We began this class with the lovely yet angry Adorno and Horkheimer. Now we end it with the equally angry Mark Andrejevic and Darin Barney. Although the former are Marxists, the latter are concerned with the democratic ideology of the optimists such as Negroponte, Barlow, Trippi ad Kelley. Trippi and Negroponte in particular talk extensively about the potential that internet and access to cyberspace has for democracy and capitalism. of course making people into consumers is not the best thing especially for those like A&H and even for Negroponte and Trippi. For Barney and Andrejevic, the threat of making people into consumers also serves to undermine the democratic tendencies many scholars like those mentioned above have been promoting.
Barney reflects similar criticisms to Marxists who believe that "industrial machines served to complete the alienation already experienced by people working under the capitalist mode of production," (132). Network technologies today are replacing jobs and alienating people because people are being plugged into machines rather than interacting with one another. This notion of interactivity plays a major role in both Barney's and Andrejevic's works. For Barney, interaction between man and machine is not flexible though certainly de-institutionalized (144-5). A top-down model still exists however although teleworkers like to think they like are working from home and thus more free (not tethered to a 9-5 work day in an office). Yet workers are becomingly increasingly unskilled or rather are acquiring skills such as email, word processing and others that are a "sign of accelerated working class disempowerment," (155). Also he notes how the vast majority of workers that companies hire to work from home are women. I remember watching an episode of Wife Swap a long time ago where the wife takes care of like three children and then once she puts them to bed around 9, her "shift" starts. She would stay up till 1 a.m. sometimes just typing up reports and then logging in the hours (she earns an hourly wage). But even that brings up the issue of social disparity between clerks and executives. The clerks are paid but they likely do not have healthcare benefits, overtime wages, paid vacation or really any of the same rights and benefits that office employees should theoretically have. in the end network technology has augmented the impediments capitalism presents to democracy," (190).
Barney's notes on surveillance provide a segway into the more detailed surveillance analysis of Andrejevic's piece. His work was equally interesting and slightly less pessimistic than Barney.
Andrejevic's notion of surveillance was very eye opening and would fuel any conspiracy theorist's suspicion's on the government and corporations in general (although I like to know about conspiracy theories, I rarely if ever believe them). I actually got a Pandora account and as I was filling in the information which included birth year, zipcode, email....I could not help thinking in the back of my mind where the information was being stored. They had a little link labeled "why" for each information box but I assumed there was marketing and advertising reasons really because the minute I saved the account, ads for local businesses popped up along the borders of the page. Although we would like to think that we have control of the means of production as Marx dreamed of...the fact remains that the concentration of power remains with a select few elites and not the masses (16). The subversiveness of interactivity as Andrejevic puts it should lead to the destruction of adverting monopolies (17-18). Although this seems a bit idealistic at best since as discussed in class, merely saying what type of product I would like does not empower me to be anymore than merely a consumer of that product. Reading these pieces in the context of "For the Win" I see that Doctorow may not wholly agree with these writers. The fact that his characters manage to successfully stage a strike and get their demands considered by the corporation heads (i.e. virtual governments of the internet games), illustrates a revolution of the masses....a Marxist dream. They call for human rights though I do not think they ask to have a say as to how the "virtual kingdoms" should run. They still remain consumers and the although the attack which disabled the virtual economy of one of the gaming sites came from millions of unsatisfied users uniting against the corporation, there was still an authority figure who gave out the instructions and even heads of each of the underground unions where the rebels lived. This certainly counters Trippi's notion that decentralization and thus democracy is possible via the internet.
Andrejevic's next chapter that details surveillance techniques such as peer-to-peer monitoring are also present in Doctorow's novel. Mechanical Turks are hired to self-regulate, change system settings, character dialogues and shut down rogue accounts if need be all to ensure the prosperity of the seven gaming economies. having non machines monitor other people's work and systems is better when looking for possible sex offenders, drug traffickers and con artists. But as Andrejevic notes, this type of monitoring is just making the individual a tool of the state. I do not know how he would feel about facebook "stalking" which someone may not mean to do but checking up on a girlfriend or boyfriend's account (or potential one's at that) almost daily can certainly put someone in the stalking category. Also googling other people's names and our own names at that can show just how much of our personal information is known in the public (226). I remember getting a chain email about a website that allows you to see who has blocked you from their contact list on any messenger service....which can create physical, non virtual problems for everyone involved.
There is some good that can come from those online databases though. Recently, my parents received a letter stating that the bank may actually owe them money and to call a toll free number. The letter even had the letterhead from the bank. My mom googled the number and found an online forum where at least 10 people warned that it was a scam. I like to look up numbers not on my contact list if they are 1800 or 1877 or even look up the area code if i am unfamiliar with the area code to see if it was a telemarketer, wrong number or maybe relative. 9 times out of 10, it is a telemarketer. I had not heard of the show Room Raiders but it sounds mortifying. I would not feel comfortable watching as someone goes through the most personal belongings of complete strangers, but maybe that is the appeal--I do not know them so it is not really bad. although there is some good to peer monitoring, Andrejevic seems to fear its perpetuation and pervasiveness in society. It is okay if it was the case the government and government agents cannot use that information but the fact is that reality shows, personal web sites, etc... all amplify the role of the government (240). Sister Wives is a current example of that, where it was not until the show aired that news comes out law enforcement are investigating the family for polygamy charges.
