Marshall McLuhan, John Colin Carothers and technological traumas
Detribalization by literacy and its traumatic effects on tribal man is the theme of a book by the psychiatrist J. C. Carothers, The African Mind in Health and Disease (World Health Organization, Geneva, 1953). Much of his material appeared in an article in Psychiatry magazine, November, 1959: “The Culture, Psychiatry, and the Written Word.” Again, […]
Crowdflow.net: “Fireflies HD”, July 2011
☛ Crowdflow.net: “Fireflies HD” (iPhone fireflies 3) by Michael Kreil, July 12, 2011 Crowdflow is an experiment in crowdsourced geodata visualization initiated by Michael Kreil, Lorenz Matzat and others. It makes use of position data voluntarily handed by iPhone users to visualize Wi-Fi hot hotspots, cell phone coverage and users movement¹. The above video shows […]

One Year Later: The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
☛ The Atlantic / In Focus: “The Gulf Oil Disaster: One Year Later” by Alan Taylor, April 19, 2011 Caption for the above photo reads: The Deepwater Horizon oil rig is seen burning in this aerial photo taken in the Gulf of Mexico more than 50 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana on April 20, 2010. […]
“The Half-Life of Disaster” by Brian Massumi (April 2011)
Natural disaster and terrorism define the poles of disaster. In between stretches a continuum of disaster, a plenum of frightful events of infinite variety, at every scale, coming one after the other in an endless series. […] An association is established between “natural disaster” and “national security threat” […] Tendencies such as these blur the […]