Sarah Florini
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781479892464
- eISBN:
- 9781479807185
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479892464.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
In a culture dominated by discourses of “colorblindness” but still rife with structural racism, digital and social media have become a resource for Black Americans navigating a society that ...
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In a culture dominated by discourses of “colorblindness” but still rife with structural racism, digital and social media have become a resource for Black Americans navigating a society that simultaneously perpetuates and obscures racial inequality. Though the Ferguson protests made such Black digital networks more broadly visible, these networks did not coalesce in that moment. They were built over the course of years through much less spectacular, though no less important, everyday use, including mundane social exchanges, humor, and fandom. This book explores these everyday practices and their relationship to larger social issues through an in-depth analysis of a network of Black American digital media users and content creators. These digital networks are used not only to cope with and challenge day-to-day experiences of racism, but also as an incubator for the discourses that have since exploded onto the national stage. This book tells the story of an influential subsection of these Black digital networks, including many Black amateur podcasts, the independent media company This Week in Blackness (TWiB!), and the network of Twitter users that has come to be known as “Black Twitter.” Grounded in her active participation in this network and close ethnographic collaboration with TWiB!, Sarah Florini argues that the multimedia, transplatform nature of this network makes it a flexible resource that can then be deployed for a variety of purposes—culturally inflected fan practices, community building, cultural critique, and citizen journalism. Florini argues that these digital media practices are an extension of historic traditions of Black cultural production and resistance.Less
In a culture dominated by discourses of “colorblindness” but still rife with structural racism, digital and social media have become a resource for Black Americans navigating a society that simultaneously perpetuates and obscures racial inequality. Though the Ferguson protests made such Black digital networks more broadly visible, these networks did not coalesce in that moment. They were built over the course of years through much less spectacular, though no less important, everyday use, including mundane social exchanges, humor, and fandom. This book explores these everyday practices and their relationship to larger social issues through an in-depth analysis of a network of Black American digital media users and content creators. These digital networks are used not only to cope with and challenge day-to-day experiences of racism, but also as an incubator for the discourses that have since exploded onto the national stage. This book tells the story of an influential subsection of these Black digital networks, including many Black amateur podcasts, the independent media company This Week in Blackness (TWiB!), and the network of Twitter users that has come to be known as “Black Twitter.” Grounded in her active participation in this network and close ethnographic collaboration with TWiB!, Sarah Florini argues that the multimedia, transplatform nature of this network makes it a flexible resource that can then be deployed for a variety of purposes—culturally inflected fan practices, community building, cultural critique, and citizen journalism. Florini argues that these digital media practices are an extension of historic traditions of Black cultural production and resistance.
Sarah Florini
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781479892464
- eISBN:
- 9781479807185
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479892464.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
This chapter begins with a retelling of the events of Ferguson, emphasizing the role of Black digital media networks as the news first spread and then as media outlets broadcasted the aftermath. It ...
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This chapter begins with a retelling of the events of Ferguson, emphasizing the role of Black digital media networks as the news first spread and then as media outlets broadcasted the aftermath. It then considers the nature of these networks, their origins and functions, and how they interplay with broader racial discourses and media narratives, as well as the context for these networks, including the prevalence of race-based disparities, the predominance of neoliberal racial discourses that proffer nonracial explanations for racist outcomes, and the contemporary technological environment that allows for digital networks to exist. In this environment fighting racial oppression requires strategies for making race and racism visible, in the collective context in which they materialise. In critiquing the development of digital technologies around neoliberal values, the chapter also looks at Black adoption of and innovation in digital technologies.Less
This chapter begins with a retelling of the events of Ferguson, emphasizing the role of Black digital media networks as the news first spread and then as media outlets broadcasted the aftermath. It then considers the nature of these networks, their origins and functions, and how they interplay with broader racial discourses and media narratives, as well as the context for these networks, including the prevalence of race-based disparities, the predominance of neoliberal racial discourses that proffer nonracial explanations for racist outcomes, and the contemporary technological environment that allows for digital networks to exist. In this environment fighting racial oppression requires strategies for making race and racism visible, in the collective context in which they materialise. In critiquing the development of digital technologies around neoliberal values, the chapter also looks at Black adoption of and innovation in digital technologies.
Sarah Florini
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781479892464
- eISBN:
- 9781479807185
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479892464.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
The first chapter outlines the structure of the Black digital network and its discursive construction as an explicitly Black space. It argues that the network’s multimedia, transplatform character ...
