Marisa Olson
Since the beginning
Works in Brooklyn, New York United States of America

ARTBASE (7)
PORTFOLIO (3)
BIO
Marisa Olson is an artist, writer, and media theorist. Her interdisciplinary work has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, Centre Pompidou, Tate(s) Modern + Liverpool, the Nam June Paik Art Center, British Film Institute, Sundance Film Festival, PERFORMA Biennial; commissioned and collected by the Whitney Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Houston Center for Photography, Experimental Television Center, and PS122; and reviewed in Artforum, Art21, the NY Times, Liberation, Folha de Sao Paolo, the Village Voice, and elsewhere.

Olson has served as Editor & Curator at Rhizome, the inaugural curator at Zero1, and Associate Director at SF Camerawork. She's contributed to many major journals & books and this year Cocom Press published Arte Postinternet, a Spanish translation of her texts on Postinternet Art, a movement she framed in 2006. In 2015 LINK Editions will publish a retrospective anthology of over a decade of her writings on contemporary art which have helped establish a vocabulary for the criticism of new media. Meanwhile, she has also curated programs at the Guggenheim, New Museum, SFMOMA, White Columns, Artists Space, and Bitforms Gallery. She has served on Advisory Boards for Ars Electronica, Transmediale, ISEA, the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences, Creative Capital, the Getty Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Kennedy Center, and the Tribeca Film Festival.

Olson studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths, History of Consciousness at UC Santa Cruz, and Rhetoric & Film Studies at UC Berkeley. She has recently been a visiting artist at Yale, SAIC, Oberlin, and VCU; a Visiting Critic at Brown; and Visiting Faculty at Bard College's Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts and Ox-Bow. She previously taught at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts' new media graduate program (ITP) and was Assistant Professor of New Media at SUNY-Purchase's School of Film & Media Studies. She was recently an Artist-in-Residence at Eyebeam & is currently Visiting Critic at RISD.

Collectible After All: Christiane Paul on net art at the Whitney Museum


The Whitney Museum artport has been an important institutional presence in net art and new media since its launch in 2002. Created and curated by Christiane Paul, artport features online commissions as well as documentation of new media artworks from the museum's exhibitions and collections. This year, artport as a whole was made an official part of the Whitney Museum collection; to mark this occasion, participating artist Marisa Olson interviewed Paul about the program's history and evolution over thirteen years.

 Douglas Davis, image from The World's First Collaborative Sentence (1994).

Collections like artport are a rare and valuable window onto a field of practice that, in some senses, was borne out of not being taken seriously. From mid-80s Eastern European game crackers to late-90s net artists, the first people working online were often isolated, by default or design, and were certainly marginalized by the art world, where few curators knew of their existence and fewer took them seriously, advocated for them, or worked to theorize and articulate the art historical precedents and currents flowing through the work. Help me fast-forward to the beginning of this century at one of the most important international art museums. Many of the US museums that funded new media projects did so with dot-com infusions that dried-up after 2000. Artport officially launched in 2001; the same year, you curated a section devoted to net art in the Whitney Biennial. What was the behind-the-scenes sequence of events that led to artport's founding?

I think artport's inception was emblematic of a wave of interest in net art in the US around the turn of the century and in the early 2000s. This more committed involvement with the art form interestingly coincided with or came shortly after the dot com bubble, which inflated from 1997–2000, had its climax on March 10, 2000 when NASDAQ peaked, and burst pretty much the next day. Net art, however, remained a very active practice and started appearing on the radar of more US art institutions. To some extent, their interest may have been sparked by European exhibitions that had begun to respond to the effects of the web on artistic practice earlier on. In 1997, Documenta X had already included web projects (that year the Documenta website was also famously "stolen"—that is, copied and archived—by Vuk Cosic in the project Documenta: done) and Net Condition, which took place at ZKM in 1999/2000, further acknowledged the importance of art on the web.

