Cyber Ireland: Text, Image, Culture

186 Pages·2014·1.943 MB·English

by  Claire Lynch (auth.)

Cyber Ireland
Text, Image, Culture
CLAIRE LYNCH
Cyber Ireland
Cyber Ireland
Text, Image, Culture
Claire Lynch
BrunelUniversityLondon,UK
©ClaireLynch2014
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-0-230-35817-1
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Lynch,Claire,1981–
CyberIreland:text,image,culture/ClaireLynch,BrunelUniversity,UK.
pagescm
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1. Literatureandtechnology—Ireland—History—21stcentury.
2. LiteratureandtheInternet—Ireland. 3. Irishfiction—21stcentury—
Historyandcriticism. 4. Englishfiction—Irishauthors—Historyand
criticism—21stcentury. 5. Socialnetworks—Ireland.
6. Massmedia—Technologicalinnovations—Ireland. I. Title.
PR8803.2L962014
820.9(cid:2)941509051—dc23 2014022093
For Bethan
Contents
ListofFigures viii
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
1 OutWiththeOld,inWiththeBoring 16
2 LostinCyberspace 40
3 DiscoveringIreland 64
4 WhatCameFirst,theChickLitortheBlog? 91
5 TheDigitalDivide 116
6 GameOver 141
Bibliography 165
Index 174
vii
Figures
I.1 ‘DublinGoesDigital’,artworkbyCraigRobinson,on
behalfofDDFH&BAdvertising 5
2.1 ‘I:Telemachus’Ulysses‘Seen’fortheiPad,artworkby
RobertBerryonbehalfofThrowawayHorse,LLCwith
BunsenTech,47 53
3.1 ‘TrinityCollegeatSunset’,artworkbyJohnMahonon
behalfofDublinVirtuallyLive 70
3.2 ‘ViewfromO’ConnellBridge’,artworkbyJohnMahon
onbehalfofDublinVirtuallyLive 73
6.1 ScreenshotfromTírNaNòg,permissionprovidedby
GregFollisandRoyCarterofGargoyleGames. 146
6.2 MapofTírNaNòg,permissionprovidedbyGregFollis
andRoyCarterofGargoyleGames 148
6.3 Kú‘TheJourneyBegins’,artworkbyBasilLimonbehalf
ofbitSmithGames 151
viii
Acknowledgements
Many people have contributed to this book, by enthusiastically
recommendingwebsitesorbooks,politelyenduringmyflightsoffancy
and, most importantly, challenging me on whether the book should
be written at all. Too numerous to name in person, this community
of friends and colleagues helped to frame the ideas discussed here and
Iamgratefultothem.Theopportunitytopresentthefirstiterationsat
the 2009 IASIL conference at the University of Glasgow and, shortly
afterwards, at the ‘Nations and Knowledges’ event for the Ireland–
WalesNetworkatCardiffUniversitywasgenuinelyformative.Similarly
important feedback grew out of discussions at the Conference of Irish
Historians in Britain in 2012 at the University of York, with final ‘beta
testing’ of the Cyber Ireland concept in 2013 at events at the Irish Cul-
tural Centre in Hammersmith and University College Dublin. I am
grateful to the organisers and fellow participants of all of these events
fordevelopingandsupportingmythinkingonthesetopics.
At Palgrave, my thanks go to Felicity Plester for getting the book
startedandtoChrisPenfoldforgettingitfinished.
Permissiontoreproducethecoverimage‘TheTáin’and‘TheJourney
Begins’ from Kú © was kindly provided by artist Basil Lim of bitSmith
Games. I am extremely grateful to the generous permission provided
bythefollowing:‘DublinGoesDigital’©imagereproducedbypermis-
sion of Craig Robinson, ‘I: Telemachus’ Ulysses ‘Seen’ © by permission
of Robert Berry, ‘Trinity College at Sunset’ and ‘View from O’Connell
Bridge’ © by permission of John Mahon and the image and map from
Tír Na Nòg © by permission of Greg Follis and Roy Carter of Gargoyle
Games.
ix
Introduction
On30August2013,NobellaureateSeamusHeaneysentafinalmessage
of comfort to his wife, Marie, urging her not to be afraid. A few days
later, their son Michael shared these words with the congregation at
Heaney’sfuneral,andthus,withtheworld’smedia.Fromthepulpitin
Donnybrook,thetwo-wordtextmessagewasbeamedacrosstheglobe,
re-emerging on the pages of newspapers and the cycling ticker-tape of
