[Air-L] New Open Access Book: Infrastructures of Reality: Metaverse Stories, Spaces, Bodies

[chris hesselbein]

Dear all,

Some shameless self promotion for this co-authored book (with Paolo Bory),
just in case some people are interested:

This open-access book
<https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-97167-9> seeks to
critically position the 'Metaverse' as a tripartite endeavour undertaken by
large technology companies to virtualize, datafy, and infrastructuralize
society, particularly on the levels of spatiality and embodiment. On the
one hand, metaversal technologies render space in virtual form or overlay
digital layers onto pre-existing physical spaces. On the other hand,
metaversal technologies not only seek to extend or expand our embodied
senses and emplace our bodies and identities in virtual spaces, but they
also seek to virtualize and capture our behaviours and actions on a far
more granular level. In short, the 'Metaverse' is an attempt by technology
companies to position themselves as 'infrastructures of reality'. Whether
in the form of VR, AR, and virtual environments or gaming 'worlds',
metaversal technologies not only create new opportunities in terms of work,
social interaction, identity, and leisure, but also open our spaces and
bodies up to new, tech-driven forms of intervention, control, and
inequality. Taken together, the ongoing ‘metaversification’ of spaces and
bodies gives rise to crucial questions about the socio-political goals and
implications of metaverse endeavours undertaken by large technology
companies, the relationship between the metaverse and AI systems, and the
need for new narratives about technology.

Kind regards,
Chris & Paolo