I will be perfectly honest. When it comes to this essay, Spectulative Media Theory, I have absolutly no idea what Lovink is talking about. Just as I feel that I am following his train of thought, he throws in a reference to another author, an author that I have never heard of let alone read, with no explainations besides the name dropping. "We did not think "micro politics," but rather practiced them (a Deleuzean era in that sense)". Yet thankfully someone must have thrown a stone and knocked Lovink out of the vague tree for the later essays. The Virtual Intellectual explores the very grey area of the characteristics, abilities, ideals, and desires for the theoretical Virtual Intellectual.
In reference to "The Digital City-Metaphor and Community": Lovink writes: "Not being involved in its daily operations, but still dedicated to certain aspects, this relative distance gave me the freedom to report and theorize about the inner workings of such a large system with tens of thousands of users". How does distance from the daily operations give Lovink an increased ability to study and theorize about the Amsterdam Digital City?
tim