5 Hybrid Assignment 13

The two biggest concepts from this class that I am walking away with are, first, that the internet is not living up to the potential that was promised by those who promoted it as the future. Our internet use is reigned by advertisers who have crippling control over the majority of our online practices – social, commercial, and informative. However despite our dissatisfaction with the methods advertisers manipulate our online interactions, we are not doing nearly as much as we could, or should, to change the situation. The second concept from our readings that have influenced me is the history of the New Communalists, Stewart Brand’s influence of online and American society, and the way the two have built the information culture we embrace today.

Reflecting on these two concepts, I wonder how much more I would have comprehended and subsequently been moved by Astra Taylor’s book had we focused on her writing the second half of the semester after reading Fred Turner’s book the first half of the semester. Turner’s explanation of the New Communalists’ ideals being entwined into cybernetics was well thought out and really painted a clear picture of the intent of the internet and how the New Right twisted its potential- which leads right into Taylor’s views. In retrospect, Turner’s book is a very natural and informative pathway to Taylor’s passionate outrage. That being said, the Trebor Scholz collection of essays were informative but the concepts were too intricate for the amount of time we gave them. I do enjoy dismantling academic literature, but I felt alone in deciphering the text and it was never made clear if my understanding of the concepts were either on or off the mark. While it was good to write the hybrid assignments of my understanding, ideally we could have spent much more time discussing the concepts in class, or spent more than just one week on each of these involved essays.

Now to think back to the first day of class and how digital media structures my daily life – I still have the internal struggle to not look at my phone first thing every morning. This class has made me much more aware on how long our society has been driving toward this social-technical-information based culture. I am just as adamant about refraining from overt social media use and now weary about the excessive buying of new tech equipment which you can imagine, makes me really fun at parties.

In reflection of this course, I can’t say that I found this subject to be of much benefit or interest to me.  As an IAS – Communications major, I initially signed up for another course on digital media, with the understanding that, the course would be about and emphasize effectively using digital media.  I was not prepared for what this course turned out to be.  I felt lost through most of the course because of the emphasis on history (most of which, I was not knowledgeable about) with a distinct point of view and theory that did not lend itself to addressing my needs for/purpose in taking a course on the subject matter.  In my personal opinion, this course did not offer me useful material to help me with my professional goals as I had expected.

With that being said, I did come to understand a bit more about the origins of the modern Internet, World Wide Web & the infrastructure that makes it all possible.  I have also come to see the use of technology has greatly impacted every aspect of our lives and society, in a lot of cases, in ways that was not apparent before.  I was never one passionate about technology, but rather, appreciative of the seeming benefits without being aware of the costs with which those benefits came.  I am now much more aware of how we, as a society, have been commodified to make a very small minority very rich.  It has also made me aware of the many dangers that could potentially be unleashed with wide spread deregulation.  We cannot blindly support technological advances without thinking about and addressing the the ways in which technology is and will be used.

The initial ideas of people like Brand and others, may have been to create a new technology that is for the betterment of human kind and give humanity tools by which all people can share resources and information for our collective greater good, but common sense regulation has not kept pace with technological advancements, to the point that, laws and understanding about technology is woefully inadequate for our needs today, let alone as we continue to move forward in the future. The philosophy of the New Communialist about totally cutting government out and allowing technology to develop unrestricted or unregulated is not only unrealistic, but irresponsible and dangerous.  Not all people, or technologies for that matter, are about the betterment of humanity.  Therefore, we must be smart and give serious thought to the ways and purposes of the technologies that we create are used.  More people need to be aware of the real impact technology, and the people behind it, can/does have on our lives and the direction of our collective society.

As I reflect on this course starting from the first day where we wrote a list of digital media and how much of it we use in our day to day lives, I definitely feel like I can see how digital media evolved. While I thought this class was going to discuss digital media and society as we use it currently, I did appreciate the historical dynamic that the class gave. As I previously mentioned, I was not raised in the U.S. so for me there are many histories that I am unaware of. I enjoyed learning about the counterculture and how that movement became responsible for the growth in technology. I also enjoyed reading about the various players who fought to make the internet a platform to be used by all. For me, Astra Taylor’s book was the simplest and most straightforward to read. I encountered a lot of difficulty with the book by Trebor Scholz, but I must say that the chapter on “Free Labor” was the most interesting for me. The most difficult reading I encountered was the one I presented on;”Digititality and the Media of Dispossession.” I’m honestly still not completely sure of the point the writer was trying to make.

