On the Obsolescence of Bourgeois Theory in the Anthropocene

‘On the Obsolescence of Bourgeois Theory in the Anthropocene’ is an attempt to think theory beyond the stereotypes of what it is considered to be. This includes preconceived notions of what it is to be a theorist, and to create, publish and disseminate critical theory. Many thinkers, for example, are currently attempting to replace the tyranny of the human with an emphasis on the nonhuman, the posthuman and the Anthropocene. Yet such ‘post-theory’ theorists continue to remain bound up with the human in the very performance of their attempts to think through and beyond it. Regardless of the anti-humanist philosophies they profess — be they inspired by Deleuze, Kittler or Latour — in their practices, in the forms their work takes, in the ways they create, publish and disseminate it, in their associated upholding of notions of individual human rights, freedom, property and so on, they continue to operate in terms of a liberal, humanist model of what it is to be and do as a theorist. ‘On the Obsolescence of Bourgeois Theory in the Anthropocene’ thus asks, what forms is critical theory to take if, in its performance, it is not to be simply liberal and humanist — nor indeed human — but something else besides? In this way it endeavours to anticipate a future where new roles and conditions for theory materialize that has never previously been imagined

What does Academia_edu’s success mean for Open Access? The data-driven world of search engines and social networking

With over 36 million visitors each month, the massive popularity of Academia.edu is uncontested. But posting on Academia.edu is far from being ethically and politically equivalent to using an institutional open access repository, argues Gary Hall. Academia.edu’s financial rationale rests on exploiting the data flows generated by the academics who use the platform. The open access movement is in danger of being outflanked, if not rendered irrelevant by centralised entities like Academia.edu who can capture, analyse and exploit extremely large amounts of data

On the unbound book: academic publishing in the age of the infinite archive

Thanks to open access and the likes of Blurb, Issuu, Scribd, Kindle Direct Publishing, iBooks Author and AAAAARG.org , publishing a book is something nearly everyone can do today in a matter of minutes. Yet what is most interesting about electronic publishing is not so much that bringing out a book is becoming more like blogging or vanity publication, with authority and certification provided as much by an author’s reputation or readership, or the number of times a text is visited, downloaded, cited, referenced, linked to, blogged about, tagged, bookmarked, ranked, rated or ‘liked’, as it is by conventional peer-review or the prestige of the press. All of those criteria still rest upon and retain fairly conventional notions of the book, the author, publication and so on. Far more interesting is the way certain developments in electronic publishing contain at least the potential for us to perceive the book as something that is not completely fixed, stable and unified, with definite limits and clear material edges, but as liquid and living, open to being continually and collaboratively written, edited, annotated, critiqued, updated, shared, supplemented, revised, re-ordered, reiterated and reimagined. So much so that, as some have indeed suggested, perhaps soon we will no longer call such things books at all, e- or otherwise. On the other hand, perhaps ‘book’ is as good a name as any since – as examples as apparently different as the Bible and Shakespeare’s First Folio show – books, historically, have always been liquid and living: electronic publishing has simply helped make us more aware of the fact.</jats:p

The Inhumanist Manifesto

International audienceGary Hall's manifesto for Media Theory

Towards a post-digital humanities: cultural analytics and the computational turn to data-driven scholarship

What forms will literary and cultural criticism take in the twenty-first century, given the move toward open access, open data, and open government that is currently being promoted in the name of greater efficiency and transparency? Will the growing use of digital tools and data-led methodologies adopted from computer science to help us analyze the vast, networked nature of knowledge and information in postindustrial society produce a major change in our understanding of literature and culture, and indeed the humanities? Some have suggested that we have already embarked on a post-theoretical era, exemplified by a shift away from a concern with ideology and critique and toward more positivistic, quantitative, and empirical modes of analysis. If this is the case, should we be looking to develop new forms of literary and cultural criticism, characterized by an ability to combine the methodological and the theoretical, the quantitative and the qualitative, the digital and the traditional humanities? Are such new forms of literary and cultural criticism even possible?</jats:p

Playing the (open) publishing game – Top Posts of 2015: open access

With over 36 million visitors each month, the massive popularity of Academia.edu is uncontested. But posting on Academia.edu is far from being ethically and politically equivalent to using an institutional open access repository, argues Gary Hall. Academia.edu’s financial rationale rests on exploiting the data flows generated by the academics who use the platform. The open access movement is in danger of being outflanked, if not rendered irrelevant by centralised entities like Academia.edu who can capture, analyse and exploit extremely large amounts of data