Infosphere - Information Matters

In the UK higher education landscape, the Research Excellence Framework (better known as the REF) plays a major role in shaping how research quality is understood. And if it’s in a creative-industries university…say somewhere like Falmouth, REF talk can feel especially odd. Suddenly the performance, film, installation, digital game or community project has to be explained using phrases like reach, significance, pathways to impact and it’s like being asked to translate creative souls into spreadsheet cells.

Translation

July 5, 2023 Tom Mason

Times New Plural – The Multiple Temporalities of Contemporary Life and the Infosphere

We might illustrate the infosphere by picturing a person walking down a street in the weather of the day (rain, sun, wind, etc), negotiating traffic, other people, obstacles, using services, all the while with their smartphone; messaging, listening to a podcast, on a video call, checking bus times, etc. This example highlights everyday plural temporalities; as the various activities occurring here include the general time, work time and ‘free’ time, the temporalities of the online network their device is operating within, the device’s battery life, the time of whoever else is being communicated to via messaging or video call, the time(s) of other people around.