Entangled with Education and Digital Culture
by Michael Wolfindale
January 2021
by Michael Wolfindale
January 2021
This playlist was compiled while I studied the Education and Digital Culture course in the first semester of 2020, as part of the MSc in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh. The following refers to the course themes which were a focus for my lifestream blog (the ‘lifestream’ pulled together various ‘feeds’ documenting tweets and likes, and what I was watching and listening to throughout the course, into my blog stream).
The tracks on my playlist happen to be almost exclusively without lyrics (with the odd exception), with a number of relatively long tracks over ten minutes. When reading and writing, I often find lyrics distracting (unless I know them well and can ‘zone out’), and quick changes to track and to pace can throw me off.
After becoming entangled with my lifestream feeds, the opening tracks reflect the utopian/dystopian oppositions we discussed in the cyberculture block, and how the distinction made between human and machine is in fact Blurred—in contrast to the dualisms we often came across during the course. Thus, the ‘boundaries of the autonomous subject’ and concept of ‘autonomous will’ is problematic (Hayles 1999).
Moving onto the community culture block, and exploring the connectivist-informed ds106, inspired my next choice—Everything Connected by Jon Hopkins. Questioning the open/closed false binary, that ‘open’ is not necessarily inclusive (Collier and Ross 2017: 8-9)—and reflecting on the way I sometimes felt feelings of seclusion even in ‘open’ spaces—influenced the next few tracks.
Exploring algorithmic culture in our final block, I listened to Dan Tepfer who experiments with algorithmic processes in his compositions, such as Fractal Tree. The idea of fractals and feedback loops continued to fascinate me as I reflected again on Hayles (1999: 2). In particular, her discussion of feedback loops (in the context of the cyborg) problematising the boundaries of the autonomous subject prompted me to reflect on the complexities of considering agency in the context of algorithmic systems. Fractals and feedback loops were the inspiration for the next few tracks, as well as for my lifestream-blog header image--the Mandelbrot set, a visualisation created through feedback and iteration.
In collating my final summary posts, and beginning to prepare my assignment, the process was a messy one. Often I found myself improvising ideas onto a page, but getting stuck (like the ‘false start’ on Miles Davis’ Freddie Freeloader). Yet, inspired by the quote often attributed to Miles Davis--‘do not fear mistakes—there are none’—I tried to embrace dead ends as part of the process rather than see them as ‘mistakes’. In the end, I found myself needing quiet time to reflect, as demonstrated through John Cage’s 4’33” and a number of tracks centred around themes of silence and peace. Once I had collected my thoughts, I would make use of The Eraser and return to Page One in order to move forward.
Finally, I found myself thinking about resistance (to surveillance, to datafication, to commercial and political agendas entangled with algorithmic processes in education)—and listening to The Protest by Flying Lotus—but all too suddenly found myself at the end of the lifestream, wishing farewell and disentangling myself from my feeds…
Tracklist
References
Cover artwork credits
The cover artwork is a composite image, and consists of my work and notes from the course combined with the following images:
Michael Wolfindale is Head of Design and Innovation at King's College London.
The tracks on my playlist happen to be almost exclusively without lyrics (with the odd exception), with a number of relatively long tracks over ten minutes. When reading and writing, I often find lyrics distracting (unless I know them well and can ‘zone out’), and quick changes to track and to pace can throw me off.
After becoming entangled with my lifestream feeds, the opening tracks reflect the utopian/dystopian oppositions we discussed in the cyberculture block, and how the distinction made between human and machine is in fact Blurred—in contrast to the dualisms we often came across during the course. Thus, the ‘boundaries of the autonomous subject’ and concept of ‘autonomous will’ is problematic (Hayles 1999).
Moving onto the community culture block, and exploring the connectivist-informed ds106, inspired my next choice—Everything Connected by Jon Hopkins. Questioning the open/closed false binary, that ‘open’ is not necessarily inclusive (Collier and Ross 2017: 8-9)—and reflecting on the way I sometimes felt feelings of seclusion even in ‘open’ spaces—influenced the next few tracks.
Exploring algorithmic culture in our final block, I listened to Dan Tepfer who experiments with algorithmic processes in his compositions, such as Fractal Tree. The idea of fractals and feedback loops continued to fascinate me as I reflected again on Hayles (1999: 2). In particular, her discussion of feedback loops (in the context of the cyborg) problematising the boundaries of the autonomous subject prompted me to reflect on the complexities of considering agency in the context of algorithmic systems. Fractals and feedback loops were the inspiration for the next few tracks, as well as for my lifestream-blog header image--the Mandelbrot set, a visualisation created through feedback and iteration.
In collating my final summary posts, and beginning to prepare my assignment, the process was a messy one. Often I found myself improvising ideas onto a page, but getting stuck (like the ‘false start’ on Miles Davis’ Freddie Freeloader). Yet, inspired by the quote often attributed to Miles Davis--‘do not fear mistakes—there are none’—I tried to embrace dead ends as part of the process rather than see them as ‘mistakes’. In the end, I found myself needing quiet time to reflect, as demonstrated through John Cage’s 4’33” and a number of tracks centred around themes of silence and peace. Once I had collected my thoughts, I would make use of The Eraser and return to Page One in order to move forward.
Finally, I found myself thinking about resistance (to surveillance, to datafication, to commercial and political agendas entangled with algorithmic processes in education)—and listening to The Protest by Flying Lotus—but all too suddenly found myself at the end of the lifestream, wishing farewell and disentangling myself from my feeds…
Tracklist
- Entanglement by Michael Price
- Opening by Philip Glass, performed by Bruce Brubaker
- A New Day by Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Suzanne Ciani
- Spaceship Magical by Masayoshi Fujita
- Luminous Beings by Jon Hopkins
- Computer Face//Pure Being by Flying Lotus
- Kill Your Co-Workers by Flying Lotus
- Blurred by Kiasmos
- Everything Connected by Jon Hopkins
- Open by Luke Howard
- Closed Circuit by Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Suzanne Ciani
- Illusion Of Seclusion by Photay
- Fractal Tree by Dan Tepfer
- Fractales Pt. 2 by Apparat
- Looped by Kiasmos
- Freddie Freeloader (False Start) by Miles Davis
- 4’ 33” by John Cage, performed by Floraleda Sacchi
- In a Silent Way by Miles Davis
- Peace Piece by Bill Evans
- Sitting with Thoughts by Salami Rose Joe Louis
- Articulate Silences, Pt. 1 by Stars Of The Lid
- The Eraser by Thom Yorke
- Page One by Lemon Jelly
- The Protest by Flying Lotus
- All Farewells Are Sudden by A Winged Victory for the Sullen
- An Ending (Ascent) by Brian Eno
- Disentanglement by gonima
References
- Collier, A. and Ross, J., 2017. ‘For whom, and for what? Not-yetness and thinking beyond open content.’ Open Praxis, 9 (1), 7–16. http://dx.doi.org/10.5944/openpraxis.9.1.406
- Hayles, N.K., 1999. How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press.
Cover artwork credits
The cover artwork is a composite image, and consists of my work and notes from the course combined with the following images:
- ‘Time lapse photography of square containers at night’ by Federico Beccari (Unsplash).
- The Mandelbrot set, image created by Wolfgang Beyer with the software Ultra Fractal 3. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.
Michael Wolfindale is Head of Design and Innovation at King's College London.
