Writing Machines–Protocols–Feedback: Difference between revisions
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==Special Issue #28: Writing Machines–Protocols-Feedback== | ==Special Issue #28: Writing Machines–Protocols-Feedback== | ||
The project described here is a new iteration of a course first run in 2023 [[Radio Worm: Protocols for an Active Archive]].<br> This iteration is called '''Writing Machines–Protocols-Feedback''', and will run from September to December 2025.<br> The format will be a '''weekly live 1 hour radio program''', and a '''“public moment”''' (tentatively planned for the beginning of December, 2025).<br>The course will be developed and run by tutors of XPUB, supported by WORM staff, and the content will be produced by XPUB1 students. <br>The idea is to produce and maintain a podcast feed of materials related to the program during the duration of the 3 months. <br>The format of the live event is described further below. <br>XPUB will be responsible for documenting activities related to the course, and in working with WORM for possible inclusion within their network (for instance working with Ash on materials that could be part of WORM’s Mixcloud channel).<br> | The project described here is a new iteration of a course first run in 2023 [[Radio Worm: Protocols for an Active Archive]].<br> This iteration is called '''Writing Machines–Protocols-Feedback''', and will run from September to December 2025.<br> The format will be a '''weekly live 1 hour radio program''', and a '''“public moment”''' (tentatively planned for the beginning of December, 2025).<br>The project is supported by the [https://nadd.network NADD].<br>The course will be developed and run by tutors of XPUB, supported by WORM staff, and the content will be produced by XPUB1 students. <br>The idea is to produce and maintain a podcast feed of materials related to the program during the duration of the 3 months. <br>The format of the live event is described further below. <br>XPUB will be responsible for documenting activities related to the course, and in working with WORM for possible inclusion within their network (for instance working with Ash on materials that could be part of WORM’s Mixcloud channel).<br> | ||
The project will involve the assistance and cooperation of: Ash Kilmartin, Lukas Simonis, Lieuwe Zelle (Radio WORM), Steve Rushton (WDKA/XPUB), and XPUB prototyping + methods tutors.<br> | The project will involve the assistance and cooperation of: Ash Kilmartin, Lukas Simonis, Lieuwe Zelle (Radio WORM), Steve Rushton (WDKA/XPUB), and XPUB prototyping + methods tutors.<br> | ||
<span class="toclimit-3">__TOC__</span> | <span class="toclimit-3">__TOC__</span> | ||
Latest revision as of 16:13, 18 December 2025
Image:David Bowie using the cut-up technique to write lyrics - from the documentary Cracked Actor(1975)
"Mankind is beginning to understand how to dismantle and reassemble the most complex and unpredictable of its machines: language."–
Italo Calvino, Cybernetics and Ghosts (1967).
Alison Knowls' computer generated poem: "The House of Dust (1967) is not only a poem, it is in many ways also an interpretable score."–
Maud Jacquin and Sébastien Pluot, House of Dust Journal (2019)
“If we find a monkey striking a typewriter apparently at random but in fact [it] is writing meaningful prose we shall look for restraints, either inside the monkey or inside the typewriter”–
Gregory Bateson, Cybernetic Explanation (1967).
Special Issue #28: Writing Machines–Protocols-Feedback
The project described here is a new iteration of a course first run in 2023 Radio Worm: Protocols for an Active Archive.
This iteration is called Writing Machines–Protocols-Feedback, and will run from September to December 2025.
The format will be a weekly live 1 hour radio program, and a “public moment” (tentatively planned for the beginning of December, 2025).
The project is supported by the NADD.
The course will be developed and run by tutors of XPUB, supported by WORM staff, and the content will be produced by XPUB1 students.
The idea is to produce and maintain a podcast feed of materials related to the program during the duration of the 3 months.
The format of the live event is described further below.
XPUB will be responsible for documenting activities related to the course, and in working with WORM for possible inclusion within their network (for instance working with Ash on materials that could be part of WORM’s Mixcloud channel).
