Media Theories and Processes (MS 112) FINAL EXAM

Industrial capitalism

- Under conditions of industrial capitalism, the design, production, distribution, and consumption of commodities are all separate processes

- Industrial capitalism, with its attendant processes of urbanization, globalization, and secularization, brought about the collapse of traditional society, characterized by small-scale communities, traditional religious institutions, and close personal relationships between producers and consumers → you know who makes your stuff

Commodity fetishism

- Following Karl Marx's theory of commodity fetishism, Jhally argues that in a modern industrialized economy the origins of goods are unknown to us. We don't know the people who made them, what their lives are like, or how the goods should be incorporated into our social lives

- "The commodity-form...is nothing but...the phantasmagoric form of a relation between things...the products of the human head appear as autonomous figures endowed with a life of their own...I call this the...fetishism"

- Under modern capitalism, people assign to the products of labor a set of magical, mysterious, and transcendent qualities.

- Advertising plays a powerful role in commodity fetishism by teaching consumers to associate products with magical capabilities.

- Digital technologies often exemplify commodity fetishism better than other commodities: the product simply seems to appear, without any clear signs of human involvement.

Social fragmentation

DEF: a condition or process where society becomes increasingly divided, disconnected, or fragmented along social, economic, cultural, or political lines

- Raymond Williams and Stuart Ewen

- Ewen points out in particular the psychological impact of advertising, which intensifies "nervous simulation," instability, and feelings of alienation (84-85)

- Crucially, advertising both contributes to social fragmentation and also offers products as a remedy for the resulting feelings of isolation on the part of consumers.

Consumption as psychotherapy

- Raymond Williams and Stuart Ewen

- "Consumption, it might be argued, is the most widely available mode of psychotherapy. Advertising speaks to emotional hungers, presents its commodities as emotional nourishments" (Ewen 85) → RETAIL THERAPY

Advertising as magic/religion

- As people lost their connections to known communities and lost their sense of identity in the vast anonymous cityscapes of the nineteenth century, advertisers recognized an amazing opportunity: commodities could "replace" that which had been lost → at least pretend to

- In particular, advertising could restore the "magic" once offered by spirituality and religion

- In "Advertising as Religion: The Dialectic of Technology and Magic," Jhally explains how products came to stand in for human relationships

- A fetish is an object believed to have magical power (irrationally so)

Commodity fetishes → Magical feats of transformation, instant happiness, gratification, and relief, the powers of bewitchment, Capturing the forces of nature, holding within the essence of important social relationships

Totemistic advertisements → "Utility, symbolization, and personalization are mixed and remixed under the sign of the group." Owning the product allows you entry into a certain group you want to belong to. It is your way of marking you belong. It gives magical access to previously closed worlds.

- Under modern capitalism, people assign to the products of labor a set of magical, mysterious, and transcendent qualities.

- Advertising plays a powerful role in commodity fetishism by teaching consumers to associate products with magical capabilities.

- Digital tech products are presented as autonomous magical entities that come from above to make our lives better.

Advertising as social commentary

Ewen points out:

1. "These ads reflect and reinforce the contemporary conditions of labor, the work process, [and] structures of technology"

2. "The ads are responsive to the social terms of modern life; they reflect a sense of a world 'out of control'"

3. "The ads offer a symbolic empathy with the critique of alienation and with visions of transcendence through the appropriation of the familiar image of 'the little tramp'"

Ex. 1971 Coke Commercial - "I'd like to buy the world a Coke", 2017 Pepsi Commercial featuring Kendall Jenner

Visions of transcendence

- Ewen

- "The ads offer a symbolic empathy with the critique of alienation and with visions of transcendence through the appropriation of the familiar image of 'the little tramp'"

Visions of transcendence → Advertising as the depiction or representation of aspirations or ideals that go beyond the everyday struggles or challenges associated with alienation or disconnection. It suggests a longing for or belief in something greater or more profound, such as spiritual enlightenment, personal transformation, or a sense of unity and connection with others.

