When I first started watching the video Networks Power and Democracy and realized it was a social science perspective of the Internet, I was gearing up for snooze mode. I am a technology junkie. I was one of those kids who would not go to sleep in the late 80s early 90s until I figured out this new program I was writing in <insert non-specific programming language here>. If the video had nothing to do about technology, I was destined for boredom. Then somehow, I was transfixed on Saskia Sassen. Something about her voice, her clarity! That’s what it was! It was the clarity of her message. Granted I did not understand it all. I also began to see shiny objects amidst my thoughts and, so, as I often do, I chased after them - occasionally returning to the meat of the video.
Sassen spoke of technically given openness and technically given choice does not produce equal distribution, the social logic of users, <chases shiny object again>. She continued on finance is not being about the technology, but finance needs the technology and has flourished as a result of the technology - thriving on decentralized access, interconnectivity and simultaneity.
Yet, we are not seeing equal distribution especially when seen from the blog perspective. Ok, stop for a minute. Too many shiny objects in my purview. I began to think about the content I provide my students on my Wordpress site - which is a blog tool. But I am not using it like a blog. It is a static space within which I post relevant content distilled from the materials and topics we need to cover over a 15-week period tempered with discussion, examples and assessments to determine if learning is indeed happening. Sometimes I look at my site and imagine it is a tray of sterilized instruments waiting for a needy patient.
But this content is one way and static. Sure I collect projects and personal journals in Blackboard, but there is not open discussion on the BLOG. I am not posting new and relevant content that is interesting, gripping, compelling - pick an adjective. And why not you ask? I have no idea! It just happened that way. So as I am in this shiny moment, I came back to the video.
She continues with why do the top blogs get so much traffic? It has nothing to do with the engineering or the technology. It has everything to do with the social logic. Going to sites that friends recommend. Using google searches that show the top results and people select those that further boost the likelihood of their presence (read relevance) in future searches. Wait, did I just say that? How could my logic be contrary to a seasoned social scientist? It’s not and never mind because that’s not the point after all. Google is Google and its relevance scores will be driven by its own heuristic model. Anyway...
Interestingly, Sassen discusses how when a blog gets too big it begins to look more like conventional mainstream media - a la “Letters to the Editor”. But at the other extreme, it would almost be like a conversation, texting with a friend, almost an intimate conversational encounter. Then there is the middle zone which is more like a truly social interactive environment and perhaps the best form of participatory culture. I have given no specific thought to this blog space previously and it was eye opening.
In other words, if I had a popular blog, how popular would I want to be to still be providing a good service to my readership? I would not want to be so big - having lackeys answering for me - nor would I want to devote, necessarily, so much effort on such a small readership domain. But wait, the classroom is exactly that - a small readership domain. This domain can be positively influenced by social logic which sadly I had engineered out of the equation.
As a result of all of this, I am making some tweaks to my site mid-semester. I will begin to post links to a variety of related materials in the field of computing, programming, virtualization, networking and security. In addition, I will write some opinion pieces a-al Scott Adams.
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/109389515411/your-phone-interface-is-a-legacy-train-wreck
Maybe it was fear of the unknown that caused me to subconsciously squash this method of interaction beyond the traditional classroom. Who knows and I’m teetering on who cares. It’s time to make some changes, but I am not ready for the full force of replies to posts just yet. Still need to work out some of the finer details there.
What are you’re thoughts on this? And, thank you, Saskia! I, too, will attempt to thrive on decentralized access, interconnectivity and simultaneity.
Sassen, S. (2012) Saskia Sassen: Networks, Power, and Democracy [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpw1GpHzAbc&feature=youtu.be
Hi William, I too got caught up with Saskia Sassen's lecture. It was interesting that the lecture was before the financial crash of 2007 given that she highlighted how the financial markets had used the technology to multiply in extreme orders of magnitude their business. At one point she quoted statistics for traded derivatives and global trade. I wondered if the use they made by 'digitizing financial instruments' somehow relate to the financial crisis that ensued. (I looked around but couldn't find a follow-up lecture on this topic done in more recent years.)
ReplyDeleteI thought that her comments on how civil society organizations are not really able to take advantage of the distributive effect of the blogsphere is probably correct, given their "cosy relationships" with the "nanny state". She referred to 'huge' costs that involved disruptive change -- she mentioned how Wall Street mergers had ended up with an enormous Goldman Sachs, and how multinationals had to innovate in order to be in a global space with "many national firms"... she thought that civil society has not figured out how to use the digital tool and she referred to embedded tension between the technological and social logic of users.
These days when I listen to the news here is what we learn about how social media is being used to communicate by really frightening, non-democratic groups. I wonder if this is part of the disruption that Sassen was referring to when she talked about civil society and technology?
As stated by BBC Monitoring: Is Islamic State shaping Boko Haram media?
"The increased sophistication and organisation of the propaganda that followed the launch of the Twitter account bore signs of the influence of IS, which has honed its social media exploitation over the past year. ...
This appeared to indicate that the group may have been assisted by IS media operatives, or influenced by IS in an indirect way.
Boko Haram has followed the example of IS by publishing branded photographs of its militants and the areas under its control to illustrate its successes on the ground.
The Twitter feed has also been posting a stream of short statements about the group's activities, claiming operations in a timely manner, in the mould of Islamic State's one-line tweeted claims."
Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-31522469