The project will involve the assistance and cooperation of: Ash Kilmartin, Lukas Simonis, Lieuwe Zelle (Radio WORM), Steve Rushton (WDKA/XPUB), and XPUB prototyping + methods tutors.
Introduction to Special Issue #28: Writing Machines–Protocols–Feedback
Image:William Burroughs using the Cut-up technique
Since human beings developed the software of the alphabet, they have engineered a series of technologies to manage and enhance its power. These include storage and operating systems such as books and libraries, along with more recent (computerised) systems of information collation and dissemination.
In the twentieth century, the realisation that writing is a technology – as opposed to a "natural", direct conduit to the soul – came as a creative inspiration to many writers and artists.
- the Surrealists fashioned "exquisite corpses";
- the 'Pataphysicians channeled streams of consciousness;
- the Oulipo group used systems of restraint to open new channels of potential literature;
- the Fluxus group developed protocols for "happenings";
- John Cage established restraints for composition;
- the Scratch Orchestra co-wrote scores for group improvisation.
- William Burroughs used various techniques, including "cut-ups", to scramble the patterns of language that he believed programmed conformity. Sometimes Burroughs folded one text into another, sometimes he collaged the (then) new media of magnetic tape.
This all sounds liberating, but in the twenty-first century we have reason to be critical of how easily the creative potential of the software of the alphabet can be commodified and pre-programmed. As knowledge transfers to ever-larger datasets, and drops into the hands of a minority who own them, we must ask again: what is our stake in the software of the alphabet?
Where is our agency when human expression through writing is understood as a code managed by a series of protocols?
What is at stake when a large dataset can claim the space of "creativity"?
Can we, through learning about how the past has been structured, shape information technologies that serve our own desires and interests?
The outcomes of Special Issue #28 will include:
- a series of radio shows
- writing machines (protocols, codes, Frankenstein devices) which structure the weekly radio shows
- a library of such protocols and techniques will generate scripts...
- to be performed (live) together...
- creating and remixing existing material...
- and using the scripts as improvisational prompts
Weekly schedule
Monday from 10-11 a live radio program is produced by a rotating team of XPUB students together from the Radio WORM Studio.
From 11-12:00 time will be put aside to listen and reflect on the program.
In the afternoon
1) Steve Rushton opens with a mini-presentation which provides context and gives an overview of the texts and issues to be discussed that week; followed by
2) an open session, drawing on the texts we have read over the week; and lastly
3) building or designing "rapid prototype" writing machines based on the things we have been talking about.
Tuesday = Prototyping with Manetta and/or Thijs [...] material which can feedback into the Monday Special Issue sessions and the Wednesday Methods sessions
Wednesday = Methods with Marloes or annotation station with Steve [...] material that can feedback into the Monday Special Issue sessions and the Tuesday Prototyping sessions.
Infrastructure:
Writing Machine Bootleg Library shelf: https://hub.xpub.nl/bootleglibrary/shelf/111
A_Mazing_Machine_s Web site: https://hub.xpub.nl/sergio/SI28/
Week 0
XPUB1: SI #28 – Week 0
Monday 15 September
10 - 13: Meet at WORM Boomgaardstraat 71 📍
14-17: Afternoon session (in the Aquarium WH.4.115 ✅)
Image: Living Brain, Marvel Comics (1964). See also The Living Brain by cybernetician W. Grey Walters (Second edition, 1963)
14-15:Steve Rushton will introduce the project
+ introduction to The Writing Machine Reader. Here is a list of texts
The Bootleg Library shelf for The Writing Machines Reader is here: https://hub.xpub.nl/bootleglibrary/shelf/111
+ introduction to protocols
+ Adjective, Noun, Verb, adverb = making writing machines
15-16:Thematic: The alphabet is software.
Three useful concepts: "uncreative writing"; "cognitive assemblages" and “technotexts”.
In Uncreative Writing, Managing Language in the Digital Age (2011), Kenneth Goldsmith writes:
“The world is full of texts, more or less interesting; I do not wish to add any more.” [...] "faced with an unprecedented amount of available text, the problem is not needing to write more of it; instead, we must learn to negotiate the vast quantity that exists.”
