Assignment 1 – Astra Taylor, “The People’s Platform”
Deborah Markewich – Assignment 1 – Astra Taylor
Part 2 (hybrid). Taylor (2014:6) argues that how questions about technology are framed is important, and that we “[grant] agency to tools while side stepping the thorny issue of the larger social structures in which we and our technologies are embedded.” In your own words attempt to describe what Taylor is trying to tell us.
In this selection from The People’s Platform, Astra Taylor is pointing out the fact that our society often debates the negative vs. positive consequences of technology. Are we better off today with astounding technological advances that make our lives so much easier? Or are we heading down a dangerous path where our privacy is threatened beyond our control? Is the ability for anyone to voice one’s ideas and thoughts to an instant audience a good thing? Or are these writers being exploited by the sites and advertisers that profit from them? Just as Thomas Carlyle and Timothy Walker debated the pros and cons of the mechanical advances in the Victorian Era, many writers today feel strongly one way or the other – “techno-optimists facing off against techno-skeptics” (Taylor, 6) – but Taylor seems to be saying that it is not as black and white as that and that we are asking the wrong questions.
The problems that existed before the Internet still exist and may even have been exacerbated by it. The Internet has not leveled the playing field as many had hoped it would. Taylor states, “While it’s true that anyone with an Internet connection can speak online, that doesn’t mean our megaphones blast our messages at the same volume.” (Taylor, 4) The people who controlled the media still have control. Our societal problems have continued in many ways and for all the new developments, many things are not really that different. We need to look beyond the technological tools and examine the social structures and economic forces that were in place before the Internet existed and continue to occur in technology today. We must address the challenges they present if we want to create a more evenhanded and inclusive society.
