Sam Hind

lecturer in digital media and culture at the University of Manchester, UK.

sam.hind@manchester.ac.uk

  • In Divisible Cities / Mattering Maps

    I was alerted to a new ‘phanto-cartographical missive’ called ‘In Divisible Cities’ by Dominic Pettman the other day, courtesy of Stuart Elden’s blog. It’s available to purchase here, or as a free PDF here.

    I’ve only had a quick chance to look through it, but one of these early missives is entitled ‘Mattering Maps’ and is well worth a read. It’s a beautifully poetic reading of the map as generator. Another that grabbed me is entitled ‘We Can Trace’, which is another short piece on mutoscopes and voyeurism.  Another two struck me as being richly provocative, despite their brevity:

    SHOULDN’T ALL.

    Shouldn’t all moments have the right to be momentous?

     

    IF GOETHE IS CORRECT.

    If Goethe is correct in postulating that “architecture is frozen
    music,” does that mean music is liquid architecture?

     

  • James Bridle on code/space and more

    Another fascinating keynote by James Bridle, this time at Media Evolution 2013 in Malmo. He discusses amongst other things Kitchin and Dodge’s code/space concept, automated warehouses and as ever, contemporary warfare.

    Although by far the best section sees Bridle talk about cricket and the array of technological systems currently being used. Interestingly it seems, cricket commentators are having a debate about technological agency that rarely jumps into such a public field. Hawkeye, Hot Spot and the good old Snickometer all get a mention as components of the much-debated Decision Review System (DRS). Bridle sees the cricket pitch as an intensely surveilled and sensored space – somewhat the antithesis of such a antiquated game.

  • Fences & Walls

    The Guardian are running a new assignment under their guardianwitness guise with the question ‘Are you hemmed in by a separation wall or security fence?’, inviting readers to document their own experiences.

    It’s been running for only a few days but there’s a full month left for contributions. Expect Israel/Palestine to figure heavily of course, but there are already contributions on Mogadishu airbase, the Moroccan wall, the Belgium-Netherlands border, Belfast and the Sonoran Desert. I’ll report again when the project closes.

  • Francine Houben

    A little insight below into Houben’s Mecanoo architectural practice, her philosophy, and some of her projects. She designed the new Library of Birmingham due to open soon, the stunning La Llotja de Lleida in Spain, and TU Delft’s green-roofed library.

  • Platform Politics

    A new, theme issue of Culture Machine edited by Joss Hands, Greg Elmer and Ganaele Langlois has launched today. Neal Thomas‘ contribution ‘Social Computing as a Platform for Memory’ looks an interesting read. He uses Stiegler’s mnemotechnics conceptualization as a framework for understanding, what he calls, ‘industrial social computing’.