| Unit Operations is an approach to studying artistic and cultural products in the literary and the technological registers. The work offers a theoretical analysis of themes of philosophy, critical theory and information technology, demonstrating the principles common to these fields. Unit Operations creates an approach that both clarifies and combines the jargons of critical theory and software technology. Using these tools, the work explores video games as a starting point for a criticism that uses both literary and technological analysis to open a new expression of meaning.; Representing a shift away from system operations, unit operations are modes of meaning-making that privilege discrete, disconnected actions over deterministic, progressive systems. I introduce the concept of unit operations through philosophy, systems theory, software technology, and complexity theory. Subsequently, I analyze three pairings of theory and information systems in three different modes: Universalism, Objectification, and Relation.; In "Universalism" I introduce semiotics and computation as commensurate transitions from system operations to unit operations. I trace the increasing compression of representation in structuralism and poststructuralism, relating them to advances in computation such as John von Neumann's conditional control transfer.; In "Objectification," I examine the ontological strategies of major voices in psychoanalytic theory and technology theory as unit operations that are constantly at risk of collapsing into systems. Then I explore the crisis between embedded representation and subjectivity, arguing that meaning in unit operational systems takes place in a gap, a place of crisis between units and subjectivity. Finally, I use this strategy to explore aspects of rhetoric in games, especially related to politics, activism, and marketing.; In "Relation," I use the strategy of unit operations to relate Nomadism, cellular automata, and complexity theory, arguing that Deleuze and Guattari's work can be fruitfully understood as a type of complex network theory. Applying these lessons to a commentary on the social issues of electronic gaming, I perform an extended analysis of virtual worlds in games, including Grand Theft Auto and The Legend of Zelda.; Unit Operations offers clear explanations to encourage its use in literary criticism, software engineering, game design, and marketing, among other fields. |