In Postprint (2021) – Introducing Postprint, N. Katherine Hayles discusses the concept of "cognitive assemblages", which are "the complex, distributed networks of humans, technology, and environments that collectively perform cognitive functions."
In Writing Machines (2002) Technotexts and Media Specific Analysis – N. Katherine Hayles introduces the concept of “technotext,”, which is: “a literary work that reflects within itself the technological conditions of its composition and production.”
In this session we will draw of historical examples from The Oulipo Group, William Burroughs and Brion Gysin's cut-up works along with examples from Lillian-Yvonne Bertram and Nick Montford's – Output – an Anthology of Computer Generated Text 1953-2023 (2024). We will discuss how these works relate to the idea of humans and machines writing together within "cognitive assemblages" and to what degree these examples represent "technotexts".
16-17: making writing machines
See whole SI # 28 program here:https://pzwiki.wdka.nl/mediadesign/Writing_Machines%E2%80%93Protocols%E2%80%93Feedback
Tuesday – Prototyping
Wednesday – Methods XPUB1: 11:00 - 17:00 Methods with Lídia and Marloes in the Aquarium ✅ (WH.4.115)
- discussing & collecting & applying annotation methods to texts that were read this week (see Writing_Machines–Protocols–Feedback)
- discussing and deciding how to approach annotating and reading together, (groups (size?) and methods (when to read, when and how to annotate)
- starting a personal reader (wiki)
Week 1
XPUB1: SI #28 - Week 1 in the Aquarium WH.4.115✅
Roles
- producer / host: Luca
- host: Robin
- host: Valentin
- host: Lea
At 9:30 Ash will be ready to meet Luca, Robin, Valentin and Lea at Worm for a pre-broadcast technical run through.
Monday 22 September
- 10:00 - 11:00: Radio Broadcast #01 Those with assigned roles at Radio WORM Studio at 9:30, the others at school (aquarium) to listen at 10:00
- 11:15 - 13:00: Broadcast debrief / discussion
- 13:00 - 14:00: Lunch break
- 14:00 - 17:00: Afternoon session. What is a Writing Machine?
Reflecting on N. Katherine Hayles (Postprint and Writing Machines), and Kenneth Goldsmith's In Uncreative Writing, Managing Language in the Digital Age (2011) Introduction + Lillian-Yvonne Bertram and Nick Montford (Output)
Steve will talk about the "great divide" between literacy and orality, with reference to: Michael E. Hobart & Zachary S. Schiffman – Information Ages, Literacy, Numeracy and the Computer Revolution (2000) and Steve's Mash-up of texts, A Writing Machine for 22-09-25.
We will also take a dip into Nature Study Notes by Scratch Orchestra (1969).
They provide an excellent model for collective protocols (writing machines).
Time will be put aside to make new writing machines.
Pad for radio show (real time) https://pad.xpub.nl/p/firstRadioShow
Tuesday – Prototyping
Wednesday – XPUB1: 10:00 - 17:00 Annotation Station with Steve (in the studio)
10:00 Group meet without tutor to discuss SI28
11:30 (ish) Steve Joins and talks to group about reading groups for the day.
We spend the day reading, making and organising.
The Annotation Station is a bi-weekly slot where we can take time to read together, annotate texts and attend to “housekeeping” tasks – such as testing the temperature, updating the wiki (and Sergio), documenting work done individually and collectively &c. There is no formal structure.
Steve will be on hand to chat anyone who wants to talk about the Writing Machines seminar and related matters &c
Week 2
XPUB1: SI #28 – Week 2 in the Aquarium WH.4.115✅
Monday 29 September
Roles
Those with assigned roles at Radio WORM Studio by 9:15 to meet Marco
- producer / interface: Daan
- host: Tommi
- host: Kiki
- host: Barbara
- observer: Ema
The rest of us will meet at school (aquarium) to listen to...
