2 research outputs found

    Entre trivialité et culture : une histoire de l’Internet vernaculaire: Emergence et médiations d’un folklore de réseau

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    From Cybercultural studies to new Web science, Media and Communication theory engage in analyzing scientific models of the Internet that are mostly homogeneous : models built on the faith in the universal language of networked information and tending to creating norms and/or rules for network communication. There are new cultural, economical and even political institutions appearing that rely on a vehicular model that is widely accepted, although criticized.In my thesis I come back to the sources of this criticism by opening a vernacular perspective, which is a concept borrowed from socio-linguistics and reinterpreted under the light of network culture. It allows to think about the relation between values (the vulgar, the popular, the trivial) and media practices of groups manifested as Internet folklore. From the point of view of a local theory (Jacques Perriault), the vernacular perspective opens a field of analysis understood as composite (Joëlle Le Marec), that is a complex of unstable relations between discourse and matter, technologies and their uses, practices, representations and norms. Folklore, by definition formalist and traditional, transforms itself within network culture to become a media process based on appropriation and commentary, two of the most crucial characteristics of the Internet thought of as meta-medium (Philip Agre). Folklore and vernacular provide important elements to sketch a cultural theory of information and communication in terms of « triviality »‘ (Yves Jeanneret) – a culture defined by is mediations and transformations. This thesis, by investigating archeologically the archives of Internet’s micro-history to dig out its folklore, analyzes dynamically contexts that have allowed the social information of contemporary network culture.Studying two periods of network history that are defined partly by the tools of access to the Internet (Usenet in the 80’s and early 90’s and the Web 1.0 in the 90’s and the 2000’s), my research takes a close look at how Internet folklore is invented, experiment, produced and reproduced interacting with content-management media (emailing and newsgroups, homepages, blogs). These apparatuses are seen as « architexts » (following French semiology in media interfaces), which content cannot be understood without an analysis of their system and forms (their « metaforms ») and the process of computer and cultural codes that defined their context of production.A first series of case studies dig out the roots of Internet folklore, its emergence within the first large-scale virtual community : Usenet – and in particular the alt. newsgroup hierarchy. From ASCII Art to Flame Wars and through the pantheon of Net.legends, I show how the leisure and experimental use of communication and information processing rules allow the users to confront the difficulties and dead-ends of collective regulation. The Usenet public, celebrating and participating in network folklore, is testing instruments that give power in writing and expressing opinions. These situations are named « metatexts » : they develop commentaries and folkloric theories on the complex problem of « metarules ». From an Internet micro-historical point of view, they are the basis of a sub-culture that reinvented public discourse within a network context : commenting, conversing, evaluating and filtering, all through the computer media.A second series of case studies approaches network folklore from another angle. Through and experience of participant-observation, I borrow the outlook of two generations of Internet artists on Web popular creativity. The first generation, net.art, considered as pioneer in art happening on the Web in the mid-90’s, starts a process of valuing and mediating amateur creativity in the homepages. The second generation, the surfclubs, recipient to the net.art heritage in the context of Web 2.0, give a new understanding and context to network cultural practices within collective blog networks inspired from image forums, the new territories of emergence for network folklore. The eye of Net art channels the observation of a specific evolution of network vernacular : conflicts about the value and the legitimation of this cultural « popular » matter seem to resolve in the new mainstream tendencies of the social Web. New leisure figures appear, between amateur and professional network practices, inspired by the aesthetic and the informational value of Internet folklore. This issue opens up new discussion on the socio-economics of network culture.The vernacular perspective updates the conflictual relations between, technology, society and culture that have built the Internet and marked its history. Its shows that they are dialogic articulations between users’ creativity and institutional norms that structure the network environment. It uncovers little known archives that reveal the voices of the actors of this cultural micro-history. it signals epistemological problems about material and methods for network culture analysis by suggesting that this