This is the conclusion of my thesis From Metaphysics to Metadata. Aesthetics and Politics of Interface. Click to read the first, second, and third part.

ABSTRACT [Or download the full PDF: NicolaBozzi_MP2MD_Conclusion]

In the conclusion of my work I give a few examples of how new stereotypes can be created and spread through the media, thus modifying the interface by the creation of new strategic and socially-conscious metadata: the Muslim punk-rockers depicted in The Taqwacores, the Hip Hop Clowns documented in David LaChapelle’s Rize, or the black-nerd comedy showcased in The Awkward Comedy Show are some of the cases where new figures are promoted to change limiting stereotypes (for example the ghetto = gangster equation) and open new spaces for identity. Sometimes whole countries can reclaim their own version of globalized genres – like sci-fi, in the case of District 9 or Ataque de Pànico.

In the closing lines I propose a mapping of such virtuous uses of metadata and the definition of somewhat of a metadata ethics, in order to take conscience of stereotype and proceed to outline new strategies to escape it.

This is the third part of my thesis From Metaphysics to Metadata. Aesthetics and Politics of Interface. Check back to read the first part and the second part.

ABSTRACT [Or download the full PDF: NicolaBozzi_MP2MD_Figures]

In this chapter I define four main types of metadata and four stereotypical figures to exemplify each of them respectively: structural metadata (the Nerd), textural metadata (the Hipster), body metadata (the Comedian), and metadata of scale (the Gangster). The former two are characterized by higher levels of choice and agency, the latter two are instead metadata beyond choice, labels one is subjected to rather than active tools for participation in infrastructure and interface. (more…)

This is the second part of my thesis From Metaphysics to Metadata. Aesthetics and Politics of Interface. Here’s the first part.

ABSTRACT [Or download full PDF: NicolaBozzi_MP2MD_Channels]

Starting from the example of urban simulacra (in form of virtual environments, mapping applications, or augmented reality renderings), in this chapter I introduce how a virtual infrastructure actualizes into an interface by means of metadata. Relying on Gilles Deleuze’s concept of virtual as used by Pierre Levy, and especially on Michel Foucault’s heterotopia, I also explain the connections between urban simulacra and some emerging practices in urban design and architecture. In particular, I highlight the relationship between the XML node and the shipping container. Referring to Alexander Galloway’s Protocol, I point out how the use of informational units as both a communication device and a content shape is a common protocological practice in both urban simulacra and actual globalized urban landscapes. (more…)

Starting from today, I will publish my thesis From Metaphysics to Metadata. Aesthetics and Politics of Interface on this blog. Since nobody wants to read some 70 pages in blog format, I’m attaching it in four separate PDFs introduced by as many short abstracts. So here it goes, I hope to receive some feedback.

INTRODUCTION – ABSTRACT [Download full PDF: NicolaBozzi_MP2MD_Introduction]

This work is a conceptualization of the use of stereotype, as it is deployed as both an active and a passive tool to read people and space as information. Stereotypical tags are attached to professionals as well as immigrants, to particular places or whole neighborhoods. If people and space are data, stereotypes are then metadata, images extracted from a globalized imagery. Metadata affects the imagination of identities, leading them to adhere to certain pre-formatted formulas, and the perception of space, as it is constructed both physically and culturally. (more…)

Image from http://uqbarorbistertius.blogspot.com/

In his short story Tlön, Uqbar, Orbius Tertius the argentinian writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges imagined a place with a completely different perception of reality than ours.
In Tlön “the prime unit is not the verb, but the monosyllabic adjective. The noun is formed by an accumulation of adjectives. They do not say “moon,” but rather “round airy-light on dark” or “pale-orange-of-the-sky” or any other such combination.” Also, lacking the concept of subsequentiality brought by verbs (and heavily discussed by scholars like Marshall McLuhan and Derrick De Kerckhove), “they do not conceive that the spatial persists in time. The perception of a cloud of smoke on the horizon and then of the burning field and then of the half-extinguished cigarette that produced the blaze is considered an example of association of ideas”. This also reflects on Tlön’s philosophy: “The metaphysicians of Tlön do not seek for the truth or even for verisimilitude, but rather for the astounding. They judge that metaphysics is a branch of fantastic literature.”

To read the story many years later it’s kind of easy to think of it as a metaphor for the internet, even though there are some important differences between Borges’ imaginary land and the World Wide Web. Google continuosly caching the web makes time stand still, but the importance of real-time has been re-established after all the Twitter Search buzz that shook SEO blogs a few months ago. Also, sequentiality of events still matters a lot: any happening carries its own trail of cascade sub-events, parodies and top-down debate or conspiracy theories on the internet, and while blogging we’re desperate to link as much as possible.
Still, a crucial similarity to Tlön is the process of tagging. The self-selecting nature of meta-data, driven by user-generated tags and keywords ruling both Google’s ad services and the much more innocent knowledge-focused social bookmarking networks like Delicious, is one of the main features of Web 2.0 and the semantic web.

(more…)