http://vectors.usc.edu/issues Winter 2007 Volume 2 2
For nearly two decades this conversation has resonated for me as a powerful object lesson about the technological mediation of perception. Throughout this same period, an array of scholars from a number of fields has tracked the many ways that the machines we interact with co-produce what we can perceive and know. Works as diverse as Wolfgang Schivelbusch's exploration of the railway journey to Jonathan Crary's treatise on optical devices to Carolyn Marvin's investigation of the telephone and electricity remind us that both "new" and "old" technologies at once reflect and help constitute our individual and social understandings of place and time and of self and other. Our fourth issue of Vectors joins this lively conversation and examines the sensory, phenomenological, and epistemological stakes of
perception at different moments of history and in varied geographies, paying special attention to the cultural, ethical and ideological stakes of what, how, and when we perceive.

The rubric of "perception" offers a convenient throughline by which to weave together a number of fields, including geography, cognitive science, film studies, art history, philosophy, and the digital arts. Projects like those by Anne Friedberg, Caren Kaplan, and Laura Marks foreground the modes by which technology and information culture - from the camera obscura to the chronophotography of the U.S. military to the foliated Kufic script carved into the walls of the Al-Azhar Mosque - mediate our perception, delimiting and producing meaning from the sensory fields we inhabit in very precise ways. While some projects address techniques and devices that span hundreds of years, thus historicizing our understanding of the relationship of technology to perception, we are also concerned with the difference a specific medium or machine might make. Together, these seven works suggest that the digital era demands interpretive frameworks more attuned to the flow of digitized information, flexible models for charting both existing and emergent modes of experience and knowing.

Some pieces in this issue -- including those by Eric Faden, Perry Hoberman, and Donald Hoffman -- blur past and present, real and make believe, theory and art, playfully tweaking the borders of the user's perception. Other projects turn technology back upon itself to help us see what is usually hidden from sight, what things are not allowed - in Laura Marks' term - to 'unfold' into our sensory perception and into our knowledge. Trevor Paglen's "Unmarked Planes and Hidden Geographies" deploys flight tracking technologies to map worlds that are not supposed to exist, while Sharon Daniel's "Public Secrets" powerfully tests our ability to hear those voices society would rather ignore, creating a space for empathy, dialogue, and action.

In keeping with Vectors' mandate to mine the relationship of form to content, this issue allows us to ask a number of questions about the role of digital media in academic knowledge production, including "Can multimedia and interactive scholarship help us to understand perception better or differently?" and "Can digital media model multiple perspectives in ways that push beyond the sensory modes supported by print?". But these experiments in structure and meaning are not meant as hollow aesthetic exercises; rather, they are meant to help us "see things differently" in a manner that makes it difficult to disavow the politicized roles that technology plays in the construction of everyday life.]]> Vectors site represents a long, continuing collaboration among many people and institutions. The site design was orchestrated by our Creative Directors, Raegan Kelly and Erik Loyer, with input from the editors. The site was built by Erik, Raegan and Craig Dietrich with assistance from Chris Wittenberg, Chris Hanson, Kevin Tanaka, Steve Fong, and expert "behind the scenes" support from Willy Paredes (IML Systems Administrator). Additional syndication oversight provided by Greg Smith.

Ongoing support has been provided by USC's Institute for Multimedia Literacy and, originally, by the Annenberg Center for Communication, and we would particularly like to thank Elizabeth Daley, Anne Balsamo, Stephanie Barish, Mark Kann, and Bruce Zuckerman, and the staffs at IML and ACC, especially Vanessa Lee, Shahril Ibrahim, Roberto Gomez, Stacy Patterson, Shelley Cooke, Dave Lopez, Elizabeth Harmon, John Zollinger, Josie Acosta, Rich Edwards, and Steve Adcook.

Various other colleagues have also offered valuable advice and support, including Scott Fisher, Marsha Kinder and the Labyrinth team, John Seely Brown, Joe Hellige, Cathy Davidson, Jeffrey Schnapp, Kathy Woodward, and David Theo Goldberg, as well as members of our Editorial Board and attendees at an early brainstorming session for the journal in summer, 2003. Alex Ceglia and the Stamen team came aboard in the final push to launch in 2005. We're thankful for their vision and hard work.

Vectors is especially grateful for the ongoing support of HASTAC and the recent support of Digital Promise.]]> The Vectors site represents a long, continuing collaboration among many people and institutions. The site design was orchestrated by our Creative Directors, Raegan Kelly and Erik Loyer, with input from the editors. The site was built by Erik, Raegan and Craig Dietrich with assistance from Chris Wittenberg, Chris Hanson, Kevin Tanaka, Steve Fong, and expert "behind the scenes" support from Willy Paredes (IML Systems Administrator). Additional syndication oversight provided by Greg Smith.

Ongoing support has been provided by USC's Institute for Multimedia Literacy and, originally, by the Annenberg Center for Communication, and we would particularly like to thank Elizabeth Daley, Anne Balsamo, Stephanie Barish, Mark Kann, and Bruce Zuckerman, and the staffs at IML and ACC, especially Vanessa Lee, Shahril Ibrahim, Roberto Gomez, Stacy Patterson, Shelley Cooke, Dave Lopez, Elizabeth Harmon, John Zollinger, Josie Acosta, Rich Edwards, and Steve Adcook.

Various other colleagues have also offered valuable advice and support, including Scott Fisher, Marsha Kinder and the Labyrinth team, John Seely Brown, Joe Hellige, Cathy Davidson, Jeffrey Schnapp, Kathy Woodward, and David Theo Goldberg, as well as members of our Editorial Board and attendees at an early brainstorming session for the journal in summer, 2003. Alex Ceglia and the Stamen team came aboard in the final push to launch in 2005. We're thankful for their vision and hard work.

Vectors is especially grateful for the ongoing support of HASTAC and the recent support of Digital Promise.]]> common/images/perception_logo.jpg 90 191 Vectors. Andrea Foster writes, "ThoughtMesh is a Web site that tags open-access scholarly papers with key words. Visitors can jump to passages in papers that contain those words. And they can see others' papers, throughout academe, tagged with the same words. A "cloud" of tagged words hovers above each paper."]]> Vectors, "Blue Velvet" enables users to submerge themselves in a poetic wordscape describing the contours of American racial politics post-Katrina.]]> Vectors' fellow Kim Christen was recently interviewed on the BBC's Digital Planet about her continued work developing innovative archives with indigenous peoples.

Kim's Vectors' project, "Digital Dynamics Across Cultures" (in the Ephemera issue), was an early effort in this regard. She has gone on to receive numerous grants and to continue to work with Vectors' team member, Craig Deitrich.]]> Vectors' Perception issue, explores issues of women's incarceration.

As a festival for art and digital culture, transmediale presents advanced artistic positions reflecting on the socio-cultural impact of new technologies. It seeks out artistic practices that not only respond to scientific or technical developments, but that try to shape the way in which we think about and experience these technologies. transmediale understands media technologies as cultural techniques which need to be embraced in order to comprehend, critique, and shape our contemporary society.]]> Congratulations to Vectors Fellow Sharon Daniel and Co-Creative Director, Erik Loyer!

Vectors has received a Webby Honoree Award in the Activism category for their piece, "Public Secrets". The piece, a sophisticated and powerful exploration of the incarceration of women in California, is part of the latest issue of Vectors on the theme of "Perception" and was created as part of the Vectors Fellowship Competition.

The Official Honoree distinction is awarded to work that scores in the top 15% of all work entered into the Webby Awards. With over 8,000 entries received from all 50 states and over 60 countries, this is an outstanding accomplishment for Sharon and Erik.]]>