Symbolic empathy

- Ewen

- "The ads offer a symbolic empathy with the critique of alienation and with visions of transcendence through the appropriation of the familiar image of 'the little tramp'"

Symbolic empathy → the way in which advertisements create a sense of connection or resonance with the critique of alienation and visions of transcendence by employing symbolic representations, particularly through the use of familiar imagery such as 'the little tramp' character → ads using familiar symbols to evoke a sense of understanding, empathy, or emotional connection with these deeper themes

Bodies as machines

- Advertising serves to establish new life patterns suitable for industrial society (key role of socializing people)

Among new hegemonic values established by advertising:

1. bodies as machines (cleanliness, orderliness, and timeliness)

- Says that you need to treat your body as something to be managed/controlled in order to be "well-functioning"; if not, you're alienating yourself

- The concept of "bodies as machines" reflects a mechanistic view of human bodies, highlighting the importance of treating the body as a functional entity that requires proper maintenance, care, and optimization

- This perspective may be promoted through advertising to shape consumer behavior and promote specific products or lifestyle choices that align with this metaphorical understanding of the body's functioning within industrial society

Ex. Michelin Man → exercise machine

Self-alienation as survival

- Advertising serves to establish new life patterns suitable for industrial society (key role of socializing people)

Among new hegemonic values established by advertising:

2. self-alienation as a survival skill

- Individuals may conform to societal norms, consumer trends, or commercialized identities to navigate and succeed in a competitive and consumption-driven society. This adaptation involves prioritizing external expectations or perceived societal ideals over one's own inner values or aspirations.

Ex. Buying a product in order to not be isolated or to fit in, "Bad breath makes you unpopular"

Consumption as moral obligation

- Advertising serves to establish new life patterns suitable for industrial society (key role of socializing people)

Among new hegemonic values established by advertising:

3. commodity consumption as moral responsibility

- Consumption of commodities (goods and products) is framed as more than just fulfilling individual wants or needs; it is presented as a societal duty or obligation with moral significance. Advertisements and cultural narratives may portray certain types of consumption as beneficial or virtuous for individuals and society as a whole.

Ex. Advertisement for a spray that kills roaches, while "roaches spread cancer"

Classified ads

- Raymond Williams and Sut Jhally

- Most early advertisements were what we would now call classifieds

Ex. Advertising a location, ads for runaway slaves

- Classified ads refer to a specific type of advertisement that is structured and categorized based on certain criteria, such as product type, service offered, or item for sale. Classified ads are typically brief, text-based advertisements that appear in a designated section of a publication, such as newspapers or magazines, under specific headings or categories.

- More informative/too the point, less persuasive like nowadays

Patent medicine ads

- The first mass produced commodities to be sold in brand form were patent medicines. These were medicinal commodities that were at least claimed to have been approved by royal letter patent (many were not, in fact)

- Advertisements for medicinal products became and remain a mainstay of the advertising industry. The hyperbolic claims frequently offers by this type of led many to become skeptical and to associate it with deceit, trickery, and charlatanism

- Patent medicine ads were early examples of persuasive advertising that capitalized on consumer trust in authority and government approval. These advertisements played a key role in the development of modern advertising techniques but also contributed to public skepticism and distrust of advertising due to their often misleading and exaggerated claims about medicinal benefits.

Ad agencies

- The industrial revolution led to many changes in advertisement. The steam press meant more newspapers, and thus more advertisements. Soon it became necessary for specialized agencies to handle the purchasing of ad space and the placement of ads.

- By the end of the nineteenth century, these agencies began to offer other services, including copywriting, copy editing, image production, and eventually the development of full-fledged ad campaigns.

Psychological warfare

- The very terminology of psychological warfare remains part of advertising discourse: campaign, strategy, target audience, sales force, impact, resistance.

- The primary goal of psychological warfare is to achieve strategic objectives by leveraging psychological methods rather than direct force.