US museums increasingly began to take notice. Steve Dietz, who had started the Walker Art Center's New Media Initiatives early on, in 1996, was curating the online art Gallery 9 and digital art study collection. Jon Ippolito, in his role as Associate Curator of Media Arts at the Guggenheim, was commissioning net art in the early 2000s and in 2002, Benjamin Weil, with Joseph Rosa, unveiled a new version of SFMOMA's E-space, which had been created in 2000. This was the institutional netscape in which I created artport in 2001, since I felt that the Whitney, which had for the first time included net art in its 2000 Biennial, also needed a portal to online art. The original artport was much more of a satellite site and less integrated into whitney.org than it is now. Artist Yael Kanarek redesigned the site not too long after its initial launch and created version 1.1. Artport in its early days was sponsored by a backend storage company in New Jersey, which was then bought by HP, so HP appeared as the official sponsor. I think it is notable that sponsorship at that point did not come from a new tech company but a brand name that presumably wanted to appear more cutting edge.


booomerrranganggboobooomerranrang: Nancy Holt's networked video


Nancy Holt, Boomerang (1974), still from video.

In her time on this planet, Nancy Holt came to be known as a great American Land Artist, and certainly her brilliant installations, like Utah's Sun Tunnels and collaborations with her partner Robert Smithson and their peers, are profoundly significant, but it was her work in film & video that has had the greatest personal impact on me.

I somehow didn't see Boomerang, her 1974 video performance usually credited to her collaborator Richard Serra, until I was a Ph.D. student in Linda Williams's Phenomenology of Film seminar at UC Berkeley's Rhetoric program, but the time delay was more than made up for by the work's formative resonance. In the video, made during Serra's residency at a Texas television station, a young Holt is seen sitting in an anchor's chair before a staid blue background. Despite brief station ID graphic overlays and one minute of silence in the midst of the ten-minute piece (announced as audio trouble and reminding viewers of the work's live TV origin), the work is in many ways sound-centric.


Sound and Image in Electronic Harmony


semiconductor_nanowebbers.jpg
Image: Semiconductor: Ruth Jarman and Joseph Gerhardt, 200 Nanowebbers, 2005

On Saturday, April 11th, New York's School of Visual Arts will co-present the 2009 Visual Music Marathon with the New York Digital Salon and Northeastern University. Promising genre-bending work from fifteen countries, the lineup crams 120 works by new media artists and digital composers into 12 hours. If it's true, as is often said, that MTV killed the attention spans of Generations X and Y, this six-minute-per-piece average ought to suit most festivalgoers' minds, and the resultant shuffling on and off stage will surely be a spectacle in its own rite. In all seriousness, this annual event is a highlight of New York's already thriving electronic music scene and promises many a treat for your eyes and ears. The illustrious organizers behind the marathon know their visual music history and want to remind readers that, "The roots of the genre date back more than two hundred years to the ocular harpsichords and color-music scales of the 18th century," and "the current art form came to fruition following the emergence of film and video in the 20th century." The remarkable ten dozen artists participating in this one-day event will bring us work incorporating such diverse materials as hand-processed film, algorithmically-generated video, visual interpretations of music, and some good old fashioned music-music. From luminaries like Oskar Fischinger, Hans Richter, and Steina Vasulka to emerging artists Joe Tekippe and Chiaki Watanabe, the program will be another star on the map that claims NYC as fertile territory for sonic exploration. - Marisa Olson

READ ON »


Tagalicious


Picture-1.jpg

The National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST) in Athens, Greece, has committed itself to curating a number of recent exhibitions of internet art. Their current show, "Tag Ties and Affective Spies," features contributions from both net vets and emerging surfers, including Christophe Bruno, Gregory Chatonsky, Paolo Cirio, JODI, Jonathan Harris and Sep Kamvar, Les Liens Invisibles, Personal Cinema and The Erasers, Ramsay Stirling, and Wayne Clements. The online exhibition takes an antagonistic approach to Web 2.0, citing a constant balance "between order and chaos, democracy and adhocracy." Curator Daphne Dragona raises the question of whether the social web is a preexisting platform on which people connect, or whether it is indeed constructed in the act of uploading, tagging, and disclosing previously private information about ourselves on sites like Flickr, YouTube, and Facebook. Dragona asks whether we are truly connecting and interacting, or merely broadcasting. While her curatorial statement doesn't address the issue directly, the show's title hints at the level of self-surveillance in play on these sites. Accordingly, many of the selected works take a critical, if not DIY, approach to the internet. The collective Les Liens Invisibles tends to create works that make an ironic mash-up of the often divergent mantras of tactical media, culture jamming, surrealism, and situationism. In their Subvertr, they encourage Flickr users to "subverTag" their posted images, creating an intentional disassociation between an image's content and its interpretion, with the aim of "breaking the strict rules of significance that characterize the mainstream collective imaginary..." JODI's work, Del.icio.us/ winning information (2008) exploits the limited stylistic parameters of the social bookmarking site. Using ASCII and Unicode page titles to form visual marks, a cryptic tag vocabulary, and a recursive taxonomy, their fun-to-follow site critiques the broader content of the web ...