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The first chapter outlines the structure of the Black digital network and its discursive construction as an explicitly Black space. It argues that the network’s multimedia, transplatform character allows it to function as a broadcast-style network and as a digital social network and makes it a flexible, multilayered space in which to negotiate racial discourses. The chapter also demonstrates how deeply interconnected the elements of the network are and how conversations move across the network via a range of platforms and media.Less
The first chapter outlines the structure of the Black digital network and its discursive construction as an explicitly Black space. It argues that the network’s multimedia, transplatform character allows it to function as a broadcast-style network and as a digital social network and makes it a flexible, multilayered space in which to negotiate racial discourses. The chapter also demonstrates how deeply interconnected the elements of the network are and how conversations move across the network via a range of platforms and media.
Ulises Ali Mejias
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816678990
- eISBN:
- 9781452948355
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816678990.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Science, Technology and Environment
The digital world profoundly shapes how we work and consume and also how we play, socialize, create identities, and engage in politics and civic life. Indeed, we are so enmeshed in digital ...
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The digital world profoundly shapes how we work and consume and also how we play, socialize, create identities, and engage in politics and civic life. Indeed, we are so enmeshed in digital networks—from social media to cell phones—that it is hard to conceive of them from the outside or to imagine an alternative, let alone defy their seemingly inescapable power and logic. Yes, it is (sort of) possible to quit Facebook. But is it possible to disconnect from the digital network—and why might we want to? This book offers an examination of how the hidden logic of the Internet, social media, and the digital network is changing users’ understanding of the world—and why that should worry us. The text also suggests how we might begin to rethink the logic of the network and question its ascendancy. Touted as consensual, inclusive, and pleasurable, the digital network is also, the book states, monopolizing and threatening in its capacity to determine, commodify, and commercialize so many aspects of our lives. It shows how the network broadens participation yet also exacerbates disparity—and how it excludes more of society than it includes. Uniquely, the book makes the case that it is not only necessary to challenge the privatized and commercialized modes of social and civic life offered by corporate-controlled spaces such as Facebook and Twitter, but that such confrontations can be mounted from both within and outside the network.Less
The digital world profoundly shapes how we work and consume and also how we play, socialize, create identities, and engage in politics and civic life. Indeed, we are so enmeshed in digital networks—from social media to cell phones—that it is hard to conceive of them from the outside or to imagine an alternative, let alone defy their seemingly inescapable power and logic. Yes, it is (sort of) possible to quit Facebook. But is it possible to disconnect from the digital network—and why might we want to? This book offers an examination of how the hidden logic of the Internet, social media, and the digital network is changing users’ understanding of the world—and why that should worry us. The text also suggests how we might begin to rethink the logic of the network and question its ascendancy. Touted as consensual, inclusive, and pleasurable, the digital network is also, the book states, monopolizing and threatening in its capacity to determine, commodify, and commercialize so many aspects of our lives. It shows how the network broadens participation yet also exacerbates disparity—and how it excludes more of society than it includes. Uniquely, the book makes the case that it is not only necessary to challenge the privatized and commercialized modes of social and civic life offered by corporate-controlled spaces such as Facebook and Twitter, but that such confrontations can be mounted from both within and outside the network.
Adrienne Russell, Mizuko Ito, Todd Richmond, and Marc Tuters
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262220859
- eISBN:
- 9780262285483
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262220859.003.0003
- Subject:
- Information Science, Communications
Related to the convergence between old and new media has been the profound transformation in the way power and information are distributed across society, geography, and technology. Thanks to ...
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Related to the convergence between old and new media has been the profound transformation in the way power and information are distributed across society, geography, and technology. Thanks to low-cost digital authoring tools and pervasive digital networks, knowledge and culture have become easier to produce, publish, and disseminate. This has blurred the boundaries between producer and consumer, and between public and private. This chapter examines four domains that have flourished with the emergence of a culture of networked publics: amateur and non-market production, networked collectivities for producing and sharing culture, niche and special-interest groups, and aesthetics of parody, remix, and appropriation. To illustrate these domains, the chapter presents four case studies on news blogs, viral marketing, anime fandoms, and amateur and remix music.Less
Related to the convergence between old and new media has been the profound transformation in the way power and information are distributed across society, geography, and technology. Thanks to low-cost digital authoring tools and pervasive digital networks, knowledge and culture have become easier to produce, publish, and disseminate. This has blurred the boundaries between producer and consumer, and between public and private. This chapter examines four domains that have flourished with the emergence of a culture of networked publics: amateur and non-market production, networked collectivities for producing and sharing culture, niche and special-interest groups, and aesthetics of parody, remix, and appropriation. To illustrate these domains, the chapter presents four case studies on news blogs, viral marketing, anime fandoms, and amateur and remix music.
