Fibreculture Reader

Simon Ford reviews Fibreculture

Fibreculture was established in January 2001 as a forum for theorists, critics, academics, activists and artists to discuss net culture. This reader brings together and publishes in super quick time papers prepared for the Inaugural Fibreculture Conference at Melbourne, 6-8 December 2001. Although the range of the papers was wide, the most refreshing feature of the book is its focus on aspects of Australian net culture. Despite the evidently global nature of the internet there is obviously still the need to air and learn from local concerns. The 30 papers are organised into five sections: theory, politics, policy, arts and education. The Theory section covers topics such as ‘internet time’ (by Anna Munster) and email in the context of the history of epistolary technologies (Esther Milne). ‘Politics’ examines the nature of hacking and digital activism and includes a particularly useful contribution from Jenny Pickerill on the innovative use environmental activists are making of computer-mediated communication. ‘Policy’ focuses on topics such as censorship in China and intellectual property everywhere, with Terry Laidler setting out the ethical and financial dilemmas facing digital rights activists. The ‘Arts’ section includes a couple of fascinating comparisons between creative industries initiatives in the UK and Australia by Pia Ednie-Brown and Scott McQuire. The final section ‘Education’ explores the scope and effectiveness of ‘new media research’ and asks ‘What is the nature of its function and culture?’ Given the nature of the contributions’ origins – works in progress posted to a forum site for comment – there can be no summation of its contents or message, beyond that is, that the dialogue should continue and the forum be extended.

Simon Ford <sford AT metamute.com> is assistant editor at Mute magazine

FIBRECULTURE reader: politics of a digital present: an inventory of Australian net culture, criticism and theory // Hugh Brown et al. (eds) // Melbourne // Fibrecultures Publications // 2001 // 285 p. // [www.fibreculture.org]