Idolatry

- Drawing on T. Jackson Lears and Roland (not Richard) Marchand, Sut Jhally identifies four key cumulative historical stages in the development of advertising:

1) Idolatry (predominant 1890s-1920s)

- "Conveyed images of the product as dominant or transcendent"

- Reflects a historical stage characterized by the elevation of consumer goods to the status of cultural icons and symbols of societal values. It highlights the power of advertising to shape perceptions, aspirations, and consumer behaviors by imbuing products with symbolic meanings and emotional resonance

Iconology

Drawing on T. Jackson Lears and Roland (not Richard) Marchand, Sut Jhally identifies four key cumulative historical stages in the development of advertising:

2) Iconology (predominant 1920s-1940s)

- A middle ground. The product (shrinks down in size) now takes on meaning within a social context. "Both products and persons are embodiments of reigning social values"

-Use/exchange value

Narcissism

Drawing on T. Jackson Lears and Roland (not Richard) Marchand, Sut Jhally identifies four key cumulative historical stages in the development of advertising:

3) Narcissism (predominant 1950s-1960s)

- Now the product's "power is put at the disposal of individuals." Advertisements now show "the fanticisized notion of the self, of how the product can transform the individual's existence"

- If we buy this one more product, we will be attractive, we will find love etc. People can undergo sudden physical transformations just with the purchase of a commodity.

- Not only do you become transformed, but it transforms your relationship with other people, they become enticed by you... you become an object of desire.

Totemism

Drawing on T. Jackson Lears and Roland (not Richard) Marchand, Sut Jhally identifies four key cumulative historical stages in the development of advertising:

4. Totemism (predominant 1960s onward)

- "Utility, symbolization, and personalization are mixed and remixed under the sign of the group." Owning the product allows you entry into a certain group you want to belong to. It is your way of marking you belong. It gives magical access to previously closed worlds.

- Totemistic advertisements often appropriate, co-opt, and trivialize political and social movements, contributing to an identity politics reflected in and expressed through objects instead of actual social relations

- Ads thus teach us the language of objectification, whereby we produce ourselves as objects of others' gaze

Ex. Kendall Jenner Pepsi ad

Exchange value

- Exchange value is involved in transaction, turning an object into a commodity to be bartered or sold. For Marx, exchange is not just a utility, but also something that has value beyond that.

- Producers charge more than products use value, which they get consumers to pay through advertising which produces this exchange value

- Advertising is largely responsible for increasing exchange value, leading to indifference to material world (use values)

Use value

Use value is linked to the physical properties of the object, for example its material function or utility

Objectification

- Mentioned in terms of Totemism

- Ads teach us the language of objectification, whereby we produce ourselves as objects of others' gaze

Objectification → the process of treating or perceiving individuals, groups, or even oneself as objects or commodities, often reducing complex human beings to mere objects of consumption, desire, or scrutiny

Digitize

Digitize- to convert (data) to digital form for use in a computer (to process algorithmically)

- Distinctive feature and effect characterizing digital media

Algorithm

- How computers "use" data

Algorithms= ordered sets of rules or steps

- To solve problems and manage data using algorithms, then, is to apply rules and protocols guaranteeing that content will appear in a known form

- When algorithms are applied to human identities and human social systems, rules and protocols become integrated into the very infrastructure of communication, interaction, and representation.

Reticulated society

- Bernard Stiegler

- Insofar as digital information industries have constituted a reticulated (or networked) society and now manage and exploit the relations between individual machines and people, we live under algorithmic governmentality.

Reticulation- "a pattern or arrangement of interlacing lines resembling a net" or network

Reticulated society- refers to a social structure characterized by interconnectedness, interdependence, and pervasive networking facilitated by digital technologies and information systems

Algorithmic governmentality

- Bernard Stiegler

- Insofar as digital information industries have constituted a reticulated (or networked) society and now manage and exploit the relations between individual machines and people, we live under algorithmic governmentality.

Algorithmic Governmentality- The various systems and modes of control enabled by algorithms, especially within a reticular society

DEF: involves the use of algorithms to regulate, control, and influence social behaviors, preferences, and interactions within networked societies.

Individuation

- "Jazz created a collective: it was a machine to make friends through listening to the improbable" (ibid)

- Jazz, Stiegler reveals, "played a significant role in my psychosocial individuation" (ibid)

Individuation- "the general idea of how a thing is identified as an individual thing that "is not something else"

DEF: refers to the process by which an individual establishes and develops a distinct identity or sense of self that is unique and separate from others

- In Stiegler's context, individuation involves affirming one's unique identity and resisting conformity or submission to dominant cultural norms or ideologies.

- The spirit of non-submission described by Stiegler reflects a desire to assert an extraordinary and authentic sense of self, inspired by cultural expressions like jazz music that celebrate individual creativity and expression.

