֍ Folklore_0x ::: Drip

AUSTERITY-CORE: “ The decor is what you might call austerity-core. It is both corporate-loud (garish displays of next season’s decorations) and minimalist-clinical (pilled gray carpeting, fluorescent lights). People in pain and in search of relief, people picking up the prescriptions they need to live, and people who really want a soda all stalk the aisles.” via Folklore Published on September 10, 2023 at 09:47PM Link: https://ift.tt/2Qadv6n Curator: 0xe62d071Ea99A63798Fec7222c483c53e87F2A32E (0xe62d071Ea99A63798Fec7222c483c53e87F2A32E)

DO ARTIFACTS HAVE POLITICS? “In what follows I shall offer outlines and illustrations of two ways in which artifacts can contain political properties. First are instances in which the invention, design, or arrangement of a specific technical device or system becomes a way of settling an issue in a particular community. Seen in the proper light, examples of this kind are fairly straightforward and easily understood. Second are cases of what can be called inherently political technologies, man-made systems that appear to require, or to be strongly compatible with, particular kinds of political relationships. Arguments about cases of this kind are much more troublesome and closer to the heart of the matter. By "politics," I mean arrangements of power and authority in human associations as well as the activities that take place within those arrangements…My intention is not to settle any of the issues here once and for all, but to indicate their general dimensions and significance.” via Folklore Published on September 09, 2023 at 03:34PM Link: https://ift.tt/F8D57iP Curator: 0x1b4a302D15412655877d86ae82823D8F6d085ddD (0x1b4a302D15412655877d86ae82823D8F6d085ddD)

PROTO-APP THESIS: “ And here we arrive at the moral of our little tale, that according to The Social App Thesis, we’ve simply reached saturation ::::: Now. —— It would be hard to say The Social App Thesis is wrong, exactly—within the terms of this tale, it seems fairly irrefutable. But it’s telling that The Social App Thesis neglects the fact that a major new app has ascended for the first time in nearly a decade. Yet so game-changing is this app that you might not even notice it’s an app at all. I’m referring, of course, to Chat-GPT.” via Folklore Published on September 08, 2023 at 11:49AM Link: https://ift.tt/9HSKAuI Curator: 0xe62d071Ea99A63798Fec7222c483c53e87F2A32E (0xe62d071Ea99A63798Fec7222c483c53e87F2A32E)

TIME FOR WASTE: "The collapse of CPU prices led us directly from mainframes to the personal computer era; the collapse of storage prices (of all kinds) led inevitably to more personal computers with useful local storage, which helped spark databases and spreadsheets, then led to web services, and then to cloud services. And, most recently, the collapse of network transit costs (as bandwidth exploded) led directly to the modern Internet, streaming video, and mobile apps... Each beneficiary of a collapse requires one or more core technologies' price to drop and performance to soar. This, in turn, opens up new opportunities to “waste” them in service of things that previously seemed impossible, prohibitively expensive, or both... AI as the Next Collapse Dynamic in Technology" via Folklore Published on September 07, 2023 at 09:37AM Link: https://ift.tt/8RYFvGJ Curator: 0xe62d071Ea99A63798Fec7222c483c53e87F2A32E (0xe62d071Ea99A63798Fec7222c483c53e87F2A32E)

INDUSTRIAL STUPOR: “ The transformation from rural to urban life was so sudden, and so wrenching, that the only thing society could do to manage was to drink itself into a stupor for a generation. The stories from that era are amazing-- there were gin pushcarts working their way through the streets of London. And it wasn't until society woke up from that collective bender that we actually started to get the institutional structures that we associate with the industrial revolution today. Things like public libraries and museums, increasingly broad education for children, elected leaders--a lot of things we like--didn't happen until having all of those people together stopped seeming like a crisis and started seeming like an asset. It wasn't until people started thinking of this as a vast civic surplus, one they could design for rather than just dissipate, that we started to get what we think of now as an industrial society.” via Folklore Published on September 06, 2023 at 02:56PM Link: https://ift.tt/lVts29k Curator: 0xe62d071Ea99A63798Fec7222c483c53e87F2A32E (0xe62d071Ea99A63798Fec7222c483c53e87F2A32E)

CONTENT DISTORTION: “ Sullivan says PageRank’s algorithm is a lot simpler than most people assume it is. At the beginning, most of the tips and tricks people were sharing were largely pointless for SEO. The subject of SEO is still rife with superstition. There are a lot of different ideas that people have about exactly how to get a prominent spot on Google’s results, Sullivan acknowledges. But most of the stuff you’ll find by, well, googling “SEO tricks” isn’t very accurate… And here is where you get into the circular nature of his argument against Google’s influence. Thousands of food bloggers are searching for advice on how to optimize their blogs for Google. The advice that sits at the top of Google is bad, but they’re using it anyway, and now, their blogs all look the same. Isn’t that, in a sense, Google shaping how content is made?” via Folklore Published on September 04, 2023 at 08:56PM Link: https://ift.tt/n7e541j Curator: 0xe62d071Ea99A63798Fec7222c483c53e87F2A32E (0xe62d071Ea99A63798Fec7222c483c53e87F2A32E)

