HTML As Needlepoint

Digital representation re-imagines the morality and emotions of social interaction and mathematizes our experience of the physical world. In electronic media, human expression of selfhood, group-dom, and nationhood take up older media forms to articulate a sense of the contemporary scene. Hypertext markup language (HTML), from this angle, is a new needlepoint. The analogy underlines the connection and continuity between traditional media, seen in the form of what we call "folk art", and electronic media, which we tend to view as a dramatic break with previous types of communication. Needlepoint is a widely-known folk art and communicative medium in which individuals "sign" work that embodies a particular theme and sends messages stitched in cloth to others. Needlepoint does not occur in isolation because it expresses moral-emotional themes and may even serve as a focus for explicit interactivity as a circle of adepts surround a cloth in collaborative stitching.

MichaelDartnell

Culturally the quilt is growing but with much interconnectedness. As we sample, manipulate, and integrate bits of each others ideas and creations, we grow as a culture in a spiraling fashion. Now that it is possible for anyone to publish freely, and without economic concern, ideas can no longer be held down. Folk culture is being posted on the net with explosive increase. Hopefully the best ideas will raise to the surface, that is, will be perceived by the largest number. The center of knowledge/power is shifting.