Transindividuation

Transindividuation- "the operation in which a certain amount of individuals (born from successive operations of individuation) construct a relation between themselves that ultimately form a consistent aggregate that [Gilbert] Simondon calls transindividual"

- Transindividual relations are precisely what digital information industries seek to exploit algorithmically, through large-scale data gathering and processing

DEF: the process by which individuals, who have undergone their own individuation (the development of their unique identities), establish relationships and connections with others to form a coherent collective or group

- "Individuals and groups are thus transformed into data-providers, de-formed and re-formed by 'social' networks operating according to new protocols of association"(7)

Disindividuation

- "Digital reticulation penetrates, invades, parasitizes and ultimately destroys social relations at lightning speed, and, in so doing, neutralizes and annihilates them from within, by outstripping, overtaking, and engulfing them"(Stiegler, 7)

- As a result, we become disindividuated

DEF: process or condition in which individuals lose their sense of distinct identity, autonomy, or agency within a social or technological context that overwhelms or disrupts traditional forms of social relations and individuality (loss of individual identity + neutralization of social relations)

Datafication of retentions

German phenomenologist Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) claimed that human perceptual acts can be divided into two temporary distinct modes:

Retention- that which is retained in our consciousness as a presentation of something no longer immediately before us

- Retention relates to memory (that which we have done)

- Both retention and protention anchor us to our immediate environment

- Stiegler argues that as we are disindividuated through the disruptive processes of automation, reticulation, and algorithmic governmentality, our retentions are appropriated and datafied

- "Our 'own data, which also amounts to what we call retentions, enables [us] to be dispossessed of [our] own protentions- that is, [our] own desires, expectations, volitions, will, and so on'"(7) → deprives us of our desires/will

- Our desires and dreams are "progressively replaced by automatic protentions that are produced by intensive computing systems"(8)

- "It overtakes individuals via digital doubles or profiles on the basis of which it satisfies 'desires' they have most likely never expressed-but which are in reality herd-like substitutes depriving individuals of their own existence by always preceding their will, at the same time emptying them of meaning"(8)

- Life in reticulated, digitalized society thus becomes meaningless, engendering a profound and pervasive nihilism...and madness.

Automatic protentions

- Stiegler

- Once our retentions are datafied, our desires and dreams are "progressively replaced by automatic protentions that are produced by intensive computing systems"(8)

- "It overtakes individuals via digital doubles or profiles on the basis of which it satisfies 'desires' they have most likely never expressed-but which are in reality herd-like substitutes depriving individuals of their own existence by always preceding their will, at the same time emptying them of meaning"(8)

DEF: a phenomenon where individuals' natural desires, expectations, and aspirations are progressively replaced or overridden (loss of autonomy) by automatic processes driven by intensive computing systems

Digital doubles

- Stiegler

- "[Automatic protentions] overtakes individuals via digital doubles or profiles on the basis of which it satisfies 'desires' they have most likely never expressed-but which are in reality herd-like substitutes depriving individuals of their own existence by always preceding their will, at the same time emptying them of meaning"(8)

Digital doubles- digital representations or profiles of individuals created and maintained by digital platforms, social media networks, and online services (digital footprint)

Nihilism/madness

- Stiegler

- Life in reticulated, digitalized society thus becomes meaningless, engendering a profound and pervasive nihilism...and madness.

Nihilism:

- Nihilism refers to a philosophical perspective or existential condition characterized by a sense of meaninglessness, futility, or emptiness in life.

- It is often associated with the belief that life lacks inherent purpose, value, or significance, leading to feelings of disillusionment, existential despair, and detachment from traditional values or norms.

- In the context of digitalized society, nihilism can arise from the perception that technological advancements and algorithmic systems reduce human experiences to data points, eroding authentic meaning and agency.

Madness:

- Madness, in this context, can be understood as a psychological state marked by disorientation, confusion, or irrationality resulting from overwhelming societal pressures, technological disruptions, or existential crises.

- It may refer to a breakdown of mental health or stability due to the challenges of navigating a rapidly changing, technologically driven world.

- Stiegler suggests that the disindividuation caused by automation, reticulation, and algorithmic control can contribute to a pervasive sense of madness or psychological distress among individuals who feel alienated or disconnected from authentic human experiences and relationships.