should be handled from the bottom up, accompanying the emergence of media practice in the cultural economy of today’s Web.De la perspective cyberculturelle aux nouvelles sciences du Web, les Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication étudient des modèles scientifiques d’Internet marqués par une forme d’homogénéité : celle portée par la croyance en un langage universel de l’information et tendant vers la normalisation et/ou la régulation des outils de la communication en réseau. Ainsi, les nouvelles tendances à l’institutionnalisation de la culture, de l’économie voire de la politique des réseaux reposent sur un modèle véhiculaire prégnant et généralement accepté, bien que souvent critiqué.Je propose de revenir aux sources de ces critiques en les envisageant sous la dimension du vernaculaire, notion empruntée à la socio-linguistique et réinterprétée sous l’angle de la médiation de culture informatique en réseau. Dans ce cadre, cette notion permet de penser l’articulation entre des valeurs (le vulgaire, le populaire, le trivial) et des pratiques médiatiques de groupes qui se manifestent dans un « folklore Internet ». Attachée à une théorie locale des usages techniques (J. Perriault), la perspective vernaculaire ouvre un terrain d’analyse placé sous le sceau du composite (J. Le Marec), c’est-à-dire les relations instables et complexes d’artefacts faits de discours et de matière.Le folklore, par définition formel et traditionnel, se transforme au sein de la culture de réseau pour devenir un processus de médiation fondé sur l’appropriation et le commentaire, deux des grandes caractéristiques d’Internet pensé comme méta-médium (P. Agre). Folklore et vernaculaire fournissent des éléments importants pour envisager une théorie culturelle de l’information et de la communication en termes de « trivialité » (Y. Jeanneret) – une culture définie par ses médiations et ses transformations. Cette thèse se propose, en allant faire l’archéologie des archives de la micro-histoire d’Internet pour y retrouver son folklore, d’analyser de manière dynamique les contextes qui ont permis l’information sociale de la culture de réseau contemporaine.A partir de deux périodes de l’histoire des réseaux marquées par deux réseaux privilégiés d’accès à Internet (Usenet, années 1980-1990 ; le Web, années 1990-2000), j’analyse les contextes de communication dans lesquels un folklore Internet s’invente, s’expérimente, se produit et se reproduit en interaction avec des dispositifs de médiation de contenu en réseau (messagerie, pages personnelles, blogs). Adoptant un point de vue « architextuel » (empruntant à la sémiotique des interfaces et des médiations informatisées), mes études s’intéressent tout aussi bien aux contenus qu’aux formes et métaformes ainsi qu’aux processus de codification informatiques et culturels de ces contextes.Une première série d’études de cas se penche sur les racines du folklore Internet, son émergence au sein de la première communauté virtuelle de grande ampleur, Usenet – en particulier dans la hiérarchie alt. du groupe. De l’art ASCII aux flame wars en passant par le panthéon des célébrités de Usenet, je montre comment l’usage ludique et expérimental des règles de communication et du transfert d’information sur le réseau permettent aux usagers d’affronter les difficultés et les apories de la régulation collective. Le public Usenet, dans la célébration et sa participation au folklore de réseau, teste des instruments qui lui donne un pouvoir d’écriture et d’opinion. Ces situations, je les nomme « métatextes » : des commentaires ludiques et des théories folkloriques sur la question complexe des « métarègles ». En terme de micro-histoire de l’Internet, elles sont fondamentales pour comprendre, à partir de ce qui était à l’origine une sous-culture, le développement culturel du commentaire et de la conversation, de l’évaluation et du filtrage de l’informatique sur le réseau actuel.Une deuxième série approche le folklore de réseau sous une autre forme, et dans une perspective différente. J’emprunte, dans le cadre d’une expérience d’observation-participante, le regard de deux générations d’artistes Internet portées sur la création populaire du Web. Le net.art, pionnier de l’art sur le Web dans les années 1990 (Web 1.0), valorise et médiatise la créativité amateur des pages personnelles. Les surfclubs, héritiers directs dans le cadre du web social des années 2000 (Web 2.0), recontextualisent ces pratiques au sein de réseaux de blogs et s’inspirent des forums d’images, nouveaux lieux d’émergence du folklore Web. L’oeil du Net art permet d’observer une évolution particulière du vernaculaire de réseau : les conflits de légitimation de cette matière culturelle « populaire » semblent se résoudre dans les nouvelles tendances du Web social pour donner lieu à de nouvelles figures du loisir en ligne. Apparaissent alors des professionnels qui s’inspirent de l’esthétique et des pratiques informationnelles des amateurs et les remédiatisent. Cette « résolution » est en fait l’entrée dans de nouveaux enjeux, socio-économiques cette fois, qui pour être compris devront être analysés à partir de cette généalogie historique du vernaculaire Internet.L’approche vernaculaire permet de mettre à jour les conflits techniques, sociaux et culturels ayant joué un rôle crucial dans l’histoire d’Internet : elle éclaire l’articulation dialogique entre la créativité des usagers et les normes institutionnelles qui structurent l’environnement-réseau. Elle fait découvrir des archives peu connus qui révèlent les voix des acteurs micro-historique du réseau des réseaux. Elle signale une série de problèmes épistémologiques sur les matériaux et les méthodes d’analyse de la culture d’Internet en proposant une vision d' »en bas » (« bottom up ») qui accompagne l’émergence des médiations de l’économie culturelle du Web d’aujourd’hui