- 10:00 - 11:00: Radio Broadcast #02
- 11:30 - 13:00: Broadcast debrief / discussion
- 13:00 - 14:00: Lunch break
- 14:00 - 17:00: Afternoon session -
Image: Raymond Queneau’s A Hundred Thousand Billion Poems (diagram, 1961)
"One must first admit that language may be treated as an object in itself, considered in its materiality, and thus freed from its subservience to its significatory obligation." – Marcel Benabou, Rule and Constraint
Reading and Writing Oulipo
In which we look at the literary experiments of the OuliPo Group (Ouvroir de las Litterature Potentieelle), including:
Harry Mathews – Liminal Poem to Martin Gardner (c1960s)
Michael Winkler – Where Signs Resemble Thoughts (c1960s)
Raymond Queneau – A Hundred Thousand Billion Poems (1961) Here is one attempt at an online version: https://www.bullfrog117.com/school/one-hundred-thousand-billion-poems.php
Raymond Queneau –A Story as You Like It (1967) (HTML approximation here: https://www.thing.de/projekte/7:9%23/queneau_9.html)
Paul Fournel – The Theatre Tree: A Combinatory Play
Marcel Benabou – Rule of Constraint (c. 1984)
Georges Perec – The Art of Asking your Boss for a Raise
Constraints: what and why?
Pad for Radio show 2: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/secondRadio_show
Tuesday – Prototyping
Wednesday – Methods XPUB1: 11:00 - 17:00 Methods with Marloes in the Aquarium WH.4.115✅
- annotating Oulipo texts using different annotation styles;
- discussion of texts and annotation styles;
- writing a summary and/or description;
- working on your personal reader
Week 3
XPUB1: SI #28 – Week 3 in the Aquarium WH.4.115✅
Roles
Radio Broadcast #03
Those with assigned roles at Radio WORM Studio, 9.15 to meet Marco.
Bring headphones and jack (if possible).
- producer: Ema
- moderator: Youjung
- secretary: Bart
- observer: Sibyl
Monday 6 October
- 10:00 - 11:00: Radio Broadcast #03
If you are not broadcasting, we meet at school (aquarium) to listen - 11:30 - 13:00: Broadcast debrief / discussion
- Pad https://pad.xpub.nl/p/ThirdRadioShow
- 13:00 - 14:00: Lunch break
- 14:00 - 15:00: Steve talks about beats, Burroughs and 1960s media activism
“When you cut into the present, the future leaks out.” William S. Burroughs
Steve's notes on the 'cut-up' novels: Borroughs'NovaNotes
Today, we examine the cut-up techniques of Burroughs & Gysin, informed by the following texts:
Brion Gysin – Cut-Up Self-Explained (1970)
William Burroughs – The Cut-Up Methods of Brion Gysin
Oliver Harris – Introduction to William Burroughs’ Nova Express (1964) (2013)
William Burroughs - Nova Express (extract) (1964)
William Burroughs – The Electronic Revolution (c.1970)
William Burroughs - The Invisible Generation (c.1961-63)
William Burroughs - TIME (1964)
We will concentrate on William Burroughs as 1960s tactical media activist, and how he and his collaborators used the media of text, tape and film.
If you are interested, there is also material to watch and listen to by Burroughs and Gysin on this pad: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/Cut_up_pad
15:00 BREAK
15:15 build on the Directory of Protocols you have developed - individually or in groups.
16:30 discuss outcomes
17:00 FIN
Tuesday – Prototyping
Wednesday – Methods
XPUB1: 11:00 - 17:00 Annotation Station with Steve (in the studio). Let's first meet in the aquarium at to test the temperature
The Annotation Station is a bi-weekly slot where we can take time to read together, annotate texts and attend to “housekeeping” tasks – such as testing the temperature, updating the wiki and Sergio, augmenting the bootleg library, documenting work done individually and collectively, working on the personal reader &c. There is no formal structure.