Fred Turner’s book definitely shed the most light on the counterculture’s contribution to cyber culture, however there were some chapters that were difficult to get through due to its long winded, philosophical language. The most disappointing part of the class was learning that the rise of digital media was really a means of fighting against bureaucracy and realizing that these counter-culturalists basically followed in the same footsteps of the bureaucracies they were fighting against. I did enjoy learning that there were online communities (the WELL) that existed so long ago, because I honestly believed that AOL, MSN, MySpace and Facebook was where online communities first began to flourish.

If I were asked again how digital media structures our daily lives, I would say that where we are today is really the result of a seed that was planted decades ago, the result of people wanting to create a collective consciousness. I would say that I believe through my observations of our current society and after reading the history of how it all began, that human beings are more alike than we think, and we all desire to connect in ways that digital media has been able to facilitate.

I really enjoyed the class. Hybrid class was very interesting experience for me. I learned a lot of new about digital technology. To be honest I didn’t expect this class to be that interesting. It opened my eyes on the world around me and on digital technology in a way that I never thought how technology plays a big role in our lives. I was surprised by realizing that when we are online, that everything what we are looking and searching for is remembered and than popping up in random time. It is crazy how Internet and social media know everything about us.

What I enjoyed the most is the reading of the book Astra Taylor “The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age”, 2014. It was easy and interesting to read. Other readings gave me harder time. My favorite chapters were “The Double Anchor” and “Love or Money”. It was interesting discussion about copyrights and how tricky it can be. Chapter “Love or Money” helped me to realize what creativity means now, in our time.

Also the chapter what caught my attention is Ahyan Aytes “Return of the Crowds: Mechanical Turk and Neoliberal States of Exception”. The idea of chess-playing machine and the history was informative. It was unexpected for me to find connection between a chess-playing machine and Amazon’s new platform.

Also what was amusing for me is debate about WELL as one of the most influential computer network.

The tuff part in this class for me was presentation, I know it is a very good experience for the future but it was stressful. It is not that easy to speak in front of lots of people and may be for me it was extra stressful because English is not my first language and I was nervous if I would forget anything or if people will not understand me because of my accent.

What about the readings, the confusing one for me was the article “Free labor: Producing culture for the digital economy” by Tiziana Terronova. That article made me read it lots of times but still was hart for me to put everything in my heat on the right spot.

The class was very useful. I learnt lots of new and valuable information. It made me think and confused me few times but was interesting as well.

I have really enjoyed learning more about the history of digital technology. As much as I have complained about Fred Turner’s glut of details, I really value that he has written such an intricate portrait of Stewart Brand’s projects and the ripple effect that those projects (Whole Earth Catalog and the WeLL) set in motion. These are histories that have been obscured from public reception, okay, maybe not obscured but the average social network and digital media user is surely unaware of the chain of players and innovations that issued from the New Communalist reception of cybernetic ideals and systems theory. I think I have definitely taken for granted how the modern cyber landscape is truly dependent on all of these innovations and networks. To be honest, it is sort of scary to know that so much of what is in place is reflective of larger power structures that although were supposed to be the anti-thesis of bureaucratic order, ended up replicating that power dynamic. I am not surprised by this but maybe just disheartened – especially after reading in depth breakdowns of how these powered dynamics function, a la the essays in Trebor Schulz’s such as Mechanical Turk or my personal favorite, the essay I presented on, Fandom as Free Labor, by Abigail De Kosnik. I think the difficulty I had with a number of essays in the Schultz anthology was mainly due to my novice level understanding of the fundamentals of Marxist analysis, specifically the definitions of various kinds of labor and how these explications shift in ways that are complex to map in the digital age – I’m thinking of dead labor and some of the other shades of waged / unwaged labor. I wish I would have had a firmer grasp on these concepts but I definitely feel excited about having opened up this modes of thought and look forward to learning more as the scholarship will indubitably continue to move forward, perhaps matching the pace at which digital media and technological innovation seems to operate at.

Due by midnight Tuesday, December 15th (350-400 words).

For our final hybrid assignment, please take some time to reflect on what you will take away from this course. Thinking back to the first day of class, when we reflected on how digital media structures our daily lives, it becomes immediately clear how much ground we have covered. If you were asked to answer this question again, what would you say? If possible, please include details about the readings you enjoyed the most and why. Also address what readings and topics were the most difficult for you.