletype, page 51 (still open for query)
British Prime Minister, page 51 (still open for query)
The White House, page 51 (still open for query)
Toshiro Goodhead, this season�s star attraction at the West
Village Chippendal�s, page 52 (still open for query)
Buckminster Fuller, page 53 (still open for query)
Betsy Ross Saloon, page 54
The car god would drive if she had a licence, page 55 (still
open for query)
Un-Un-American Activities Division, page 55 (still open for
query)
Ernest Vogelsang, page 55 (still open for query)
Empire State Building, page 70
CNN News Blimp, page 70
CNN Center in Atlanta, page 70
Central Park, page 70 (still open for query)
Mayor Waldo Twitty, page 70 (still open for query)
O�Donoghue, Killian & Snee, page 71 (still open for query)
Blarney Castle, page 71
Shin Bet security agency in Israel, page 71 (still open for
query)
160 The Voice of Ralph Nader, page 71 (still open for query) 


brer Bever, page 73 (still open for query)
Mona Lisa at the Metropolitan Museum of the Arts, page 75
(still open for query)
Sharper Image at 41st and Fifth Avenue NY., page 75 (still
open for query)
Union Army of the Potomac, 1861 to 1864, page 76 (still
open for query)
Standing Bear Cherokee Platoon of the Confederate Army,
page 76 (still open for query)
I�m Master Abraham Lincoln, page 80
Revlon air purifier, page 83 (still open for query)
All right. Who was vice president during Lincoln�s first
term?, page 83 (still open for query)
Cryptozoology, page 85 (still open for query)
From Australia to the South Dakota Badlands, page 86 (still
open for query)
Utah gas station, page 86 (still open for query)
Salt Lake City, page 86 (still open for query)
A Novel?, page 86 (still open for query)
Desert Inn Hotel in Vegas, page 86 (still open for query)
Detroit shipwright, page 86 (still open for query)
Lake Erie, page 86 (still open for query)
New York State Barge Canal, page 86 (still open for query)
A single flash Polaroid, page 86 (still open for query)
Taughannock Point, page 87 (still open for query)


J.D. Salinger, page 87 (still open for query)
State Island Ferry, page 87 (still open for query)
Liberty Island, page 87 (still open for query)
Janis Joplin, page 92 (still open for query)
wkrk Classic Station, page 92 (still open for query)
Me and Bobby McGee, page 92 (still open for query)
Jim Morrison, page 93 (still open for query)
Plymouth Sedan, page 93 (still open for query)
Route to Newark Internation Airport, page 93 (still open for
query)
I�m a Volkswagen, page 95
USA Today, page 98
James Dean, page 105
Mae West, page 105
Arnold Schwarzenegger, page 105
Atlas Shrugged, Novel by Ayn Rand, page 106
Teddy May�s Sewer Safari, page 113
Bartholomew Frum, page 117
Colgate, page 117 (still open for query)
Gleem, page 117 (still open for query)
Close-Up, page 117 (still open for query)
Baron von Munchhausen, page 119
Robbins Reef Lighthouse, page 130 (still open for query)
Statue of Liberty, page 130 (still open for query)

Village Voice, page 131 
Pancho Villa�s Wardrobe, page 133 
Encyclopedia Britannica, page 134 
Erica Jong�s Fear of Flying, page 134 
Ford Motor Company, page 141 
Pinto Ford, page 142 
VW Beetle, page 142 
A driverless 77 Ford Lincoln Continental, page 144 
Dutch Shell, page 148 
Union Carbide, page 148 
De Beers Mineral, page 148 

I.G. Farben Gmbh & Co, page 148 
Robert Redfort, page 148 (still open for query) 
Taj Mahal, page 165 
Trump, page 165 
New York Post, page 165 
I Love Lucy Show, page 169 
Luke Skywalker, page 172 (is already an entry in Awmt) 
Darth Vader, page 176 (is already an entry in Awmt) 
Cargo Cult, page 186 
Dianetics, page 186 
John Frum, page 186 
President Roosevelt, page 186 (still open for query) 
Queen Elisabeth II, page 246 
Nostromo, page 281 
Sigouney Weaver, page 281 
Magic Kingdom in Orange County, page 288 
City of Tomorrow, page 290 
Epcot Center, page 290 
Club 33, page 291 
War and Peace, page 303 
Shock prods and Taser guns, page 311 
Du Pont freight car, page 350 

162



Thinktank 1.0 conversations, PSWAR, Amsterdam 2006 163 


Inga Zimprich 

Thinktank Conversations 
were held through Skype and 
ARSC (A Really Simple Chat) 
in Public Space With A Roof 
(PSWAR), Amsterdam 
They are documented as 
open PDF�s at 
http://www.think-tank.nl 

Heterogeneous Knowledge 
Groups 

� 23.02.06 
Virtual Values 
� 22.02.06 
Social Capital 
� 21.02.06 
Programming for Participation 
� 24.02.06 
Look at the network 
� 20.02.06 
Thinktank conversations were 
held with and joined by: 

In order of appearance 
Marjolein Dijkman 
(artist, NL) 
Daniela Paes-Leao 
(artist, PT/NL) 
Robert Burghardt 
(Universit�t in Gr�ndung, DE) 
Kim de Groot 
(media designer, NL) 
Ralo Mayer 
(Manoa Free University, AT) 
Esther Polak 
(artist, NL) 
Tamuna Chabashvili, 
Adi Hollander 
(PSWAR, NL) 
Tanguy Coenen 
(researcher, BE) 
Hinrich Sachs 
(artist CH/DE) 
Jeanne van Heeswijk 
(artist, NL) 
Mauricio Corbarl�n 
(architect, AR) 
Ro� Cherpac 
(artist, NL) 
Sandra Fauconnier 
(researcher, BE) 
Henrik Schrat 
(artist, DE) 
Kent Hansen 
(democratic innovation, DK) 
Antony Hudek 
(theoretician, US/NL) 
Auke Touwslager 
(media designer, NL) 
Jouke Kleerebezem 
(artist, FR/NL) 
Paul Gangloff, Selina B�tler 
(One Day Nation, NL) 
Marthe van Dessel 
(bolwerK, BE) 
Ingrid Stojnic 
(media designer, BE) 
Wilfried Houjebek 
(socialfiction, NL) 
Richard Vijgen 
(media-designer, NL) 
and others 

164


Thinktank Conversation


Thinktank 0.1 

A conversation 

We see design as the activity of making relation by carrying 
messages from one to another therefore it is about collaboration in its core. 

24.02.06 16:18 
Selina Paul 

we need certain critical mass of thougths to begin to think 

22.02.06 14:47 
Mauricio Corbalan 

It is important to allow thing to develop non-linear, also in 
terms of progress. going back, falling still are necessary 
parts of creating a collective journey � like the developing 
of a politics of technology 

22.02.06 16:48 
jeanneworks 

repetition is a powerful organisation and patterning device 

24.02.06 17:16 
Jouke Kleerebezem 

one experiment will inform the nxt and the nxt 

24.02.06 17:14 
Jouke Kleerebezem 

The idea is to let perceptions emerge from the constellations 
of personas. it is a joint process; and maybe � hopefully � 
the co-producers gain different perspectives. The actual 
mediation is �project management� � but using the �techniques� of (conceptual) art. And it is a constant negotiation. 
The hard part is to enter in the first place; as there are many 
(mis-) conceptions of �art�. The role of the artist is maybe to 
compare with a consultant (in the business context) or as a 
facilitator. The initial statement could be: �let�s make art 
together� � very banal� 

23.02.06 16:13 
kent hansen 

I feel that in this project there is a question of translation, not 
translation of words, but translation as an art. 

22.02.06 [16:37:16] 
Ro� 


I have been thinking often about situations, how they emer-All conversations were hosted 

by Inga Zimprich and 

ge and how they have to be handled with care. what i see in Elske Rosenfeld 
the emerging journey of a project is that peculiar strength 
one has to have to not rush before a situation naturally falls 
into place. It is easy to formalize things, out of the fear of a 
void, but maybe it takes a necessary void for things to come 
and to settle. 

22.02.06 16:45 
Inga Zimprich 

Signs gets more clear as they gets more used, language and 
structures as well? The use of structures is drawing lines 
that are shaping them. 

24.02.06 16:23 
Selina Paul 

We would say the more people are able to use the path, the 
better it is and the users are making it even better by using 
it and so on� 

24.02.06 16:27 
Selina Paul 

It poses a different �design-potential� to every participant if 
design equals participation or the participant�s usage of the 
structure determines the structure 

24.02.06 17:12 
Inga Zimprich 

theres a lot of romance trough messenger 
it is a romatic technology, epistolary maybe 

22.02.06 15:06 
Mauricio Corbalan 

The analogy (virtual space) to orgy is very interesting. But 
see, you don�t have to start by creating a (physical) relations 

� hip with everybody at a time, but you start slowly with 
small connections from which something bigger and more 
complex can emerge. I wouldn�t like the idea of organizing it. 
22.02.06 15:41 
Ro� 

i think, for me, the crystalline process is about letting it all 
go, accepting that it can go wrong. the concept (letting it go) 
and the practise (me �organising� it) did overlap. but if you 
would ask somebody else it was just me being lazy 

24.02.06 17:04 
wilfried hou je bek 

165



on project management; also relating to �what can be found 
�traced back in the result�: The basic result is on HOW to 
manage a process; in this approach the (art) �object� is a tool. 
In �managing� a project/process I try to emphasize that the 
process is not �fixed� but relates to the �context� and personas; in this sense a fixed methodology of �management� probably will not find �new� experiences. 

