Ouisconsin Eidos, Wisconsin Idea, and the Closure of Ideation

Abstract

“Ouisconsin Eidos” names the becoming other of ideational thought, the digitalization of a logocentric thinking intimately allied with the history of phonetic writing, the book, the archive, the university, protocols of academic publishing—and Western colonialism. If ideation makes possible modern research and knowledge, its displacement may oscillate between violence and hope, ignorance and wisdom. Since ideation unfolds through phonetic writing, post-ideational thought-action entails engagement with emerging digital forms, habits, and infrastructures. The smart media genres formalized at UW-Madison’s DesignLab function as experiments mounted amidst times of intense battles over the forms and functions of knowledge and higher education. The logic of Ouisconsin Eidos encourages other site-specific engagements.