The vast and omnivorous cloud

Abstract

Although it seems to promise an immaterial, unmediated, almost supernatural collapse of space at the user’s convenience, the cloud is not a solely spectral space. This introduction examines the cloud as a material object, a network of physical networks. It argues that inherent in the cloud’s nature as an internetwork is an excess, an overwhelming capacity to connect, reorganize and integrate. The physical nature and user experience of the Internet presents an uncontrolled, networked mediation of our personal lives, our history, our physical media and our orientation to the increasingly digital world. Examining popular digital horror, such as Slender Man, The Dionaea House (2006) and Kris Straub’s Ichor Falls (2009), alongside the articles collected in this special issue, this introduction argues that digital horror anxiously rehearses the cloud’s voracious capacity to incorporate that which should be left alone.