CAPITALISM VS. CLIMATE ACTION: [design fiction] Offset is not your typical carbon credits platform. It's a radical initiative that aims to quantify the climate benefits of direct actions and industrial sabotage. This platform invites public submissions for case studies and even assembles an expert panel to scrutinize its innovative methodology. While traditional carbon offset markets perpetuate the status quo, Offset seeks to disrupt it by focusing on political actions that genuinely affect carbon flows. via Folklore Published on September 03, 2023 at 07:15PM Link: https://offset.labr.io/ Curator: 0x144c4E5027B69f7798B2B162D924BcAE5c149f15 (0x144c4E5027B69f7798B2B162D924BcAE5c149f15)

INTO THE DEPTH OF /b/: “ Our first study uses a large dataset of more than five million posts to quantify ephemerality in /b/. We find that most threads spend just five seconds on the first page and less than five minutes on the site before expiring. Our second study is an analysis of identity signals on 4chan, finding that over 90% of posts are made by fully anonymous users, with other identity signals adopted and discarded at will. We describe alternative mechanisms that /b/ participants use to establish status and frame their interactions.” via Folklore Published on September 02, 2023 at 07:26PM Link: https://ift.tt/UYnx5Qi Curator: 0xe62d071Ea99A63798Fec7222c483c53e87F2A32E (0xe62d071Ea99A63798Fec7222c483c53e87F2A32E)

BEGINNINGS EVERMORE: Today, we say farewell to many beloved kindred. It is September 1st, a day that will live in infamy as The First Culling. —::—::— Arise now, arise, Journeykin of Folklore! Dire deeds awake: dark is the forest. Let the dreams emerge, words engrave in stone! Forth Cybernauts! Arise now, arise, Journeykin of Folklore! Delays have dangerous ends: Think and Mint! Paper shall crumple, keyboards split, A pen-day, an ink day, ere the sun rises! Read now, write now! Learn for all! —::—::— Thank you again to all the Season 1 supporters. This channel will remain public and the forum eligibility has been updated. Our gratitude for your tributes as we continue the steady path of curation, commission, and community.For those interested in continuing the journey alongside the mid-season members and S2 members, just visit folklore.institute. The membership link should be open for a few more weeks.May you be blessed by the algorithms,Folklore via Folklore Published on September 01, 2023 at 09:39AM Link: https://ift.tt/iuK4wJU Curator: 0xe62d071Ea99A63798Fec7222c483c53e87F2A32E (0xe62d071Ea99A63798Fec7222c483c53e87F2A32E)

FROM PUSH TO PULL: “In the past decade, we have seen early signs of a new model for mobilizing resources. Rather than "push", this new approach focuses on "pull" - creating platforms that help people to mobilize appropriate resources when the need arises. In lean manufacturing, early elements of a pull model began to emerge from Toyota in the early 1950's. As we will discuss below, however, lean manufacturing represents a hybrid between push and pull models - it still contains significant elements of push models.” via Folklore Published on August 30, 2023 at 09:40PM Link: https://ift.tt/k1FevAY Curator: 0xe62d071Ea99A63798Fec7222c483c53e87F2A32E (0xe62d071Ea99A63798Fec7222c483c53e87F2A32E)

ASK CULTURE vs. GUESS CULTURE: "If you’re more of a guess-culture person, asking people for help without knowing their circumstances can feel rude or intrusive. Broadcasting publicly your need for help can feel awkward and vulnerable. If you’re more of an ask-culture person, the guess-culture example of juggling everyone’s specific scenarios and the historical context of favors probably seems exhausting. Dropping hints in the hopes that you won’t even have to make your request can feel extra passive and manipulative." via Folklore Published on August 29, 2023 at 07:35PM Link: https://ift.tt/UfnxKLo Curator: 0xe62d071Ea99A63798Fec7222c483c53e87F2A32E (0xe62d071Ea99A63798Fec7222c483c53e87F2A32E)

A TALE OF RESILIENT FUTURES: Shared Data presents itself as a short story with a subsequent breakdown commentary: Shared Data exists as an eco-futurist hypothesis of a world existing and persisting throughout climate disasters that have now become commonplace and woven into the fabric of the characters’ everyday lives. But this story isn’t just about climate change — at the heart of Shared Data is a hypothesis of a future project and cooperative that could have numerous benefits for consumers- a shared data hub and cooperative that provides real time data, insights, and social interaction spaces for communities to provide mutual aid in real time. via Folklore Published on August 28, 2023 at 04:02AM Link: https://ift.tt/MiQ9Lza Curator: 0x144c4E5027B69f7798B2B162D924BcAE5c149f15 (0x144c4E5027B69f7798B2B162D924BcAE5c149f15)

