[iDC] Re: Gated Knowledge Communities
Ryan Griffis
ryan.griffis at gmail.com
Fri Feb 17 18:42:34 EST 2006
The Journal of Aesthetics & Protest, a fine group of individuals in LA
i have been lucky enough to work with, publishes more online than in
print, mostly due to the cost of printing. Our last issue was going to
be around 500 pages (correct me if i'm wrong Robby, Cara or whomever
else from the journal that may be reading) if we printed all that we
wanted to. Which was probably a good thing for a few reasons... as much
as i love the Sarai Reader, that thing is heavy to carry around :)
Regardless of the cost, the journal's content is always provided online
as well, and has an audience that is different (somewhat) from the
audience of the printed object of the book, as it makes its way, via
certain articles, through audiences on indymedia and other channels.
The book is also valuable as it gets picked up by people who don't or
can't read online, but somehow find themselves interested in "art,
aesthetics and politics."
The web allows us to publish things without the deadlines and
timeframes of print, and we can also run art projects that we can't
afford to print, but want to increase the visibility of for various
reasons. it's not an either or proposition, of course.
JoAaP may not be an academic journal, but we do run articles by
"academics" and writers/thinkers/artists "outside" of higher ed side by
side. (as for online academic journals, i've been somewhat interested
by the Vectors journal out of USC)
but the question of time is crucial... like a lot of the endeavors of
people on the list, JoAaP is an "all volunteer" project that has the
same pitfalls as any mostly operating on the assumptions of the "gift
economy." sustainability is a huge concern, and is an ongoing, and
seemingly endless struggle, both emotionally and financially.
the recognition economy that goes along with the gift economy may
provide some motivation (especially for artists and academics, who
actually have a lot in common there regardless of the field), but it
can certainly be a primary cause of internal disturbance, distraction
and disintegration.
regarding that last thought, i think the activities in the classroom,
for academics anyway, provides some things to reflect on as to how to
think outside of a recognition economy. i made a post to the iDC blog
that somewhat touches on my very vague ideas about that...
http://distributedcreativity.typepad.com/idc/2006/02/
learning_on_the.html
oh, and to finish the JoAaP plug
http://www.joaap.org
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