<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Maybe Donna Haraway can help:<div><br></div><div>"I will critically analyze, or "deconstruct", only that which I love and only that in which I am deeply implicated." (p. 151, Modest_Witness@...). <br><div><br></div><div>Greetings,</div><div><br></div><div>Maja</div><div><br><div><div>On Dec 2, 2010, at 12:09 PM, nathaniel tkacz wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite">Hi Joseph,<br><br>The question of what it means to be critical is indeed an interesting one and one we have been thinking a bit about in the intro to the reader. <br><br>The emic/etic distinction in anthropology certainly resonates with the distinction we made regarding normative/empirical, although it seems to have quite a specific history. One can certainly use _academic_ language and still be a fanboy, and vice versa. I would say that language has a lot to do with it, but not necessarily academic language. Anybody whose terms don't align with Wikipedia and whose position is marginalised in the project can provide a critical perspective. This can also happen from within, but usually in different ways. <br> <br>As I said, there is no absolute inside or outside. For me, what's important is that the very terms of debate are up for grabs, that practices and knowledges can be described in multiple terms. It's also important to stress that to be critical is not to reject outright or be totally against. Rather, I see critique a the site of possibility, as a mode of transformation. That said, I think that a lot of the current language used to describe Wikipedia - as the best example of peer production, social media, free culture or whatever - such as collaboration, openness, participation and so on, actively work against the ability to provide critical perspectives. I think it's vital to challenge these terms and build more nuanced perspectives. <br> <br>For me, the question of critique is also linked to that of power, to making visible the new modes of force that operate in online projects.<br><br>Best<br><br clear="all">Nate Tkacz <br><br>School of Culture and Communication<br> University of Melbourne<br><br>Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/__nate__" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/__nate__</a><br><br>Research Page: <a href="http://nathanieltkacz.net" target="_blank">http://nathanieltkacz.net</a><br> <br>Current project: <a href="http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/cpov/about-2/" target="_blank">http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/cpov/about-2/</a><br> <br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 5:33 AM, Joseph Reagle <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:joseph.2008@reagle.org">joseph.2008@reagle.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;"> <br> Interesting interview with Johanna and Nate [1]. The question of what it means to be "critical" is an interesting one. The response to this question seems to indicate it is a matter of language, that is, the distance afforded by using academic terminology. Is this an etic/emic distinction then? (Normative/empirical as used in the article.) However, one could still be a fanboy, and use academic terminology....<br> <br> [1]: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2010-11-29/Interview" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2010-11-29/Interview</a><br> <br> _______________________________________________<br> cpov mailing list<br> <a href="mailto:cpov@listcultures.org">cpov@listcultures.org</a><br> <a href="http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/cpov_listcultures.org" target="_blank">http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/cpov_listcultures.org</a><br> </blockquote></div><br> _______________________________________________<br>cpov mailing list<br><a href="mailto:cpov@listcultures.org">cpov@listcultures.org</a><br>http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/cpov_listcultures.org<br></blockquote></div><br><div apple-content-edited="true"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><br></div></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> </div><br></div></div></body></html>