“The Net is Neutral” and Other Stories from the Threshold of Media Studies and the Humanities

What are the stories we tell ourselves about everyday technologies, especially those technologies we don’t understand? As you know, stories don’t need to correspond to facts or hard, material realities which is why in stories about technology things “just work,” in the words of Apple. Worse yet, things often “just work” as if by magic, which is exactly why it is so difficult to distinguish story from reality. Dr. Lori Emerson’s talk will begin and end with two stories – one about the neutrality of the net and the other about an early artist network called ARTEX. Beginning at the most surface level of the Internet, with stories about its nature, and then slowly descending through the material layers and determinisms built into networks, all the way to the the undersea cables upon which networks like ARTEX are built, she will see how far she can undo these stories to instead gather up the material, technical, cultural and political complexity of the Internet and early artist networks.

Dr. Lori Emerson is an Associate Professor in the Department of English and the Intermedia Arts, Writing, and Performance Program at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

The is the keynote lecture of the Boundaries of Literature Symposium.

Light refreshments provided.