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?