READ ON »


Reappearance of the Undead


agatha_appears_lialina.gif

In 1997, internet art hall-of-famer Olia Lialina made a "net drama" called Agatha Appears that was written for Netscape 3 and 4 in HTML 3.2. One of the main features of the interactive narrative was the travel of the eponymous avatar across the internet. Let's just say the girl got around. But the magical illusion of the piece was that she appeared to stay still, even when links in the narrative were clicked and the viewer's address bar indicated movement to another server. But in time, both the browser and code in which the story was written became defunct and the piece unraveled as the sites previously hosting the links and files upon which Agatha was dependent disappeared or cleaned house. Such a scenario is common to early internet art (and will no doubt continue to plague the field), as ours is an upgrade culture constantly driving towards new tools, platforms, and codes. Many have debated whether to let older works whither or how it might be possible to update these works, making them compatible with new systems. For those who are interested, some of the best research on the subject has been performed by the folks affiliated with the Variable Media Initiative. Meanwhile, luddites and neophiles alike are now in luck because Agatha Appears has just undergone rejuvenation. Ela Wysocka, a restorer working at Budapest's Center for Culture & Communication Foundation has worked to overcome the sound problems, code incompatibilities, and file corruption and disappearance issues, and she's written a fascinating report about the process, here. And new collaborating hosts have jumped in line to bring the piece back to life, so that like a black and white boyfriend coming home from war, Agatha now offers us a shiny new webring as a token of ...

READ ON »



Discussions (281) Opportunities (10) Events (4) Jobs (0)
DISCUSSION

Re: schizoanalizys for beginners III


Hi!

> We never find schizophrenia,as you lucid explained to us as a kind of"sexy
> alternative to 'reality."

Sorry--didn't mean to imply that you were personally guilty of this.
Just wanted to take the opportunity to bring it up, since I never see
people bring it up.

> Our friend,singer,have this hard illness several years and we know how this
> it look like.

Yes, I know what it looks like too. Terrible stuff. In fact, while
it's not a 'terminal illness,' it has indirectly contributed to the
deaths of a few people close to me. This is why I'm so opinionated
about not abusing the term.

> We believe in Rhizomers and their capability to keep and develop high
> intellectual and creative level of List.

Me too!!! :)

Thanks!
Marisa

DISCUSSION

Fwd: [Autonogram] Mid-January Autonomedia report


Check out the info. below, on CAE's new book and Claire Pentecost's
'Reflections on the Case by the U.S. Justice Department against Steven
Kurtz and Robert Ferrell.'

Marisa

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ben at Autonomedia <ben@autonomedia.org>
Date: Jan 18, 2006 9:18 PM
Subject: [Autonogram] Mid-January Autonomedia report
To: autonogram@lists.interactivist.net

Dear Autonogram subscribers --

Here's a mid-January update on some of what's been going on around
Autonomedia.

* * *
1. Critical Art Ensemble: trial update, new book
2. Shut Them Down!: New book on the G8 protests in Scotland
3. 50\% off 2006 Autonomedia Jubilee Saints calendars
4. Some highlights from the Interactivist Network
* * *

1. Steve Kurtz (and by extension, the Critical Art Ensemble) was denied a
motion to dismiss his trial last week in Federal court. Critical Art
Ensemble are the collective authors of a series of Autonomedia books
analyzing the authoritarian uses of science and technology, particularly
where these mechanisms operate with a positive, "everyone's a winner" face
(the full-stomached promises of food genomics, for example, or the
healthy-and-smart-kids promises of the reproductive industries). Not
content to be armchair critics, the CAE also produce art and performance
that brings their analysis to museum and gallery audiences and into the
public sphere, demystifying the spectacle of what they've called the
"military techno-security cineplex."

