The Nitwit in the Room

© Kevin Knight

I think it would be fair to say I'm a technophobe. My phone doesn't take pictures or connect to the internet, and my abilities on a computer don't extend far beyond writing a paper and checking my email. I maintain a PG rated, completely benign facebook, on which I never "check in" to locations or post specifics about my life. Call me paranoid, but I've never had any desire to put my life on the internet and let it float into the clouds for eternity. It seems unnecessary. I'm already filmed everywhere I go in the name of security, I'd really like to maintain whatever shred of privacy I can.

I would guess that my distaste for technology of all sorts is why I'm so interested in Lev Manovich's article "Art after Web 2.0" and his discussion of current (well, what was current) trends in internet usage and user created media, and especially it's impact on the art world. I saw The Talent Show at PS1 last winter and was fascinated by the combination of technology and creepiness. The art world has a whole new dimension with the growth of social media, user-uploaded images and video, and the increasing amount of people who publish their lives on the internet.

For obvious reasons (like the publishing dates) I found "The World Wide Web" by Tim Berners-Lee, et al. to be pretty out of date. His interest in the collaborative aspects of the internet were interesting, especially knowing that the internet now is all about indirect collaboration and individual involvement. I could have been spared the technical jargon, because though Ted Nelson might think that "any nitwit can understand computers," I'm neither a nitwit nor a person with comprehension of computers. I do have some appreciation for Doug Engelbart and his piece "Augmenting Human Intellect." Though according to him I have no excuse not to understand the workings of the computer, I think his interpretation of the human-computer interaction is pretty interesting.

Maybe my reading list will encourage me to learn about how this machine works. But don't hold your breath.