Hi everyone,
For those interested in a short, but yet comprehensive account for MUDs, I
recommend an interview with Sherry Turkle that you will find at:
http://wwww.wired.com/wired/4.01/features/turkle.html
She claims that we "are moving from modernist calculation toward postmodern=
ist
simulation, where the self is a multiple, distributed system", and that MUD=
s and
the Internet can be seen as virtual spaces that articulate the postmodern i=
dea.
In my own field (Informatics) Foucauldian ideas are now being "used" when
exploring the boundary between the real and the virtual in virtual spaces, =
and
also for exploring the design and use of various kinds of information
technology. For me, there seem to be some problems concerning the "use" of
Foucault. For instance, Foucault claims that there are different kinds of p=
ower
relations, but what kinds are there? And furthermore, is it possible to be
normative in the sense that we can say that some power relations are prefer=
red
before others? If anyone has any reflections on these issues, I would appre=
ciate
your comments.
Best regards,
Jonny
----------------------------------------------------------------------
M. Sc. Jonny Holmstr=F6m
Department of Informatics
Ume=E5 University
s-901 87 Ume=E5, Sweden
Phone: +46 90 166831
Fax: +46 90 166550
email: jhstrom@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.informatik.umu.se/~jhstrom/
On Tue, 13 May 1997 00:41:29 -0500 (EST) sebrown2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>could you pls elaborate -- for what does MUD stand?
>
>On Mon, 12 May 1997 GMCMILLAN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>
>> ************************
>> Re: Public punishments:
>> ************************
>>
>>
>> Punishment on MUDs shows a return to the medieval. While penal
>> systems in the Western nations that form the backbone of the Internet-
>> -the United States, Europe, the United Kingdom and Australia--have
>> ceased to concentrate upon the body of the condemned as the site for
>> punishment, and have instead turned to 'humane' incarceration and
>> social rehabilitation, the exercise of authority on MUDs has revived
>> the old practices of public shaming and torture. The theatre of
>> authority in virtual reality is one which demands and facilitates a
>> strongly dramaturgical element. All actions on MUDs must be overt,
>> every nuance of experience must be manifestly represented for it to
>> become part of the play, and so punishment must be flamboyant. The
>> virtual world of a MUD exists in its dramatic strength only in the
>> minds of its players, but the play enacted in the virtual world
>> emulates the physical rather than the mental. The public spectacle of
>> punishment, which Foucault describes as disappearing from the Western
>> political scene between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, is
>> alive and well on MUDs.[8]
>>
>> -- from CULTURAL FORMATIONS IN TEXT-BASED VIRTUAL REALITIES --
>> By ELIZABETH REID
>> emr@xxxxxxxxxxx
>> emr@xxxxxxxxxxx
>> emr@xxxxxxx
>>
>>
For those interested in a short, but yet comprehensive account for MUDs, I
recommend an interview with Sherry Turkle that you will find at:
http://wwww.wired.com/wired/4.01/features/turkle.html
She claims that we "are moving from modernist calculation toward postmodern=
ist
simulation, where the self is a multiple, distributed system", and that MUD=
s and
the Internet can be seen as virtual spaces that articulate the postmodern i=
dea.
In my own field (Informatics) Foucauldian ideas are now being "used" when
exploring the boundary between the real and the virtual in virtual spaces, =
and
also for exploring the design and use of various kinds of information
technology. For me, there seem to be some problems concerning the "use" of
Foucault. For instance, Foucault claims that there are different kinds of p=
ower
relations, but what kinds are there? And furthermore, is it possible to be
normative in the sense that we can say that some power relations are prefer=
red
before others? If anyone has any reflections on these issues, I would appre=
ciate
your comments.
Best regards,
Jonny
----------------------------------------------------------------------
M. Sc. Jonny Holmstr=F6m
Department of Informatics
Ume=E5 University
s-901 87 Ume=E5, Sweden
Phone: +46 90 166831
Fax: +46 90 166550
email: jhstrom@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.informatik.umu.se/~jhstrom/
On Tue, 13 May 1997 00:41:29 -0500 (EST) sebrown2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>could you pls elaborate -- for what does MUD stand?
>
>On Mon, 12 May 1997 GMCMILLAN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>
>> ************************
>> Re: Public punishments:
>> ************************
>>
>>
>> Punishment on MUDs shows a return to the medieval. While penal
>> systems in the Western nations that form the backbone of the Internet-
>> -the United States, Europe, the United Kingdom and Australia--have
>> ceased to concentrate upon the body of the condemned as the site for
>> punishment, and have instead turned to 'humane' incarceration and
>> social rehabilitation, the exercise of authority on MUDs has revived
>> the old practices of public shaming and torture. The theatre of
>> authority in virtual reality is one which demands and facilitates a
>> strongly dramaturgical element. All actions on MUDs must be overt,
>> every nuance of experience must be manifestly represented for it to
>> become part of the play, and so punishment must be flamboyant. The
>> virtual world of a MUD exists in its dramatic strength only in the
>> minds of its players, but the play enacted in the virtual world
>> emulates the physical rather than the mental. The public spectacle of
>> punishment, which Foucault describes as disappearing from the Western
>> political scene between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, is
>> alive and well on MUDs.[8]
>>
>> -- from CULTURAL FORMATIONS IN TEXT-BASED VIRTUAL REALITIES --
>> By ELIZABETH REID
>> emr@xxxxxxxxxxx
>> emr@xxxxxxxxxxx
>> emr@xxxxxxx
>>
>>