Kazys Varnelis (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262220859
- eISBN:
- 9780262285483
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262220859.001.0001
- Subject:
- Information Science, Communications
Digital media and network technologies are now part of everyday life. The Internet has become the backbone of communication, commerce, and media; the ubiquitous mobile phone connects us with others ...
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Digital media and network technologies are now part of everyday life. The Internet has become the backbone of communication, commerce, and media; the ubiquitous mobile phone connects us with others as it removes us from any stable sense of location. This book examines the ways that the social and cultural shifts created by these technologies have transformed our relationships to (and definitions of) place, culture, politics, and infrastructure. Four chapters provide a synoptic overview along with illustrative case studies. The chapter on place describes how digital networks enable us to be present in physical and networked places simultaneously—often at the expense of nondigital commitments. The chapter on culture explores the growth and impact of amateur-produced and remixed content online. The chapter on politics examines the new networked modes of bottom-up political expression and mobilization. And finally, the chapter on infrastructure notes the tension between openness and control in the flow of information, as seen in the current controversy over net neutrality.Less
Digital media and network technologies are now part of everyday life. The Internet has become the backbone of communication, commerce, and media; the ubiquitous mobile phone connects us with others as it removes us from any stable sense of location. This book examines the ways that the social and cultural shifts created by these technologies have transformed our relationships to (and definitions of) place, culture, politics, and infrastructure. Four chapters provide a synoptic overview along with illustrative case studies. The chapter on place describes how digital networks enable us to be present in physical and networked places simultaneously—often at the expense of nondigital commitments. The chapter on culture explores the growth and impact of amateur-produced and remixed content online. The chapter on politics examines the new networked modes of bottom-up political expression and mobilization. And finally, the chapter on infrastructure notes the tension between openness and control in the flow of information, as seen in the current controversy over net neutrality.
Ulises Ali Mejias
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816678990
- eISBN:
- 9781452948355
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816678990.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Science, Technology and Environment
This chapter presents the notion of the network as a template of knowing and acting up the world, and establishes the initial framework for arguing that the logic of the network is part of a ...
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This chapter presents the notion of the network as a template of knowing and acting up the world, and establishes the initial framework for arguing that the logic of the network is part of a capitalist order that exacerbates inequality. While the digital network increases the means of participation in society, it also increases socioeconomic inequality through strategies that include the commodification of social labor, the privatization of social spaces, and the surveillance of dissenters. These methods of capturing and measuring new kinds of social wealth are means of concealing the fact that participation in the network promotes a kind of inequality that can eventually nullify most of its benefits.Less
This chapter presents the notion of the network as a template of knowing and acting up the world, and establishes the initial framework for arguing that the logic of the network is part of a capitalist order that exacerbates inequality. While the digital network increases the means of participation in society, it also increases socioeconomic inequality through strategies that include the commodification of social labor, the privatization of social spaces, and the surveillance of dissenters. These methods of capturing and measuring new kinds of social wealth are means of concealing the fact that participation in the network promotes a kind of inequality that can eventually nullify most of its benefits.
Ulises Ali Mejias
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816678990
- eISBN:
- 9781452948355
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816678990.003.0004
- Subject:
- Sociology, Science, Technology and Environment
This chapter details the relationship between the network and the self. It discusses specific biases in the manner in which the network mediates the social reality of the individual terms of ...
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This chapter details the relationship between the network and the self. It discusses specific biases in the manner in which the network mediates the social reality of the individual terms of immediacy, intensity, intimacy, and simultaneity. It also reviews different models for conceptualizing how the network and the individual codetermine opportunities for action, including actor-network theory. Actor-network theory establishes that “artifacts and their properties emerge as the result of being embedded in a network of human and nonhuman entities. It is in this context that they gain an identity and that properties can be attributed to them”.Less
This chapter details the relationship between the network and the self. It discusses specific biases in the manner in which the network mediates the social reality of the individual terms of immediacy, intensity, intimacy, and simultaneity. It also reviews different models for conceptualizing how the network and the individual codetermine opportunities for action, including actor-network theory. Actor-network theory establishes that “artifacts and their properties emerge as the result of being embedded in a network of human and nonhuman entities. It is in this context that they gain an identity and that properties can be attributed to them”.
