This dissertation appears at the intersection of art and technology. It focuses on distributed computer networks and the system of control present within them known as “protocol.”; The dissertation is divided into two halves. In the first half, inspired by scientists such as Norbert Wiener and Alan Turing and contemporary media luminaries such as Friedrich Kittler and Peter Weibel, I examine the hard science of new media. I argue against the position (common in current literature) that the Internet is an unregulated mass of fundamentally anarchical relations. Instead, I suggest that the computer protocols underpinning networks such as the Internet—from technical protocols like the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) to common protocols like the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)—create a highly structured system of regulation that facilitates control in the seemingly chaotic, heterogeneous space of the network.; In the second half, “Failures of Protocol,” I examine several contemporary subcultures that have tweaked, twisted, or otherwise wrestled with the constraints of protocol. First I examine hackers and cyberfeminists, viewing them as an allegorical index for larger transformations within techno-culture. Then, I look at new media art, specifically how artists work within and against the confines of computer protocols to create new aesthetic possibilities based in technology. This section covers the various sub-genres of Internet art such as net.art, artistic uses of software, ASCII art, gaming environments, the Etoy Toywar, corporate art aesthetics, and art involving auction websites.
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