tedmitew.net

Future Networks lecture series

Ted

November 20, 2020

This is a lecture series I developed and recorded for a 200 level subject in the Digital and Social Media major titled BCM206 Future Networks. I examine the historical context of global information networks leading to the rise of the network society paradigm; the role of cyberculture and cyberpunk in shaping the network society; the role of important network phenomena such as power law distributions and network transaction costs on the interactions between various network topologies; as well as contemporary internet dynamics in the context of liquid life and liquid labour, the attention economy, big data surveillance, hacking culture, meme warfare, cyberwarfare, and the rising internet of things.

The lecture playlist can be found here, or through this embed:

Making Media lecture series

Ted

November 20, 2020

Leave a Comment

This is a lecture series I developed and recorded for a 100 level core subject in the Bachelor of Communication and Media [BCM] titled BCM114 Making Media. The lecture series introduces students to key concepts in digital media making, using as its structure the key stages of the design thinking cycle. The main focus of the lecture series is to expose students to concepts such as idea mapping, rapid prototyping and testing, and continuous feedback-based iteration.

The lecture playlist can be found here, or through this embed:

Emergent Media lecture series

Ted

November 20, 2020

Leave a Comment

This is a lecture series I developed and livestreamed for a 100 level subject in the Digital and Social Media major titled BCM112 Emergent Media. The course of lectures is intended as an introduction to digital and social media and explores a range of media theories and concepts through practical case studies. I discuss thinkers ranging from McLuhan and Jenkins to Debord, Deleuze and Baudrillard, and the phenomena of digital production, networked participation, collective intelligence, distributed media, meme warfare, framing and schema, perception manipulation, propaganda, hyperreality and simulation, control societies and the society of the spectacle, intellectual property and the content control industry, surveillance, and media futures.

The lecture playlist can be found here, or through this embed:

OODA loops

Ted

September 15, 2020

Leave a Comment

Building on my earlier posts on paradigm shifts and framing, I continue my interest in the process of shifting perception between models of reality. Paradigm shifts are fundamentally always shifts in the way we perceive reality. Perception itself is the dynamic outcome of the interactions between frames and schema.

When this model of perception is inserted in a complex and chaotically changing environment we end up with a cyclical process involving the reception and processing of external stimuli, followed by action or its absence and a repeated reception of stimuli closing a feedback loop. This process maps very well to John Boyd’s OODA loop concept, where OODA stands for observe-orient-decide-act. The key stage of the OODA loop is orientation, because it is in the orientation stage that external stimuli, and frames, interface with the internal perception frame and the schema that form it. In this lecture I discuss the OODA loop concept as a cyclical decision making and feedback process, and focus on the orientation stage as the key aspect of that process.

On framing and schema

Ted

September 14, 2020

Leave a Comment

We live in interesting times. Times of transition, involving the collapse of an old order and the shift to a new paradigm. Such transitions are often mistaken for technological changes or revolutionary shifts in material conditions. Actually they are neither. Paradigm shifts are fundamentally always shifts of perception, that is, shifts in the way we perceive reality and therefore in the way we act in the world.

Therefore, to understand a paradigm shift we need to understand how perceptions of reality can be modulated and altered at scale. In other words, we need to understand the mechanics of perception. In this lecture I discuss the concepts of schema and frames as the building blocks of the mechanics of perception. I examine the way framing can be used to alter perceptions and discuss the case of Edward Bernays’ Torches of Freedom campaign.

Paradigm Shifts

Ted

August 31, 2020

Leave a Comment

You better start believing in paradigm shifts Miss Turner, because you’re in one.

Here’s a lecture I recorded recently, discussing the concept of paradigms and the process of paradigm shifts. I discuss paradigm shifts based on Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, though my focus is on a more general understanding of the process, involving awareness of change and the key mechanics of the phase transition from one paradigm to another. I also use Jordan Hall’s excellent short essay On Thinking and Simulated Thinking to illustrate how paradigm shifts necessitate a phase transition in thinking about and orienting ourselves in a given reality.

I think the year 2020 so far bears the marks of a massive socio-political-economic phase transition to a new paradigm, and that the mid 2020s will be unrecognizable to someone from 1996 or 2006.

There is a story that when Zhou Enlai, the late premier of China under Mao, visited France for the first time in the 1950s he was asked what he thinks of the French Revolution. His answer was ‘It’s too early to say.’

Gaudeamus igitur

Ted

August 30, 2020

Leave a Comment

Episode 7 of Naive and Dangerous, the podcast series I record together with my colleague Dr Chris Moore. Even though this episode was recorded at the end of 2019 I am posting it now as it closed season 1 of Naive and Dangerous, and, as I am returning from a long posting hiatus, I have to pick up where I left off. The episode is focused entirely on the Medieval in all its wonderful complexity. Enjoy.

Good artists copy, great artists steal

Ted

October 8, 2019

Leave a Comment

Episode 6 of Naive and Dangerous, the podcast series I record together with my colleague Dr Chris Moore. In this episode we return to emergent media with a focus on mashups. On top of that, we have our first special guest – the mashup researcher and artist Jamie Pye-Respondek. We had a lot of fun recording this episode, and we cover a lot of musical ground, while also straying into remix culture and the copyright insanity. Have a listen.

How to trust a sweater?

Ted

October 2, 2019

Leave a Comment

These are the slides for my paper How to trust a sweater: object provenance in smart clothing, to be presented at the 2019 Association of Internet Researchers Conference in Brisbane. In the paper I examine the dynamics of the entanglement of smart clothing and data, focusing specifically on the emergence of provenance as a key concept in the identity of smart clothing. I explore provenance in conjunction with emergent developments at the nexus of advanced materials and the fashion industry, as a way to inject ethical and sustainable practices throughout the production process of a given garment. I end with the notion of a prodigal object, acting as a relentlessly sociable gateway to local contexts.

All life is a struggle against Chaos

Ted

September 12, 2019

Leave a Comment

Episode 5 of Naive and Dangerous, the podcast series I record together with my colleague Dr Chris Moore. Nominally this is a podcast about emergent media, but in this episode, dedicated to war, we stray far into metaphysics territory. We start with a short definition of the generations of warfare – from the static lines of 1st generation war to hybrid 4th generation warfare which is both everywhere and nowhere. Then we go deep. Over 2 hours we cover Arjuna’s dialogue with Krishna before the battle of Kurukshetra, the devotio of Decius Mus, the song of Roland, Edward III and the Black Prince, Timur, the Eastern Front in WWII, kriegspiel, chess, go, the royal game of Ur, J.R.R. Tolkien, the Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings, H.G. Wells, the history of board games, Warhammer, the Total War series, and much more. Have a listen.