Kazys Varnelis
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262220859
- eISBN:
- 9780262285483
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262220859.003.0006
- Subject:
- Information Science, Communications
The maturing of the Internet and mobile telephony has given rise to a new societal condition known as network culture, which highlights broader societal structures, just as concepts like modernism ...
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The maturing of the Internet and mobile telephony has given rise to a new societal condition known as network culture, which highlights broader societal structures, just as concepts like modernism and postmodernism did in the past. This shift in society is subtle yet real and radical. Digital networks have become the dominant cultural logic, profoundly transforming not only culture but also the economy, public sphere, and even people’s subjectivity. In contrast to digital culture, network culture makes information less the outcome of discrete processing units and more of the result of the networked relations between them, of connections between people, between machines, and between people and machines. It is in this context that networked publics are created.Less
The maturing of the Internet and mobile telephony has given rise to a new societal condition known as network culture, which highlights broader societal structures, just as concepts like modernism and postmodernism did in the past. This shift in society is subtle yet real and radical. Digital networks have become the dominant cultural logic, profoundly transforming not only culture but also the economy, public sphere, and even people’s subjectivity. In contrast to digital culture, network culture makes information less the outcome of discrete processing units and more of the result of the networked relations between them, of connections between people, between machines, and between people and machines. It is in this context that networked publics are created.
Luis Moreno-Caballud
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781781381939
- eISBN:
- 9781781382295
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781781381939.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
This book studies the emergence of collaborative and non-hierarchical cultures in the context of the Spanish economic crisis of 2008. It explains how peer-to-peer social networks that have arisen ...
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This book studies the emergence of collaborative and non-hierarchical cultures in the context of the Spanish economic crisis of 2008. It explains how peer-to-peer social networks that have arisen online and through social movements such as the Indignados have challenged a longstanding cultural tradition of intellectual elitism and capitalist technocracy in Spain. From the establishment of a technocratic and consumerist culture during the second part of the Franco dictatorship to the transition to neoliberalism that accompanied the ‘transition to democracy’, intellectuals and ‘experts’ have legitimized contemporary Spanish history as a series of unavoidable steps in a process of ‘modernization’. But when unemployment skyrocketed and a growing number of people began to feel that the consequences of this Spanish ‘modernization’ had increasingly led to precariousness, this paradigm collapsed. In the wake of Spain's financial meltdown of 2008, new ‘cultures of anyone’ have emerged around the idea that the people affected by or involved in a situation should be the ones to participate in changing it. Growing through grassroots social movements, digital networks, and spaces traditionally reserved for ‘high culture’ and institutional politics, these cultures promote processes of empowerment and collaborative learning that allow the development of the abilities and knowledge base of ‘anyone’, regardless of their economic status or institutional affiliations.Less
This book studies the emergence of collaborative and non-hierarchical cultures in the context of the Spanish economic crisis of 2008. It explains how peer-to-peer social networks that have arisen online and through social movements such as the Indignados have challenged a longstanding cultural tradition of intellectual elitism and capitalist technocracy in Spain. From the establishment of a technocratic and consumerist culture during the second part of the Franco dictatorship to the transition to neoliberalism that accompanied the ‘transition to democracy’, intellectuals and ‘experts’ have legitimized contemporary Spanish history as a series of unavoidable steps in a process of ‘modernization’. But when unemployment skyrocketed and a growing number of people began to feel that the consequences of this Spanish ‘modernization’ had increasingly led to precariousness, this paradigm collapsed. In the wake of Spain's financial meltdown of 2008, new ‘cultures of anyone’ have emerged around the idea that the people affected by or involved in a situation should be the ones to participate in changing it. Growing through grassroots social movements, digital networks, and spaces traditionally reserved for ‘high culture’ and institutional politics, these cultures promote processes of empowerment and collaborative learning that allow the development of the abilities and knowledge base of ‘anyone’, regardless of their economic status or institutional affiliations.
