The Server
Journal Data
| Type | SOURCE_BOOK |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Yale University Press (US) |
| ISBN-13 | 9780300180817 |
| Open Library | OL20191095W |
| Total publications | 2 |
| Coverage period | 2018 - 2018 |
| Language | EN |
Though classic servants like the butler or the governess have largely vanished, the Internet is filled with servers: web, ftp, mail, and others perform their daily drudgery, going about their business noiselessly and unnoticed. Why then are current-day digital drudges called servers? This book explores this question by going from the present back to the Baroque to study historical aspects of service through various perspectives, be it the servants' relationship to architecture or their function in literary or scientific contexts. At the intersection of media studies, cultural history, and literature, this work recounts the gradual transition of agency from human to nonhuman actors to show how the concept of the digital server stems from the classic role of the servant.
The Server
Idle Time
This concluding chapter investigates how subalterns spend those long periods of inactivity. By virtue of their function, they continue to work even when all they have to do is wait: either for the next command or for the bell, from one of the rooms or at the front door. Waiting makes all servants equal, irrespective of their real status: whether they are high-ranking messengers, servants of communication stationed somewhere at the periphery, or u…
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The Server
Idle Time
This concluding chapter investigates how subalterns spend those long periods of inactivity. By virtue of their function, they continue to work even when all they have to do is wait: either for the next command or for the bell, from one of the rooms or at the front door. Waiting makes all servants equal, irrespective of their real status: whether they are high-ranking messengers, servants of communication stationed somewhere at the periphery, or u…