Epokhe of disruption

- Cause of nihilism and madness

- Stiegler argues that reticulated, digitalized society lacks positive collective protentions.

- As a system grows increasingly computational, positive individual and collective protentions fade away, leaving only negative protentions.

- We have entered an epokhe of disruption brought about by digital technical systems.

- For Stiegler, an epokhe is a change in our way of thinking brought about by a technological upheaval

- Typically, an epokhe of knowledge follows a technological epokhe. Once both have transpired, we call it an epoch.

- The disruption produced by digital technical systems, however, has prevented a new epokhe of knowledge from forming

- "Behaviors, as ways of living, are being replaced by automatisms and addictions. At the same time, intergenerational and transgenerational relations are unravelling: transmission of knowledge has been prevented" (Stiegler, 15)

Implications: rise in "hopelessness" and inter-social violence (like gun violence)

Automatisms

- Stiegler

- "Behaviors, as ways of living, are being replaced by automatisms and addictions. At the same time, intergenerational and transgenerational relations are unravelling: transmission of knowledge has been prevented" (Stiegler, 15)

Automatisms → automatic or habitual behaviors, responses, or actions that occur without conscious awareness or deliberate intention

- In the context of technological and societal change, automatisms can be influenced or exacerbated by digital technologies that promote habitual interactions and routines.

- The prevalence of automatisms in modern life, fueled by digital interfaces, algorithms, and devices, raises questions about individual agency, autonomy, and the balance between automated behaviors and conscious decision-making.

Sourcery

What solutions exist for such nihilism and madness?

- Problematically, many of the proposed solutions rely on the very digital industries

- Stiegler holds responsible for producing the conditions for nihilism and madness...

Why?

- Wendy Hui Kyong Chun offers an explanation: sourcery

- The fantasies of omnipotence enabled by programming position the programmer as the ultimate source of all events.

- Because this false sense of causality is based upon the fetishization of source code, Chun calls the programmer's self-delusion "sourcery"

- Programmers are thus "sourcerors" or techno-wizards armed with a tool (programming languages) that gives them "magical" control over not just machine calculation, but, it would seem, the physical and social world outside as well.

- Both interfaces and ideology operate at the level of action, rather than the level of belief

- In this way, then, the fetish of sourcery hails not just the programmer, but the user: "interactive and seemingly real-time interfaces create users who believe they are the 'source' of the computer's action" (Chun 68)

Source code as fetish

- Wendy Hui Kyong Chun

- For Chun, source code, the basis for all human interaction with digital computers, is a fetish.

- The term "fetish" comes from the Portuguese word feitico, meaning "charm, sorcery, allurement."

- In 1760, Charles de Brosses published Du culte de dieux fétiches, in which he coined the term "fetish" to describe "primitive religions" which, he argued, assigned magical powers to mundane objects.

- Fetish was thus a pejorative term that allowed its users to distinguish themselves from supposedly irrational and backward Others.

- "A fetish allows one to visualize what is unknown- to substitute images for causes...Fetishes enable a semblance of control over future events" (Chun, 50)

- Fetishes seem to make the invisible visible.

- The fantasies of omnipotence enabled by programming position the programmer as the ultimate source of all events.

- Because this false sense of causality is based upon the fetishization of source code, Chun calls the programmer's self-delusion "sourcery"

- Programmers are thus "sourcerors" or techno-wizards armed with a tool (programming languages) that gives them "magical" control over not just machine calculation, but, it would seem, the physical and social world outside as well.

- "Hacking reveals the extent to which source code can become a fetish: something endless that always leads us pleasurably, as well as anxiously, astray"(49)

Machine code

- Source code does not directly control machine calculation. Rather, [source code] must be compiled into machine code first.

- Chun emphasizes the distinction between source code and machine code.

- "Machine code provokes mystery and submission; source code enables understanding and thus institutes rational thought and freedom" (51).

- Because it is readable and learnable, source code seems to render accessible and meaningful the cognitively impossible world of machine code.