Ulises Ali Mejias
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816678990
- eISBN:
- 9781452948355
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816678990.003.0006
- Subject:
- Sociology, Science, Technology and Environment
This chapter examines the motivations for unmapping the digital network by focusing on the concepts of space and surveillance. While the uniform distancelessness of nodocentric space does not ...
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This chapter examines the motivations for unmapping the digital network by focusing on the concepts of space and surveillance. While the uniform distancelessness of nodocentric space does not diminish social opportunities, it changes what counts as proximal and relevant and redefines our relationship with the local, and therefore must be questioned. Nodocenticism can be applied to space to produce a form of hyperlocality that filters out the unnetworked elements in our environment, making them irrelevant. The chapter then analyzes how network logic has changed the way in which dissent, security, and war are manifested and countered, and asks what some of the implications of this new order are.Less
This chapter examines the motivations for unmapping the digital network by focusing on the concepts of space and surveillance. While the uniform distancelessness of nodocentric space does not diminish social opportunities, it changes what counts as proximal and relevant and redefines our relationship with the local, and therefore must be questioned. Nodocenticism can be applied to space to produce a form of hyperlocality that filters out the unnetworked elements in our environment, making them irrelevant. The chapter then analyzes how network logic has changed the way in which dissent, security, and war are manifested and countered, and asks what some of the implications of this new order are.
Kazys Varnelis and Anne Friedberg
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262220859
- eISBN:
- 9780262285483
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262220859.003.0002
- Subject:
- Information Science, Communications
The digital network is pervasive in contemporary society. The proliferation of mobile phones and the growth of broadband in developed countries have increased the everyday accessibility, ubiquity, ...
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The digital network is pervasive in contemporary society. The proliferation of mobile phones and the growth of broadband in developed countries have increased the everyday accessibility, ubiquity, and mobility of technological networks. As a result, our concept of place has been dramatically altered, along with our sense of proximity and distance. This chapter examines both the networking of space and the spatiality of digital networks and looks at a series of key conditions ranging from the everyday superimposition of real and virtual spaces to the rise of a mobile sense of place and popular virtual worlds. It also considers the concept of telecocooning, RFIDs, and ubiquitous computing.Less
The digital network is pervasive in contemporary society. The proliferation of mobile phones and the growth of broadband in developed countries have increased the everyday accessibility, ubiquity, and mobility of technological networks. As a result, our concept of place has been dramatically altered, along with our sense of proximity and distance. This chapter examines both the networking of space and the spatiality of digital networks and looks at a series of key conditions ranging from the everyday superimposition of real and virtual spaces to the rise of a mobile sense of place and popular virtual worlds. It also considers the concept of telecocooning, RFIDs, and ubiquitous computing.
Jessica Nydia Pabón-Colón
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781479806157
- eISBN:
- 9781479847426
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479806157.003.0004
- Subject:
- Sociology, Law, Crime and Deviance
This chapter explores how the increase in visibility, respect, and numerical representation for graffiti grrlz is due to the consistent cataloging of their graffiti art-making in various digital ...
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This chapter explores how the increase in visibility, respect, and numerical representation for graffiti grrlz is due to the consistent cataloging of their graffiti art-making in various digital spaces that open their subcultural world to other graff grrlz across the diaspora. It traces how they have cultivated an affective network through the digital zine Catfight, the GraffGirlz.com website, the Chicks on Powertrips blog, the “Female International Graffiti” Facebook group, and the “Female Caps” Tumblr microblog. The chapter claims that because the performance of feminism is circulated through these digital places it creates a subcultural feminist sensibility akin to the results of consciousness-raising groups. Taking the risk of going public (by going online together) not only facilitated a solidarity inspired by shared experiences, but also ushered in a subcultural revolution with the potential to permanently change graffiti grrlz’ subcultural status.Less
This chapter explores how the increase in visibility, respect, and numerical representation for graffiti grrlz is due to the consistent cataloging of their graffiti art-making in various digital spaces that open their subcultural world to other graff grrlz across the diaspora. It traces how they have cultivated an affective network through the digital zine Catfight, the GraffGirlz.com website, the Chicks on Powertrips blog, the “Female International Graffiti” Facebook group, and the “Female Caps” Tumblr microblog. The chapter claims that because the performance of feminism is circulated through these digital places it creates a subcultural feminist sensibility akin to the results of consciousness-raising groups. Taking the risk of going public (by going online together) not only facilitated a solidarity inspired by shared experiences, but also ushered in a subcultural revolution with the potential to permanently change graffiti grrlz’ subcultural status.