Of course, this got Steve in big trouble with the security-happy
administration, and for close to two years now he's been under
investigation for an artwork found in his home at the time of his wife's
death. The absurdities of the case seem apparent to nearly everyone except
the court itself, which insists on draining everyone's resources to pin a
mail-fraud charge on him.

There is good news, though. Despite these many months of strain and
stress, CAE has another book in the pipes, scheduled to be published in
the early Spring of this year. It's called "Plague March", and rips apart
the fear economy at the foundation of bio-warfare alarmism. That's all
I'll say about it just now, except that one of the appendices to the book
comes from Claire Pentecost, of the CAE Defense Fund, analyzing the real
reasons the State has chosen to prosecute Steve's case. This text is well
worth reading online at our Interactivist site, at the following address:
http://info.interactivist.net/article.pl?sid/05/30/2348202

Also, please read the forwarded email at the bottom of this Autonogram,
from Lucia Sommer of the Defense Fund, and check their website from time
to time: http://www.caedefensefund.org

* *

Autonomedia has recently collaborated with the Dissent Network in the UK
to produce "Shut Them Down! The G8, Gleneagles 2005, and the Movement of
Movements", a new collection that takes as its starting point the protests
in Scotland last summer. Not content to just rehash what went on there,
the book addresses issues fundamental to the globalized resistance to
capital, such as the nature of openness and "horizontality" and
limitations of the "activist" identity. More on the book, including a
table of contents and list of contributors, is at
http://www.shutthemdown.org, and you can order the book from our new
online bookstore at
http://bookstore.autonomedia.org/index.php?main\_page=pubs\_product\_book\_info&products\_idG3
We'll be shipping these books as soon as they're received from the UK.

* *

50\% off Saints calendars! Another tradition of mid-January around here
(aside from hot buttered rum-soaked toboggan races across the East River
with Team Autonomedia) is trying to sell off the remaining Calendars of
Jubilee Saints still in our inventory. $4.98 gets you a fresh copy at
http://bookstore.autonomedia.org/index.php?main\_page=pubs\_product\_book\_info&cPath=5&products\_idF9
.

* *

Interactivist Info Exchange: Recent Headlines

Please make a regular visit to our online Interactivist Info Exchange.
Read a story, leave a comment, engage, debate, illuminate! Here are some
recent hotties:

http://info.interactivist.net/article.pl?sid/01/17/2225239 is a recent
interview with Italian Autonomia philosopher/agitator Paolo Virno,
discussing his history, immaterial labor, etc. (and
http://info.interactivist.net/article.pl?sid/12/27/0513241 for Steve
Wright's discussion on some of the same)

http://info.interactivist.net/article.pl?sid/01/07/1727205 on the
recent death of Zapatista Comandante Ramona (and
http://info.interactivist.net/article.pl?sid/01/03/1459209 for Marcos'
transition to Candidate Zero)

http://info.interactivist.net/article.pl?sid/12/13/1414210 for an
analysis of Chomsky's anarchism.

http://info.interactivist.net/article.pl?sid/01/03/199257 for efforts
by WalMart employees in Florida to use collective action and mutual aid to
deal with problems on and off the shop floor.

* * *
that's it, and please feel free to change your subscription options using
the links at the bottom of this email. And please read the following! It's
important!

bests,
Ben / Autonomedia

*

-PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY-

January 17, 2006

Dear supporters of Steve Kurtz and Critical Art Ensemble,

Your support is needed now more than ever.

Whereas the hopes for dismissal of Steve

DISCUSSION

Re: schizoanalizys for beginners


I know there is a facetious pun at play here, but I just wanted to chip in
about a subject very important to me...

I have long been appalled by the way that theorists supposedly steeped in
psychoanalytic readings could misdefine schizophrenia and then
consistently glamorize this very serious, very misdefined condition as
some sexy alternative to 'reality.' There is a long list of scholars
who've become quite famous in the course of building and upholding this
farce.

Now I'm all for creativity, metaphor, and wordplay, but I feel that any of
us with a ligitimate interest in these discourses or in contributing to
any kind of meaningful conversation have a personal responsibility not to
entrench this kind of grossly irresponsible scholarship.

