In the video “Are you paying attention?,” the authors juxtapose Howard Gardner’s widely accepted ideas of multiple intelligence learning with something more provocative. That children are digital learners.
After a series of statistics demonstrating the penetration of digital technology in youth lives, the logic is assumed. If students watch television, surf the internet, etc. they must be learning.
I’m not sure if I fully buy it.
I do believe in the use of technology to meet curricular and instructional goals. And after a semester of thought, I am a much more assured believer in technology’s role within learning as a social process. My resistance is in the passive role that technology often plays in people’s lives. Is there nothing more disheartening than watching a youth sitting inside watching television when they could be outside playing a sport, climbing a tree, or exploring a forest?
Children are digital receivers of content. They are also certainly digital targets for commerce. And they do learn something in their day-to-day interaction with technology. I’m just not sure what that is. But leveraging the inherent enthusiasm and rampant participation rates for mobile technology, video games, mass media, etc., certainly is a fertile area for investigation. Otherwise, why am I in a program titled Communication, Computing, and Technology in Education?
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
chillin' with bob dylan
just got back from a two-and-a-quarter hour set from folk/rock/insert-your-genre-here musical luminary bob dylan. or as i like to call him, bob dylan.
have some video from the concert but have misplaced the cord connecting my phone to the computer. yes, i'm as pissed as you. it was the first time i used the video function on the phone. unfortunately, it produces only super-short clips.
my dylan experience forced me to reflect on some thoughts about copyright protection i previously had about radiohead. more specifically, both dylan and radiohead have transcended the normal constraints that most musicians find themselves under - indentured servants to record companies, unscrupulous a & r reps, and garden variety capitalist vultures who pick on the entrails of most creative artists unable to financially sustain their art.
i own a super-duper canon rebel xsi slr digital camera. i didn't even think of bringing it to the concert because it's about the size of a toaster. what surprised me was that the security guards didn't check us AT ALL. i could have easily snuck in my westinghouse 4-slice digital camera. for that matter, i could have brought in an arriflex film camera and d.a. pennebaker to shoot it. maybe even the multiple cameras for a scorcese-like "shine a light" concert complete with mick, charlie and enough j.d. to keep keith elegantly wasted.
in terms of copyright, people like radiohead and bob dylan up-end the gravitational laws of protection. they've succeeded to a point where they can give their work away in a pwyc model (see radiohead's "in rainbows" experiment) or even forgo instructing security guards to frisk civilians for cameras, mp3 recorders, HD cameras, etc. how this effects "the common man" (e.g. the struggling artist), we'll just have to see.
i don't want to make any predictions, but if you don't need to pay radiohead for their album or can openly record bootlegs of dylan, i can make a pretty good guess where the lead singer of "dino sossi's warbling blues band" will be getting his rent money...
"would you like fries with that?"
have some video from the concert but have misplaced the cord connecting my phone to the computer. yes, i'm as pissed as you. it was the first time i used the video function on the phone. unfortunately, it produces only super-short clips.
my dylan experience forced me to reflect on some thoughts about copyright protection i previously had about radiohead. more specifically, both dylan and radiohead have transcended the normal constraints that most musicians find themselves under - indentured servants to record companies, unscrupulous a & r reps, and garden variety capitalist vultures who pick on the entrails of most creative artists unable to financially sustain their art.
i own a super-duper canon rebel xsi slr digital camera. i didn't even think of bringing it to the concert because it's about the size of a toaster. what surprised me was that the security guards didn't check us AT ALL. i could have easily snuck in my westinghouse 4-slice digital camera. for that matter, i could have brought in an arriflex film camera and d.a. pennebaker to shoot it. maybe even the multiple cameras for a scorcese-like "shine a light" concert complete with mick, charlie and enough j.d. to keep keith elegantly wasted.
in terms of copyright, people like radiohead and bob dylan up-end the gravitational laws of protection. they've succeeded to a point where they can give their work away in a pwyc model (see radiohead's "in rainbows" experiment) or even forgo instructing security guards to frisk civilians for cameras, mp3 recorders, HD cameras, etc. how this effects "the common man" (e.g. the struggling artist), we'll just have to see.
i don't want to make any predictions, but if you don't need to pay radiohead for their album or can openly record bootlegs of dylan, i can make a pretty good guess where the lead singer of "dino sossi's warbling blues band" will be getting his rent money...
"would you like fries with that?"
Sunday, November 16, 2008
review of “media that matters” films
a heavy load of pre-break assignments, essays and research studies makes re-purposing more forgivable. or at least i hope so. the following are mini-reviews of films from the "media that matters" film festival...
p.s. a quick note to the programmers. i kind of wish there wasn't a submission fee. anything that increases barriers to sharing independent creative work is an issue that, for lack of a better word, "matters"
Review of “Media that Matters” Films
http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/
SOMETHING OTHER THAN OTHER (http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/5/something_other_than_other/)
Did Barack Obama commission this? Multi-raciality (look mom, I invented a new word!) is quickly becoming the normative state in North America post-Boomer personal identification. This tender story soft sells an increasingly difficult decision facing parents - the mandatory categorization of race at birth. The film smartly substitutes what could have been a typical cloying soundtrack for the emotional musicality of warm parental voices aspiring for the better days of a post-racial future.
A GIRL NAMED KAI (http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/5/a_girl_named_kai/)
A hyperkinetic, supersaturated personal biography of a youth working through gender identification issues in filmic form. The combination of never-stay-still images and hypnotic music creates a highly immersive mood that helps the viewer become involved in the fragmentary nature of gender formation. Aside from the inevitable romantic rupture that always seems to motivate these types of work, it was engaging in both style and content.