Gillian Doyle
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780748698233
- eISBN:
- 9781474416122
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748698233.003.0007
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Drawing on both documentation and extensive interviews with key industry and policy players, this chapter analyses the role that the transition to digital played in both the policy thinking and ...
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Drawing on both documentation and extensive interviews with key industry and policy players, this chapter analyses the role that the transition to digital played in both the policy thinking and interventional practice of the UKFC. It examines the origins, development and impact of the Digital Screen Network (DSN), which became one of the flagship digital policy initiatives of the UKFC. It documents the conflicting industry views around the impact of the DSN on the UK film distribution sector and highlights the policy complexities that digital posed for the UKFC during its lifetime.Less
Drawing on both documentation and extensive interviews with key industry and policy players, this chapter analyses the role that the transition to digital played in both the policy thinking and interventional practice of the UKFC. It examines the origins, development and impact of the Digital Screen Network (DSN), which became one of the flagship digital policy initiatives of the UKFC. It documents the conflicting industry views around the impact of the DSN on the UK film distribution sector and highlights the policy complexities that digital posed for the UKFC during its lifetime.
Ulises Ali Mejias
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816678990
- eISBN:
- 9781452948355
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816678990.003.0003
- Subject:
- Sociology, Science, Technology and Environment
This chapter studies the scientific and technological paradigms behind digital networks, and how they have been applied in the assemblage of digital social networks. The technological part of digital ...
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This chapter studies the scientific and technological paradigms behind digital networks, and how they have been applied in the assemblage of digital social networks. The technological part of digital networks is made up of computer code or algorithms. Human-computer interaction (HCI) enables easier computer interaction by moving away from designing procedures and toward analyzing interactions, the fluid interplay between machines and humans. The chapter then considers how computer science and network science give shape to a network that structures sociality for its users. These sciences help transform social signs and meanings into technological templates that organize reality.Less
This chapter studies the scientific and technological paradigms behind digital networks, and how they have been applied in the assemblage of digital social networks. The technological part of digital networks is made up of computer code or algorithms. Human-computer interaction (HCI) enables easier computer interaction by moving away from designing procedures and toward analyzing interactions, the fluid interplay between machines and humans. The chapter then considers how computer science and network science give shape to a network that structures sociality for its users. These sciences help transform social signs and meanings into technological templates that organize reality.
Mohamed Zayani
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780190239763
- eISBN:
- 9780190239800
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190239763.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics, Democratization
This introductory chapter offers a contextual analysis of the relationship between media and politics within the Middle East and North Africa region and reflects on the relevance of the Tunisian ...
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This introductory chapter offers a contextual analysis of the relationship between media and politics within the Middle East and North Africa region and reflects on the relevance of the Tunisian experience. Pointing out the need to reconceive the relationship between media and political change, it highlights the significance of a digital culture of contention that developed outside institutional politics. This chapter also includes a section on the research design and the interpretative framework that were adopted in this story and an overview of the core chapters.Less
This introductory chapter offers a contextual analysis of the relationship between media and politics within the Middle East and North Africa region and reflects on the relevance of the Tunisian experience. Pointing out the need to reconceive the relationship between media and political change, it highlights the significance of a digital culture of contention that developed outside institutional politics. This chapter also includes a section on the research design and the interpretative framework that were adopted in this story and an overview of the core chapters.
Ulises Ali Mejias
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816678990
- eISBN:
- 9781452948355
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816678990.003.0002
- Subject:
- Sociology, Science, Technology and Environment
This chapter examines the political economy of networks and the process of commodification that allows them to increase participation while also increasing inequality. Digital networks are not ...
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This chapter examines the political economy of networks and the process of commodification that allows them to increase participation while also increasing inequality. Digital networks are not different from other for-profit media systems in the patterns of ownership conglomeration they exhibit, to the extent that these corporations strive to eliminate competition in order to acquire larger audiences. The chapter then proposes that monopsony has emerged as the dominant market structure in the era of user-generated content. A critique of participatory culture is applied that presents it as both a form of pleasure and a form of violence that subordinates the social to economic interests.Less
This chapter examines the political economy of networks and the process of commodification that allows them to increase participation while also increasing inequality. Digital networks are not different from other for-profit media systems in the patterns of ownership conglomeration they exhibit, to the extent that these corporations strive to eliminate competition in order to acquire larger audiences. The chapter then proposes that monopsony has emerged as the dominant market structure in the era of user-generated content. A critique of participatory culture is applied that presents it as both a form of pleasure and a form of violence that subordinates the social to economic interests.