IMHO!
marisa

DISCUSSION

Surveillance of UCLA Professors


This isn't about new media art, but it is about the cultural use of
technology. I couldn't resist forwarding it. I'm very tempted to dial the
telephone number.....

>Hello everyone,
>
>Here is the URL for the UCLA alumni association targeting liberlal/left
>professors:
>
>http://www.uclaprofs.com/profs/profsindex.html
>
>They are clearly a spin-off former Ramparts editor now neo-con David
>Horowitz's group, Students for Academic Freedom. He has sponsored an
>Academic Bill of Rights in up to 20 state legislatures whose purpose is
>regulate what is taught in university classrooms.
>
>Here is also a list of targeted profs. at UCLA and some quotes from the
>group's website:
>
>>
>>> PROFESSORS ALREADY PROFILED...
>>> :
>>> Philip Agre - Information Studies
>>> Walter Allen - Education
>>> Edward Alpers - History
>> Eric Avila - History
>>> Maylei Blackwell - Chicano Studies
>>> Sue-Ellen Case - Theater
>>> Mary Corey - History
>>> Alicia Gaspar de Alba - Chicano Studies
>>> Raul Hinojosa - Chicano Studies
>>> Darnell Hunt - Sociology
>>> Arthur Little - English
>>> Reynaldo Macias - Chicano Studies
>>> Ruth Milkman - Sociology
>>> Chon Noriega - Film and Television
>>> Victor Narro - Labor Studies
>>> Jeannie Oakes - Education
>>> Jonathan F. S. Post - English
>>> Jorja Prover - Social Welfare
>>> William Rubenstein - Law
>>> Otto Santa Ana - Chicano Studies
>>> Miriam Silverberg - History
>>> Clyde Spillenger - Law
>>> Stephen Yenser - English
>>> Maurice Zeitlin - Sociology
>>
>> from dossier on Eric Avila: "But for any self-respecting student not
>> eager to have his intelligence and (depending on ethnic affiliation)
>> race insulted, students would do well to avoid Avila?s Whiteness
>> Studies course. That is, until the time that the Chicano Studies
>> Department is dissolved, or at least brought into some semblance of
>> order. " http://www.uclaprofs.com/profs/avila.html
>>>
>>> ************************************
>>> Dear ,
>>>
>>> As you may have already heard, Rob Watson, Rafael
>>> Perez-Torres and I are currently listed on the website of
>>> UCLAprofs.com,
>>> a venture of the Bruin Alumni Association, on whose board serve, among
>>> others, CA State Senator Bill Morrow (who introduced SB5, the
>>> so-called
>>> student bill of rights, into the CA Senate) and our erstwhile
>>> colleague
>>> Leila Beckwith.Rob andRafael will have to check for themselves, of
>>> course, but my "dossier" at this organization includes utterly false,
>>> misleading, distorted as well as libelous claims (e.g., that I am a
>>> "vicious
>>> anti-Semite.").
>>>
>>> The organization actively encourages UCLA students to spy on the
>>> currently
>>> blacklisted faculty, as well as on a separate list of "targeted
>>> faculty"
>>> which includes Arthur Little, Stephen Yenser and Jonathan Post.They
>>> offer, for example, cash for recordings of class lectures, lecture
>>> notes,
>>> etc.See below.
>>>
>>> I'm writing to see if there'sanything that can be done to protect
>>> what