- The invention of "software" in the form of compilers, assemblers, automatic programming, and structured programming put more and more layers of abstractions between humans and machine calculation. → puts more and more of the actual programming in the hands of the machine

Data abstraction

DEF: a fundamental concept in computer science and software engineering where details of implementation are hidden behind a simplified interface

- "Data abstraction is all about forgetting, about hiding information about how a type is implemented behind an interface" (Chun, 37)

- "Abstraction both empowers the programmer and insists on his/her ignorance" (ibid)

- "Higher-level programming languages...explode one's instructions and enable one to forget the machine...These language place everyone in the position of the planner, without the knowledge of the code" (Chun, 41)

- Data abstraction, therefore, places more and more of the actual programming in the hands of the machine, yet paradoxically allows the user to feel as though they are in control of events

"Unified causal field"

- "A fetish allows one to visualize what is unknown— to substitute images for causes. Fetishes allow the human mind both too much and not enough control by establishing a "unified causal field" that encompasses both personal actions and physical events. Fetishes enable a semblance of control over future events" (50)

- "Unified causal field"- represents a cognitive framework or mental model that simplifies causation by attributing a single, unified cause to diverse events or phenomena

- It underscores the human tendency to seek order and predictability through symbolic representations and conceptual frameworks, such as fetishes, that provide a sense of control and understanding over complex and uncertain circumstances

- However, reliance on unified causal fields may also limit deeper understanding and appreciation of the multifaceted nature of causation in the world.

"Code is law"

- "To program in a higher-level language is to enter a magical world—it is to enter a world of logos, in which one's code faithfully represents one's intentions"(Chun, 46)

- "The computer programmer...is a creator of universes for which he alone is the lawgiver"

- "Code is law" encapsulates the idea that software code functions as a form of governance within digital systems, dictating the rules, behaviors, and interactions that define user experiences and digital environments. It underscores the authority and responsibility of programmers in shaping the regulatory framework of software-driven ecosystems, emphasizing the profound impact of code on individual freedoms and societal dynamics in the digital age.

Programmers as "sourcerors"

- Because this false sense of causality is based upon the fetishization of source code, Chun calls the programmer's self-delusion "sourcery"

- Programmers are thus "sourcerors" or techno-wizards armed with a tool (programming languages) that gives them "magical" control over not just machine calculation, but, it would seem, the physical and social world outside as well.

Structured programming

DEF: A programming paradigm that facilitates the creation of programs with readable code and reusable components

- Led to more and more layers of abstractions between humans and machine calculation

Automatic programming

DEF: type of computer programming in which some mechanism generates a computer program to allow human programmers to write the code at a higher abstraction level

Paranoid schizophrenia

- Because they are separated from social unities, the neoliberal subject is susceptible to paranoid, even schizophrenic conceptions of the world.

- "To the user, as with the paranoid schizophrenic, there is always meaning: whether or not the user knows the meaning. s/he knows that it regards him or her. To know the code is to have a form of "X-ray vision' that makes the inside and outside coincide" (53).

Interactive interface(s)

Interface: From 1962 (Marshall McLuhan!), "the place at which independent and often unrelated systems meet and act on or communicate with each other (ex. The man-machine interface)"

- Interfaces enable interactivity between humans and computing machines.

- Interfaces made the user into an "executive," fostering feelings of mastery and competence.

Interfaces allow us to believe we are the cause of the computer's action in two key ways:

2) The interactive pleasure brought about by user amplification-the amplification of our single action into a narrative sequence.

- Interactive interfaces gave us the compelling and pleasurable sensations of access, control, and unveiling.

- "This unveiling depends on our own actions, on us manipulating in order to see, on us thinking like object-oriented programmers" (Chun, 71)

- We have fully embraced the idea that we are individual subjects fully in control of our computing devices, our social lives, and our reality.

Neoliberal subjects

- By buying into source code as a fetish and the rhetoric of interactivity, we have, in other words, become the ideal neoliberal subjects.

- The neoliberal subject conceives of themselves as homo economicus. Every action, every interaction, must increase the neoliberal subject's personal saleability.

- Because they are separated from social unities, the neoliberal subject is susceptible to paranoid, even schizophrenic conceptions of the world.

DEF: Neoliberal subjects embody the values and behaviors promoted by neoliberal ideology, including individualism, market rationality, and personal responsibility

- They conceive of themselves as rational economic actors whose actions are driven by self-interest and the pursuit of personal gain within market-based systems

Networks vs. hierarchies

- Unlike bureaucracies and other traditional hierarchical systems (leveled/orderly), networks are inherently flexible and adaptable

- Networks are sets of interconnected nodes (Castells, 1)

The network is the message

- Manuel Castells

- Following Marshall McLuhan, Castells claims that the network is the message → you can't bind a network, inherently will connect outwards

Okay, so what message does the network offer?

