@adelinekoh #uwdh

I F FA N O N H A D FA C E B O O K D I G I TA L P O S T C O L O N I A L K N O W L E D G E & T H E R H I Z O M E

A D E L I N E K O H , S T O C K T O N U N I V E R S I T Y @ A D E L I N E K O H # U W D H1

FA N O N / FA C E B O O K D I G I TA L E C O L O G I E S P O S T C O L O N I A L K N O W L E D G E

2

N E T W O R K S , R H I Z O M E S , A L G O R I T H M SP O S T C O L O N I A L D I G I TA L K N O W L E D G E

3

C R I T I Q U E S

• “clicktivism”/“slactivism”

• “weak ties”

4

B U T

• Occupy Wall Street

• The Arab Spring

• #SolidarityisforWhiteWomen

• #Trayvon

• #Ferguson

5

S O C I A L M E D I A G N O S I S

R H I Z O M E D E L E U Z E & G U AT TA R I

Postcolonial scholars should intervene in the digital sphere

6

I N C L U D E S : M O R E C O M P L E X L E S S U T O P I A N P E R S P E C T I V E S O N S O C I A L M E D I A

I N T E G R AT I O N W I T H T H E R H I Z O M AT I C S T R U C T U R E O F K N O W L E D G E O U T L I N E D H E R E

Longer version of talk

7

P Y R A M I D , N E T W O R K , R H I Z O M E

8

9

Knowledge

Filtered by experts

Print Knowledge

How Print Knowledge Works

10

M A K I N G K N O W L E D G E P U B L I C

11

D E C E N T R A L I Z E D K N O W L E D G E

12

D E C E N T R A L I Z E D K N O W L E D G E

13

A G A I N S T E X P E R T I S E

14

D E C L I N E O F T H E M E D I A , R I S E O F C I T I Z E N J O U R N A L I S M

15

D E C L I N E O F T R A D I T I O N A L M E D I A

• Mainstream journalists “taken in” by viral photographs and news that are fake

• Rise of citizen journalism, quickest access to news

• Underreporting of events in mainstream meadia that don’t align with big business interests (#OccupyWallStreet, #Ferguson)

16

C H A N G E I N K N O W L E D G E P R O D U C T I O N

• Networked, not silo-ed

• New academia: sharing knowledge before “finished”

• Knowledge-in-process

• #WritingInPublic—Michelle Moravec http://michellemoravec.com/michelle-moravec/

• Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Planned Obsolescence, Shakespeare Quarterly, #postmedevial, Hybrid Pedagogy

17

D E L E U Z E A N D G U AT TA R I , A T H O U S A N D P L AT E A U S

Networks and Rhizomes

18

• Deleuze and Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus “… any point of a rhizome can be connected to anything other, and must be. This is very different from the tree or a root, which plots a point, fixes an order. The linguistic tree on the Chomsky model still begins at a point S and proceeds by dichotomy. In contrast… not every train in a rhizome is necessarily linked to a linguistic feature: semiotic chains of every nature are connected to very diverse modes of coding that bring into play not only different regimes of signs but also states of things of differing status.”

19

A S S E M B L A G E S

• For D&G, Print book as tyrannical structure of Hegelian dialectic

• Versus “assemblages”:

• There is no longer a tripartite division between a field of reality (the world) and a field of representation (the book) and a field of subjectivity (the author). Rather, an assemblage establishes connections between certain multiplicities drawn from each of these orders, so that a book has no sequel nor the world as its object nor one or several authors as its subject.”

20

P O S T C O L O N I A L K N O W L E D G E A S R H I Z O M AT I C

• Crowds vs Experts

• Many points of entry, exit and connection

• Chaos of the Internet/Divergent Thought

21

F U R T H E R E X P L O R AT I O N S

22

F I N A L LY

• Problems of algorithms and gatekeeping

• Potential of the web/rhizomatic structures

• cautioned use of proprietary algorithms

• New arena—from colonial library of print to the networked public sphere

23