>>> remains of academic freedom at our university.
>>>
>
> From the website:
>
>>>
>>> UCLA students:
>>>
>>> Do you have a professor who just can't stop talking about
>>> President Bush, about the war in Iraq, about the Republican
>>> Party, or any other ideological issue that has nothing to do with
>>> the class subject matter?It doesn't matter whether this is a
>>> past class, or your class for this coming winter quarter.
>>>
>>> If you help UCLAProfs.com expose theprofessor, we'll pay you
>>> foryour work.
>>>
>>> To see if we need information on the professors you've already
>>> taken, or will be taking this winter quarter, call 310-210-6735,
>>> or
>>>
>>> email bruinalumni@bruinalumni.com today, and you could be paid
>>> tomorrow.
>>>
>>> The following are materials we need for past or ongoing
>>> classes,along with rates of compensation. Full, detailed lecture
>>> notes, allprofessor-distributed materials, and full tape
>>> recordings of every class session, for one class: $100
>>>
>>> (Note: lecture notes must make particular note of audience
>>> reactions, comments, and other details that will properly
>>> contextualize the professor's ideological comments.If the class
>>> in question is ongoing or upcoming, UCLAProfs.com will provide
>>> (if needed) all necessary taping equipment and materials.)
>>>
>>> Full, detailed lecture notes and all professor-distributed
>>> materials, for one class: $50
>>>
>>> (Advisory: without tape recordings, detailed note-taking is
>>> crucial.Particular care must be taken in transcribing the
>>> professor'snon-pertinent ideological comments as closely as
>>> possible to direct quotes.)
>>>
>>>
>>> Advisory and all professor-distributed materials: $10
>>>
>>> Even if you didn't take detailed notes or attend class regularly,
>>> you can still help UCLAProfs.com by alerting us to a problem
>>> professor not already in our database or target list (below).
>>> This is a particularly attractive option for students wanting to
>>> report past classes in which their notes and attendance did not
>>> match UCLAProfs.com's high record-keeping standards.
>>>
>>> Simply provide us thename, your notes from the class (or
>>> substitute your currentrecollections), and any other materials
>>> you still retain, and we'll pay you $10 for the tip.
>>>
>>> NOTE: The foregoing advertised rates for future, ongoing or past
>>> classes are contingent upon Bruin Alumni Association approval of
>>> boththe particular professor, and student materials.
>>>
>>> For ongoing classes, payment will be tendered only upon timely
>>> delivery of all needed material.
>>>
>>> All payments are contingent upon Bruin Alumni Association
>>> pre-approval, and all decisions are final.Email
>>> bruinalumni AT bruinalumni.com for full details.
>>>
>>>
>>> Targeted Professors
>>>
>>> UCLAProfs has a special interest in the notes and/or
>>> voice-recordings for upcoming or recently taught
>>> classes by the following professors:
>>>
>>> <http://www.uclaprofs.com/profs/profsindex.html>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>

