The Thing History - Jerome Joy website

B I U S link image code HTML list	Show page Syntax
!!THE THING Interface (Connector / Communicator) [http://joy.nujus.net/files/articles/TheThing/bild5_1999.jpg\|http://joy.nujus.net/files/articles/TheThing/bild5_1999big.jpg] (Excerpt of an article by Alex Galloway "New Interfaces, New Softwares, New Networks", Jan 1998) ''The artistic focus on new kinds of interfaces and new softwares will strengthen net.art and redefine its relation to politics. But does that mean that the web itself is art, or that the web is political? Perhaps what really is happening is that the tactical media, in this case name.space and others, are, in certain contexts, being interpreted as giant art projects, i.e. there is an aestheticization of politics going on in netspace. (Woops! Didn't Benjamin in "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" call that particular phenomena "fascism"?!) Add the Thing's Connector 2.0 interface (www.thing.net) and take away the fascism. The new look at the Thing (New York) is an extensive interface that focuses on allowing communication between users. It requires a login, but Thing accounts are free and non-commercial (despite their claims of using users's statistical data for "world domination"). The Thing's Ricardo Dominguez thinks his interface ^[coded by Max Kossatz^] is an aesthetic experience pure and simple. This experience combines both art and the idea of community--"in other words a PARTY that could overturn the frame of art and life--into a politics of everyday life," Ricardo (Dominguez) noted in a recent email. With a focus on connectivity between users, The Thing allows you to see in real time all the other users who are online, identified through their handles or simply as numbered guests. This is my favorite section of the Thing interface. It reveals what normally is hidden. And here's the RHIZOME scoop on what users have to look forward to in the Thing Connector 3.0, the new interface to be rolled out for '98: "3.0 will allow members access to areas that guest won't have such as private chat, thread access to a meta-nettime yak scene, a 'temporary network' discussion between Blast and nettime, an INFOWAR discussion group, a FIKAFUTURA round table, a WestCoast scene line, a propaganda scene..." Blah, blah. I'm still hooked on the Thing's paging function, available now, where you can send messages instantly to any of the other users online. Brilliant!'' (ref: http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-9801/msg00036.html) Here is the announce of The Thing Connector 3.0 opening : ''Back to the Future, or The BBS Strikes Back! Parts of the universe disappear, empires fall, presidents get caught, web sites get de-funded, but The Thing goes on! Yes, the new and improved ThingConnector 3.0 BBS is here! Our in-house developed "community server/messaging" software caters to all your dubious needs for realtime communication, as well as messaging in all the new ThingThreads, like Radar, Nettime, Rainer's Reading Seminar, Almost (A)Live from LA, InfoWar, and Thingist.'' (Lt. Crack, on Nettime, Apr 1998, http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-9804/msg00048.html) {br}{br}{br}{br}
Password Summary of changes		↓ ↑

[Edit] [History] [UP] [List of all pages] [Create page] [Erase cookies]