Connectivity, Legibility and the Mass Image

Cubitt, Sean. 2018. Connectivity, Legibility and the Mass Image. In: Pepita Hesselberth; Janna Hoowen; Esther Peeren and Ruby de Vois, eds. Legibility in the Age of Signs and Machines. 33 Leiden and Boston: Brill Rodopi, pp. 166-179. ISBN 978-90-04-37548-2 [Book Section]

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Abstract or Description

Network connectivity should surely by now have already arrived at the global village. Instead, our only universal is the commodity form. To the extent that the actually existing global formation is universal, it does not constitute a culture. But if legibility is a hallmark of culture, the implication is that global connectivity is illegible. The humanities alone are equipped to identify what is truly illegible, a task we perform precisely by reading, using every technique we have, eclectically, to find an entry into the opacity of events. This essay argues that connectivity has produced a universal mass image, and asks whether it is possible to restore legibility to it, and if so in what forms.

Item Type:

Book Section

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Media, Communications and Cultural Studies

Dates:

DateEvent
25 November 2018Published

Item ID:

25125

Date Deposited:

27 Nov 2018 13:25

Last Modified:

25 Nov 2020 02:26

URI:

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/25125

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