Transcriptions/Literature.Culture.Media

“When Geeks Go Camping: Cyberspace and the Outdoor Life”

English Department / Literature.Culture.Media Center Talk
Tuesday, Feb. 24th, 3:30-5
SH 2635

This talk examines the evolution of nature metaphors in computing and cyberspace via some examples of the influence of Californian outdoor life on computer culture in Silicon Valley and beyond.  It is drawn from research for a book-length study, The Wild Surmise: Nature and Cyberspace, which discusses the many ways in which we use our experiences of nature to situate and comprehend our experiences of cyberspace.

Sue Thomas is a Research Professor based at De Montfort University, UK, and works in both the Institute of Creative Technologies and the Faculty of Humanities.  She is currently a Visiting Scholar in the Department of English, UCSB, funded by the British Academy to research the California section of The Wild Surmise project.  More information about Prof. Thomas is available at http://www.suethomas.net

The Literature.Culture.Media (LCM) Center continues the work in digital humanities and new media begun in 1998 by the Transcriptions project. Our overall goal is “to build a working paradigm of a humanities department of the future that takes the information revolution to its heart as something to be seriously learned from, wrestled with, and otherwise [...]