All page references are to Adorno, Theodor W. (Robert Hullot-Kentor, trans.) Current of Music: Elements of a Radio Theory. English edition. Cambridge: Polity, 2009. Chapter VII: Ubiquity-Standardization and Pseudo-Activity a) Preliminary Notes on Terminology and Method (92) Adorno reemphasizes that … Continue reading →

It is hard to pin down exactly what “information theory” is. I think this works both in favour of Iverson and against her in this chapter. Where it might once (in the years immediately following the publication of Shannon’s landmark … Continue reading →

Havin’ It Made, but “Made in – ”?  “Made by – ”?   Iverson’s Electronic Inspirations distills the complex network of individuals and machines in music studios, expanding and thus further blurring hard-and-fast distinctions between human-made and man-made electronic music. … Continue reading →

p4 “In effect, he is voicing a doubt previously felt by him in The Art of the Motor and The Information Bomb: that, under the influence of new information and communications technologies, democratic institutions are disappearing as the key locations … Continue reading →

This is a response to a prompt over at the TAXIS blog, where we read the first chapter of the classic Geoffrey C. Bowker and Susan Leigh Star, Sorting Things Out: Classification and Its Consequences, (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2000). … Continue reading →

In this chapter, Bowker and Star lay out the key critical points underying their concept of the “infrastructural inversion,” an analysis of classification systems which explicitly pays attention to the materiality and labor which leads them to be co-constructed with … Continue reading →

A couple of mistakes snowballed on my end in this first round of reading/discussing/writing: wanting to be more familiar with the topic, I read every paper on the list Eamonn put together. I think it was worth it, but that … Continue reading →

I’m going to give this a try. I must admit, the format of the blog makes writing feel very exposed! Hope you’ll all forgive my argumentative meandering.   I recently received a document with feedback from a double-blind review of … Continue reading →