Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 3
Beyond the Virtual Public Square: Ubiquitous
Computing and the New Politics of Well-Being
Gregory L. Ulmer and John Craig Freeman
3.1
Introduction
Whereas the public square was once the quintessential place to air grievances,
display solidarity, express difference, celebrate similarity, remember, mourn, and
reinforce shared values of right and wrong, it is no longer the only anchor for
interactions in the public realm. Public discourse has been relocated to a novel
space: a virtual space that encourages exploration of mobile location-based art
in public. Moreover, public space is now truly open, as artworks can be placed
anywhere in the world, without prior permission from government or private author-
ities - with profound implications for art in the public sphere and the discourse
that surrounds it. The early 1990s witnessed the migration of the public sphere
from the physical realm, the town square and its print augmentation, to the virtual
realm, the Internet. In effect, the location of public discourse and the site of national
identity formation have been extended into the virtual world and the global network.
Electracy is to digital media what literacy is to print. It encompasses the broader
cultural, institutional, pedagogical, and ideological implications inherent in the
transition our society is undergoing. Electracy describes the functional metaphysics
necessary to exploit the full discursive potential of electronic media such as mobile
media, the Internet and augmented (mixed) reality. With the emergence of these
technologies on mobile devices, the distributed placefulness of Internet public
discourse entertains the possibility of a new global democracy.
Orators, Rostrums, and Propaganda Stands
, shown in Fig.
3.1
, is based on the
work of Gustav Gustavovich Klucis, including his designs for screen-radio orators,
