Dig­i­tal­ism and the More Knowl­edge­able Other

Symposium:

• ISEA2011: 17th International Symposium on Electronic Art

• Without Sin: Taboo and Freedom within Digital Media

• Dig­i­tal­ism and the More Knowl­edge­able Other

• Donna Roberta Leishman

Venue(s):

• Sabanci Center, Istanbul, Turkey

• Panel: Without Sin: Taboo and Freedom within Digital Media

  In So­cial De­vel­op­ment The­ory Vy­got­sky (1978) ar­gues that so­cial in­ter­ac­tion pre­cedes de­vel­op­ment; con­scious­ness and cog­ni­tion are the end prod­uct of so­cial­iza­tion and so­cial be­hav­iour. A Key con­cept of Vy­got­sky’s The More Knowl­edge­able Other (or MKO) refers to any­one who has a bet­ter un­der­stand­ing or a higher abil­ity level than the learner. In these con­tem­po­rary con­texts the MKO could po­ten­tially be rep­re­sented by in­ter­ac­tions on the In­ter­net or ex­pe­ri­ence gleaned from so­cial media. Role test­ing or play­ing is ex­pected to be tran­si­tional – done in our youth, but within on­line and dig­i­tal gam­ing con­texts we can delay and ex­tend this de­vel­op­men­tal process. Both the re­al­ity of an un-chartable (dark) In­ter­net, the ac­knowl­edged rate of change and the sig­nif­i­cantly prob­lem­atic lack of any so­ci­etal sanc­tion or pro­hi­bi­tion, gives ‘us’ more space and op­por­tu­nity to ex­plore the taboo and ad­dress re­pres­sion. With ex­tended ex­plo­rations of self brings is­sues around con­scious­ness, to­tal­iza­tion of in­de­tity and what is au­then­tic and what now con­sti­tutes healthy be­hav­iour?

Category:

• Panel