Infocult: Uncanny Informatics

Happy Halloween from Infocult and Google

Today is Infocult's favorite holiday, of course.  We'll celebrate by sharing as many posts as possible today, depending on the whims of Sandy.

Google has gotten into the spirit, which we appreciate.  Click on their doodle and explore.  One hint: save the kitty for last.

(thanks to Steve Taylor)

Infocult murmurs at speed

Infocult's vast production machinery is ratcheting down a notch for the new several weeks.  The travel monster demands sacrifices, you see.

 

Infocult mutates

Observant Infocult followers may have noticed changes to this site.  Pruning, smoothing, and cutting have been done.

Let's see: I killed one column, so we're down to two.  This widened the content area.  I also reduced marginal items.  Now you should see the basics, including archives, About, RSS.

Mentally I sharpened the blog's focus on the Gothic: fearsome digital media, plus Gothic horror in everyday life.   You should see those dominating posts from here on out. 

(photo by nomadic CogDog)

Infocult on the run

Infocult friends, minions, shadowy informers: operations might be slow for the next week, as a giant storm whales on American's northeast.  That's where I'm based.

Best scenario: lots of rain, and Infocult continues its mission of brooding informatics.

Worst scenario: we're off the grid for ten days, as overworked crews scramble to repair power lines clobbered by thousands of flattened trees.  If that happens, expect much silence here.  Checking my Twitter is probably best.

What next with Infocult?

What should this blog do next?  Infocult hereby asks for your thoughts.

Infocult has been running for years, since 2003.  It's been a lot of fun, at least for its brooding creator.  But we should pause to reflect.  Consider what the blog looks like, in the cold light of historical perspective, then look forward with an eager futurism.

Historically, the leading topic in terms of number of posts is fearsome digital media.  That's where this whole thing began.  It's something I'm known for.  If we focus on comments, leading topics also include the Gothic in everyday life, Gothic stuff in general, and music, along with a bit of teaching and learning.  I'm not sure what that adds up to, but perhaps you readers do.  

Looking forward, I've been mulling over some big-picture possibilities.

1. Infocult could focus on fearsome media entirely, dropping off the other stuff.  No more tech in general, teaching, unrelated books and movies, music.  Laser beam focus.
2. We could add a personal layer, the life of Bryan, that sort of thing.  Fearsome enough.
3. Expand the Goth.  Add reviews of film, books, games, music.
4. Expand the horror-in-everyday-life theme - or slash it back.
5. End the whole thing and move on?  Always a possibility in a project.
6. Add a podcast.  The Voice of Infocult could be heard in the land.
7. Add video, for those who can bear Infocult's terrifying gaze.
8. More Web 2.0 projects, like the undying Draculablog.
9. Start making t-shirts, high-octane coffee mugs, and other Infocultish swag.
10. Or something else.

What do you think?  The commentary floor is open, and freshly swept.  The crowdsource switch has been thrown, sparks flying up into the night.

Many thanks to the fine folk who've contributed their thoughts so far, across multiple venues: Thomas Beckett, Steve Burnett, Todd Bryant, Charles Cameron, Gardner Campbell, Annette S. Leung Evans, Steven Kaye, Alan Levine, Pete Naegele, D'Arcy Norman, Andre Phillips, Lisa Pritchard, saramin, and Jesse Walker.   It's heartening to know Infocult has a legion of the damned so many friends.

 (brooding Bryan photo from kk; Second Life's Zelmanov from here)

2008: the year in Infocult

It's the end of December, so time to consider the year's highlights.  Favorite Infocult topics from 2008 cover a variety of horrible grounds:

• Gothic in everyday life.  We've seen it in innocent cornfields and human flesh powering cars.  Cannibalism is always a favorite.  New developments: horror language in the presidential election, and concerning the economic crisis.
  
• Web 2.0 storytelling.  A new blog category appeared on the topic, Alan Levine and I published an article, set up a wiki, a del.icio.us tag, and examples kept flowing in.
• Uncanny valley Gothic, especially reborn dolls.  This theme picked up in January, and kept toddling along, getting links, attention, criticism, and shivers of fear.
  
• Crowdsourcing.  Although I haven't published on this yet, I've ruthlessly exploited the world for my own benefit.  You, Web, have been generous.
  
• Severed feet and the rise of the Canadian Gothic.  The feet just kept drifting onto the Pacific shore, while other bizarre things afflicted the brooding northern giant.
• Cold War Gothic has emerged as a new subtheme, surfacing from the gothic in everyday life topic.  This can include atompunk and spaceflight eerieness.
• Mourning deaths.  Arthur C. Clarke died, and so did my wife's father.
• Fearing the internet continues.  From academic technology to the scary sex-box, Infocult's founding meme keeps growing.
  

Anything we missed? Any recommendations for 2009?

(skull-gazing photo by Arnaud Leene)

Draculablog 2008 hiatus

The Draculablog won't run this year.  No time to do justice to Stoker's novel in Web 2.0 style.

Third Life: Intel CES talk

"Third Life" is what Intel's CEO is calling his CES keynote this week.  Not too much in common with our third life discussion last year.  Instead it looks more like social networking plus virtual worlds, maybe  with a dose of augmented reality, more likely anticipating faster wireless connections between devices.

Infocult in 2007: Web 2.0 and fearsome stuff

It's time for a glance backwards at Infocult in 2007.  We can use trackback pings (real ones) and comments (good stuff) to pick out themes which garnered the most attention.

Web 2.0, whatever we think of the term, is the leading business, be it one case study across several services or Controversies over Wikipedia (Citizendium and blogs, hoaxing Conservapedia).  Twitter blossomed into a leading topic  (first look, overview and reflections, fear of Twitter).

Second Life continues to get attention, especially from my brooding Third Life post (sequel coming in '08). 

The fearsome internet is our signature theme, and has been since the start.  Some examples: American parents' technology fears, fear of Twitter.

Mobile computing, ubicomp: I continue to place posts at Smartmobs.  Some posts live here, for example grousing about the lameness of American wifi, especially in hotels.

elearning: the overwhelming majority of my blog work on this score is at NITLE's blog, of course. Here at Infocult we reserve some subtopics, such as the case of Blackboard as silo, or serving silage.

How does this match up with your sense of Infocult, as 2008 looms ahead?

Seattle and Educause ahoy

I'll be in Seattle for this week, attending the 2007 Educause conference.  I'd be delighted to meet any Infocult readers there.