It was Nam June Paik

___It was Nam June Paik___

Reed Altemus writes,

>Name what Fluxus member was a "founding figure" on the Internet. You've got
>to be kidding. Never. What an absurd claim.

In 1976, the Ford Foundation commissioned Nam June Paik to write a report
titled "Media Planning for the Post-Industrial Society."

In this report, he discussed many of the ideas that led to and fed into the
development of the Internet. He also coined the term "electronic
superhighways," first published in that report. (Paik, Nam June. 1976.
Media Planning for the Post-industrial Society. Reprinted in Nam June Paik,
Kenworth Moffett, et. al, The Electronic Superhighway. New York and Seoul:
Holly Solomon Gallery and Hyundai Gallery, 1995, 39-47.) Copies of the
original document are scarce, but one can find them.

Did this report -- or Paik's earlier projects -- have any effect on the
development Internet? Reports from foundations and think tanks circulate
widely among policy makers. When Ford Foundation published a report on any
issue, many leaders in government and industry took note. None of those
people would have known that Nam June Paik was an artist. They certainly
knew nothing about Fluxus. What they did do was to read and react to the
ideas in Paik's report.

Nam June did not build the technological basis of the Internet. Even so,
many people including information science and informatics experts are
willing to give him a share of the credit for his significant conceptual
work. You can think of him along with figures such as Vannevar Bush, who
staked his claim as a founder of the Internet back in 1945. (Bush,
Vannevar. 1945. "As We May Think." The Atlantic Monthly, July.)

With the convergence of technologies and Nam June's influence on
video-into-hypermedia, his projects, articles and manifestoes of the 1950s
and 1960s will finally be seen as precursors to Internet. (f.ex: Paik, Nam
June. 1964. "Utopian Laser Television." (in) Manifestoes. New York:
Something Else Press.)

There are many other precursors. Some were purely conceptual, like Marshall
McLuhan. Some were technical and developmental as well as conceptual, like
Tim Berners-Lee. There are surely many whom I don't even know. I have some
respect for the people who floated these ideas when the technology wasn't
yet possible. Nam June Paik was one of them.

----

I suppose that my friends on the list are curious about why Reed Altemus
wishes I had died

>>colleagues who *didn't* die back in the 1960s, Dick Higgins and Ken
>>Friedman.

>No, but now we wish they had.

I'm curious, too. I know Reed Altemus by name and by some of his work, but
I don't recall any unpleasant encounters and it's not clear what I've done
to offend him. As a result, I have no idea of the reason behind his
cheerful message.

For those who wish me dead, there is both good news and bad news. I am
pleased to report that I will, almost certainly, die. I am sorry to
disappoint them by stating that I have not established the date.



Ken Friedman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Leadership and Strategic Design
Norwegian School of Management
Box 4676 Sofienberg
N-0506 Oslo, Norway

Phone: +47 22.98.51.07
Fax:     +47 22.98.51.11

e-mail: <ken.friedman@xxxxx>