Acknowledgements
This book has been written in a number of places, and even between places - in a plethora of planes, trains, cafes, airports, offices and libraries. Indeed, it has been created in the very frantic disorientation of computational society that this book argues that critical theory must address today.
My appreciation of charging points, free Wi-Fi, 3G/4G networks and access to good coffee has also been suitably heightened. Although I note that Java Cafe, in St Hanshaugan, Oslo, which shuns all these contrivances for the luxury of singularly great coffee, has been a welcome retreat for providing a space disconnected from the always-on digital world.I have been helped by friends who have always remained kind and supporting even when difficulties arose. I would like to thank everyone for continued encouragement. I am very grateful to Forskningsradet (the Research Council of Norway) for the Yggdrasil Fellowship ref: 211106 which funded my sabbatical in Oslo in 2012, and particularly Stig Jarle Hansen and Mohamed Husein Gaas. I would also like to thank Anders Fagerjord, Knut Lundby and Espen Ytreberg and members of Institutt for medier og kommunikasjon (IMK), University of Oslo, for making me feel welcome and included in their research activities. Additionally I would like to thank Yngvil Beyer, Ina Blom and the Nasjonalbiblioteket, Norway, for the invitation to contribute to the Archive in Motion' workshops. Swansea University was kind enough to grant me sabbatical leave during 2012 which greatly facilitated the writing of this book and I would like to thank Chris Williams and all the staff working in RIAH for their continued support.
This book grew out of an earlier conversation with Darrow Schecter and I remain indebted to him for his kind invitation to explore the subject in a book for the Critical Theory and Contemporary Society series.
I would also like to express my gratitude to my editor, Marie-Claire Antoine, formerly at Continuum, for her professionalism and support through the writing process, and Matthew Kopel at Bloomsbury, for patience through the final phases of editing. Additionally I would like to thank my PhD students Dr Faustin Chongombe, Dr Leighton Evans, Mostyn Jones, Sian Rees, Emily Stacey and the students on the MA Digital Media programme for providing stimulating conversation and discussion.I am grateful to have had the opportunity to present earlier versions of the chapters and ideas in this book to: the PhiSci seminar series, organized by Rani Lill Anjum CauSci (Causation in Science) and the UMB School of Economics and Business; Institutt for medier og kommunikasjon (IMK) seminar series, invited by Espen Ytreberg, University of Oslo; Unlike Us conference #2, organized by Geert Lovink, Amsterdam University; Digital Humanities Workshop, organized by Caroline Bassett, University of Sussex; the Archive in Motion workshop, Nasjonalbiblioteket organized by Ina Blom, University of Oslo; the University of Bergen and the Digital Culture Research Group organized by Jill Walker Rettberg and Scott Rettberg; Sean Roberts at Rackspace for an enlightening insight into cloud computing; New Aesthetic symposium at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian, Washington D.C. organized by Melanie BQhler; SETUP Utrecht, The Netherlands, organized by Danidlle de Jonge; Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, organized by Oscar Coromina; Digital Expertise Workshop, organized by Caroline Bassett, Lefteris Zenerian and Aristea Fotopoulou, University of Sussex; Digital Transformations Moot, AHRC, Kings College, University of London invited by Andrew Prescott; Institutt for Samfunnsforskning, Oslo, Norway, invited by Kari Steen-Johnsen and Bernard Enjolras; COSTECH laboratory, Universite de Technologie de Compiegne, Paris, France, invited by Jean-Christophe Plantin; HighWire DTC, Lancaster University, invited by Gordon Blair; Digital Humanities research seminar at Kings College, University of London, invited by the Department of Digital Humanities and Andrew Prescott; The Digital Methods Initiative at the University of Amsterdam, and particularly Richard Rogers, Michael Dieter, Anne Helmond, Caroline Gerlitz and Bernhard Rieder; Centre for Digital Cultures, Leuphana University, Germany, especially, Armin Beverungen, Ned Rossiter and Mercedes Bunz;The Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies, University of Warwick, invited by Nathaniel Tkacz; and finally, The Digital Humanities Summer School in Berne, University of Berne, and particularly Enrico Natale.
Finally, I would also like to thank my family, Trine Bjorkmann Berry, and my children Helene, Henrik Isak and Hedda Emilie for continuing to (over) fill my life with non-stop excitement and love.
David Berry
Oslo, July 2013
LONG ago, the mice had a general council to consider what measures they could take to outwit their common enemy, the Cat. Some said this, and some said that; but at last a young mouse got up and said he had a proposal to make, which he thought would meet the case. “You will all agree,” said he, “that our chief danger consists in the sly and treacherous manner in which the enemy approaches us. Now, if we could receive some signal of her approach, we could easily escape from her. I venture, therefore, to propose that a small bell be procured, and attached by a ribbon round the neck of the Cat. By this means we should always know when she was about, and could easily retire while she was in the neighbourhood.”
This proposal met with general applause, until an old mouse got up and said: “That is all very well, but who is to bell the Cat?” The mice looked at one another and nobody spoke. Then the old mouse said:
“IT IS EASY TO PROPOSE IMPOSSIBLE REMEDIES.”
sop, (Sixth century B.C.), Fables.