Welcome to the new SWITCH.

In 1995 SWITCH began what has become a valuable historic documentation of the evolving theoretical and critical discourse within new media. With the launch of Issue 17, Collaboration, we have evolved this role even further by introducing an experimental platform for exploring new content publication models.

Influenced by the open-source approach of the very software we were utilizing, we began to look at ways to open the publication process to the public. While we will still have featured content from invited authors, we now encourage input and dialogue from all of our readers through comments and submissions to our "Discourse" section. The "Projects" section also allows active new media artists to submit works for curating, or, as in Ron Goldin's "Rivets + Denizens," explore the structural underpinnings of collaborative curating itself.

We believe this hybrid between editorial direction and public discourse provides the right mix for following a rapidly changing field. We plan to evolve this model over the next few issues and beyond. We would love to receive any feedback and ideas you might have on how to improve the new SWITCH.

__ Issue 17 :: Collaboration __

Artistic collaboration can develop into a wide range of systems with varying results. Occasionally an effective social network is created that produces a successful work larger than the sum of its parts. What are the underpinnings of the collaborative structure? How do initial decisions shape its development? While most artists have collaborated, why do we not take the time to think about the process critically? This issue tackles collaboration by looking at it from multiple perspectives: genetics, eclectic electronica, love, urban planning, fashion, collectivism, curating, data and activism.

We have two exciting interviews in this issue: Sheila Malone discusses collaboration and curating with the Whitney's Christiane Paul, and Mark Gonzales interviews UCLA's Sharon Daniel about corporate collaboration and authorial identity. We have a (very shrt) essay from the McCoy's on their matrimonial collaboration using words four letters long... or less. Richard Lowenberg explores Tele-Community Development in a paper originally given a the International Forum on Townspace Design Conference in Fukoda, Japan.

"Rivets+Denizens" is a project that invited artists, theorists, and curators to participate in a discussion of the practical issues pertaining to the increasingly popular use of collaboration in the arts. Ron Goldin, Project Curator, used the act of assembling the discourse to develop his own model of collaborative production and learning. The result is an impressive array of names on the topic... Lev Manovich, Benjamin Weil, Natalie Bookchin, Heath Burning, Beryl Graham, Mark Napier and Liza Sabater... with surprising results.

There's a lot of exciting content in this issue, and we hope to enliven it with your participation. Please take a moment to leave your thoughts and and enrich the ongoing discourse.

Sincerely,

Matt Mays
Managing Editor