A TAXONOMY OF NEW COMMUNITIES: “Building new communities is hard. Doing it in a way that is responsible, honest, and productive for participants and the broader society is even harder. “ In this short, thought-provoking essay the author introduces a taxonomy of three kinds of “new community” advocates, situates them in relation to social progress, shares some observations about what makes communities coherent and attractive, and concludes with a few concrete proposals for experimentation that flow from the analysis. via Folklore Published on August 26, 2023 at 01:14PM Link: https://ift.tt/gV07qyJ Curator: 0x1b4a302D15412655877d86ae82823D8F6d085ddD (0x1b4a302D15412655877d86ae82823D8F6d085ddD)

THE BLURRY VISION BIAS: On the power of vivid detail and the difference between communicating visions of the future with image-based rhetoric vs. nebulous, abstract language. Like meeting a person IRL rather than only interacting with them online, there's a depth of connection and a difference in empathy that comes from getting visceral. Seems like yet another feather in the cap for worldbuilding and its increasing importance in communicating effectively today and tomorrow. via Folklore Published on August 25, 2023 at 10:01PM Link: https://ift.tt/YF3qiwx Curator: 0xFdD0EC9A0C36834FCa1B9bAd13F811c58574fB4b (0xFdD0EC9A0C36834FCa1B9bAd13F811c58574fB4b)

SACRED: “Humans have long treated some especially important things in a distinctive special “sacred” way. For example, the following are widely seen as at least somewhat sacred: family, love, charity, courage, honesty, liberty, school, art, music, dance, fiction, innovation, epiphanies, inquiry, religion, spirits, sky, space, nature, sport, talk, friendship, health, medicine, children, democracy, law, sex, death, war, royalty, and nation. While we see wide variation in who treats what as how sacred, almost all of us treat some of these in a similar substantially-sacred way. Yes, we have many good reasons to value such things, but why value them in this special “sacred” way?” via Folklore Published on August 24, 2023 at 03:25PM Link: https://ift.tt/BAUN7v9 Curator: 0xe62d071Ea99A63798Fec7222c483c53e87F2A32E (0xe62d071Ea99A63798Fec7222c483c53e87F2A32E)

ANNOUNCEMENT: Thank you all for granting your attention to Folklore and our curated content over the past year. If you've enjoyed the curation, please contribute to our operations by purchasing the Season 2 membership badge. Membership for Season 2 will close in about a week or so. Link: https://zora.co/collect/oeth:0x2451761fed91d394ad6ba01215f8b46abe70fc96 As always, Folklore is a zero-profit model, with the purpose of furthering our collective knowledge of the digital humanities. Our primary investment is to pay authors to research and write brilliant content inspired by our curation.

WORLD GENERATION: Building on Folklore conversation from the last week, this piece breaks down "worldbuilding" into three different eras, each leading to where we are today. "We are entering an age where the audience, again, can transform the underlying structures and narrative logics of the worlds they inhabit. Real-time rendering engines have offered a first glance into these worlds; onchain autonomy will slam their gates open." via Folklore Published on August 21, 2023 at 04:52PM Link: https://ift.tt/xMg7EYJ Curator: 0x70eCe45cDc64A768f936Ccb8aC851578251363e3 (0x70eCe45cDc64A768f936Ccb8aC851578251363e3)

TRANSHUMANISM IN THE VIRTUAL WORLD: "Game engines as transhumanist sandboxes blur human-machine lines. This article explores their role as gateways to a new existence." via Folklore Published on August 21, 2023 at 03:59PM Link: https://ift.tt/bOGefJQ Curator: 0x144c4E5027B69f7798B2B162D924BcAE5c149f15 (0x144c4E5027B69f7798B2B162D924BcAE5c149f15)

RADICLE CIVICS: Civics starts with the most elemental of our social relationships: our mutual interdependencies from which forms of social organisation emerge. What would our civic infrastructure look like if we shifted our view from objects to agents, from externalities to entanglements, and from public-private to commoning? Consider these proofs of possibilities. via Folklore Published on August 19, 2023 at 02:42PM Link: https://ift.tt/iLrBsF4 Curator: 0x1b4a302D15412655877d86ae82823D8F6d085ddD (0x1b4a302D15412655877d86ae82823D8F6d085ddD)

WHAT IS LIFESTYLE? In which Daisy Alioto explores the past and present of lifestyle as a sociological and economic concept via Folklore Published on August 19, 2023 at 12:49AM Link: https://ift.tt/7JXTe8t Curator: 0xFdD0EC9A0C36834FCa1B9bAd13F811c58574fB4b (0xFdD0EC9A0C36834FCa1B9bAd13F811c58574fB4b)