Review of Carr and Dean from LBO

Left Business Observer
Nicholas Carr, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to our
Brains , W.W. Norton, 276 pp. $26.95.
Jodi Dean, Blog Theory: Feedback and Culture in the Age of the
Drive, Polity Press, 140 pp., $19.95.


Hearts fluttered over the contribution of Facebook and Twitter to the Middle Eastern uprisings. No doubt they contributed, but so did things like pre-existing union agitation in Egypt. And it wouldn’t have happened had people not gotten out of their pajamas and into the streets. But, over the longer term, what is our
wired world doing to our minds and cultures?

These two books come at the same problem from different directions. Jodi Dean’s is explicitly from the left and rather theoretical, and Nicholas Carr’s isn’t explicitly political and is mostly empirical. But they both make you worry about the Internet’s effect on us. Neither author is a Luddite, and both blog. And they’re aware of the oddness of writing a book about the topic. The new media world is fast, faster even than TV, which rewards “fast thinkers,” as Pierre Bourdieu put it (see LBO #83). The speed of TV is driven by advertisers, who fear that anything seriously disruptive, like pausing to think, might interfere with sales effort. Though those preferences have become embedded in the assumptions of producers—they love bombast, phony conflict, quick cuts—one could still imagine serious conversation on TV, or disruptive art—in fact, we’ve all seen that now and then.

Instructions for self-assessment--due May 9

Your self-assessment is due at 4:30 on Monday, May 9, in my office.

It needs to have a cover page, be typed, double-spaced, with page numbers, and a staple in the upper left hand corner.

The paper should be 12-15 pages long.

Illustrations, graphs, graphics, images, charts, and comics are permitted. Take risks. 

The best papers will engage specific readings. 

You should assess your performance in the class. Here are the sorts of questions you might consider:

What did you put into the class? How did you contribute to others' learning and experience? In what ways did you take responsibility for your own learning? 

What did you get out of the course? Is there a difference between what you thought at the beginning of the term and what you think now?  Is there anything you would do differently?

With all these questions, be as specific as possible. You might choose to construct your answer in terms of the readings. You might choose to construct your answer in terms of themes. You might choose to construct your answer in terms of the areas of assessment (projects, participation, blogs, exams, papers). You might choose to construct your answer in terms of the types of activities engaged in (books, online readings, Facebook, blogs, lectures, debates, presentations, discussions, collaborative exams).      

Final Exam--due May 7 at 4:30

Deadline:  Saturday, May 7, at 4:30. Exams must be handed in to my office by 4:30 on May 7. Exams must be typed, double-spaced, with citations and page numbers; they must be stapled in the top left corner. I will not accept late exams.

You may use your books and consult with others in the class. As a preface or introduction to your exam, explain how you went about answering the questions. Did you work with others? With whom did you work? How did you organize yourselves? What was the process? Be as specific as possible. Failure to provide this account will result in a ten point penalty (that is, ten points deducted from your total exam points).

Note: Your self-assessment will be due on Monday, May 9, at 5:00 in my office. I will accept early papers. I will not accept late papers.

There are 10 ten point questions and 1 twenty point question.

Ten point questions. Be sure to cite and engage the readings that inform your answer.

1.  Eric Raymond contrasts the cathedral and the bazaar. What point is he trying to make with this contrast? Is his argument consistent with his title? Why or why not? 

2.  Siva Vaidhyanathan argues that Google has capitalized on public failure. What does he mean when says this? How is this argument connected to the question of regulation?

3.  What drives social media? The best answers will think in terms of both the users and the features of social media. They will also refer to the "The Viral Me."

4.  In what ways does an eighties "hacker culture" shape Wikileaks? How does this differentiate Wikileaks from more traditional journalism? What are the benefits of these differences? What are the drawbacks?

5.  What does Mark Andrejevic mean by "digital enclosure"?

6.  Does interactivity entail democratization? Use Mark Andrejevic to answer this question. What are the repercussions of your answer for analyzing movements.org?

7.  What is the connection between technology and refusal of work according to Franco Berardi?

8.  According to Franco Berardi, why do problems like panic disorder, ADHD, and depression increase under semio-capitalism?

9.  According to Nicholas Carr, what does the internet do to our brains? How does he use the idea of brain plasticity in his argument? Is it persuasive? Why or why not?

10.  Why is it in Google's interest to get us to click on more and more links? What are the repercussions of this for Google? What are the repercussions for people? Does it make sense to use the notion of efficiency to think about thinking? Why or why not?

Twenty point question. Be sure to engage and cite material from the course in your answer. You may use texts assigned during the first half of the course (chapter two of Terranova may be important here).