23.02.06 16:24 
kent hansen 

creativity to me is a generic concept, which solves a task : �A 
product or response will be judged as creative to the extent 
that it is both a novel and appropriate, useful, correct or 
valuable response to the task at hand� 

21.02.06 16:07 
Tanguy Coenen 

I think � and I quote Philippe Maresse/Acces Local � to 
generate �problems� of a �higher quality�. This makes a difference; as you see the actual �problems� as potentials and not 
to be avoided � but embraced for the sake of �emergence�. 

23.02.06 18:17 
kent hansen 

social capital is loosely defined as �advantages you get from 
knowing other people� 

21.02.06 15:06 
tanguy 

I would say that collaboration is necessary, but by no means 
neccessarily good. Collaboration is work. 

20.02.06 17:39 
kennethrowe 

We all relate to other people, previously made thoughts, 
works, ideas etc. But what interests me is foremost the way 
how you relate to the people you work with. 

20.02.06 17:02 
prinzin 

storytelling is a means of getting information of which new 
storylines and by that characters can be developed which 
are then feeded back into the real 

22.02.06 16:58:55 
jeanneworks 

I think though the energeticising experience is having left 
one�s role 

166 22.02.06 17:01 

Ro� 


yes, thats the collective dimension of imagination that we 
are facing now� the virtual 

22.02.06 17:02 
Mauricio Corbalan 

Lets quote an old french poet: �you need new obstacles for a 
new intelligence�, Henri Michaud 

24.02.06 16:45 
Selina Paul 

where here the chat is maybe more a helpful obstacle than a 
tool 

24.02.06 16:16 
Inga Zimprich 

it might introduce the right distance to forget about social 
conventions 

20.02.06 17:17 
kim 

i mean, when this is finished it�s 2 log-files and an experience 
(and memory and knowledge) we take home 

24.02.06 16:58 
Auke Touwslager 

� � that particular strength one has to have to not rush before a situation naturally falls into place.� This for me is already 
a question raised by this conversation: whatever the means of 
formalising dialogue, they should not, i think, aspire to 
anything �natural� nor to anything that falls into place. 
Displacement, rushing and fear could be among the best 
dynamics to prolong exchange. In truth, I found all these 167 


elements this afternoon: the fear of not knowing how to 
�speak� to one another, the desire to be provocative without 
offending, and the thwarted need for always more� this 
medium is absolutely dissatisfying � so much more than the 
telephone mentioned earlier � and as such proved, for me, 
a great, unfinished exercise in learning again how to �speak�. 

23.02.06 18:34 
Antony Hudek 


Thinktank Media, 2006 169 


The communication platform 
at http://www.think-tank.nl is 
developed by Ingrid Stoijnic 
& Bert Balcaen 
http://www.rekalldesign.com 
using drupal 
http://www.drupal.org 

The open PDF�s document 
the conversations held 
through ARSC (A Really 
Simple Chat) and skype. 
Design by Selina B�tler, 
Paul Gangloff 
and Matthias Kreutzer; 
One Day Nation 

The research will be 
published in May 2006 in a 
POD � printing on demand 
model, designed by 
One Day Nation 

170 
Thinktank communication platform and open PDF�s 


Thinktank POD design models 171 


Claudia Hardi 

Threads & Queries 

Query: The Long Tail / association with: Monkeys. 

Monkeys 

O�Reilly Monkey Cover
Copyright: O�Reilly.
-> The Long Tail (See: Glossary)


Query: �Metadata en de Essayisten van de Toekomst� / 
association with: Filosofen & Piraten. 

Filosofen & Piraten 

Bei Telepolis: Eine kurze Einf�hrung in die Gedankenwelt 
des franz�sischen Medienphilosophen Michel Serres samt 
eines Kurzinterviews aus dem Jahre 2001 � von Frank 
Hartmann und Bernhard Rieder. �Der Pirat des Wissens ist 
ein guter Pirat�. Ein Gespr�ch mit Michel Serres �ber die 
Effekte der neuen Technologien auf unser Denken, moderne Piraten und dar�ber, was Brot, Wein und Lammkoteletts 
mit der Genomforschung zu tun haben. 

Tags: Filosofen, Piraten, Technologien, Brot, Wein, 
Lammkoteletts. 

(http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/html/result.xhtml?url=/tp/r4/ar 
tikel/3/3602/1.html&words=Serres) 

-> Metadata en de Essayisten van de Toekomst 

172 


Query: �Glossary: Open Source� / association with: Wizard of 
Os Conferentie. 

Wizard of Os Conferentie 

�From Wizards, Blinkenlights, to the �Monkeys Series�� 
Wizards of os 4 goes with the flow of: Freedom Rules. 
Freedom in this context is related to open-source software, 
copyright questions and �hacking�. A link followed on the 
Wizards of os webpage leads us to the page of the Chaos 
Computer Club, europe�s largest hacker group, founded in 
1981. An image search reveals images of the Blinkenlights 
installation series by the Chaos Computer Club. Quote: 
�Following up on the original Blinkenlights installation in 
Berlin, Arcade marks a new step in interactive light installations in public space. In the context of the Nuit Blanche art 
festival in Paris, the team transformed the Tower t2 of the 
Biblioth�que Nationale de France into a huge computer 
screen. With a matrix of 20 x 26 windows (resulting in 520 
directly addressable pixels) and a size of 3370m2, the Arcade 
installation is positioned to be world�s biggest computer 
screen ever. [�] Arcade promotes a new series of classic 
computer games to run on the building, allowing everybody 
to play games on the building with his mobile phone. Among 
others, the all-time favorite pixel puzzle game Tetris can be 
played using nothing but a mobile phone. With its newly 
designed light control technology, the Blinkenlights team 
was able to smoothly dim the brightness of each pixel. This 
allowed for sophisticated, large-scale animations glowing 
into the Paris night life. Source: �Blinkenlights ccc, Project 
Arcade�, from Medienkunstnetz. 

Chaos Computer Club reminds me of the YIPL Magazine one 
of the first Hackermagazines. (Entry: Awmt database / encyclopedia, 2004-2005) It is related to the Jargon Reference: 
Phreaking: 1. The art and science of cracking the phone network (so as, for example, to make free long-distance calls). 

2. By extension, security-cracking in any other context 
(especially, but not exclusively, on communications networks). At one time phreaking was a semi-respectable activity among hackers; there was a gentleman�s agreement that 
phreaking as an intellectual game and a form of exploration 
was ok, but serious theft of services was taboo. There was 
significant crossover between the hacker community and 
the hard-core phone phreaks who ran semi-underground 
networks of their own through such media as the legendary 
TAP Newsletter or the YIPL Magazine. This ethos began to 
break down in the mid-1980s as wider dissemination of the 
techniques put them in the hands of less responsible phreaks. Around the same time, changes in the phone network 
made old-style technical ingenuity less effective as a way of 173 

hacking it, so phreaking came to depend more on overtly 
criminal acts such as stealing phone-card numbers. The crimes and punishments of gangs like the �414 group� turned 
that game very ugly. A few old-time hackers still phreak 
casually just to keep their hand in, but most these days have 
hardly even heard of �blue boxes�. Following the travelogues 
in the As We May Think database leads to the �Rainbow 
Series�. The �Rainbow Series� are any of several series of 
technical manuals distinguished by cover color. The original 
rainbow series was the NCSC security manuals. The term 
has also been commonly applied to the Post Script reference 
set. Which books are meant by the �Rainbow Series� unqualified is thus dependent on one�s local technical culture. 
Among the �Rainbow Series� is the Perl book by O�Reilly. 
O�Reilly�s books have almost all an animal as �its messenger� 
on the cover, I have just collected some of the �Monkey 
Series�, (more bookcover zoology will hopefully follow). And 
this in turn leads to the daring question What kind of Animal 
is this? in the Quizsection. 

(Ubiscribe 2004 Idea: aquisition of a complete library of 
O�Reilly Publications) 

-> Glossary: Open Source 

Query: Glossary: Google / �Famous & Less Famous Images� / 
association with: g.a.s - List of Tags and Search Queries 

-> Glossary: Google 
-> Famous and Less Famous Images 
-> S-List of Tags and Search Queries 

Query: �Glossary: Google� / association with: Google Searches 
& Other Notes 

-> Glossary: Google 
-> Google Searches & Other Notes 

Query: Databases plundered for research 

-> Databases plundered for research 

Digital Libraries & Digital Collections 

The Library of Congress American Memory 
DigiBarn Computer Museum 
The Center for Land Use Interpretation 
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History 
Computer History Museum 
Marine Biology Library 
Naval Historic Center 
Charles Babbage Institute

174 Science Museum 


cern Server 
The National Science Digital Library 
acm Portal Association for Computing Machinery 
ieee Computer Society 
nasa for Researchers 


�Zuerst hat der Mensch in der ihn angehenden Welt gehandelt, dann hat er geschaut, um zu 
handeln, dann hat er gefingert und hingeh�rt, um zu sehen und dann handeln zu k�nnen, und

176 
gegenw�rtig tastet er ab, um �berhaupt etwas befingern und h�ren zu k�nnen, um es 
nachher vielleicht anschauen und behandeln zu k�nnen.� 
Vil�m Flusser, geciteerd door Arie Altena in �Of Writing and Other Things, a Collection of 
Quotes�, Ubiscribe 0.9.0, p. 147 

IBM ad (AA) as found on www.digibarn.com 


Understanding
Information Age


�The age we live in is full of contradictions. It is a time unlike any other, a time when the pace of change demands that 
we change while we are still at the top of our game in order 
to survive the next wave� Fortunately, we are not alone� 
Organizations in every competitive space and individuals in 
every area of human endeavor are grappling with the relentless demands of our age. 

