| geert lovink on Thu, 13 Sep 2001 17:16:02 +0200 (CEST) |
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1. "Alex Burns" <[email protected]> Disinfo Roundtable: US Terrorist Bombings 2. Educause Net Offer Both News and Comfort 3. Rhizome Net Art News Attack On New York--'World Views' Residencies Lost 4. Steven Carlson" <[email protected]> ne #355: NYC, DC ... Europe? 5. "Digital Media Wire" <[email protected]> Akamai Co-founder and CTO Killed in World Trade Center Crash 6. Andy Carvin <[email protected]> quick report from DC, new listserv for discussing attack --- 1. From: "Alex Burns" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 10:35 PM Subject: Disinfo Roundtable: US Terrorist Bombings Dear Friends, The tragic bomb attacks on New York City and Washington DC on September 11 2001 have raised many disturbing questions, and like Florida 2000, prompted me to assemble a Disinfo.com "roundtable" of analyses, comments and responses. This email is an invitation for you to add your thoughts to the growing list, which I'll be publishing when our NYC-based servers come back on-line. I publish responses "as-is" with a brief by-line and email/web site link if provided by you. Some possible avenues: 1. What are the ramifications for the US domestic situation? 2. How will this incident affect plans for an NMD? 3. Should US humint (human intelligence-gathering) resources be strengthened? Was this a failure by US humint to predict and prepare for "blowback"? 4. What implications are there for US media coverage? Is the US press relying on "jihad" framing as an explanation? 5. How will this incident affect the geopolitical "balance of power"? Please send any responses to <[email protected]>. Due to some trans-Pacific difficulties, I've not had access to <[email protected]> email since August 16 (which is why you may not have heard from me). Please use <[email protected]> for any regular correspondence until further notice. Here are some examples of our roundtable format: Disinformation Roundtable: Votescam in Florida? http://www.disinfo.com/pages/article/id514/pg1/ Will Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? http://www.disinfo.com/pages/article/id1109/pg1/ Three resources of interest: Susan D. Moeller's excellent book "Compassion Fatigue: How the Media Sell Disease, Famine, War and Death" (New York: Routledge, 1998) explains why US press coverage of international relations is so poor, and also details the four-stage "reportage cycle" that is now unfolding on our television screens. Moeller's book is crucial to understanding what "frames" and metaphors the US media has utilized over the past 24 hours. Lloyd deMause's Psychohistory.com site has some interesting papers on symbol analysis and war reportage. National Values Center cofounders Dr. Don Beck and Chris Cowan have written an informative "multidimensional" paper on terrorism and values systems: http://www.spiraldynamics.com/applications/terroris.htm Thanks for your time and considering this request. I hope that you, family, and friends are safe. Sincerely, Alex Burns Editor, Disinfo.com --- 2. WEB OFFERS BOTH NEWS AND COMFORT The Internet offered both news and a sense of connection to people during and after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11. Vanderbilt University professor Donna Hoffman said that the need to connect is intense and noted that the Internet carries news without blather and allows people to link to one another. Even some Web sites devoted to other topics began carrying photos, news, and anecdotes from witnesses as people discussed the events and shared fears about relations and friends. The Internet also served as a way to try to contact friends and family when the telephone systems were too overloaded to work properly, and a site was set up for people in New York to use so that their loved ones would know they were safe. (New York Times, 12 September 2001) NET CRUCIAL IN SPREADING U.S. MESSAGE The U.S. State Department stressed the importance of the Internet as a diplomatic tool at the second annual Net Diplomacy conference. "We have got to use these technologies to tell America's story, to promote America's interests, and perhaps further the ideas of freedom and democracy around the world," said Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman. The Office of International Information Programs, which organized the conference, battles anti-American propaganda through a multilingual Web site that releases uncensored information. For example, Chinese people were kept abreast through the site of the dealings between their government and that of the United States concerning the crew of a U.S. surveillance plane that collided with a Chinese fighter and made an emergency landing in China. (Associated Press, 6 September 2001) --- 3. From: "Net Art News" <[email protected]> Attack On New York--'World Views' Residencies Lost New York City is in a state of shock today, after Tuesday's disastrous attacks on the World Trade Center. Concerned emails poured in today, asking about the status of Rhizome and our community. The Rhizome office, located in the SoHo neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, was not physically affected by the attack. All Rhizome staffers have been accounted for