24-hour television news. But it was online, through social media, that
the message really took flight. Concise and compelling, Heaney’s last
words appeared in the world as a ready-made tweet, forwarded and
shared between the computers and mobile phones of millions of peo-
ple. In the days and weeks afterwards, passing on the private message
became a public tribute to the poet and to poetry – an act of commu-
nalcondolenceandvicariousstoicism.ThatHeaney’sfinalwordswere
characteristically mighty was no cause for surprise; even so, a gentle
rumbleofcuriositygatheredaroundthefactthatthe74-year-oldpoet’s
last words had been transmitted by text message. The apparent con-
trast between the new technology of the mobile phone and Heaney’s
‘belovedLatin’is,ofcourse,theverypoint–payinghomagetothepast
whileretainingfaithinthefuture.ThewordsofHeaney’stextmessage
were analysed and admired on blogs, news websites and social net-
works,buttheywerealsoappropriated,takenupasanonlinebattlecry
againstanyandallobstacles.Sendingandreceivingthetwowords‘noli
timere’ allowed people to absorb Heaney’s imperative into their own
devicesandlives,recyclingthemessageinactsofmemory,celebration
and inspiration. These words are also the starting point here, because,
in many ways, this is a book about fear and about not being afraid.
Inthechaptersbelow,Iexploretheintersectionsbetweencyberculture
and Irish literature, including the ways in which Irish writers have
1
2 CyberIreland
started to engage with computer technology and the parallel impact
that such technology has had on Irish writing. These are new areas of
investigationand,assuch,theyprovokeanunderstandablefearofthe
unknown. At the same time, this topic reveals numerous Irish writers,
artists,programmersanddeveloperswhohaveshownthemselvestobe
fearlessintheirengagementwithnewideasandnewopportunities.
Context
A few years ago, when I started to frame the ideas for this book, social
networking,throughplatformssuchasFacebook,TwitterandLinkedIn,
seemed to be revolutionising the way we thought of ourselves. Appar-
ently transforming the very notion of identity and the ways in which
we are involved in the lives of others, these online platforms are now
ubiquitous to the point of passé. Considered ‘universal technologies’,
users are as likely to be grandparents as teenagers, and online rituals
such as ‘checking in’ at a location or updating one’s ‘status’ are now
everyday activities for millions around the world. They are also, for
many people, a matter of real concern. Marketed as an additional way
tomaintainfriendshipsandprofessionalcontactsortosharenewsand
entertainment,somecriticsareanxiousthat
digital selves [have] become fractured, confused reflections of a per-
son, never wholly unreal, but never wholly real either – a seeming
half-truth.
(Boon&Sinclair,2009,p.103)
If social networks are sites of potential identity crisis, numerous other
onlinetechnologieshavebecomeestablishedaspectsofdailylife,used
to check the weather forecast, buy the groceries or find directions on
a map. Indeed, there are people for whom the internet has already
becomethedefaultsourceforentertainment,education,shoppingand
sex. Whether one chooses to view this as a depressing dystopia or as
exhilarating progress, it is impossible to deny technology’s ‘increas-
ing embeddedness in everyday life’ (Bell, 2007, p.12). Responses to
thesenewtechnologies,bothinthemediaandinscholarlydebate,are
inevitablycouchedeitherinfear(wherewillitallend?)orinawe(how
far can we go?); both are inspired by the shared sense that the ‘future’
is already here. Rather than waiting to see where technology leads us,
of course, we might well begin by examining our initial uses of and
reactions to the various phenomena we now think of as comprising