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Through an iPhone Darkly

Media and Networks through the lens of Science Fiction

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Bay Village, Ohio

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Bay Village, Ohio

Old library

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Bay Village, Ohio

new library

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ORACLE

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ORA:CLE

Opinions, Research, Advice

Computer Linked Experts

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I guess the part of ORA:CLE which made me want to share it with this crowd is this idea of how news will work.

Every chapter begins with the 2188 equivalent of the news front page. Hopefully you can see on this slide that each story has a micro payment, with the top ranked stories costing a little more.

From a narrative perspective, these stories vary in relevance, with some directly intersecting the storyline, including coverage of Ale’s Dac encounter and other things which happen to him. Other stories flesh out the context of the world, like this one, “Dacs down Jetliner” and others which cover even more subtle parts, like O’Donnell’s thoroughly imagined idea of ID/dress, which is sort of like a social security number, but actually used as a person’s name -- Ale’s full name is Ale Elatey… that is, ALL80. And actually his full name is another 10 characters. Various parts of these have meaning, about physical characteristics and social status.

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