Progress will not be orderly, nor will it be predictable. This 
will be hard for many to understand and accept� Given the 
dynamics and complexities of our time and the incredible 
pace of change, planning is truly � as the old adage goes � 
all about the process, not the plan� 

Visions are being created and significant progress is being 
made. But to date we have been only scratching the surface 
of what is possible� 

Developing an understanding of how and why things work 
as they do, or could work, is fundamental to being able to 
systematically improve functionality� The first real sign of 
progress involves the emergence and acceptance of a special language to describe and talk about the problem. This 
language identifies and defines the primitives needed to 
build a theory. It enables meaningful discussions and comparisons� 

The important thing to note is that this initial version of the 
concept is only a point of departure for a series of discovery 
experiments that will help us explore ways to make the basic 
idea behind the concept work� Creating a special language 
that allows us to express our ideas about Information Age 
concepts in somewhat precise and unambiguous terms is a 
necessary prerequisite to useful discourse and meaningful 
exploration. �We would suggest that this is and needs to be 
a work in progress� 

The sharing of information is an interaction that can take 
place between two or more entities in the information 
domain. These could be between humans, databases, or programs such as planning� applications. The ability to share 
information is key to being able to develop a state of shared 

Inga Zimprich 

Some Quotes ed. 2003 

Quoted:
Departement of Defense of
America:
Understanding Information
Age Warfare
David S. Alberts, John J.
Garstka, Richard E. Hayes,
David A. Signori


Library of Congress
Cataloging-in-Publication
Data
Understanding information
age warfare / David S.
Alberts � [et al.]
.


p. cm. 
ISBN 1�893723�04�6 (pbk.) 
1. Information warfare. 
2. Electronics in military 
engineering�United States. 
3. Military planning�United 
States. I. Alberts, David S. 
(David Stephen), 1942-U163 
.U49 2001 355.3�43--dc21 
2001043080 August 2001 
177



awareness, as well as being able to collaborate and/or synchronize� 

When two or more people are located in close proximity, 
information can be exchanged by voice via face-to-face conversation. Other techniques that employ body movement, 
such as hand signals, can also be employed. Body language 
can also be used to communicate information, but it is easy to 
miss or misunderstand these signals. In some cases, visual 
aids can also be used to enhance ideas or concepts of communication. When two or more people are geographically separated, some type of technology must be employed to share 
information (e.g. telephone, e-mail, video teleconferencing)� 

Shared awareness is a state that exists in the cognitive 
domain when two or more entities are able to develop a 
similar awareness of a situation. The degree of similarity 
required (or difference tolerable) will depend on the type 
and degree of collaboration and synchronization needed� 
Multiple factors influence the degree to which a state of shared awareness can be developed between two or more entities. These are also heavily influenced by similarities and 
differences in worldview, culture, language, and perceived 
interests. 

Shared awareness is an important prerequisite for the ability to synchronize actions �in the absence of a detailed 
plan� 

Collaboration is a process that takes place between two or 
more entities. Collaboration always implies working together toward a common purpose. This distinguishes it from 
simply sharing data, information, knowledge, or awareness. 

We recognize that in the beginning it will be hard for individual projects to do a satisfactory job of measuring all of the 
information� However, if we stick to it, things will improve. 
Someday these concepts will be routinely measured and 
contribute to increasing our understanding of the value of 
information and the power of networking� 

Meanwhile, the databases resulting from serious projects 
will provide a foundation for future work and innovation�. 
New venues are needed to facilitate the exploration and testing of ideas� 

We will stop thinking about systems and start thinking about 
systems of systems or federations of systems� Lessons are178 learned from doing, better ways of doing things are developed, 


perfected, � and then reflected in training and exercises� 
Of ultimate importance is what is being done with these 
newly provided technical capabilities. That is, enabling individuals and organizations to create value in new ways. �� 


Arie Altena 

Deze tekst werd eerder 
gepubliceerd in De Gids, 
september 2005, 

p. 764-775. 
Wie blogt bestaat 

Lezen en schrijven in tijden van nieuwe media 

In juni 2005 waren er naar schatting elf miljoen mensen met 
een weblog. (1) Afgezien van de vraag of al die elf miljoen 
hun blog � een veelgebruikte afkorting voor weblog � 
daadwerkelijk bijhouden (naar schatting iets meer dan de 
helft), en afgezien van de vraag over wat voor soort blogs het 
in zulke schattingen gaat, is de opkomst ervan een van de 
meest fascinerende gebeurtenissen op het internet. Ik 
beschouw het zelfs als een van de meest fascinerende 
gebeurtenissen in de wereld van het publiceren en schrijven 
�berhaupt. Met blogs zien we de opkomst van een genre 
(preciezer, een vorm van publiceren en een vorm van schrijven) vanuit specifieke kenmerken van een medium, namelijk internet en world wide web, met hun mogelijkheid tot 
onmiddellijk publiceren en het gebruik van hyperlinks. We 
zien bovendien een afstemming tussen die kenmerken en de 
behoeftes van de gebruikers van het medium. 

Het is geen wonder dat er de afgelopen jaren een warme 
interesse bestaat voor de geschiedenis van het publiceren, 
van het boek, van het lezen, en voor �mediarevoluties�. (2) 
Die interesse is mede te verklaren als een poging tot duiding 
van wat er zich de afgelopen jaren heeft afgespeeld rond de 
koppeling van computers en communicatienetwerken, en 
de constituering van de computer als database en schrijfinstrument. Men tracht greep te krijgen op de transformatie 
van het lezen en schrijven zoals die nu gestalte krijgt. 

Is het anno 2005 nog nodig de situatie te schetsen? Lezen en 
schrijven vinden online plaats. Kennis wordt met digitale 
middelen verwerkt en overgedragen. Wie onderzoek doet, 
brengt een groot deel van de tijd achter de laptop met internetconnectie door. Wie tijd neemt om theorie te lezen (laten 
we zeggen het nieuwe boek van Bruno Latour of Giorgio 
Agamben), zal regelmatig het internet raadplegen bij de 
pogingen zich tot de theorie te verhouden. Het lezen van een 
boek is ingebed in een activiteit van informatie zoeken, commentaar lezen, reageren, browsen. De activiteit van het 
lezen vindt als het ware ook online plaats: je spiegelt jouw 
interpretaties aan die van anderen, je vertelt over jouw 
interpretatie van, of worsteling met de tekst nog voor je het 
boek uit hebt, je levert commentaar, je reageert op wat 
anderen schrijven of vragen.

180



Wie beweert dat we de afgelopen tien jaar midden in ��n De transformatie van 
van de grootste transformaties op mediagebied hebben het lezen en schrijven 
geleefd, alleen vergelijkbaar met de introductie van de drukvindt plaats van onderpers, die trapt dus een wijd openstaande deur in. Toch is het op: toen waren er elf 
goed het zo nu en dan opnieuw tot je te laten doordringen: miljoen weblogs. 
dit is een spannende tijd, nu worden nieuwe vormen van 
lezen en schrijven gecre�erd. Dat gebeurt niet als een donderslag bij heldere hemel, niet ondersteund door avantgardistische manifesten, het gebeurt geleidelijk, bijna onmerkbaar, en ja, tamelijk massaal. De transformatie van het lezen 
en schrijven vindt plaats van onderop: toen waren er elf miljoen weblogs. 
Zelf ben ik in 2001 begonnen te bloggen. (3) Ik kan me geen 
doorslaggevende reden herinneren voor die beslissing. Ik 
was benieuwd. Benieuwd of ik door dagelijks een stukje te 
tikken een andere manier van schrijven zou kunnen ontwikkelen; benieuwd of ik gemakkelijker zou gaan schrijven. Ik 
was benieuwd of ik meer structuur zou kunnen aanbrengen 
in mijn leesgedrag en theoretische interesses (die altijd in te 
veel richtingen uitwaaierden). Ik hoopte door een blog bij te 
houden, grip te krijgen op wat er allemaal op een dag achter de laptop met internetconnectie voorbijkomt. Met andere woorden, ik hoopte structuur te geven aan het browsen. 
Ik geloof niet dat ik de illusie had dat ik een soort archief zou 
kunnen opbouwen van de interessante sites en teksten die je 
tegenkomt op onderzoekstochten op het internet; ik hoopte 
wel dat er ankerpunten zouden ontstaan. Bloggen is iets 
noteren om het te onthouden (in tegenstelling tot schrijven 
om er vanaf te zijn). 
Ik was goed de hoogte van de theorievorming rond online 
publiceren en elektronisch schrijven, schreef wel eens over 
nieuwe media en kunst, en gaf les in schrijven voor het web. 
Ik gebruikte blogs in mijn lessen als een voorbeeld van een 
webspecifieke manier van publiceren en schrijven, en ik 
wilde weten hoe dat in praktijk werkt. Evengoed wilde ik de 
stukjes schrijven die altijd ongeschreven blijven, omdat zich 
nooit een gelegenheid voordoet: de opmerkingen over een 
net gelezen roman, over een bezochte lezing, een concert, 
een theorie waardoor je tijdelijk geboeid bent of zelfs de 
laatste wielrenwedstrijd en dingen uit de persoonlijke 
levenssfeer. Kortom al die dingen die meewegen in serieuze 
publicaties, maar die daarin nooit aan de orde komen omdat 
ze net buiten het thema of buiten het afgesproken aantal 
woorden vallen. Het zijn onderwerpen waarvan je kunt zeggen: schrijf er een email over naar vrienden, �dump� ze in 
een forum, noteer ze in je aantekenschrift. Email echter was 
in die tijd veranderd van geschreven conversatie in een 181 


McLuhan claimde ooit, 
in aforistische stijl en 
met meer dan een hint 
van technodeterminisme, dat de uitvinding 
van de drukpers leidde 
tot een typographical 
man, en hij zag in de 
twintigste eeuw onder 
invloed van de nieuwe 
media (telefoon, radio, 
televisie) een nieuw 
soort mens en een 
nieuwe maatschappij 
ontstaan. Ontstaat er 
een �internetman�? 

