?s for this week

Poster- As the chapter introduction notes, Poster doesn’t give much credence to the idea that virtual media space is both a platform for the marketing of commodities and a commodity itself. He suggests that “the use of the Internet to simulate communities far outstrips its functional as retail store or reference work” (541). Given that we have fifteen more years of Internet history to draw on than Poster did when he wrote this article, how can we see the kinds of cyber spaces he discusses participating in or being complicit with profit-oriented agendas? Do we see the community spaces he discusses as discrete from commodity endeavors, or are there instances of overlap between them?

Baudrillard--This article implies that both discourses of ideology and discourse on ideology ultimately assume and try to disseminate some notion of truth, a process which Baudrillard suggests undercuts the revolutionary potential that can be found in embracing simulation. What do we think the revolutionary (or maybe just political) applications of Baudrillard’s understanding of simulation would look like?

Haltman- I found the presentation of the visual elements of this argument particularly effective. I think we might be able to look at how Haltman’s essay places visual evidence as a way of discussing strategies for incorporating visual elements into the work that we will be presenting later in the semester.