Benjamin, BitTorrent, Bootlegs: auratic piracy cultures?

Seventy-five years ago, Walter Benjamin showed us that the line between "production" and "reproduction" had begun to blur. Reproduction was no longer optional, consequential and degrading (the shredding of the original’s aura), but was instead being transformed into a principle of production itself: something was produced bearing in mind how it was to be reproduced. No longer did the original exist (in photography, film, music recordings), but instead diffusion, exhibition. The work existed precisely at the time and place of its enjoyment. Today, the cultural pirates of the new digital era take this principle to the extreme, with a certain characteristic also foreseen by Benjamin: a yearning to participate, to post-produce something captured in order to later return it to the Internet, modified in some way and made available to others. This postproduction is what is now often mixed up with reception, just as production and reproduction used to be in Benjamin’s day. Postproduction on the receiver’s side, which somehow augments and extends the received work, in other words creates an etymologically rigorous author-ization (auctor as the root of both author and augmentation). The cultural pirate only deserves redemption thanks to this creative augmentation.

Comparative analysis of the relationship between anterior and posterior corneal shape analyzed by Scheimpflug photography in normal and keratoconus eyes

Background To analyze and compare the relationship between anterior and posterior corneal shape evaluated by a tomographic system combining the Scheimpflug photography and Placido-disc in keratoconus and normal healthy eyes, as well as to evaluate its potential diagnostic value. Methods Comparative case series including a sample of 161 eyes of 161 subjects with ages ranging from 7 to 66 years and divided into two groups: normal group including 100 healthy eyes of 100 subjects, and keratoconus group including 61 keratoconus eyes of 61 patients. All eyes received a comprehensive ophthalmologic examination including an anterior segment analysis with the Sirius system (CSO). Antero-posterior ratios for corneal curvature (k ratio) and shape factor (p ratio) were calculated. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate if some antero–posterior ratios combined with other clinical parameters were predictors of the presence of keratoconus. Results No statistically significant differences between groups were found in the antero–posterior k ratios for 3-, 5- and 7-mm diameter corneal areas (p ≥ 0.09). The antero–posterior p ratio for 4.5- and 8-mm diameter corneal areas was significantly higher in the normal group than in the keratoconus group (p < 0.01). The k ratio for 3, 5, and 7 mm was significantly higher in the keratoconus grade IV subgroup than in the normal group (p < 0.01). Furthermore, significant differences were found in the p ratio between the normal group and the keratoconus grade II subgroup (p ≤ 0.01). Finally, the logistic regression analysis identified as significant independent predictors of the presence of keratoconus (p < 0.01) the 8-mm anterior shape factor, the anterior chamber depth, and the minimal corneal thickness. Conclusions The antero-posterior k and p ratios are parameters with poor prediction ability for keratoconus, in spite of the trend to the presence of more prolate posterior corneal surfaces compared to the anterior in keratoconus eyes.

Catalogue of Chinese rubbings from Field Museum / researched by Hoshien Tchen, M. Kenneth Starr ; prepared by Alice K. Schneider ; photographs by Herta Newton, and Field Museum Division of Photography ; edited by Hartmut Walravens.

n.s. no.3(1981)