Text and technology has given everyone the ability to publish and join the conversation. It is a way to both express individuality and add to the collective. We are reverting back to oral traditions of reflecting upon and altering information in a “fractal” way. In the world of hyperlinks and re-tweeting, is there an authoritative and original text anymore? A meme can be created, amplified and altered creating a fractal tapestry of ideas, pictures and words. We can represent a tree with a mathematical set (as in the above drawing), and a social media site such as Twitter can represent our culture with a set of words and ideas. We can amplify and understand reality for a larger group of people than every in the past. Will this integration of information bring us closer together or drive us further apart?
My name is Marc Aubanel and this is my 9th MET class. I was living in North Vancouver for the first 8 classes but have just moved to Baton Rouge and am the founding director for a new Master of Digital Media Arts and Engineering program at LSU. Previously to moving to education in 2008, I have been in video games and new media producing the webisodes for Sanctuary, and many video games including FIFA, Triple Play, NHL, Need for Speed and Def Jam Vendetta, to name a few. My career has been mostly involved using new technology to further interactive expression. Even though the end results of what I do generates art or code – our use of text to communicate as large teams has never been more prominent. I am interested in the use of social tools for constructing creative texts as teams – rather than a solitary art form.