Steve will be available to chat - in groups or individually (we'll make timetable first thing Wednesday)
https://pad.xpub.nl/p/strevemeets
Continued Monday 13 October
Note: Today we can also use WH.03.250 -- in the Fine Art wing one floor down-- if we need extra space
Week 4
XPUB1: SI #28 – week 4 in the Aquarium WH.4.115✅
NO RADIO WORM THIS WEEK
10:00-17;00 - Pause for iterative feedback and reflection.The group spend Monday 13 Oct (when there is no broadcast) making and experimenting with (writing machine) scripts; making recordings, discussing strategy for the coming broadcasts and for the event in November, reading, adding to the Writing Machine Directory &c.
14:00 -14:30 Xpub1, brief group meeting for 'temperature test' with Michael
Steve will be open for one-to-one or small group discussions:
https://pad.xpub.nl/p/strevemeets
Tuesday 14 October – Prototyping
Wednesday 15 October – Methods XPUB1: 11:00 - 17:00 Methods with Marloes 'NB in WH.04.115
- annotate Monday discussions;
- order notes taken;
- log decisions made;
- work on annotations that need more attention.
Week 5
XPUB1: SI #28 – week 5 in the Aquarium WH.4.115✅
Roles
- producer: Sibyl Soda
- moderator: Kiki
- secretary: Soda Philip
- observer: Robin
Pad: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/FouthRadioShow (+link to realtime feedback to broadcasting group).
Monday 27 October
10:00 - 11:00: Radio Broadcast #04 Those with assigned roles at Radio WORM Studio, the others at school (aquarium) to listen
12:15 - 13:00: Broadcast debrief / discussion
13:00 - 14:00: Lunch break
14:00 - How was knowledge stored, transmitted, reproduced, processed in the year 1800, the year 1900 and the year 2000. A brief discussion about Discourse Networks
15:00- 15:30 Reading Ursula Le Guin's "A Rant About Technology";
15:30- 17:00 In small groups (or individually), reading LeGuin's A Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, ahead of Wednesday's Methods class.
Tuesday 28 October– Prototyping
Wednesday 29 October – Methods XPUB1: 11:00 - 17:00 Methods with Marloes in aquarium WH.04.115
- annotating A Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction
- discussion of Carrier Bag as method for research and writing & how it relates to other texts
- copy-editing example text to warm up for editorial work
Week 6
XPUB1: SI #28 – week 6 in the Aquarium WH.4.115✅
Roles
- Producer: Robin
- Hosts: Daan,Tommi, Luca, Lea, Ema
Monday 3 November
- 10:00 - 11:00: Radio Broadcast Those with assigned roles at Radio WORM Studio, the others at school (aquarium) to listen
- 11:15 - 13:00: Broadcast debrief / discussion
- 13:00 - 14:00: Lunch break
- 14:00 - 15:00: This afternoon we will look at some “open ended media systems” from the 1960s and early 1970s, including House of Dust; Ant Farm and Radical Software
We will be looking at:
Alison Knowles – House of Dust (1967) – on line version– https://nickm.com/memslam/the_house_of_dust.html
Intro to Alison Knowles' House of Dust (for context): https://fonderiedarling.org/depliant%20house%20of%20dust%20complet%20EN.pdf
Maud Jacquin and Sébastien Pluot – House of Dust Journal (2016)
https://monoskop.org/images/1/15/Knowles_Alison_The_House_of_Dust_Research_Journal_2016.pdf
Here is an example of output generated by Alison Knowles’ House of Dust (1967)
"A HOUSE OF WOOD
UNDER WATER
USING NATURAL LIGHT
INHABITED BY FRIENDS
A HOUSE OF LEAVES
IN A METROPOLIS
USING ALL AVAILABLE LIGHTING
INHABITED BY ALL RACES OF MAN REPRESENTED WEARING PREDOMINANTLY RED CLOTHING
A HOUSE OF ROOTS
IN AN OVERPOPULATED AREA
USING ELECTRICITY
INHABITED BY HORSES AND BIRDS…
A HOUSE OF WOOD
IN A METROPOLIS
USING ELECTRICITY
INHABITED BY FRIENDS AND ENEMIES"
Steve will talk briefly about the links between cybernetics, the Fluxus art movement and (media) ecology pioneers Ant Farm and Radical Software.