Ulises Ali Mejias
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816678990
- eISBN:
- 9781452948355
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816678990.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Science, Technology and Environment
This chapter presents the theoretical grounds for unthinking the network by discussing an ontology that accounts for the virtuality of networks. Digital networks give shape to social forms that were ...
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This chapter presents the theoretical grounds for unthinking the network by discussing an ontology that accounts for the virtuality of networks. Digital networks give shape to social forms that were only virtual possibilities before. However, in the process of actualizing them, they become rigidified social behaviors. The chapter then explores how the process of unmapping the digital network involves reengaging the virtuality of possibilities. It also theorizes some general tactics for unmapping the network, identifies the analytical spaces where such strategies can be applied, and suggests the personal and collective viewpoints that unmapping might entail.Less
This chapter presents the theoretical grounds for unthinking the network by discussing an ontology that accounts for the virtuality of networks. Digital networks give shape to social forms that were only virtual possibilities before. However, in the process of actualizing them, they become rigidified social behaviors. The chapter then explores how the process of unmapping the digital network involves reengaging the virtuality of possibilities. It also theorizes some general tactics for unmapping the network, identifies the analytical spaces where such strategies can be applied, and suggests the personal and collective viewpoints that unmapping might entail.
Ulises Ali Mejias
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816678990
- eISBN:
- 9781452948355
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816678990.003.0007
- Subject:
- Sociology, Science, Technology and Environment
This chapter addresses the efficacy of peer-to-peer as a mode of social production that attempts to democratize resources. This mode exemplifies the limits of applying network logic to unthink ...
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This chapter addresses the efficacy of peer-to-peer as a mode of social production that attempts to democratize resources. This mode exemplifies the limits of applying network logic to unthink networks because it simply manages to build a digital commons on top of infrastructure that is thoroughly privatized. The capitalist state and the corporation are typically portrayed as the stewards of the Internet, in charge of guaranteeing the rights of global citizens to freedom of speech, economic opportunity, and so on. The chapter then examines how their actions undermine the rights and autonomy of individuals by utilizing digital networks to promote surveillance, repression of minority voices, and disparities.Less
This chapter addresses the efficacy of peer-to-peer as a mode of social production that attempts to democratize resources. This mode exemplifies the limits of applying network logic to unthink networks because it simply manages to build a digital commons on top of infrastructure that is thoroughly privatized. The capitalist state and the corporation are typically portrayed as the stewards of the Internet, in charge of guaranteeing the rights of global citizens to freedom of speech, economic opportunity, and so on. The chapter then examines how their actions undermine the rights and autonomy of individuals by utilizing digital networks to promote surveillance, repression of minority voices, and disparities.
Ulises Ali Mejias
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816678990
- eISBN:
- 9781452948355
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816678990.003.0009
- Subject:
- Sociology, Science, Technology and Environment
This chapter expounds on intensification by focusing on the importance of the outsides of networks, and offers a conclusion that provides additional thoughts about the unmapping of networked ...
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This chapter expounds on intensification by focusing on the importance of the outsides of networks, and offers a conclusion that provides additional thoughts about the unmapping of networked participation. Digital networks and the network episteme have already transformed who we are and how we interact with each other. The more realistic strategies for unthinking and unmapping networks will rely not on abandoning them in a technophobic reaction; they will rely on the intensification of the network, engaging in creative acts of disassembly by pushing the limits of its logic, and conceptualizing alternative modes of being through the paranodal.Less
This chapter expounds on intensification by focusing on the importance of the outsides of networks, and offers a conclusion that provides additional thoughts about the unmapping of networked participation. Digital networks and the network episteme have already transformed who we are and how we interact with each other. The more realistic strategies for unthinking and unmapping networks will rely not on abandoning them in a technophobic reaction; they will rely on the intensification of the network, engaging in creative acts of disassembly by pushing the limits of its logic, and conceptualizing alternative modes of being through the paranodal.