- Though the internet was "purposely designed as a technology of free communication," it is "a particularly malleable technology, susceptible of being deeply modified by its social practice" (5)

- "The elasticity of the Internet makes it particularly susceptible to intensifying the contradictory trends present in our world" (6)

- For Castells, context and use absolutely matter, but we must accept that the Internet fundamentally changes modes of communication, representation, and thinking.

Ex. Anonymous, the hacking collective that emerged from 4Chan in 2003, exemplifies the advantages and global political possibilities of online anonymity → made possible by the architecture of the Internet (no longer need to follow the law as long as you're doing the right thing)

Anonymity as freedom

- Castells links freedom of speech to the privacy afforded by anonymous communication

- If a government cannot identify those communicating online or even read messages due to encryption, it is difficult if not impossible to control communication flows

Ex. Anonymous, the hacking collective that emerged from 4Chan in 2003, exemplifies the advantages and global political possibilities of online anonymity

- The ability of Anonymous and other non state actors to act globally while successfully evading state identification and censorship depends on the architecture of the Internet

Internet protocols

- Protocols such as TCP/IP (network addressing and data transfer on internet) and FTP (protocol on web server, upload/download file protocol) allow for the decentralized movement of information in packets which can be broken apart, travel independently and bypass problematic nodes, and then be automatically reassembled at the destination. → easily modifiable, easy to implement, and scalable

- Because the majority of internet traffic passes through US and Western European servers, the legal protections for free speech afforded by the countries extend to a majority of the world.

- There are by now important exceptions, including the Great Firewall of China, which includes the Golden Shield Project, a nationwide network-security built with assistance and technology provided by Cisco Systems

Technologies of control

Ex. The Great Firewall and Golden Shield Project are examples of what Castells identifies as technologies of control

Technologies of Control

1. Identification Technologies:

passwords, cookies, authentication procedures (i.e. Duo Mobile)

2. Surveillance Technologies: message interception, communication tracking, recording, monitoring, Palantir (founded 2003)

3. Investigation Technologies: database construction and management, aggregation, profiling

Technologies of control rely upon:

1. Asymmetrical knowledge of codes: "Controllers know the codes of the network, the controlled do not. Software is confidential and proprietary, and cannot be modified except by its owner. Once on the network, the average user is the prisoner of an architecture he or she does not know" (Castells, 173)

2. "The ability to define a specific space of communication susceptible [to] control": "Controls are exercised on the basis of a space defined on the network, for instance, the network around an Internet service provider, or the intra-network in a company, a university, or a government agency. Yes, the Internet is a global network, but points of access to it are not" (Castells, 171, 173)

Asymmetric knowledge

Technologies of control rely upon:

Asymmetrical knowledge of codes → "Controllers know the codes of the network, the controlled do not. Software is confidential and proprietary, and cannot be modified except by its owner. Once on the network, the average user is the prisoner of an architecture he or she does not know" (Castells, 173)

- You can't control what you don't know, can only be controlled

Global network state

- A new form of governance emerging from the need to combat cyber-threats that transcend traditional borders.

- It entails governments sharing sovereignty and control to enhance information gathering and surveillance capabilities, often resulting in the erosion of privacy and human rights protections.

- This system involves collaborative efforts between governments, internet providers, and digital security firms, reshaping governance in response to globalized challenges posed by the misuse of the internet.

Technologies of freedom

- Castells argues that "technologies of control can be counteracted by technologies of freedom" (182)

Technologies of Freedom:

1. Coding for freedom: encryption, VPNs, anti-tracking software, anonymizers

2. Open source coding: if proprietary coding makes it easier to constrict information, open source coding will make it easier for users to understand what programs are actually doing with their information

Open-source coding

- One of the technologies of freedom

- If proprietary coding makes it easier to constrict information, open source coding will make it easier for users to understand what programs are actually doing with their information

Discourse (Foucault)

Discourse (from Foucault):

"the product of specific social, historical, institutional and political conditions that render certain statements truthful and meaningful, and others false, marginalized and deviant." Discourse produces knowledge.