Het internet knoopt de 
laptop waarop kennis 
wordt geproduceerd 
(of toch minstens 
opgeschreven) meteen 
aan de databases voor 
de verspreiding 
daarvan. 

182


medium voor doelgericht communiceren. Ik heb nooit van 
forums gehouden, het is een manier van discussi�ren die 
mij niet ligt � een kwestie van persoonlijkheid. En wat aantekenschriften betreft: een aantekening is niet genoeg, het 
gaat erom dat de opmerking, ingeving of gedachte wordt 
omgezet in afgeronde zinnen. Wie blogt weet dat een ander 
het kan lezen, dat dwingt tot (iets meer) precisie en reflectie. Bloggen is dan ook een instrument van beheersing. Al 
met al kun je zeggen dat ik begon te bloggen vanuit de �lol 
om te schrijven� en daarin liggen bovenstaande aspecten in 
zekere zin besloten. Zo werd ik een van die inmiddels meer 
dan elf miljoen. 

Als computer en netwerkcommunicatie worden gekoppeld 
en tot dominant medium uitgroeien, wat dan? McLuhan 
claimde ooit, in aforistische stijl en met meer dan een hint 
van technodeterminisme, dat de uitvinding van de drukpers 
leidde tot een typographical man, en hij zag in de twintigste 
eeuw onder invloed van de nieuwe media (telefoon, radio, 
televisie) een nieuw soort mens en een nieuwe maatschappij ontstaan. Ontstaat er een �internetman�? Walter Ong traceerde in het onovertroffen Orality and Literacy de verschillen tussen een orale, schriftloze cultuur en een geletterde 
cultuur. In dat boek vinden we ook het idee dat nieuwe 
media in de twintigste eeuw tenderen naar een secundaire 
oraliteit, die functioneert op de technische basis van het 
schrift (een notie die hij niet uitwerkt). (4) Inmiddels stelt de 
mediatheorie, dat computers en internet om een �medialiteracy� vragen die zich onderscheidt van de geletterdheid van 
de drukwerkcultuur. De kast met onderzoeken over de 
effecten van het internet, het web, mobiele telefonie enz. is 
inmiddels flink gevuld. 

In de tijd van de televisie, het entertainmentmedium van de 
babyboomgeneratie, bleef het boek niet alleen het symbool 
bij uitstek van kennis, maar ook het dominante medium 
voor de verspreiding van serieuze kennis. In de tijd van 
internet, het communicatiemiddel van een generatie later, 
verliest het boek dat aura. Het internet is juist ook een infrastructuur voor de verspreiding van serieuze kennis temidden van alle rotzooi en mindless pleasures. Het internet 
knoopt de laptop waarop kennis wordt geproduceerd (of 
toch minstens opgeschreven) meteen aan de databases voor 
de verspreiding daarvan. 

Tien � vijftien jaar geleden werd de discussie nog apocalyptisch gevoerd in het kader van het verdwijnen van het boek 
(waarbij men dacht aan de �codex�: een stapel papier met 
een kaft), of, juichend, in het kader van de opkomst van een 


� de lezer bevrijdende � interactieve hypertekst. Inmiddels Zo ontstaat een vorm 
is de toekomst van toen realiteit en vinden lezers en schrijvan online publiceren 
vers (in de zin van iedereen die schrijft) zich terug achter waarin persoonlijke 
schermpjes en toetsenbordjes met immer toegang tot teknotities, kritische 
sten, je netwerk en de mogelijkheid tot onmiddellijk publibeschouwingen, 
ceren. (5) Het is niet eens de vraag of dat een te prefereren enthousiaste kreten, 
situatie is, het is de realiteit. De vraag is hoe we ermee overwegingen en 
omgaan, hoe wij ons aanpassen en hoe we de situatie vormcommentaren gemengd 
geven naar onze eigen inzichten. De wereld van de weblogs worden met 
biedt een mogelijk antwoord. verwijzingen naar 
interessante inhoud 
Een weblog of blog is, volgens de definitie van literatuurweop het web. 
tenschapster Jill Walker een �frequently updated website 
consisting of dated entries arranged in reverse chronological order so the most recent post appears first (see temporal 
ordering). Typically, weblogs are published by individuals 
and their style is personal and informal.� (6) Weblogs verschijnen op het internet vanaf midden jaren negentig. Het 
zijn meestal ofwel dagelijks �geposte� links met een kort 
commentaar (linklogs) ofwel min of meer persoonlijke dagboeken (lifelogs). De eerste die hiervoor de term weblog 
gebruikt is de Amerikaan John Barger, die als een van de 
eersten continu verslag doet van het eigen websurfgedrag. 
(7) Zo ontstaat een vorm van online publiceren waarin persoonlijke notities, kritische beschouwingen, enthousiaste 
kreten, overwegingen en commentaren gemengd worden 
met verwijzingen naar interessante inhoud op het web. Die 
vorm van schrijven en linken zal het genre van de serieuze 
weblog bepalen. In Nederland begint kunstenaar en theoreticus Jouke Kleerebezem in maart 1998 op het internet met 
zo�n vorm van wat hij �personal publishing� zal gaan noemen, waarin ook diepgaand wordt gereflecteerd op wat deze 
vorm van publiceren betekent. (8) 
Gebruiksvriendelijke content management systemen, vaak 
webgebaseerd en met gratis hosting, zorgen er hierna voor 
dat steeds meer internetgebruikers een blog opzetten. Het is 
immers een eenvoudige en zeer goedkope manier om je 
eigen inhoud te publiceren en jezelf te presenteren. (9) Met 
name het Amerikaanse programma Blogger, ontwikkeld 
door Pyra Labs en in 2003 overgenomen door Google, heeft 
voor die boom gezorgd. Deze blogsoftware zorgt ervoor dat 
de weblog als genre herkenbaar wordt en legt er de kenmerken van vast. Dit gaat zelfs zo ver dat een blog nu quasi 
wordt gedefinieerd als een website die met blogsoftware 
wordt bijgehouden. Kwesties waarmee elke blogger wordt 
geconfronteerd, zoals het aanmaken van archieven, het 
categoriseren van de berichten (entries) en de keuze van het 
grafisch ontwerp, worden in de software ondervangen. De 183 


Deze kenmerken zitten 
ingebakken in de software, maar ze zijn ontwikkeld vanuit een 
behoefte van gebruikers. 

184


software regelt het automatisch aanmaken van archieven, 
geeft elk bericht een permanent adres, vermeldt datum, tijd 
en de auteur, enz. Daaromheen ontstaat ook een softwarelaag van blog-gerelateerde kenmerken die men naar keuze 
kan gebruiken, zoals: commentaar van bezoekers toevoegen; het weergeven van referrers (lijst van waar de bezoekers vandaan komen); automatisch aanmaken van links 
naar andere blogs (blogrolling) enz. 

Deze kenmerken zitten ingebakken in de software, maar ze 
zijn ontwikkeld vanuit een behoefte van gebruikers. (10) De 
opkomst van de blog moet niet worden geduid als een puur 
technisch geconstitueerd fenomeen. De blog kon uitgroeien 
tot een bloeiend genre dankzij de komst van specifieke software, met technische mogelijkheden die de blog als genre 
defini�ren, maar de daaruit voortvloeiende kenmerken van 
de blog zijn feitelijk ontstaan vanuit het publiceren. De techniek legt de basis voor de nieuwe vormen van schrijven en 
lezen, maar de verklaring ervoor ligt meer in het gebruik 
van de techniek door mensen en in de behoeftes van gebruikers. De blog is een specifiek aan het world wide web gerelateerde manier van publiceren, ��n die het linken en schrijven van korte commentaren verbindt. Het is echter vooral 
een vorm van publiceren die past bij de omgang van gebruikers met het web, gerelateerd is aan dagelijks gebruikte 
technologie, en voortvloeit uit een menselijke reactie daarop. (11) 

Zoals de zoekmachine Google binnen twee jaar het woord 
�googlen� tot werkwoord voor een specifieke manier van 
zoeken muntte, zo wordt �bloggen� binnen mum van tijd een 
werkwoord voor een manier van publiceren. Een meer filosofische benadering van de weblogs benadrukt dat het bij 
bloggen meer om de activiteit gaat, dan om het object dat 
door die activiteit tot stand komt. Men zou zelfs kunnen stellen dat op het moment waarop het zelfstandig naamwoord 
(de weblog, het object) de overhand krijgt op het werkwoord 
(bloggen), de blog haar karakter als blog verliest en een 
publicatie wordt. Een blog bijhouden en ontwikkelen is 
vooral een proces, waar een publicatie (tijdschrift, zine) 
vooral een afgerond object wil zijn. Een blog is continu 
onderhevig aan verandering (hoeveel hangt af van degenen 
die de blog bijhouden), en verandert met de blogger. Een 
tijdschrift is een bevroren moment in de tijd. 

