Matthew Fuller｜Data Structures as Spatial Structures

演讲者与讲题简介

Matthew Fuller

Data Structures as Spatial Structures

The question of the way in which computational networks fold into urban space is often discussed in terms of data – lots of it – and algorithms – that are all powerful! I want to complement these figures by also looking at the way in which a third term, that of data-structures, can be said to merge with, redistribute, correlate with and arrange space and the perceptual, political and aesthetic dimensions that go with them. Such data structures might be complexly encoded locations, such as those of GPS, or categorical, such as classes of entity. Equally, drawing on the work of Georges Perec and others, we might think of urban, domestic and rural forms of space as presenting ‘ready-made’ kinds of spatial data-structure that perplex encoding, or too readily and too abundantly present possibilities for it. Topological modes of description offer a way in which such structures can be explored and established and this paper will make some initial suggestions on these lines.

Matthew Fuller is Professor of Cultural Studies and Director of the Centre for Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London. He is the author of the forthcoming, ‘How to Sleep, in art, biology and culture’, (Bloomsbury) and ‘How to be a Geek, essays on the culture of software’ (Polity). Other titles include, include ‘Media Ecologies, materialist energies in art and technoculture’, (MIT) ‘Behind the Blip, essays on the culture of software’ and ‘Elephant & Castle’. (both Autonomedia) With Usman Haque, he is co-author of ‘Urban Versioning System v1.0’ (ALNY) and with Andrew Goffey, of ‘Evil Media’. (MIT) Editor of ‘Software Studies, a lexicon’, (MIT) and co-editor of the journal Computational Culture, he is involved in a number of projects in art, media and software.

---

計算機網絡嵌進都市空間的問題總被描述為（大量的）數據以及（強大的）算法！我想要在此之上補充一點，也就通過第三個元素“數據結構”來看它怎樣與融合空間，重新分佈空間，與之構成關聯以及整理空間，以及相隨而來的感知的、政治的以及美學的維度。這些數據結構可能是複雜的編碼的定位，好像GPS，或者範疇式的，好像物件的階級。同樣的，根據Georges Perec以及其他的作者，我們可以理解空間的都市、家庭以及農村的形式，作為“現成品”式的空間數據結構，它們複雜化編碼，或者太快地或太大量地呈現其可能性。拓撲式的描述提供了一個理解以及建立這些結構的方法，而這次演講的將就此作出建議。

Matthew Fuller教授是伦敦大学金匠学院文化研究和文化研究中心主任。他是即将出版的《如何睡觉－艺术，生物学和文化》（Bloomsbury）和《如何成为一名极客，論软体文化》（Polity）的作者。其他作品包括，《媒介生态，在艺术与技术文化中唯物主義者能量》（MIT）《插曲背后，論软件的文化》及《大象与城堡》（Automedia），他与Usman Haque 合著《城市版本系统V1.0》（ALNY）和Andrew Goffey合著《邪恶的媒体》（MIT），《软件研究，一个词汇》（MIT）。杂志《计算机文化》的共同编辑。他参与了众多艺术，媒体和软件项目。