DISCUSSION

Surveillance of UCLA Professors


This isn't about new media art, but it is about the cultural use of
technology. I couldn't resist forwarding it. I'm very tempted to dial the
telephone number.....

>Hello everyone,
>
>Here is the URL for the UCLA alumni association targeting liberlal/left
>professors:
>
>http://www.uclaprofs.com/profs/profsindex.html
>
>They are clearly a spin-off former Ramparts editor now neo-con David
>Horowitz's group, Students for Academic Freedom. He has sponsored an
>Academic Bill of Rights in up to 20 state legislatures whose purpose is
>regulate what is taught in university classrooms.
>
>Here is also a list of targeted profs. at UCLA and some quotes from the
>group's website:
>
>>
>>> PROFESSORS ALREADY PROFILED...
>>> :
>>> Philip Agre - Information Studies
>>> Walter Allen - Education
>>> Edward Alpers - History
>> Eric Avila - History
>>> Maylei Blackwell - Chicano Studies
>>> Sue-Ellen Case - Theater
>>> Mary Corey - History
>>> Alicia Gaspar de Alba - Chicano Studies
>>> Raul Hinojosa - Chicano Studies
>>> Darnell Hunt - Sociology
>>> Arthur Little - English
>>> Reynaldo Macias - Chicano Studies
>>> Ruth Milkman - Sociology
>>> Chon Noriega - Film and Television
>>> Victor Narro - Labor Studies
>>> Jeannie Oakes - Education
>>> Jonathan F. S. Post - English
>>> Jorja Prover - Social Welfare
>>> William Rubenstein - Law
>>> Otto Santa Ana - Chicano Studies
>>> Miriam Silverberg - History
>>> Clyde Spillenger - Law
>>> Stephen Yenser - English
>>> Maurice Zeitlin - Sociology
>>
>> from dossier on Eric Avila: "But for any self-respecting student not
>> eager to have his intelligence and (depending on ethnic affiliation)
>> race insulted, students would do well to avoid Avila?s Whiteness
>> Studies course. That is, until the time that the Chicano Studies
>> Department is dissolved, or at least brought into some semblance of
>> order. " http://www.uclaprofs.com/profs/avila.html
>>>
>>> ************************************
>>> Dear ,
>>>
>>> As you may have already heard, Rob Watson, Rafael
>>> Perez-Torres and I are currently listed on the website of
>>> UCLAprofs.com,
>>> a venture of the Bruin Alumni Association, on whose board serve, among
>>> others, CA State Senator Bill Morrow (who introduced SB5, the
>>> so-called
>>> student bill of rights, into the CA Senate) and our erstwhile
>>> colleague
>>> Leila Beckwith.Rob andRafael will have to check for themselves, of
>>> course, but my "dossier" at this organization includes utterly false,
>>> misleading, distorted as well as libelous claims (e.g., that I am a
>>> "vicious
>>> anti-Semite.").
>>>
>>> The organization actively encourages UCLA students to spy on the
>>> currently
>>> blacklisted faculty, as well as on a separate list of "targeted
>>> faculty"
>>> which includes Arthur Little, Stephen Yenser and Jonathan Post.They
>>> offer, for example, cash for recordings of class lectures, lecture
>>> notes,
>>> etc.See below.
>>>
>>> I'm writing to see if there'sanything that can be done to protect
>>> what
>>> remains of academic freedom at our university.
>>>
>
> From the website:
>
>>>
>>> UCLA students:
>>>
>>> Do you have a professor who just can't stop talking about
>>> President Bush, about the war in Iraq, about the Republican
>>> Party, or any other ideological issue that has nothing to do with
>>> the class subject matter?It doesn't matter whether this is a
>>> past class, or your class for this coming winter quarter.
>>>
>>> If you help UCLAProfs.com expose theprofessor, we'll pay you
>>> foryour work.
>>>
>>> To see if we need information on the professors you've already
>>> taken, or will be taking this winter quarter, call 310-210-6735,
>>> or
>>>
>>> email bruinalumni@bruinalumni.com today, and you could be paid
>>> tomorrow.
>>>
>>> The following are materials we need for past or ongoing
>>> classes,along with rates of compensation. Full, detailed lecture
>>> notes, allprofessor-distributed materials, and full tape
>>> recordings of every class session, for one class: $100
>>>
>>> (Note: lecture notes must make particular note of audience
>>> reactions, comments, and other details that will properly
>>> contextualize the professor's ideological comments.If the class
>>> in question is ongoing or upcoming, UCLAProfs.com will provide
>>> (if needed) all necessary taping equipment and materials.)
>>>
>>> Full, detailed lecture notes and all professor-distributed
>>> materials, for one class: $50
>>>
>>> (Advisory: without tape recordings, detailed note-taking is
>>> crucial.Particular care must be taken in transcribing the
>>> professor'snon-pertinent ideological comments as closely as
>>> possible to direct quotes.)
>>>
>>>
>>> Advisory and all professor-distributed materials: $10
>>>
>>> Even if you didn't take detailed notes or attend class regularly,
>>> you can still help UCLAProfs.com by alerting us to a problem
>>> professor not already in our database or target list (below).
>>> This is a particularly attractive option for students wanting to
>>> report past classes in which their notes and attendance did not
>>> match UCLAProfs.com's high record-keeping standards.
>>>
>>> Simply provide us thename, your notes from the class (or
>>> substitute your currentrecollections), and any other materials
>>> you still retain, and we'll pay you $10 for the tip.
>>>
>>> NOTE: The foregoing advertised rates for future, ongoing or past
>>> classes are contingent upon Bruin Alumni Association approval of
>>> boththe particular professor, and student materials.
>>>
>>> For ongoing classes, payment will be tendered only upon timely
>>> delivery of all needed material.
>>>
>>> All payments are contingent upon Bruin Alumni Association
>>> pre-approval, and all decisions are final.Email
>>> bruinalumni AT bruinalumni.com for full details.
>>>
>>>
>>> Targeted Professors
>>>
>>> UCLAProfs has a special interest in the notes and/or
>>> voice-recordings for upcoming or recently taught
>>> classes by the following professors:
>>>
>>> <http://www.uclaprofs.com/profs/profsindex.html>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>