I spent the day at a symposium in Nottingham on the rather broad theme of ‘technology’. Of particular interest to me was a presentation by the ‘leading authority on iPod use’. Michael Bull conducted an extensive ethnographic study that’s currently being fashioned into a book – and he’s also the author of a highly regarded book on personal stereos.

His explanation of how people integrate the i-Pod into their lives, and the ways in which it shapes their experience of the world around them was worth the five hours travel alone. I particularly liked his image of the U2 fan sitting on the snow in Antarctica, listening to the Irish band because it evoked nostalgic images of his home: New York.

But there was far more to it than that.

Dave Woods has been studying the ways in which fans of computer games make derivative works – and even improve on the game itself – with the manufacturer’s blessing (record companies take note!).

Gary Needham‘s been watching the sexual hygiene morality melodrama films showed to American teens from the 50s to the 70s and unpicking the way in which the visual technology of medical professionals was able to unseat the church’s notion of sin & punishment as the motivator of ‘correct action’.

Dan Cordle compared the literature of nuclear technology (notably Neville Shute’s ‘On The Beach’) with the press representations of the Civil Defense drills in New York from 1951 to ’61 and charted the shifts from a familiar post-blitz style rescue and recovery operation (the clear implication of hope of survival), through a period of apocalyptic ’empty streets’ – and finally into mass civil disobedience when the ‘evacuated’ streets were crammed with people who just didn’t want to hide anymore.

Joss Hands had been reading Hardt and Negri’s ‘Multitude’ and, while a declared enthusiast for their work, found himself criticising the fundamental conclusions of the book as being too simplistic – and slightly mystical. The creation of societal multitude – the ‘swarm’ – as a self-organising and emancipatory result of network technology misses a bit of the complexity of the relationship between capital and labour. He called for a discourse analysis of multitude, in the light of conceptions of ‘civil society’. Fair enough.

And Neal Curtis examined the increasingly intertwined worlds of the media industries and the military industrial complex. He argued that the techniques and technologies of each field are now so interconnected, they can now be said to operate as one: a war machine – MIME-Net – the Military – Industrial – Media – Entertainment – Network.

Needless to say to say it was a fascinating day filled with interesting presentations and wide-ranging discussion.

And on the breaks – we talked about our kids.

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Today’s listening:

55. The Finn Brothers – Everyone Is Here Parlophone 2004

56. Cinematic Orchestra – Man With A Movie Camera Ninja Tune 2003

57. Enrico Pieranunzi & Paul Motian – Doorways CAM Jazz 2004



…and rather a lot of individual rock tracks – from The Hives to The Pixies, Placebo to Radiohead (I found a compilation I’d made for Jake in my bag while on the train halfway home from Nottingham).