    Creating for the Stage and Other Spaces: Questioning Practices and Theories

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    Abstract (ENGLISH)-This volume brings together most of the interventions by artists and scholars of the Third EASTAP Conference (European Association for the Study of Theatre and Performance), which should have been held in Bologna from 27 February to 1 March 2020, scheduled among the events of the VIE Festival 2020 and the activities of the Department of the Arts / DAMSLab. When everything was ready, the Conference, the last part of the Festival and the DAMSLab programme were suddenly canceled due to the first restrictions related to the pandemic. Following those sudden and unexpected events, the need to leave memory of the project arose from many quarters. It was thus decided to propose a publication which, while significantly differentiating from the original structure designed for the Conference, explicitly and directly refers to it, remaining an exceptional and significant testimony of the state of studies on theatre and performance in the pre-Covid era. The Conference plan envisaged two macro-sectors which concerned, one, the practices and theories relating to the composition of the texts; the other, the practices and theories relating to the composition of performative events referable to the methods of scenic writing. The volume takes up this polarity by framing it in a different division of relations, which explains – thanks to the groupings and their titles both the relations between text and text and those between sector and sector. The most consistent chapters are dedicated to performance and post-dramatic textuality: Questioning performance: theories and practices (17 reports) and Creating text for the stage: theories and practices (21 reports). The other chapters then come to place themselves in the force field described by these main groupings. Perfomer's body: the dancer, the actor (6 reports) and Creating for other spaces: landscape, sound, multimedia (7 reports) are ideally framed in the polarity of the performace, where to highlight the centrality of the body and the relational dynamics activated by spaces, sounds, and new technologies. Collective creations and community plays (7 reports), on the other hand, focuses on performance and new textuality. __________ Abstract (ITALIANO)-Il presente volume riunisce la maggior parte degli interventi di artisti e studiosi del III Convegno EASTAP (European Association for the Study of Theatre and Performance), che avrebbe dovuto tenersi a Bologna dal 27 febbraio al 1 marzo 2020, calendarizzato tra gli eventi di VIE Festival 2020 e le attività del Dipartimento delle Arti/DAMSLab. Quando tutto era ormai pronto, il Convegno, l’ultima parte del Festival e il programma DAMSLab sono stati improvvisamente annullati a causa delle prime restrizioni legate alla pandemia. In seguito a quei repentini e inattesi eventi, è nata l’esigenza da più parti avvertita di lasciare memoria del progetto. Si è deciso così di proporre una pubblicazione che, pur differenziandosi sensibilmente dalla struttura originaria pensata per il Convegno, a esso si richiamasse esplicitamente e direttamente, restando eccezionale e significativa testimonianza dello stato degli studi sul teatro e la performance nell’era pre-Covid. Il piano del Convegno prevedeva due macrosettori che riguardavano, l’uno, le pratiche e le teorie relative alla composizione dei testi; l’altro, le pratiche e le teorie relative alla composizione di eventi performativi riferibili alle modalità della scrittura scenica. Il volume riprende questa polarità inquadrandola in una diversa ripartizione delle relazioni, che esplicita – grazie ai raggruppamenti e ai loro titoli – sia le relazioni fra testo e testo che quelle fra settore e settore. Alla performance e alla testualità postdrammatica sono dedicati i capitoli più consistenti: Questioning performance: theories and practices (17 relazioni) e Creating text for the stage: theories and practices (21 relazioni). Gli altri capitoli si vengono quindi a posizionare nel campo di forze descritto da questi raggruppamenti principali. Perfomer’s body: the dancer, the actor (6 relazioni) e Creating for other spaces: landscape, sound, multimedia (7 relazioni) si inquadrano idealmente nella polarità della performace, dove evidenziare la centralità del corpo e le dinamiche relazionali attivate dagli spazi, dai suoni e dalle nuove tecnologie. Collective creations and community plays (7 relazioni) si orienta invece fra performance e nuova testualità
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