cct 300: critical analysis of media class 8: network (1976) / enter the internet
TRANSCRIPT
CCT 300:Critical Analysis
of Media
Class 8: Network (1976) /Enter the Internet
Administrivia
• Culture Jamming/Social Influence – it is a creative project, not a paper – core ideas should be evident in what’s created
Network (1976)
• Prophetic movie on the backstage economics and politics of network news
• The fall, rise and fall of Howard Beale driven by economic concerns
• Foresaw the notion of news as entertainment and the role of the profit imperative
What is the Internet?
• It’s not a truck.• It’s a series of tubes!• With any luck, Mr. Tubes will be out of a job
and in jail shortly.
What is the Internet used for?
• No, not just that, Trekkie Monster.
A more sane definition
• Decentralized network of computing services • Connected by…well…a series of tubes (but
analogy doesn’t work well…why?)• Has grown to accommodate a series of
potential uses (not just that, Trekkie…)
Early conceptualization
• Vannevar Bush (1945) - conceptualization of a vast information store (“memex”) to harness world’s knowledge
• Also realized power of computing in storage and processing, leaving us available to do what we do best - association, linking, pattern creation
• Web as final realization of Memex concept?
ARPANet
• Theory put into practice initially by American military-industrial complex
• ARPANet - private information network to coordinate research
• Decentralized by definition - why?
Evolution…
• BITNET - educational institutions• X.25 - European networking - open also to
individuals, commercial• BBS’s as parallel public networks in N. American
market in particular• ARPA - not a service organization, dumps ARPANet to
NSF, who eventually privatized service
Establishign Critical Mass
• Public, commercial access - a relatively new thing (O*Net 15 years ago legalized commercial activity)
• Mosaic as interface to WWW (1994) – a revolutionary event in both access and economic basis – why ethos of free/open-source software exists
• Mass popularity of AOL - hardly the first, but the first to market to neophyte users effectively
Reaction
• Sudden transition to commercial medium - new opportunities, but also a lot of garbage
• Previously active spaces (e.g., UseNet) effectively destroyed with spam and the great unwashed AOL mass
• Move to private forums to realize community potential while restricting spammers
Public Medium and Voice
• Internet can increase public voice - e.g., consumer forums, political discussion
• Discussion can also become more base, ridiculous (e.g., “off topic” Wikispaces discussion forum)
• Signal/noise issues
Elitist Return? Net Neutrality
• Is some information more important? Should it get priority access to “the tubes?”
• Tiered access - who controls it? To what good purpose? How?
Tiered access
• Internet 2, Can*net 4, private internal networks• Sheridan’s iChat server and other university
bandwidth issues (e.g., YouTube filtering!)• Commercial censorship - Telus vs. union, Shaw vs.
VoIP, AOL vs. anti-AOL consumer sites, US Military vs. progressive blogs, Google and Yahoo! in China, RIAA/file trading - others?
A Critical Take
• Winner and mythinformation - technology adherents take to near mythical descriptions of how technology will change the world
• See also Noble - Religion of Technology - designers themselves speak in terms of highly spiritual terms (creation, transcendence, inevitable utopia)
Four Myths
• People are lacking information• Information is knowledge• Knowledge is power• Information access = equitable and
democratic social power
Do we really lack information?
• Many argue opposite - we’re drowning, and we are losing the ability to make associations and connections as a result
• Ex: 500-channel universe, academic journal explosion - little common ground, little opportunity for full analysis
Information = Knowledge?
• Sheer quantity of information may lead to information overload and destruction of knowledge
• Perceived knowledge vs. actionable and understood knowledge
• 9/11 example - information regarding terror cells existed but was scattered, uncoordinated - it didn’t make sense
Knowledge = Power?
• Knowledge available at the right time and context to people with the power and resources to act upon it might equal power
• Knowledge itself might leave you powerless - and frustratingly so - e.g., blogosphere and politics (e.g., Deaniacs and Paultards)
Information = Democracy?
• Capacity for self-governance isn’t just information-based
• Most people are simply not interested in all the relevant information
• Direct democracy can be dangerous, even asinine - e.g., Stockwell “Doris” Day example from 22 Minutes)
Next week…
• Next week: Web 2.0 and its effects on the Internet domain - what changes, what remains the same?