Students had the option of changing the way their work in the course would be assessed. You could change the requirements as well as the way these requirements would be weighted. Why didn't you do this? In answering the question, consider what you personally did or did not do as well as what your fellow students did or did not do (I'm asking you here whether you think your own reasons/motivations were the same or different from those that you attribute to others). The best answers will thematize the effect of the media terrain. For example, digital networks are supposed to facilitate communication; they are supposed to enable people to connect with one another easily; is this the same as enabling/inciting people to come together to evaluate problems, formulate options, and make decisions? Might the same technologies that reduce friction also displace action?

End of term

Since there hasn't been a consensus (much less a full debate) on the course requirements, the one's I introduced at the beginning of the term will stand.

The format for the final exam will be the same as it was for the mid-term. It will be due on May 7 at 5:00. I will post the questions this Friday.

The self assessment paper (15 pages) will be due on May 9 at 5:00. I will post guidelines for the paper by Friday.

Write or Die by Dr Wicked � About

Write or Die by Dr Wicked � About:

"Write or Die is a web application that encourages writing by punishing the tendency to avoid writing. Start typing in the box. As long as you keep typing, you’re fine, but once you stop typing, you have a grace period of a certain number of seconds and then there are consequences."

The Terminators: drone strikes prompt MoD to ponder ethics of killer robots | World news | The Guardian

The Terminators: drone strikes prompt MoD to ponder ethics of killer robots | World news | The Guardian:

"The growing use of unmanned aircraft in combat situations raises huge moral and legal issues, and threatens to make war more likely as armed robots take over from human beings, according to an internal study by the Ministry of Defence.

The report warns of the dangers of an 'incremental and involuntary journey towards a Terminator-like reality', referring to James Cameron's 1984 movie, in which humans are hunted by robotic killing machines. It says the pace of technological development is accelerating at such a rate that Britain must quickly establish a policy on what will constitute 'acceptable machine behaviour'."

Google against extremism (AYM related)

Remember AYM (Movements.org) and one of its founders, Jared Cohen? He has a new project, fighting violence extremism. That is, Google, a corporation, is participating in a political struggle against what it (or the US State Department) considers violent extremism:

Neo-Nazi groups and al Qaeda might not seem to have much in common, but they do in one key respect: their recruits tend to be very young. The head of Google’s new think tank, Jared Cohen, believes there might be some common reasons why young people are drawn to violent extremist groups, no matter their ideological or philosophical bent. So this summer, Cohen is spearheading a conference, in Dublin, Ireland, to explore what it is that draws young people to these groups and what can be done to redirect them.

Technology, of course, is playing a role both in recruiting members to extremist groups, as well as fueling pro-democracy and other movements--and that’s where Google’s interest lies. "Technology is a part of every challenge in the world, and a part of every solution,” Cohen tells Fast Company. "To the extent that we can bring that technology expertise, and mesh it with the Council on Foreign Relations’ academic expertise--and mesh all of that with the expertise of those who have had these experiences--that's a valuable network to explore these questions."

Cohen is the former State Department staffer who is best known for his efforts to bring technology into the country’s diplomatic efforts. But he was originally hired by Condaleezza Rice back in 2006 for a different--though related--purpose: to help Foggy Bottom better understand Middle Eastern youths (many of whom were big technology adopters) and how they could best "deradicalized." Last fall, Cohen joined Google as head of its nascent Google Ideas, which the company is labeling a "think/do tank."

This summer’s conference, "Summit Against Violent Extremism," takes place June 26-29 and will bring together about 50 former members of extremist groups--including former neo-Nazis, Muslim fundamentalists, and U.S. gang members--along with another 200 representatives from civil society organizations, academia, private corporations, and victims groups. The hope is to identify some common factors that cause young people to join violent organizations, and to form a network of people working on the issue who can collaborate going forward.

"With more than 50% of the world’s population under the age of thirty and the vast majority of those characterized as 'at risk,' socially, economically, or both, an oversupply exists of young people susceptible to recruitment by the extremist religious or ideological group closest to them in identity or proximity," Cohen wrote on the blog of the Council on Foreign Relations, the event’s co-host.

One of the technologies where extremism is playing out these days is in Google’s own backyard. While citizen empowerment movements have made use of YouTube to broadcast their messages, so have Terrorist and other groups. Just this week, anti-Hamas extremists kidnapped an Italian peace activist and posted their hostage video to YouTube first before eventually murdering him. YouTube has been criticized in the past for not removing violent videos quick enough. But Cohen says the conference is looking at the root causes that prompt a young person to join one of the groups in the first place. "There are a lot of different dimensions to this challenge," he says. "It’s important not to conflate everything."

Web Creator Tim Berners-Lee: Internet Access Is A Human Right

Web Creator Tim Berners-Lee: Internet Access Is A Human Right: "We're living in a world where Internet access should be as readily available as water, according to the man who helped create the web, Tim Berners-Lee.

