Best Online Community

Sandy Stone's Advanced Communications Technology Lab (ACTLab)

Allucquere Rosanne Stone, aka Sandy, has participated in online communities since her days on Communitree, one of the earliest, so it was natural that her unconventional multimedia lab at the UT School of Communications would develop as its backbone a strong sense of virtual community spirit. Sandy herself represents a postmodern, poststructural media vision past the McLuhanesque edge, where every representation of identity is acknowledged as a performance piece, and multiple personalilty is not a syndrome, but a way of life. The ACTLab itself is a creative hotbed within Austin's multimedia gulch; the best and brightest of UT's students clamor to participate. The current rumor that Sandy's been denied tenure is reminiscent of John Silber's treatment in the late 60s; Austinites and others concerned over UT's commitment to the cutting edges of technology should protest.

Advanced Communications Technology Lab (ACTLab)
RTF Dept., University of Texas
www.actlab.utexas.edu