Mimetic vs. constructivist

Reflectionist/Mimetic Approaches:

- Media and language function like mirrors, mimetically reflecting the "real world"

- Reflectionist approaches focus on truth values: in other words, how (in)accurately a given representation or representer records and presents the truth

VS.

Constructionist Approaches:

- Media constructs truths and meanings in the very act of representation by selecting, emphasizing, classifying, and making associations between things.

- Constructionist approaches focus on how meaning is created and struggled over

Ex. Barthe

Structuralism

- Structuralist approaches, which derive from Saussure's semiotics presume that the elements of a system can only be understood in terms of how they relate to that larger system.

- By identifying the cultural repertoires, symbols, narratives, codes and conventions of a given culture, one could then learn to read media representations produced within and for that culture.

Post-structuralism

- Post-structuralist approaches abandon notions of deep structures and coherent self-contained systems and instead emphasize the power of discourse and representations to create what we call reality.

- Critics of post-structuralist approaches point out that by endlessly deferring meaning and denying the possibility that representations can ever reflect reality, post-structuralism effectively renders all political and cultural acts meaning-less

Simulation/simulacra

"Baudrillard's concept of simulation removes the possibility of sign systems referring to anything other than further sign systems...Signs refer us to other signs, until the relation of these to the world beyond diminishes to vanishing point"

Orientalism (Said)

- The "Orient," Said argues, is a durable discursive construction that serves as a foil for the "Occident" (the West) to define itself. At the same time, it collapses together nations, cultures, histories, and identities from much of the non-Western world into near binary oppositions.

- "Behold the difference between the Oriental and the Occidental. The former has nothing to do in this world; the latter is full of activity. The one looks in the sun til his eyes are put out; the other follows him prone in his westward course" - Henry David Thoreau (1849)

The Binary Oppositions of Orientalism:

Occident (West) → active, masculine, mind, history, reason/logos, human, good

Orient (East) → passive, feminine, body, eternity, desire/pathos, inhuman, evil

- Orientalist discourses serve as an endless repertoire of essentialist binary representations to be used by Hollywood and other Western media producers to produce narratives, characters, and visual tropes.

- Orientalist representations are not limited to popular culture, of course. They permeate policy-making and political discourses as well.

- Because the binary oppositions Orientalist discourses deploy are so broad, flexible, and pervasive, they come to be accepted by many simply as a form of "knowledge"

- In developing her theoretical framework, Orgad draws on Said's concept of mediated non-reciprocal intimacy: the West's ability to represent the Orient as an intimately known but morally distant Other.

Mediated nonreciprocal intimacy

In developing her theoretical framework, Orgad draws on Said's concept of mediated non-reciprocal intimacy: the West's ability to represent the Orient as an intimately known but morally distant Other

-In other words, mediated non-reciprocal intimacy describes a situation where one group (the West) claims to have deep knowledge and understanding of another group (the Orient) based on mediated representations, but this knowledge is shaped by stereotypes, biases, and power dynamics

The global imagination

- By recognizing that power relations play an important role in representation, perception, and knowledge, Orgad grounds her notion of the global imagination in our current historical, political, and cultural context.

- "Imagination refers to the capacity to see in and think about something as that which it is not, the represent the 'absent as present, with all the thoughts and feelings it would bring if it were present'"(41)

- The global imagination is a dialectical formation: it is both factual and normative, messy and contradictory, involving both thinking and feeling.

- The global imagination operates according to moral imperatives, often through contestation with existing structures and discourses.

- Orgad explores how the global imagination operates and structures our understanding of the world at five "sites."

1. Imagining Others → how individuals imagine/perceive people from different cultures/backgrounds (shaped by our stereotyped/biased understandings)

2. Imagining Ourselves → how individuals and communities position themselves in relation to broader cultural, social, and historical narratives, including ideas of belonging and citizenship

3. Imagining Possible Lives → envisioning alternative life trajectories and possibilities beyond one's immediate circumstances

4. Imaging the World → broader global consciousness and how individuals perceive the interconnectedness of the world

5. Imagining the Self → the construction of personal identity and the negotiation of self-image in a globalized context