Berners-Lee, who made his comments at an MIT symposium on 'Computation and the Transformation of Practically Everything,' noted that people have become so reliant on the web that it should be a right to have access to it, as reported by Network World.

'Access to the Web is now a human right,' he said. 'It's possible to live without the Web. It's not possible to live without water. But if you've got water, then the difference between somebody who is connected to the Web and is part of the information society, and someone who (is not) is growing bigger and bigger.'"

Second paper topics. Papers due on April 22.

Be sure to read the instructions carefully.

Deadline: Papers are due on April 22 at 5:00. I do not accept late papers--no exceptions. You must submit a paper and electronic version. Paper versions are due in my office at 5:00 on April 22. Electronic versions must be sent to my email address: jdean@hws.edu. Again, you must submit both versions (submitting just one does not count and you will get a "0").

Format: Papers must be typed, double-spaced, with a title page, citations (recognized academic form), and page numbers. The paper version must be stapled in the upper left corner. Papers should be 6-8 pages long (5 is too short; 9 is too long).

Style: Papers must have a thesis, that is, a primary claim for which you argue on the basis of your reading of the texts assigned for the class. The thesis must appear in your first paragraph. The assignment is to write an essay on one of the topics listed below. The essay should answer the question the topic poses. In answering the question, the essay should draw from (and cite) the relevant course materials (as well as materials from your presentation if you choose that question). You are welcome to email me your thesis in advance to make sure you are on the right track. I can only answer queries made before noon on April 20.

Assessment: The criteria for assessment (not in rank order) are 1) the format requirements; 2) the cogency of the thesis; 3) the quality of the argument; 4) the quality of the writing; 5) the depth of engagement with the course readings; 6) the understanding of the readings demonstrated in the paper. I am looking for papers that take a position and present strong, well-supported arguments for it. I am also looking for papers that show improvement and development since the beginning of the course.

Questions (choose 1):

1. Terminator 2 depicts a future of sentient machines. Mark Andrejevic envisions a present wherein interactivity disempowers citizens politically while at the same time telling them that they are active and involved. Given the empirical examples we've discussed in class (Movements.org, open source software/development, Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Wikipedia), which vision seems most likely? Are the ways of dealing with (preventing? overcoming?) these two futures the same? Why or why not?

2. Franco Berardi argues that in semio-capitalism, "human minds and flesh are integrated with digital circuits thanks to interfaces of acceleration and simplification. . . " Explain Berardi's thesis. How is it like or not like a vision of Terminators? How is it like or not like the vision of hive mind or singularity Lanier criticizes? Is Berardi right? Why or why not?

3. Franco Berardi contrasts connection with conjunction. Explain these two concepts. What do they entail for the connective generation? Use these concepts to analyze Facebook and/or Twitter.

4. Write an essay in which you compare and contrast Dean and Berardi. Be sure to consider whatever being and the connective generation as well as their discussions of the change in the symbolic/decline of symbolic efficiency.

5. Write an essay that uses one of the theoretical pieces we've read this term (Terranova, Dean, Andrejevic, Berardi) to explore more analytically the empirical material you covered in your class presentation. (These papers will be graded in terms of the depth/detail of your analysis).

6. Franco Berardi describes our world of digital networks in terms of a series of psychopathologies. Yet he also suggests that information technologies are liberating. Which side of his story is more convincing? Why? Are both sides present in our contemporary setting? How or in what sense?

7. Franco Berardi suggests that the connective generation (the generation that learned more words from machines than from their mothers) lacks empathy and desire. He even suggests that art and poetry are captured in semio-capitalism, unable to oppose semio-capitalism. Why does he think this? What are the implications of this claim? Is he right?

Celebrity and the refusal of work (I prefer to sleep)

I've been thinking about Ryan's remarks on celebrity [check out Ryan's clarification of his point]. Elements of celebrity that are appealing include money, doing what one wants, and, "being almost like a kid again" (I think that is pretty close to a direct quote). In a way, then, the desire for celebrity is a desire for freedom (autonomy). It is also a desire for recognition (to be known to others).

Is it possible that the desire for recognition ends up trumping the desire for freedom? Or that the desire for recognition functions in such a way that it can be manipulated and so substitute for or displace the desire for freedom (we might think here about the entrepreneurs quoted in the Friedman article; as they explain, successful social media uses people's desire for affirmation, people's need to prove they exist).

What if we focus on the desire for freedom? Bifo describes the desire for freedom as a refusal for work: "I don't want to go to work because I prefer to sleep."

Might then the celebrity form be a form of our alienation, our unfreedom? If we were free to sleep when we wanted, free not to work, would we be likely to fantasize about the freedom of a select few?