Steve's Notes on those issues here: Steve's Notes 3-11-25
- 15:15-17:00 work on writing machines and/or annotations; preparation for the Worm event, A Mazing Machines.
Tuesday – Prototyping
Wednesday – Annotation Station
XPUB1: Annotation Station
The Annotation Station is a bi-weekly slot where we can take time to read together, annotate texts and attend to “housekeeping” tasks – such as testing the temperature, updating the wiki and Sergio, augmenting the bootleg library, documenting work done individually and collectively, working on the personal reader &c. There is no formal structure.
This week:
10:00-11:00
Wilma Knol will give Xpub1 an introduction to the library (both online and shelved) in WH.00.301 (Station Skills Research Station)
11:00-13:00
Annotation, in groups or individually.
Steve available for 121 or small group tutorials.Sign here:
11:00-11:30 Valentin (media history vs. feedback)
11:30-12:00 Luca (I don't need 30min)
12:00-13:00 Youjung/Kiki/Barbara
13:00 LUNCH
14:00-17:00
Mock Assessment: details here Calendars:XPUB/XPUB Calendar/05-11-2025 -Event 3
Week 7
XPUB1: SI #28 – week 7 in the Aquarium WH.4.115✅
Hosts: Valentin, Daan, Lea and Ema
Observer: Youjung
Today's pad: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/RadioShow6
10:00 - 11:00: Radio Broadcast. Those with assigned roles at Radio WORM Studio, the others at school (aquarium) to listen
11:30: Broadcast debrief / discussion / sketch out plan for next 4 weeks/ overview event/ overview website = review output and research/ set group and individual outcomes for the end of the day
13:00: LUNCH
14:00: Work on Worm event.
Individual and small group sessions Manetta (who will continue working on preparation for next week's event in prototyping, on Tuesday).
Manetta
14:00 Valentin
14:30 Lea
15:00: Barbara
15:30 break
16:00 soda
16:30-17:00 Tommi
Steve will be around for informal chats about the Worm event; reading and writing on Writing Machines &c.
Note: Steve has uploaded the notes from last week and added a little about a feedback machine called, the Homeostat (a 'do-nothing' machine). This makes a link between the "media ecology" of groups like Radical Software and more general ecological issues which became increasingly vital since the 1960s.
Steve's notes on media ecology, cybernetics and the 60s counterculture: Steve's Notes 3-11-25
Week 8
XPUB1: SI #28 – week 8
in the Aquarium WH.4.115✅
Roles
Producer:
Hosts: Barbara, Youjung, Sibyl
Today's pad: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/RadioShow7
10:00 - 11:00: Radio Broadcast. listen
Whole group meet in bar to listen in and then at
11:00 -11:45 view Ubik
11:45 head back to Xpub HQ to work on projects (as per last week)
13:00: LUNCH
14:00-17:00: Work on Worm event.
Tuesday - Prototyping
XPUB1: Prototyping in the Aquarium WH.4.115✅
Manetta
- 10:00-10:30
- 10:30-11:00 Valentin (paradigm, nuances)
- 11:00-11:30 Tommi (until 12 if possible)
- 11:30-12:00 (Tommi)
- 12:00-12:30 Barbara
- 12:30-13:00
BREAK
- 14:00-15:00 collective meeting with Michael
- 15:00-15:30 Soda
- 15:30-16:00
- 16:00-16:30
- 16:30-17:00
Wednesday - A Mazing Machines at Worm
Week 9
XPUB1: SI #28 – week 9
in Worm and the Aquarium WH.4.115✅
For the last special collective radio show (name to be defined), please send either to Tommi or Valentin:
- One glossary entry, composed of one word and around two sentences about it.
- One song possibly related to it, that will be partly played during the radio show.
We need both by the evening of Friday 21.
During that weekend you will receive privately someone else’s glossary entry. During Monday’s radio show you will have <4 minutes to read out loud/comment/give feedback/do whatever you want about it, thinking retrospectively about what we did together so far. Details to follow.
