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Date sent:        Tue, 26 May 1998 14:53:28
To:               infowar@aec.at
From:             Jennifer Gonzalez <jag@cats.ucsc.edu>
Subject:          Re: INFOWAR: MAN
Sender: owner-infowar-en@aec.at
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Reply-To: infowar@aec.at

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ARS ELECTRONICA FESTIVAL 98
INFOWAR. information.macht.krieg
Linz, Austria, september 07 - 12
http://www.aec.at/infowar
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"Information" is in many cases the boundary condition of membership
to any collectivity.  Those who have the proper information, or who share
information become viable members. This boundary condition maps power
relations precisely along the lines that might determine ethnic
membership (in Yugoslavia, for example).

Information is always defined as such within a set of human relations,
not independently as a domain.  It always comes from SOMEWHERE and
is always going SOMEWHERE else.  By definition is it defined against
prior knowledge--it is only information if it is new to the recipient.

Vesna makes the important observation that information is
not separable (as a concept) from humans, and that the humans
who are identified with information in the initial construction of
this Ars Electronica discourse are male.  The idea of "gendered"
information, and the kinds of wars over specialized
knowledge that have historically been linked to membership in a
socially defined group can perhaps be made part of the discussion.

Art and Information:
 I think the distinction made between information
and communication is misplaced.  Communication involves an
exchange of information. The terms are not contradictory.  Art is
capable of performing as any other element in a larger sign system
and is no more likely to be communicative than informative, though
might certainly be both.

J. Gonzalez




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