and are safe. One Rhizome consultant, who lives two blocks from the attack site, was fortunately not in the area at the time of the attack. The Rhizome web server went down on Tuesday morning, blocking Rhizome Raw and staff email for approximately four hours. The downtime was an apparent side effect of the attack, but no concrete connection has been established. Communications via the Rhizome network are now functioning normally. The World Views artist residencies, a program of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, were housed inside the World Trade Center, and have been lost. It has not yet been reported if any ! World Views artists or administrators have been injured in the attack. http://rhizome.org/fresh --- 4. "Steven Carlson" <[email protected]> ne #355: NYC, DC ... Europe? Friends, We're watching this horrible news here in Budapest, too. Chris Condon was visiting my home/office, and we watched, live, as the second WTC tower collapsed. Like everyone else, we were shocked to the core. This couldn't be happening. Yesterday evening, the US embassy issued a warning that American citizens should not visit any expat hangouts. I had scheduled a First Tuesday event, but at the last minute my sponsors and I decided to call it off. I spent the evening with a handful of friends, and First Tuesday members, at a local bar, watching it all unfold on the television. We don't feel any immediate danger here, but we're apprehensive about the consequences. Will this mean a global recession? Will there be a US retaliation (or an overreaction)? Is the US about to sacrifice civil liberties in the pursuit of security? The story has a European angle, too. According to CNN, NATO has just invoked article five, which states that an armed attack against one member state is an attack against all 18 member states. What does that mean? Is Europe (including Hungary) now at war, and if so, who is the enemy? I'd be happy to publish your perspectives on the European angle, as well as personal accounts from those in NYC and DC. I'm glad to report that my close friends in NYC are okay. Hope your friends and loved ones are okay, too. Finally, here's a collection of links you may find useful. Peace, Steven Carlson nowEurope moderator --- 5. "Digital Media Wire" <[email protected]> Digital Media Wire - Sept. 12 Akamai Co-founder and CTO Killed in World Trade Center Crash Los Angeles -- Akamai Technologies, a content delivery network, said on Tuesday that its co-founder and chief technology officer, Daniel C. Lewin, was killed when his plane crashed into the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City. Lewin was aboard American Airlines Flight 11, on his way from Boston to Los Angeles, when terrorists took control of the plane and crashed it into the WTC's north tower, the first to be hit. Lewin is survived by his wife and two sons. "Danny was a wonderful human being," said Akamai CEO George H. Conrades. "He will be deeply missed by his many friends at Akamai. Our thoughts and prayers are with Danny's family, friends and colleagues during this time of national tragedy and personal loss." http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010911/112407_1.html http://www.akamai.com --- 6. Andy Carvin <[email protected]> quick report from DC, new listserv for discussing attack I just wanted to give a quick report from downtown DC. Most of us at the Benton Foundation evacuated our building, which is at 18th and K street, three or four blocks from the white house. We received word of the attacks on the World Trade center building around 9am, having to rely on portable radios since our Internet connection froze as people tried to find more information. The majority of Benton staff were out of the building by 10am. The streets are filled with people briskly walking away from downtown, trying to get their cell phones to work. It's not a panic situation by any means - just lots of people determined to get the hell out of there. Some people are clearly shaken, and are being comforted by friends and strangers alike. The streets are completely jammed with cars as people try to get out of the city. Since lots of us at our office usually take the metro to work (which has been shut down, along with all other commuter trains), those of us who lived within walking distance offered to bring home other people who would be stranded downtown. We're now back at my Dupont Circle apartment, two miles due north of the Pentagon. We can't see smoke from our balcony, which is surprising considering the extent of the damage we've seen on TV so far. I've set up a listserv, sept11info, for people wanting to talk about today's attack. You can join the list by going to this address: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sept11info or by sending an email to [email protected]. Please feel free to pass on this information. I will do my best to report on any news here in DC, but let us all hope and pray that the worst is over now. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone who's being affected by this insanity.... Andy Carvin Benton Foundation [email protected] --- # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: [email protected] and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [email protected]