I want to look at the digital media hype around digi media being the medium of democratisation… So my research question might be:

Will the Digital Commons further Democratise Western Societies?

Digital media converge on the web. And the Web is what they say is democratic… but is it? I post some word here and I post some words there? Is anyone really listening or reading? And as time goes on and this new space is further colonised who is going to find these words?

And that is the other thing. Do the majority of people come on the Web to explore topical or political agendas in detail? And furthermore should they and will they?

I think the Internet is an amazing response to our new globalised world, but will not be enough to free us and, in fact, will eventually work to homogenise us even further. Homogenisation, though, wouldn’t be so bad, if it wasn’t we were being homogenised into such an ugly, sour beast,

Net-Art, Robotics, VR, Video Analysis, Sound Design, Critical Theory.

The new Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program in the Department of Media Study at the University of New York at Buffalo will challenge you as an artist, thinker and maker. Our visiting artist series will introduce you to emerging and exciting artists. An internationally renowned faculty will inspire you.

If you are shopping around for graduate schools in new media arts, then don’t miss this opportunity. But don’t believe this text. Let 5 graduate students from the current program show you new work and tell you about their experiences with the program.

We offer full 2-year stipends for students qualifying for teaching positions. Get all the details at:

http://mediastudy.buffalo.edu

Walk the walk, talk the talk

There are new Master’s and PhD programmes at Simon Fraser University, in Interactive Arts, with faculty like Thecla Schiphorst and Susan Kozel…

And if you are looking to study at a Master’s or PhD level with some excellent practitioners in robotic arts you need look no further than

Montréal:

• Bill Vorn is at Concordia
• Éric Raymond and Robert Saucier are at the Université du Québec à Montréal