User:Kendal/ThesisOutline

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https://pad.xpub.nl/p/thesisoutlinekb

How Does Modernisation Change the Online Inhabitable Landscape and How We Create?

Background

During the pandemic, a large number of 3D virtual environments were constructed as a way to connect people in a time of isolation. However when viewing these spaces, I noticed a stark difference between these worlds and the worlds I would inhabit in the early years of the internet. It led me down a path of how and why this changed, and while exploring I also began to notice the reflections of the promises made in physical space which also result in a forgotten wasteland.

Format

An analytical essay exploring related artistic, theoretical, historical and critical issues and practices that inform your practice, without necessarily referring to your work directly.

Introduction- overview

[500 words]
Previous iterations of online space are starkly different from those that populate the internet today. Less popular are fantasy lands of imagined creatures, and in their place stand the hyperreal 3D spheres. Has modernisation quietened the impossible and other in favour of space that is more relatable and preexisting?
With the boundless space of the internet, why do we create these spaces that already exist in our physical reality? Is it to blur the boundaries of real life and inhabiting?
What takes us from an imagined utopia to desolate wastelands of forgotten space? Have we blocked our ability to imagine and create without the constraints of our own human existence?

Chapter 1 Categorisation & Modernisation of the Internet & Architecture

[2000 words approx]
1. How the idea of utopia comes into play when designing space both online and offline
2. what issues arise with modernisation?- the perils of categorisation and emergence of fringe events & Walled Gardens (Annet Dekker's definition)

Chapter 2 Non places and the Web

[2000 words approx]
1. Introduce the theory of Marc Auge's Non-place in physical space
2. Theorise what this means in online space.
(Examples: chain mails, Abandoned platforms, Old landing pages, Error pages, Online queues, Ads between streaming pages, Log in pages, Clip graveyards)
3. Introduce idea of kenopsia by John Koenig to lead into final chapter.

Chapter 3 Virtual World Progression: Fiction or Reality?

[3000 words approx]
1. How virtual worlds have evolved with time and technology, their movement from fantasy to reality, niche to mainstream and abandoned attempts.
2. How we identify and inhabit these spaces
3. Link to Simulation & Simulacra (Jean Baudrillard's definition)
4. How these spaces become ephemera, instead could they become the place for net-art?

Conclusion [500 words]

Is there a way to find a use for the abandoned virtual platforms of yesterday? Could they become the medium to rediscover imagination and creativity? Can their capabilities create new opportunities in publishing and net-art?

References

Chapter 1. Walled Garden - Annet Dekker Chapter 1. Sorting Things Out - Bowker & Star Chapter 2. Non places - Marc Auge Chapter 2. Folklore and the Internet: Vernacular Expression in a Digital World - Trevor J Blank Chapter 3. Life on the Screen - Sherry Turkle Chapter 3. Synthetic Worlds - Edward Castranova Chapter 3. Nettitudes - Let's Talk Net Art - Josephine Bosma