Barney reflects similar criticisms to Marxists who believe that "industrial machines served to complete the alienation already experienced by people working under the capitalist mode of production," (132). Network technologies today are replacing jobs and alienating people because people are being plugged into machines rather than interacting with one another. This notion of interactivity plays a major role in both Barney's and Andrejevic's works. For Barney, interaction between man and machine is not flexible though certainly de-institutionalized (144-5). A top-down model still exists however although teleworkers like to think they like are working from home and thus more free (not tethered to a 9-5 work day in an office). Yet workers are becomingly increasingly unskilled or rather are acquiring skills such as email, word processing and others that are a "sign of accelerated working class disempowerment," (155). Also he notes how the vast majority of workers that companies hire to work from home are women. I remember watching an episode of Wife Swap a long time ago where the wife takes care of like three children and then once she puts them to bed around 9, her "shift" starts. She would stay up till 1 a.m. sometimes just typing up reports and then logging in the hours (she earns an hourly wage). But even that brings up the issue of social disparity between clerks and executives. The clerks are paid but they likely do not have healthcare benefits, overtime wages, paid vacation or really any of the same rights and benefits that office employees should theoretically have. in the end network technology has augmented the impediments capitalism presents to democracy," (190).
Barney's notes on surveillance provide a segway into the more detailed surveillance analysis of Andrejevic's piece. His work was equally interesting and slightly less pessimistic than Barney.
Andrejevic's notion of surveillance was very eye opening and would fuel any conspiracy theorist's suspicion's on the government and corporations in general (although I like to know about conspiracy theories, I rarely if ever believe them). I actually got a Pandora account and as I was filling in the information which included birth year, zipcode, email....I could not help thinking in the back of my mind where the information was being stored. They had a little link labeled "why" for each information box but I assumed there was marketing and advertising reasons really because the minute I saved the account, ads for local businesses popped up along the borders of the page. Although we would like to think that we have control of the means of production as Marx dreamed of...the fact remains that the concentration of power remains with a select few elites and not the masses (16). The subversiveness of interactivity as Andrejevic puts it should lead to the destruction of adverting monopolies (17-18). Although this seems a bit idealistic at best since as discussed in class, merely saying what type of product I would like does not empower me to be anymore than merely a consumer of that product. Reading these pieces in the context of "For the Win" I see that Doctorow may not wholly agree with these writers. The fact that his characters manage to successfully stage a strike and get their demands considered by the corporation heads (i.e. virtual governments of the internet games), illustrates a revolution of the masses....a Marxist dream. They call for human rights though I do not think they ask to have a say as to how the "virtual kingdoms" should run. They still remain consumers and the although the attack which disabled the virtual economy of one of the gaming sites came from millions of unsatisfied users uniting against the corporation, there was still an authority figure who gave out the instructions and even heads of each of the underground unions where the rebels lived. This certainly counters Trippi's notion that decentralization and thus democracy is possible via the internet.
Andrejevic's next chapter that details surveillance techniques such as peer-to-peer monitoring are also present in Doctorow's novel. Mechanical Turks are hired to self-regulate, change system settings, character dialogues and shut down rogue accounts if need be all to ensure the prosperity of the seven gaming economies. having non machines monitor other people's work and systems is better when looking for possible sex offenders, drug traffickers and con artists. But as Andrejevic notes, this type of monitoring is just making the individual a tool of the state. I do not know how he would feel about facebook "stalking" which someone may not mean to do but checking up on a girlfriend or boyfriend's account (or potential one's at that) almost daily can certainly put someone in the stalking category. Also googling other people's names and our own names at that can show just how much of our personal information is known in the public (226). I remember getting a chain email about a website that allows you to see who has blocked you from their contact list on any messenger service....which can create physical, non virtual problems for everyone involved.
There is some good that can come from those online databases though. Recently, my parents received a letter stating that the bank may actually owe them money and to call a toll free number. The letter even had the letterhead from the bank. My mom googled the number and found an online forum where at least 10 people warned that it was a scam. I like to look up numbers not on my contact list if they are 1800 or 1877 or even look up the area code if i am unfamiliar with the area code to see if it was a telemarketer, wrong number or maybe relative. 9 times out of 10, it is a telemarketer. I had not heard of the show Room Raiders but it sounds mortifying. I would not feel comfortable watching as someone goes through the most personal belongings of complete strangers, but maybe that is the appeal--I do not know them so it is not really bad. although there is some good to peer monitoring, Andrejevic seems to fear its perpetuation and pervasiveness in society. It is okay if it was the case the government and government agents cannot use that information but the fact is that reality shows, personal web sites, etc... all amplify the role of the government (240). Sister Wives is a current example of that, where it was not until the show aired that news comes out law enforcement are investigating the family for polygamy charges.