Dit is een kwestie van gradatie, niet van essenties. Het gaat 
om de ervaring van de tijd. Aan een boek wordt een jaar, of 
jaren, gewerkt. Aan een artikel dagen, weken of maanden. 
Een publicatie zet een punt. Bij de blog is er uiteindelijk 


alleen de blog, met de in de tijd langer wordende lijst Het is bij uitstek een 
berichten. Een blog heeft het karakter van een opeenvolging manier om het online 
van invallen, overwegingen, voorlopige gedachten. Het zijn te transformeren 
krijgt, net als het leven zelf, langzaam vorm. De blog is een tot een betekenisvolle 
plek om iets uit te proberen. De teksten op een blog hebben ervaring, in plaats van 
een voorlopig karakter. Een eerste gedachte, nog te onuitgegevloerd te worden door 
werkt voor een essay, vindt hier een plek, evenals de overeen gevoel de tijd te 
weging die nooit een plek zal krijgen in een artikel, maar verdoen met heen en 
toch het denken stuurt. weer klikken, onder te 
gaan in de stroom van 
Ik denk dat deze vorm van schrijven een directe reactie is op data, je grip te 
het online zijn, op het feit dat het internet de werkomgeving verliezen. 
is geworden. Het is bij uitstek een manier om het online zijn 
te transformeren tot een betekenisvolle ervaring, in plaats 
van gevloerd te worden door een gevoel de tijd te verdoen 
met heen en weer klikken, onder te gaan in de stroom van 
data, je grip te verliezen. (Denk aan het lege gevoel van een 
avondje surfen of een avond televisiekijken.) Meedoen, 
vormgeven aan je ervaring van het browsen door te reageren, te schrijven, zelf actief onderdeel te worden van de 
stroom data. Dat is de paradox van het bloggen: de dataoverdaad wordt betekenis gegeven door zelf bij te dragen aan de 
dataoverdaad. 
Enigszins polemisch 
Voor wie wordt de blog geschreven? Enigszins polemisch kun je stellen dat de 
kun je stellen dat de blogwereld tendeert naar een punt blogwereld tendeert 
waar elke blog precies ��n lezer heeft, de schrijver zelf. naar een punt waar 
Blogs hebben geen publiek en worden niet voor een publiek elke blog precies ��n 
geschreven. Het gaat niet om aantallen bezoekers, aantallen lezer heeft. 
hits. Wie lange tijd blogt houdt dat alleen vol uit liefde voor 
het bloggen, niet om het bereiken van een publiek. Bloggers 
die het lang volhouden zijn mensen die graag schrijven (of 
beeld publiceren). Deze redenering is ook een antwoord 
voor degene die zich afvragen waarom je blogs zou lezen 
(het zijn er zoveel, ze zijn te persoonlijk, te specifiek, te 
slecht geredigeerd, niet op een lezer gericht). Blogs lezen 
krijgt pas zin als je zelf blogt. De dagelijkse realiteit mag 
minder radicaal zijn dan deze analyse, ik denk dat ze wel de 
kern raakt. Natuurlijk verzamelt een goed geschreven blog 
in de loop van de tijd een schare trouwe lezers � mijn eigen 
blog krijgt een stuk of 250 hits per dag, ik vermoed dat ik een 
stuk of dertig trouwe lezers heb. Wie blogt, leest zelf, in een 
wekelijks ritme, een stuk of vijf tot tien blogs, met wat uitstapjes via links. In de regel zijn dat blogs van vrienden of 
kennissen, of mensen die zich in een gebied bewegen dat op 
dat moment de interesse heeft. Maar uiteindelijk wordt de 
blog geschreven om het bloggen. De rest is een geschenk. 

185



Temidden van de datarijkdom is de kwestie al 
gauw niet alleen �wat 
betekent dit stukje 
tekst� maar: hoe 
verbind ik al deze data 
zodanig met elkaar dat 
er zinvolle kennis 
ontstaat? Het antwoord 
daarop is niet: vind de 
juiste informatiebron. 
(Welke zou dat moeten 
zijn?) Het antwoord is: 
cre�er kritisch een pad 
door de beschikbare 
data en construeer 
aldus kennis. 

186


In zijn boek Weaving the Web schrijft Tim Berners-Lee, een 
van de grondleggers van het world wide web, naar aanleiding van het idee van een �web� van informatie en links, dat 
�this all works only if each person makes links as he or she 
browses, so writing, link creation and browsing must be 
totally integrated.� Ik vind dat, net als Jouke Kleerebezem, 
een intrigerend citaat dat de kern van de zaak raakt. (12) Het 
duidt op een soms vergeten, fundamenteel aspect van het 
world wide web, en van de paradigmawisseling die we meemaken. Het web is geen door anderen (liefst anderen met 
autoriteit) opgezet informatienetwerk, waarbij de autoriteit 
van de makers en hun organisatie de kwaliteit van de geboden informatie garandeert. Iedereen die het web gebruikt, is 
zelf maker van het web. Daar moeten we het mee doen. De 
vraag is: hoe werk je als het web je informatiebron en publicatieruimte is? Hoe vind je een weg door de overdaad aan 
data, hoe maak je er informatie van, hoe zet je het surfgedrag om in kennis? Hoe navigeer je? Hoe geef je betekenis, 
hoe maak je er een zinvolle ervaring van? 

Een droog antwoord: concentratie en goed lezen zijn een 
eerste vereiste om het �informatie�-werk tot een zinvolle 
ervaring te maken. Belangrijk zijn zoekstrategie�n en browse-vaardigheden. Een vanzelfsprekend vermogen tot bronnenkritiek is onmisbaar. De vraag van de hermeneutiek 
blijft onverkort van belang: wat betekent deze tekst en hoe 
pas ik deze betekenis toe? Maar deze vraag is niet alleen te 
beantwoorden met: �Concentreer je op de tekst, lees goed.� 
Temidden van de datarijkdom is de kwestie al gauw niet 
alleen �wat betekent dit stukje tekst� maar: hoe verbind ik al 
deze data zodanig met elkaar dat er zinvolle kennis ontstaat? 
Het antwoord daarop is niet: vind de juiste informatiebron. 
(Welke zou dat moeten zijn?) Het antwoord is: cre�er kritisch een pad door de beschikbare data en construeer aldus 
kennis. Dat betekent: browsen, links maken en schrijven. 
Zoeken, lezen, verbinden, interpreteren. Dus: het werkt 
alleen als browsen (zoeken en rondstruinen), schrijven en 
het maken van links worden ge�ntegreerd. Bijvoorbeeld 
door bloggen. Juist het bloggen, in feite een tamelijk eenvoudige manier van online publiceren (je linkt en je schrijft 
wat), verschijnt zo als een mogelijke inlossing van de belofte van het world wide web. 

Het is opvallend dat met name de afgelopen twee jaar steeds 
meer academici en schrijvers zijn begonnen met bloggen. 
Zij hebben het over hun onderzoek, brengen verslag uit over 
hun andere interesses, hun dagelijks leven, het zojuist gelezen boek en de wandelingen over het internet als onderdeel 
van hun professionele bestaan als onderzoeker of schrijver. 


Een goed voorbeeld is Jill Walker, een vooraanstaand onder-Deze bloggers 
zoeksters op het gebied van elektronische literatuur. (13) reflecteren op de wijze 
Een andere is Jodi Dean, die veel korter geleden is begonwaarop het bloggen hun 
nen te bloggen over haar bestaan als politicologe en haar onderzoek, hun 
onderzoek. (14) De lijst kan eindeloos worden aangevuld. kennisverwerving en 
kennisverwerking 
Je zou hen, bij gebrek aan een betere term, serious bloggers be�nvloedt, en bij hen 
kunnen noemen. In de regel � maar niet altijd � zijn dat zien we de contouren 
schrijvers, theoretici, kunstenaars en onderzoekers die ook verschijnen van een 
elders publiceren. Ze nemen deel aan een debat, aan het (deels gerealiseerde) 
vormen van kennis en de reflectie daarop. De vraag naar de toekomst van het 
samenhang tussen browsen, lezen, kennisverwerken en schrijven en de 
schrijven is voor hen continu aan de orde. Praktisch gezien kennisontwikkeling. 
gaat het voor de serious bloggers ook over een transformatie van hun werk. Anno 1980 waren de tools of the trade 
schriftjes, opschrijfboekjes, fiches, een typemachine. 
Dagelijks publiceren was enkel weggelegd voor de journalisten. Discussies vonden plaats per brief, in de wandelgangen, op congressen. Die tools of the trade zijn niet verdwenen: aantekenboekjes kunnen nog steeds handig zijn maar 
ze zullen langzaam verdwijnen met het voortschrijden van 
de techniek. De digitale tools of the trade zijn belangrijker 
geworden, in sommige gevallen de enige die gebruikt worden. Wie nu een congres bezoekt ziet een deel van het 
publiek tikken op de laptop en als het bloggers zijn uploaden 
ze live hun verslag. (15) Deze bloggers reflecteren op de 
wijze waarop het bloggen hun onderzoek, hun kennisverwerving en kennisverwerking be�nvloedt, en bij hen zien we 
de contouren verschijnen van een (deels gerealiseerde) toekomst van het schrijven en de kennisontwikkeling. (16) 
Waarin onderscheidt zich een goede weblog? Door de kwaliteit van het geschrevene, een goede stijl, een herkenbare 
stem; doordat in de keuze van onderwerpen en links een 
persoonlijke voorkeur of een karakter verschijnt. Je zou dat 
redactionele consistentie kunnen noemen, met dien verstande dat deze in vele richtingen kan uitwaaieren. Waarbij 
mijns inziens ook geldt dat beheersing een beter recept is 
voor kwaliteit dan alles online �smijten�. Met andere woorden: een goede blog is goed geschreven, herkenbaar en 
heeft interessante links. 
Wie blogs regelmatig leest, doet dat om de ontwikkeling van 
een interessegebied en een persoon te volgen. De aantrekkelijkheid ligt in de verknoping van interesses (hetzij professionele, hetzij liefhebberijen) en de persoonlijke levenssfeer. Een vaak gehoorde kritiek op blogs is: waarom zou ik 
willen weten hoe deze wetenschapper haar zwangerschap 
beleeft, waarom moet ik zien dat ze heiligenbeeldjes foto187 


