INTERAKTIONS-THEORIE
no.5
(Nancy Mauro-Flude)
1.0 Intro
I am interested
in the relationship between public and networked space, and the relevance of
selfhood. These new social spaces created by 'social software' programmers allow
them to actively shape the meaning of the spaces in which we find ourselves
and in turn challenge us to reconfigure the limits of our sensory perception.
According to Mathew Fuller’s [2003] definition, Social Software is ‘built
by and for those of us locked out of the narrowly engineered subjectivity of
mainstream software’. There is an emerging importance of new technologies
within both social and fictional spaces created by ‘social software’.
These developments require a rethinking of just how far the ‘public sphere’
extends, what our notions of how we see ourselves are. The development of atranslocal
public sphere requires further consideration in regard to not only the concept
of what constitutes the public sphere, but also in regard to the ‘empirical
attunement with out means or ends’, brought to light by Grosz:
"Perception,
intellection...the technologies they spawn proceed along the lines of practical
action, and these require a certain primacy in day-to-day life. But they leave
something out: the untapped, nonpractical, nonuseful, nonhuman or extra-human
continuity that is the object of intuition, of empirical attunement without
means or ends (Grosz, 2001: 187).
Free Software has a huge potential, if you think a feature is missing maybe
you are the one it takes to initiate it, but how can you if you have no contact
with the Free Software community? As Fuller (2004) also states, the biggest
problem is "Free Software is too internalist. The relation between its
users and its developers is so isomorphic that there is extreme difficulty in
breaking out of that productive but constricted circle.” It is not a new
thing that when particular groups and classes interface with one another conflict
or suspicion is usually aroused. Social stratification and mobility in software
is still not free.
2.0 Social software and fictional space
What I am most curious about right now is the contribution of artists, women
and other minority groups to social software and the various morphologies that
may develop as a result. The /Eclectic Tech Carnival (/etc) is a week-long meeting
and skills-exchange between women who work with computers and women who want
to learn more about computers. The emphasis is on technology, craft knowledge
and an imaginative way of understanding software and hardware. Just to be present
and hang out in the environment of the computer lab hearing the jargon, being
with people in action is basic research, an important part of one's first engagement
with technology and the start of a path towards understanding the role it might
play in their life. The motivating factor for this initiative is to overcome
the digital and technical divide, and support women interested in computer technology,
in using computers and potentially contributing to software development. /etc's
hope is that they contribute to developing a more open free society and will
support women by being more self-sufficient through the use of non-corporate
tools.
However, women’s only space is often a contested site of discussion. This
in turn raises all sorts of questions concerning the efficacy to a women only
space. Furthermore, Weiden (2005) from Debian women problematises that we must
occupy space differently, outside the terms of separatist refusal,
"…the role of the women's groups, to offer a friendly interface for
women to get their feet wet and then join the community. The problem is when
these groups don't have a clear target, in the end they turn in Barbie worlds
that don't exist in reality. Instead of integrating the women into the community,
they serve as ghettos, re-creating existing groups in the community with the
only objective *being more friendly* for women…"
With this comment in mind, specifically pointing to the denouncement of “Barbie
worlds”, I want to validate creative play in such environments. Winnicott
(1971) a British Psychoanalyst discusses how ‘playing has a place’
(1971:41); he emphases the space where we play. The space of potentiality that
opens up paradoxically links and disjoins the fiction and reality. The creativity
at work corresponds to the shaping ability the player has over her playing space
and the elements imported into it. Some rules of etiquette apply to that potential
space; exterior agents will only come into play if they are accepted (for instance
the /etc is a women only event), the shaping ability of the player must not
be patronised (no question is too foolish, although /etc encourages a DIY approach
we never say RTFM. This hidden contract is broken every time the player is reminded
that she is evolving in a space established by the other: often when a ‘male’
programmer interrupts the playing activity. For instance, in /etc 2005 hosted
by ESC in Graz for the first time there was a large male presence welcome on
the IRC #etc channel, they were commenting and providing insights into the content
of the workshops. An IRC chat room was projected onto the overhead of the wall
at medienKUNSTLABOR Lab. Men were participating virtually with women facilitators
and participants via the chat room. It is interesting as automatically on entering
the chat they assumed the role of authority, giving constructive critical feedback
such as: content of the workshop being taught, security protocols of the live
email links on the website that perpetuate ‘evil’ spammers and secure
IRC chatting and so on. One instance of this was in a discussion just before
the KeyWorx workshop, was about the Graphical User Interface (GUI) of the software
and how it is not respected because it uses Java (not a truly free software),
and is not as fast in comparison to Pure Data Programming Language. The men
automatically assume the role of providing helpful technical critique, even
though, the writing was of an informal nature and it is still visual and emotional
(the incorrect grammar and spelling), it is clear that the women intrinsically
use the channel instead to bounce creative ideas around.
