<nettime-ann> call to join PUBLICity

[Geert Lovink <geert@xs4all.nl>]

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http://hutnyk.blogspot.com/2005/09/publicity.html

PUBLICity is an experiment for through which, in a kind of Zamizdat 
publishing style, a journal (Left Curve – May issue 29/2005 – 
http://www.leftcurve.org/ ) can bring varied examples of writing to 
attention so as to publicize aspects of global public life. The idea 
was to supplement our efforts with attention to things that may or may 
not have registered notice previously in the usual academic forums. 
Somewhat circular in intention and execution then, the Zamizdat style 
papers over the cracks in an uneven but dynamic global public sphere – 
this is an effort to pick up on what has been missed, to learn lessons 
from events that have not yet been covered, to renew our curiosity by 
exploring the gaps and venturing over new terrains. What may seem an 
eclectic kaleidoscope of pieces – diverse, short, writerly, 
interventions and reports – is meant to bring examples of planetary 
publicity into focus where perhaps social science has often been rather 
more parochial, or unable to comment with a rapid enough response. The 
section bypasses the usual referee process of the journal so as to 
comment on contingency now, rather than in the year or more structured 
by the necessary delays and relays of scholarly publishing. We are 
interested to tamper with the ways knowledge production might lag 
behind a thinking on the move that trawls through the detritus of urban 
life for evidence, rumours, trinkets and news that we will then take 
seriously and consider as the luminous and revealing produce of our 
times.

Unilaterally, the section editor sought a diversity of writing in terms 
of content, location, orientation and intention – always aiming to make 
more visible, and to think more creatively, through issues and concerns 
that might otherwise be missed, might be buried in the conventions or 
reportage, or be passed over without murmur. I'd like to think the 
kaleidoscopic here is a viewfinder for the souvenirs of global public 
culture. A prism house of language (giving publicity/mainstreaming 
news). Our contributions are from a wide range of places, angles and 
come in varied styles. The choice of topics and authors is not neutral, 
indeed the selections are structured by personal choice and evaluation 
(rather than by dictatorship of the secretariat), and though some 
effort was made to mix known authors with unfamiliar topics, or to 
juxtapose pieces in implicit dialogues of content and tone, any unity 
of format remains accidental. How should you read this section? Perhaps 
we could imagine that the articles are meant to work through curious 
correspondences as a kind of planetary arcades project (still awaiting 
its Benjamin) through which the readerly flaneur may browse. The 
section will morph and mutate as it grows, feedback is welcome.

Suggestions for topics to be covered from potential authors should, in 
the first instance, be sent to John Hutnyk at John.Hutnyk@gold.ac.uk by 
Nov 16th, 2006. Usual length will be approx 1000 words. In the section 
published in the current issue individual authors are identified, where 
appropriate, by name, city and email address to encourage 
correspondence.

http://www.leftcurve.org/
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