grafeert, waarom moet ik lezen over de problemen bij het 
leiden van een vakgroep, waarom moet ik lezen over de 
bezochte voetbalwedstrijd van Ajax, ja, waarom, terwijl ik 
alleen interesse heb in de ontwikkeling van elektronische 
literatuur, politieke filosofie en het web, of de theorievorming rond dj-cultuur? Dit is echter precies waar het om 
gaat: wie diep in die onderwerpen zit, wil ook weten hoe de 
interesse daarvan ligt ingebed in de andere levenssferen. 
Het werkt als herkenning, maar ik denk dat het meer is. Het 
gaat ook om het realiseren van de gesitueerdheid van die 
(professionele) kennis (in de dubbele zin van het �zich� realiseren �dat het zo is�, en van het �realiseren�, namelijk �in 
praktijk brengen�). Dat zulks niet voor alle lezers interessant 
is, spreekt voor zich. 

Links verbinden blogs onderling en met de rest van het web. 
Links verraden de plaats van een blog in een netwerk van 
gelijken, de positie, de gesitueerdheid van de blog. Deze 
links zijn voor lezers onmisbaar. Het gaat zowel om links 
naar bevriende sites (�met de hand� bijgehouden, dan wel 
geautomatiseerd door blogrollingsoftware), als om verwijzingen in de tekst. Door deze links ontstaan tijdelijke en 
semipermanente netwerken. In praktijk bestaat de blogosphere (het geheel van alle blogs) uit allerlei kleine netwerkjes van blogs die naar elkaar verwijzen. Deze bloggers lezen 
elkaar en hun netwerk draait om overeenkomstige interesses. Vaak schrijven zij over dezelfde dingen, reageren onderling op elkaar, halen elkaar aan, leveren commentaar. Zo�n 
netwerk verandert continu, maar er zijn vrijwel altijd een 
aantal centrale nodes � sites waar vrijwel alle andere aan 
refereren � en ergens stuit je op een grens. (Je kunt niet de 
hele blogosphere ontdekken vanuit ��n enkel startpunt). 
Maar dit zijn kwesties voor netwerktheoretici. 

Wie blogs leest, zal in praktijk regelmatig heen en weer klikken tussen blogs die deel uitmaken van hetzelfde netwerk 
(preciezer: door heen en weer te klikken en misschien te 
reageren m��k je het netwerk). Je volgt niet alleen de ontwikkeling van die ene blogger, je volgt ook door de dagen 
heen de ontwikkeling van een thema door een aantal blogs, 
bijvoorbeeld de interpretatie van een gebeurtenis. Je kunt 
vanuit het perspectief van zo�n onderwerp zeggen dat er 
sprake is van een gedistribueerd narratief: een verhaal verspreid door de tijd en over verschillende plekken, met verschillende personen als auteur, waarbij waarschijnlijk geen 
twee lezers exact dezelfde lijn volgen. (17) Omdat het narratief gedistribueerd is, kan ook duidelijk worden hoe het 
onderwerp in kwestie is gesitueerd, wat de contexten zijn.

188 
Zo kan duidelijk worden hoe een kwestie (of ze nu van 
belang is of niet) ligt ingebed. 


Het lijkt wellicht of de tijdsdimensie in de wereld van het Het lijkt wellicht of de 
bloggen verschrompelt vanwege het regime van onmiddeltijdsdimensie in de 
lijkheid dat er heerst. De tijd tussen verwerking en reactie, wereld van het bloggen 
tussen lezen, interpreteren en (terug)schrijven lijkt naar nul verschrompelt vanwege 
te tenderen. Het lijkt dan alsof er geen ruimte is voor overhet regime van onmidweging, kritische reflectie, afstand. Tijdens het lezen wordt dellijkheid dat er heerst. 
meteen al geschreven. Het schrijven en kennisverwerken De tijd tussen verwervormen een loop, waar je niet uitkomt noch afstand van kunt king en reactie, tussen 
nemen. Het klopt dat je als blogger en als lezer van blogs lezen, interpreteren en 
continu middenin een proces van kennisverwerking zit, (terug)schrijven lijkt 
waarin reflectie en productie gelijk op gaan. De vraag is in naar nul te tenderen. 
welke mate dat werkelijk verschil maakt voor de ontwikkeling van kennis, wanneer we de vergelijking maken met de 
wetenschapper of filosoof van weleer die dagelijks brieven 
schreef. De mate van kritische reflectie wordt niet gemeten 
in verstreken tijd tussen lezen en terugschrijven, maar is 
afhankelijk van de instelling en beheersing van de blogger. 
Juist bloggen is een manier om (jezelf) tot reflectie te dwingen. (18) Het is een manier om het browsen te vertragen, 
door zelf te produceren. Het online-zijn met zijn dwang tot Juist bloggen is een 
continue aanwezigheid en onmiddellijk reageren, wordt manier om (jezelf) tot 
beheersing opgelegd. De tijd verschrompelt niet, ze wordt reflectie te dwingen. 
gestructureerd. (18) Het is een manier 
om het browsen te ver-
Bloggen om de tijd te structureren, als manier om vorm te tragen, door zelf te 
geven aan de online �dataverwerkingsarbeid� (om het eens produceren. Het online 
lelijk te zeggen), waarin lezen en schrijven gelijkopgaan. zijn met zijn dwang tot 
Bloggen laat een wereld verschijnen waarin iedereen continue aanwezigheid 
schrijft, en de notie van een algemeen publiek verdwijnt. en onmiddellijk reageren, 
Bloggen impliceert, voor de serious bloggers, een transforwordt beheersing opgematie van werkmethodes. Bloggen kan, met enige goede wil, legd. De tijd verschromworden beschouwd als de inlossing van de belofte van het pelt niet, ze wordt 
world wide web. Bloggen is een manier om betekenis te gestructureerd. 
geven aan de dataoverdaad, paradoxaal door er zelf aan bij 
te dragen. De zin ervan verschijnt alleen als je zelf meedoet. 
Noten 
(1) Cijfers van onder andere Technorati: http://www.technorati.com/ en http://www.pubsub.com/. Het aantal stijgt 
nog altijd. 
(2) Begin jaren negentig riepen academische studies de 
computer uit tot drager van een nieuwe manier van schrijven; nu lijkt er meer aandacht te zijn voor de studies waarin de geschiedenis van het lezen of het publiceren wordt 
getraceerd, van orale cultuur, naar geletterde cultuur, naar 
de wereld van de computer. Een recent voorbeeld voor het 
Nederlandse taalgebied is Geert Lernouts Een beknopte 
geschiedenis van het boek, waarin Lernout de betekenis van 189 


het woord �boek� oprekt, van een technische manier van 
bundeling van tekst (een �codex�) naar een verzameling 
van teksten. �Boeken� bestaan daarmee ook in de digitale 
wereld. 

(3) http://ariealt.net. 
(4) Ik noem hier expres zowel McLuhan als Ong, beiden 
schreven hun boeken ver voor de opkomst van het internet. 
Door je hun theorie�n over culturele transformaties in 
gedachten te nemen, cree�r je afstand tot de huidige ontwikkelingen, en verzand je niet in een verheerlijken of 
afkeuren van het nieuwe, om wat voor geldige of ongeldige 
reden dan ook. 
(5) Tenminste, tenzij academische publicaties achter 
wachtwoorden zitten. Een situatie die helaas te vaak voorkomt. Maar ik zal hier niet spreken over de, niet geringe, 
economische complicaties die samenhangen met de transformatie van het �kennisbedrijf�. 
(6) http://jilltxt.net//archives/blog_theorising/final_version_of_weblog_definition.html, definitie voor de Routledge 
Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory, 2005. 
(7) Barger gebruikt de term voor het eerst in 1997, op 
http://www.robotwisdom.com. Zie ook http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weblog 
(8) Zie http://www.nqpaofu.com, oftwel: notes quotes provocations and other fair use. Veel van mijn inzichten en 
gedachtes zijn ontleend aan, of ontstaan in reactie op 
postings van Jouke Kleerebezem. Vanwege de inflatie van 
de term �blog� prefereert Kleerbezem de term personal 
publishing. 
(9) Naast Blogger, http://www.blogger.com moeten ook de 
softwarepakketten als Moveable Type en WordPress worden genoemd. 
(10) Er zijn honderden zo niet duizenden smaken van blogsoftware te vinden, de meeste bestaan uit php-scripts, en 
wie kan programmeren bouwt zonder veel moeite zijn 
eigen blogsoftwarepakket. Dat gebeurt ook en de bestaande blogsoftware wordt continu verder ontwikkeld. 
(11) Inmiddels zijn blogs inhoudelijk even veelvormig als 
alle communicatie op de aardbol. Dat de meeste hits gaan190 naar de zogenaamde shocklogs als Geen Stijl (http://geen


stijl.com), zegt meer over de laag-gerichte nieuwsgierigheid van de mensheid, dan over de potentie van het bloggen. In blogs vind je rotzooi evengoed als diepgaande analyses van het werk van Kant. In de mainstream media is de 
meeste aandacht uitgegaan naar de vraag of blogs een 
nieuwe vorm van journalistiek zijn, en zo ja, of daar een 
bedreiging van uit gaat voor de klassieke verslaggeving. 
Het gevolg is geweest dat journalisten blogs gingen bijhouden op de eigen krantensite. Blogs worden gebruikt in 
mediastrategie�n (vooral zichtbaar als bekende personen, 
bijvoorbeeld ministers, een blog opstarten). Blogs worden, 
net als elke hoekje van het internet ge- en misbruikt door 
de pornoindustrie. En naast tekstgericht blogs zijn er 
beeldblogs, muziekblogs, moblogs en videoblogs. 