About the presence of the men, mainly developers and programmers, in this case,
the ‘player’ senses that she must adjust and adapt herself to the
exterior world, and at times more importantly at times it felt ‘as if
[she was] caught up in the creativity of someone else, or of a machine (Winnicott,
1971:65)’. Indeed constructive criticism also has its place, nethertheless
this did intervene upon the creative flow of some of the women participants.
The /etc events I would say give a seamless structure of the real flowing into
a dream and back again. If we keep this in mind the doll featuring prominently
in many female children's lives, serving as an integration object and Weidons
comments referring to an inconsequential female ghetto or ‘Barbie world’
are mooted. Some women who attend have barely used a word processor and indeed
I have witnessed hands shaking at the keyboards etc. For some it takes time
to integrate different sets and settings and this is an initial step for some
to pathway of understanding. On the other scale many women are perfectly capable
of solving computer related problems, but often lack knowledge and access to
peer networks. Indeed, it is usually the case that most FLOSS GUI’s appear
less advanced; DarkVeggy (2005) groups the friendly GUI Mac with a Doll and
complicated PC with a fireman :) To become a programmer or understand coded
environments outside of a GUI, some women (and others) need a lot of integration
with these languages and interfaces. Very subtle discriminations are hard wired
into particular contexts. Thoughtful play provides practice with meaning and
direction; practice enhances play and offers ideas a concrete expression.
The absence
of female developers is a disadvantage for social software’s development,
this extends to the way we communicate in an increasingly mediatised society.
The lack of women involved in information technology, either too intimidated,
or chastised in ways that are very subtle but strong ego trips. In order to
create new public spheres that engage with and build on feminine identified
ideas and visions. It is also ironic that a lot of free software programming
discourse which talks the most about the de-centered subject, declaring breakthroughs
that allow recognition of otherness, still directs its critical voice primarily
to a specialized audience that shares a common language rooted in the very master
narratives it claims to challenge. If radical thinking is to have a transformative
impact, then a critical break with the notion of authority in as mastery over
must not simply be a rhetorical device (Hooks; 1994). It must be reflected in
the actual habits of programming community, including styles of coding, communication,
as well as chosen subject matter. Reminding us about the people on the periphery,
the precarious elements of the social body, giving hopeful insights into the
inclusive potential of what freedom may mean.
3.0 Software: dreaming, creation and development.
By now, I have pointed out some of the difficulties for women (and other minorities)
and their involvement in software development, which primarily requires developing
the skill of coding in a non-graphical user interface environment. It can be
said that social relations of gender within the programming world are reflected
in and shaped by the design. Freedom in general I believe is the ability to
speak for myself, the ability to define myself, and the space to represent myself
based on my own needs and experiences that rather than on an externally prescribed
idea of me that serves somebody else’s needs, dogmas or fears. Although
social software seems willing to bring together technological creativity and
computer knowledge with ethical considerations and political practices I would
say even within Free Software that there is a real lack of female perspective
in software discourses, design and use. This turn does restrict women’s
entry into and participation in the development and design of software. More
precisely, I see the potential direction for social software, the use of systems
thinking and design principals that provide the organising framework for implementing
a particular communities vision.