Today's pad: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/RadioShow8
09:15 - 10:00: Whole group gather at Radio WORM Studio ahead of the broadcast
10:00 - 11:00: Radio Broadcast. Whole group at Radio WORM Studio
11:00 - 12:00: Broadcast debrief / discussion in Worm Bar
12:30 - 13:00 Back to the Aquarium for brief planning session ahead of the Special Issue launch on the 10th December
13:00 - 14:00: Lunch break
14:00-15:15 Presentation by Steve + discussion: Jennette Winterton – on AI, Alternative Intelligence and Open AI's Machine Shaped Hand (2025)
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/mar/12/jeanette-winterson-ai-alternative-intelligence-its-capacity-to-be-other-is-just-what-the-human-race-needs
https://www.ted.com/talks/jeanette_winterson_is_humanity_smart_enough_to_survive_itself/transcript
Open AI – A Machine-Shaped Hand (2025): https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/mar/12/a-machine-shaped-hand-read-a-story-from-openais-new-creative-writing-model
Steve notes on AI, hippy legacy of the 'techno-fix':Steve'sNotes24-11-2025
Please read one of the texts below ahead of Monday afternoon's session (pdfs in reader-and-or-Sergio, and have been posted onto Zulip; reading time 45mins max):
Kate Crawford –Atlas of AI (2021) – Labour
Marta Perano & Kate Crawford –in, (re)programming Strategies for Self-Renewal (2024) – better machines for better humans
Emily M. Bender & Alex Hanna – The AI Con (2025)– Leisure for Me, Gig Work for Thee:AI Hype at Work
15:15-16:30 Discussion in smaller annotation groups;(please make notes on pad)
16:30-17:00 Brief debrief
At some point (maybe next week)....
:-)
We will resume our discussion about “open ended media systems” (Radical Software, Antfarm, John Cage and Fluxus being historical examples). We will discuss how the 1960s counterculture turned into today's cyberculture, we will consider the lessons learned and the warnings given.
Fred Turner – Shifting Politics of the Computational Metaphor; in From Counterculture to Cyberculture (2006)
Gregory Bateson – The Cybernetic Explanation (1967)
Tuesday – Prototyping
Wednesday – Methods XPUB1: 11:00 - 17:00 Methods with Marloes in the Aquarium WH.4.115✅
- discussion on editorial work for publication (what needs doing? task division)
- discussion of texts that were read this week
- writing and copy-editing of texts for publication
The pad for today's notes: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/methods26112025
Week 10
Monday
XPUB1: SI #28 – week 10
in the Aquarium WH.4.115✅
- 10:00-13:00 Work on Special Issue #28
- Deal with unfinished business, bits and bobs &c.
- 13:00 - 14:00: Lunch break
- 14:00 - 17:00: Afternoon session: Marloes de Valk, Soft Technology and Appropriate Technology
Last week's Methods session raised the question:
What kind of technology do we WANT?
This afternoon, Marloes will present a brief overview of different (old and new) (re)definitions of technology she researched. She will go into more detail, providing historical examples of soft tech and appropriate tech and what happened to them (why did one disappear and the other become mainstream?).
We will consider how the different writing machines discussed during the special issue relate to media/technology and what kind of approach they had to language (as technology or as culture (or both)).
Pad for today: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/Class01122025
Pad for today: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/Class01122025
Tuesday – Prototyping
Wednesday - Annotation Station XPUB1 Annotation station:Editing day ahead of final release of Special Issue #28 on Wednesday (10 December). + Steve individual tutorials (TBD)
XPUB1:Debrief-SI #28 Launch
Week 11 – Final release of the Special Issue #28 – Aquarium WH.4.115✅
10-16: XPUB1
Wednesday
- 10:00 Feedback - Special Issue #28 with Michael, Marloes and Steve
- 11:30 Print + folding
- 13:00 LUNCH
[Note: the Save the WdKA protest happens between 13:00-15:00 (location Dijkzigt metro)]
- 15:00 Release party (with CAKE, and publication binding!)