(12) Kleerbezem citeert het onder andere in zijn artikel 
�Hardop linken�: http://www.nqpaofu.com/moerstaal/hardoplinken/ 
(13) http://jilltxt.net 
(14) http://jdeanicite.typepad.com/i_cite/ 
(15) Dit zag ik voor het eerst in 2001, tijdens de Wizard of 
Os conferentie in Berlijn, een (intelligente, kritische) 
recensie van de eerste lezing was al online voordat de 
lezing was afgelopen. Over instant publishing gesproken. 
(16) Niet alleen bij hen. Maar het gaat in de context van 
deze tekst te ver om bijvoorbeeld in te gaan op vormen van 
samenwerking die zich vanuit de open sourcebeweging 
hebben ontwikkeld. 
(17) Dit idee ontleen ik aan Jill Walker, zie 
http://jilltxt.net/txt/distributednarrative.html 
(18) In dit kader is deze opmerking van Jill Walker interessant: �Blogging isn�t simply episodic, because we don�t simply flow with the current of episodes moving from idea to 
idea. When we write a blog or read a blog over time we 
stand with both feet planted in a river of thought as water 
flows around our feet; always changing yet always the 
same. We blog many of the same kinds of things again and 
again from different points of view taking new points into 
account.� http://jilltxt.net/?p=1292 Met andere woorden: 
bloggen leidt ertoe dat we onze eigen beweegredenen en 
idee�n keer op keer opnieuw onder ogen zien. 

Jouke Kleerebezem 

Personal Publishing 
Pandemonium note 
19 May 2003 

For later reflection on 
(publishing and) the book, 
see Ubibook 
(http://idie.enclavexquise.com 
/ubibook) 
and Ubibook Mark-up 
(http://idie.enclavexquise.com 
/ubibook/ubibook2.html) 
or in a Dutch rewriting: 

Ubi Lector Ibi Liber 

(http://idie.enclavexquise.com 
/ubibook/ubilectoribiliber.html) 

Wild Edit


Writing, editing and publishing � and reading � beyond the 
book? 

Book amateurs only discuss print-on-paper�s superior 
expressive materiality, incessantly repeating its advantages 
over electronic media on the basis of �usability� alone. 
While no new media developers will ever deny such qualities, they are constantly being harassed on the lack of fetish 
poietics ergonomics for their data representation project. 
Forgetting that it is a text (in the expanded sense) carrier 
in the first place, book lovers make their paper volumes� 
haptics the prime message. 

Form to be �content relevant to other content�, interacting 
with it in complex ways, is not a concept readily accepted 
with the book makers, so distancing the two (dividing �data� 
from �interface�) for more daring readings of possible 
relationships they don�t allow. To imagine �content�, text, to 
be ported to many different platforms, including the printed 
tome � for it to take multiple �forms� � and consequently for 
data expressiveness and sustainability first look at how 
knowledge and experience translate into myriad shapes, in 
order for that knowledge and experience to best be read 
both today and in the future, all of that is considered none of 
the book�s business, indeed. 

More importantly, very few discuss how much our writing 
and editing, and again reading, has already changed. You 
cannot compare book production and reading to networked 
media publishing, just like you cannot compare it to film or 
music making, or gaming or sms-ing for that matter. It is not 
essential that in all examples �text� is produced and processed, but indeed different forms of reading and learning are 
involved with different media. We should look into the nature of the different kinds of learning and knowledge which 
emerge in the process of being constituted in different media. 

(�) 

Why exclusively ergonomic and economic arguments in 
favor or against any media? Who wants to go by �statistics� 
alone? There�s more to a screen than how it �clicks�, like 
there�s more to a book than how it �flips�. 

192



Just intuitions 

� addiction to routines over deadlines 
� click through complements flip through 
� conviviality rules/lures a link away 
� read/write technology 
Just issues 

embedded journalism? grey literature? yellow journalism? 
black market? autobiography? public/private divide? authorship/ownership? the documented life? reputation management? attention economy? content management? file sharing? life streams? reality tv? life style? fact/fiction? voice? 
diy? read/write? printing on demand? 

NQPaOFU issues 1-89 scrolls 
pixel bar diagram, 2004 

(http://www.nqpaofu.com/20 
04/nqpaofu90.html#nqpaofu1-89) 

�Above pixel bar consists of 
screenshots of NQP #1-89, 
reduced from 979 to 6 
pixels width per issue. 
Another batch on my hard 
disk contains the jpgs for a 
printed NQP display at ExE, 
in strips 40mm wide at a 
350dpi resolution. It feels 
kinda strange to realize the 
time compressed in those 
bars. 6 years and a half. 
What rhythm to read from 
those colored dots? What 
kind of attention? Can't tell 
if it is Total Gibberish or 
Quality Attention... or an 
extra-vagant coincidence 
of both.� 

193



Inga Zimprich 

Wissen ist Gebrauch 

194


Versuch einer Praxisbeschreibung � Thinktank 0.1 

Das Bemerkenswerte an den neuen Medien liegt in der Art, 
wie wir sie nutzen. Die Neuanwendung der M�glichkeit, in 
unbekanntem Territorium unsere Nutzung zu �berdenken, 
wirft auch die Frage auf, was Nutzung und was Gebrauch in 
den Neuen Medien bedeutet. Nicht das, was wir entdecken, 
sondern wie wir es tun, entscheidet �ber die Bedeutung, die 
dem Neuen zuzuerkennen ist. 

W�hrend die traditionellen Orte von Wissensvermittlung in 
unserer aktuell physisch erfahrbaren Umwelt Ver�nderungen unterworfen sind und durch Privatisierung und �konomisierung, die Zug�nge und Ausschl�sse von Wissen 
neusortiert, gilt es auf andere Felder auszuweichen, in 
denen Erfahrungen gemacht werden k�nnen, die die 
Verhandlungen �ber die Gestaltung von Wissen innerhalb 
unserer Gesellschaften in Bewegung halten. 

Durch die Nutzung von visuellen und symbolischen 
Beziehungssystemen besteht innerhalb der Kunst das Potential, alternativen Semantiken zuf�llig zu begegnen. Diese 
Semantiken betrachte ich als kontingente Neucodierung, die 
komprimierte Handlungsanweisungen enth�lt, welche potentiell reproduzierbar und erweiterbar w�ren. Hierbei geht es 
jedoch nicht darum, ob dieses Potential de facto aktualisiert 
wird: Es liegt im Gegenteil in der Eigenheit der Kunst, dieses 
Potential lediglich zu enthalten. 

In der Reformulierung Luhmans beinhaltet das Kunstwerk, 
�dass die Welt immer auch m�glicherweise etwas anderes 
ist�. Das, was ich als K�nstlerin hervorbringe, ergibt sich aus 
dem semantisch geordneten System, das innerhalb meiner 
Aufmerksamkeit entsteht und das sich selbst seiner eigenen 
inh�renten Logik folgend fortsetzt. Durch meinen Aufwand 
an Zeit und Bewusstsein werde ich Zeuge der Existenz dieses Systems. Das Fragment, das sich aus diesem Prozess l�st 

� ein Artefakt das in diesem System entsteht � nimmt seinen Platz in der Welt an den Orten ein, die Gesellschaften 
f�r die Ausstellung von oder den Diskurs �ber visuelle Kunst 
bereitstellen. In diesem Moment verk�rpert �das Kunstwerk� 
m�gliche andere Ordnungen, es l�sst �die Welt des auch 
M�glichen in der Welt erscheinen�. 
Kunst kann �aufzeigen, dass Realit�t anders geordnet sein 


k�nnte�, und zugleich liegt es in der Kunst, �die Unvermeidbarkeit des Ordnens an sich� (1) sichtbar zu machen. Wer es 
gewohnt ist, sich der Beobachtung und dem Zustandekommenlassen solcher Systeme zu widmen, weiss, dass sie sich 
permanent selbst erneuernd fortsetzen. 