I would like to understand social software as consciously designed landscapes,
public spheres that mimic social patterns and relationships. If people and all
the complex emergent ways in which they organise themselves are central, social
software has the potential to evolve into a very creative yet sustainable culture.
Indeed software has produced new public spheres and spaces for information,
debate, and participation that contain both the potential to invigorate emergent
structures and to increase the dissemination of critical and progressive ideas
– not withstanding new possibilities for manipulation, social control,
the promotion of conservative positions, and intensifying of differences between
haves and have nots.
The political battles of the future might again be fought in the streets, factories,
parliaments, and other sites of conflict, but politics today is already mediated
by the media and will increasingly be so in the future especially if software
patents act and the subsequent privatisation of code is enforced. Those interested
in culture of the future should therefore be clear on the important role of
social software; its relationship to free software and its development of associated
public spheres, and intervene accordingly. Artists and activists cultural output
is usually a product of marvelous concoction of pleasure and politics. I maintain
that people who subscribe to an economy of mutual-aid and co-operation and are
committed to the non-commodification of software must also embrace freedoms
of experience, and expression; acceptance of difference could spread from here.
Conclusion.
The /etc draws together diverse ideas, skills and ways of living, which need
to be rediscovered and developed in order to empower us to provide for our needs
beyond economic rationalism. Social software development makes transparency
of human organization possible, often-invisible structures. Those principals
deal with physical and energetic resources, as well as the public sphere. However,
how do we incorporate and provide a container for the uncertain and variable
nature of that process of integration? I believe that women identified software
developers might be able to provide the answer or at least begin to nurture
a space for exchange of experience that has not been circulated, or articulated
into Language (or code), as we know it today. Nevertheless, for the moment feminine
activities in social software are mainly conceptual spaces, collaborative virtual
places where information, skills and experience are exchanged in a collective
manner. The type of events such as the /etc are fundamentally about a new relationship
between communication, education, craft knowledge, programming, art, and activism.
This is a space in which all these people come together.
Moreover, it is acknowledged that there is a relationship between the real space
of the event and myths where fictional places are evoked. The /etc is a transferable
sight which carries its meaning to other places -places which as yet can only
be imagined. It nominates a region which lies under the shadow of -but is still,
for the moment, outside of patriarchy. The /etc project allows an involved engagement
with the participants as collaborators, where the constant shift of positions,
roles, pronouns, selves, discourses and non-linear stories takes place. The
event continually intersects and works at the edge of many genres.
I am excited about the next step for the /etc, as often real revolution takes
place not in the bloodied streets but in releasing the ideas from the realm
of the imagination. I believe only then these will emerge onto the street. I
will leave with a quote from Arthur Rimbaud (1871) who dreamt of recreating
life through his words. When he decided that women would be the great poets
of the future.
...These poets shall exist when the age long slavery shall have ended when,
she will be able to live by and for herself, when man hitherto having given
her freedom, she will be a poet. Women will discover the unknown. Will her word
be different from ours? She will discover things that will be strange and unfathomable,
repulsive and delicate. We shall take them from her and we shall understand
them.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Debian is a free operating system (OS) for the computer.
An operating system is the set of basic programs and utilities that make your
computer run. Debian uses the Linux kernel (the core of an operating system),
but most of the basic OS tools come from the GNU project; hence the name GNU/Linux.
For more information about the Debian Women project http://women.alioth.debian.org/about/
[2] For a concise description of the DIY ethic see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIY_punk_ethic.
[3] RTFM stands for the well worn statement "Read The Fucking Manual for
more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTFM
[4] IRC conversation. July 13 2005 /eclectic tech carnival 05
[5] KeyWorx [9] is a Multi-User Cross Media Synthesizer multi-user/multimedia
features real-time sharing.
[6] For more info on Pure Data see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_data
[7] UpStage [10] is a web-based venue and tool for artists.