Das Wort �Virtualit�t� beschreibt �etwas, das beinahe etwas 
anderes ist�. Etwas, �das nicht physisch existiert, aber durch 
Software entsteht�. Etwas, das �weder seine Realit�t noch 
lediglich das, was es h�tte sein k�nnen ist,� (2) sondern das 
was immer auch Vorstellbar ist und einen aktuellen Bezug 
zur Realit�t hat. Virtualit�t wird durch die gleichzeitige 
Partizipation mehrer Subjekte auf verschiedenen Ebenen 
erzeugt. Im Erleben, im Vorstellen, im Code schreiben, im 
Nutzen und im Erfahren von Beziehungen, die sich im 
Digitalen manifestieren, entsteht unser Bild vom Virtuellen: 
Eine Art kollektiver Imagination, in dem sich das Auchvorstellbare konstant erweitert. Dieses Auchvorstellbare 
l��t R�ckschl�sse auf das Bekannte zu und unterzieht das, 
was wir wissen, einer Neubewertung. In dem Ma�e, in dem 
Virtualit�t in unser identit�res Erleben hineinspielt � in 
dem Rollen verlassen werden, Namen an- und abgelegt werden, Sichtbarkeiten geschaffen und aufgegeben werden � 
erweitern wir das Auchvorstellbare. 

Wenn im Gebrauch digitaler Strukturen neue potentielle 
Nutzungsm�glichkeiten gefunden werden k�nnen, dann 
liegt das transformatorische Potential des Thinktank und 
seine einzig m�gliche Strategie darin, sich in dieses Feld der 
Bewegungen hineinzugeben und das, wonach es sucht und 
was es befragt, zu erzeugen. Der Thinktank befragt, wie wir 
digitale Umgebungen als Umschlagplatz von Wissen nutzen 
(k�nnen). Er untersucht, wie wir diesen Austausch organisieren und das Potenzial, eine imaginierte Art des Organisierens zuzulassen � durch Wiederholung, die zu 
Erfahrungen f�hrt, Wiederholung, zur Intensivierung von 
Erfahrungen, die Wissen sind. 

Im dritten Online-Gespr�ch des Thinktank tauchte die 
Metapher der Orgie auf, um Interaktion im virtuellen Raum 
zu beschreiben, die sowohl die Unsicherheit als auch das 
Vertrauen ausdr�ckt, das im Sich-Einlassen auf eine unbekannte Organisationsform von K�rpern mitschwingt. In dem 
Moment, indem wir als Subjekte Wissen schaffen und teilen 
(Information die �bergeht von einem Subjekt zum anderen, 
umhergeht zwischen Subjekten), sind wir direkt an der 
erfahrbaren Aktualisierung von Wissen beteiligt. Nicht als 
Empf�nger oder Sender, sondern als Tr�ger, der, indem er 
von einem zum anderen geht, Wissen vermittelt, ver�ndert 195 
und schafft. 


Die Tr�ger von Wissen k�nnen vom Wissen, das sie verk�rpern, nicht mehr getrennt werden. In �hnlicher Relation 
wirken gleicherma�en die Medien in ihrem Verhalten, ihren 
Potenzialen und Qualit�ten auf die Kommunikation zwischen K�rper und Wissen ein. 

Wissensaustausch durch das Zusammenf�gen von Intensit�ten zu erzeugen und als diskursives Feld in Bewegung zu 
halten, ist die Praxis, die der Thinktank weiter entwickeln 
m�chte. Zugleich jedoch beinhaltet dieses Prinzip des in 
Bewegung haltens, des Erzeugens, des Erlebens als 
Methodik der Wissensvermittlung, dass sie praktiziert werden muss, um weitergegeben werden zu k�nnen. Sie muss 
praktiziert werden, um zu existiert. 

Die Erfahrungen, die wir in unseren selbstinitiierten 
Experimenten erlebbar machen und weitergeben, ver�ndern den Bereich des potentiell M�glichen und treiben ihn 
in den Bereich des Erlebten, des Erfahrenen, sie aktualisieren ihn und erzeugen somit Wissen (wodurch sich das Feld 
des auch m�glichen, des auch Vorstellbaren keinesfalls erledigt, lediglich verlagert, verl�ngert und verschiebt). 

�Im Moment der Krise sind alle Spezialisten� lautet ein Zitat 
der Architektengruppe m7. (3) W�rden wir den Begriff der 
Krise so verwenden, dass sie eine Situation charakterisiert, 
in der unseren Handlungen die Orientierung am Bekannten 
fehlt und ihnen so die �Sicherheit� entzieht, w�rde auch der 
Begriff des Spezialisten auf jene anwendbar, die sich in digitalen Strukturen bewegen und deren virtuelles Potential 
durcharbeiten. Diese Definition des �Spezialisten� l�dt uns 
ein, in den Prozess der Gestaltung und Erweiterung von 
semantischen Strukturen einzuschreiben. 

Verwandte Betrachtungen haben im 21. Jhd auch dazu 
gef�hrt, dass die amerikanischen Thinktanks des Pentagons 
im Kriegszustand Theorien vorstellten, in denen die 
Sprecherpositionen in traditionellen, hierarchisch organisierten Strukturen umgestaltet werden. Nicht weil ihnen 
emanzipatorisches Handeln am Herzen l�ge, sondern um zu 
gew�hrleisten, dass auch in der Abwesenheit eines pr�zisen 
und konkreten Plans ein verl�ssliches Handeln entsteht � 
durch Synchronisation eines gemeinsames Bewusstseins, 
durch das Bereitstellen von aktualisierter Information und 
durch relative �bereinstimmung von kognitiven Entscheidungsprozessen. (4) 

Nicht ohne Grund beinhaltet der Name Thinktank die 
196 Aneignung einer Methodik, unterschiedliches Wissen 


zusammenzubringen, um Strategien des Handelns zu entwickeln. Wir r�cken in unseren Praxen das Konzept des 
Netzwerks selbst ins Zentrum. Wir handeln im Bewusstsein, 
an einem gemeinsamen Wissenspool mitzuschreiben und 
neue Formen der Artikulation zu entwickeln. 

(1) �Artworks� Networks � Field, System or Mediators?�, 
Niels Albertsen and B�lent Diken 
(2) Wikipedia 
(3) http://www.m7red.com.ar 
(4) Vgl. Departement of Defense of America: Understanding 
Information Age Warfare, David S. Alberts, John J. Garstka, 
Richard E. Hayes, David A. Signori 

Arie Altena 

Workspaces 

198 
above: Flickr desktop 
opposite page: Antonello da Messina, Saint Jerome in his Study, 
National Gallery London 


Flickr desktops 

200



201



Sandra Fauconnier 

Writing Tools 

Stolen from Verschuerens 
Modern Woordenboek, zesde 
herziene druk (1950s?). 
�Alleen het A.B.N. geeft 
houvast.� 

202



203



Editors� Profiles


Arie Altena 

Arie Altena writes about new media, art and culture. He is 
a contributing editor of Mediamatic and Metropolis M. He 
teaches new media and technology-related courses at arts 
academies. He co-organized the Sonic Acts festival in 2004 
and 2005, and co-edited two Sonic Acts publications. He has 
a background in literary theory. He received his first hands-
on experience with new media in 1994 at Mediamatic 
when the www �hit the world�. He combines a love for literature and writing with a heartfelt interest in the reciprocal 
influence of culture and technology. He blogs on 
http://ariealt.net/blog. 

Sandra Fauconnier 

Sandra �fokky� Fauconnier is an art historian with some 
background in architecture, and a firm interest in networked technologies. She has worked as a webmaster/educational technologist and as an archivist in the field of electronic 
art, before she initiated a research project on participatory 
online spaces. Her interests include the use of community 
media by civil society initiatives, copyright and the �open� 
movement. 

In the context of the broader Ubiscribe framework she is 
interested in: 

� participatory authoring and publishing processes 
� copyright and the �open� movement � open access, open 
content. 
Claudia Hardi 

Claudia Hardi, works as webdesigner, and carto- and historiographer of computer science (artist). 

Lives and works in Maastricht, The Netherlands and in 
Germany. Works on devon think databases/encyclopedias 
called �Field trips through electronic archives,� or �Internet 
Travelogues�. Encyclopedias are: �As We May Think� and 
�g.a.s.� database. Background: urban planning, fine art and 
new media. Public workspaces are: �1066 And All That� and 
�ssl lues� (together with architect Sabine von Fischer.) 

204



Jouke Kleerebezem 

Jouke Kleerebezem, �self-publishing since 1969�, is an 
artist and writer who lives in France and works from 
Saint Germain des Bois and Amsterdam. He can be found 
at, or via, http://nqpaofu.com (Notes Quotes Provocations 
and Other Fair Use) or http://lemoulindumerle.com 
(Le Moulin du Merle, the �dotcom estate�). 

Inga Zimprich 

Since 2002 Inga Zimprich often works in collaboration with 
other artists and architects, using the internet to coordinate 
their projects and employing websites as a tool to create visibility for communities (http://www.lairesse.con-gress.net), to 
distribute knowledge and to link to like-minded initiatives. 

205



Colophon


Ubiscribe 0.9.0 

21 May 2006, 03:00 pm 
http://www.ubiscribe.net/ubipod/wiki 

Edition: 50 

Final Editing: Arie Altena, Sandra Fauconnier 
Lay-out: Jouke Kleerebezem 
Typefaces: Humana Serif, American Typewriter, Walbaum, 
Verdana 
Digital print: Grafikon, Oostkamp be 

Back cover map by Sandra Fauconnier 

This publication was made possible with the support of the 
Jan van Eyck Academie Design Department. 
(http://www.janvaneyck.nl) 

All original text and image material is released here under 
a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License. 
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/) 

Fair use disclaimer: every effort has been made by the editors to contact holders of copyright to obtain permission to 
reproduce copyright material. However, if any permissions 
have been inadvertently overlooked, Ubiscribe will be pleased to make the necessary and reasonable arrangements at 
the first opportunity. 

206



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