POPangada: THE ART AND SUBVERSION OF RON ENGLISH (http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/4/popaganda_the_art_and_subversion_of_ron_english/)
I’ve never been much of a fan of people who are excessively self-congratulatory. This DIY-style film focused on the subversive guerilla advertising of Ron English. Although the ads are clever and have enough aesthetic parity to bewitch unaware viewers into looking at them at face value, English comes across as a bit too proud of his art. Has this faux advertising raised awareness? Probably in the towns where he displayed his work. But more importantly, has it changed people’s behaviors? Until there is proof, I would prefer a wee bit more humility. For those who like this kind of stuff, please see the British graffiti artist Banksy. A bit more satirical and a whole lot less unnecessary ‘tude.
p.s. a quick note to the programmers. i kind of wish there wasn't a submission fee. anything that increases barriers to sharing independent creative work is an issue that, for lack of a better word, "matters"
Review of “Media that Matters” Films
http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/
SOMETHING OTHER THAN OTHER (http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/5/something_other_than_other/)
Did Barack Obama commission this? Multi-raciality (look mom, I invented a new word!) is quickly becoming the normative state in North America post-Boomer personal identification. This tender story soft sells an increasingly difficult decision facing parents - the mandatory categorization of race at birth. The film smartly substitutes what could have been a typical cloying soundtrack for the emotional musicality of warm parental voices aspiring for the better days of a post-racial future.
A GIRL NAMED KAI (http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/5/a_girl_named_kai/)
A hyperkinetic, supersaturated personal biography of a youth working through gender identification issues in filmic form. The combination of never-stay-still images and hypnotic music creates a highly immersive mood that helps the viewer become involved in the fragmentary nature of gender formation. Aside from the inevitable romantic rupture that always seems to motivate these types of work, it was engaging in both style and content.
POPangada: THE ART AND SUBVERSION OF RON ENGLISH (http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/4/popaganda_the_art_and_subversion_of_ron_english/)
I’ve never been much of a fan of people who are excessively self-congratulatory. This DIY-style film focused on the subversive guerilla advertising of Ron English. Although the ads are clever and have enough aesthetic parity to bewitch unaware viewers into looking at them at face value, English comes across as a bit too proud of his art. Has this faux advertising raised awareness? Probably in the towns where he displayed his work. But more importantly, has it changed people’s behaviors? Until there is proof, I would prefer a wee bit more humility. For those who like this kind of stuff, please see the British graffiti artist Banksy. A bit more satirical and a whole lot less unnecessary ‘tude.
Friday, November 14, 2008
The prescience of Manuel Castells: 2009 going on 1999
I've always been a fan of subverting conventions. Toronto's iconic CityTV, under the cool leadership of Moses Znaimer, started a lot of interesting broadcasting innovations - the "busy newsroom as background set for news anchors", street level broadcasting studios, Mark Daley's sarcastic voiceover promotions for City programming and, of course, Ed the Sock. Does it get any better than an angry, cigar-chomping sock tearing a strip out of an unknowing ingenue or a lacerating commentary on another ephemeral part of pop cultural detritus? (Editor's note: Aren't all parts of pop culture both "ephemeral" and "detritus"?!? Writer's note: Cynic!)
One show I liked watching was repeats of old CityTV News. Basically it was a late night show in the mid-2000s that rebroadcast the 6 p.m. evening news from the 1980s. Watching Daley with a huge afro and 70s style glasses and Jo Jo Chinto roaming the city beat was strangely captivating at 4 in the morning.
I have been reading Manuel Castells' "The social implications of Information and Communication Technologies". Although it is more of a "state of the union" style report than analytical think piece, it is still superb. One of the best things I have read this year. Castells has a real ability to concisely report the dynamic nature of the internet while making remarkably sage forecasts of the coming storm. It was written in 1999 and obviously a lot of ground has been covered since that time. But what it does so well is take the then current state of the offline world, add the decentering effects of the online as well as ICTs (information and communication technologies) and stir in a little prudent foresight. Tah dah!
Take education. Similar to today, there is quite a diverse range of ICT penetration in learning environments. But what is still the issue is not so much the availability of these technologies but the context. Without a transformed environment that is capable of supporting these ventures as well as a trained and knowledgeable staff, ICT interventions may in fact cause more chaos in schools.
What puzzles me most in the context of education is how painfully accurate these words are today. Somehow, although close to ten years has passed since this report was completed, we are essentially in the same situation in many jurisdictions.
Investment in education reminds me of investment in municipal transportation. In transportation, there just seems to be a perpetual inclination to invest in the most "sexy" thing possible - capital projects like new subway lines, light railroad lines, subways cars, buses, etc. What gets perpetually left behind are operating expenses like maintenance, wages, fuel costs, etc. "Sure you can have this brand spanking new transportation line but good luck affording to run it!"
The same thing happens with schools. New schools are great. So are new computers. States, provinces, foundations love funding these kinds of capital-based projects. But allocating significant amounts of money to banal things like training just doesn't cut it. As a result, schools have the computers but not the human resource infrastructure. Same problem, later date.
Overall, I found Castells incredibly concise about the current state of affairs in 1999 as well as his short-term predictions. I just hope we progress enough so that these short-term prognostications don't turn out, due to neglect, indifference, etc., into long-term ones.
References:
Castells, M. (1999) The social implications of Information and Communication Technologies. In The world social science report (236-245). Paris: UNESCO.
One show I liked watching was repeats of old CityTV News. Basically it was a late night show in the mid-2000s that rebroadcast the 6 p.m. evening news from the 1980s. Watching Daley with a huge afro and 70s style glasses and Jo Jo Chinto roaming the city beat was strangely captivating at 4 in the morning.
I have been reading Manuel Castells' "The social implications of Information and Communication Technologies". Although it is more of a "state of the union" style report than analytical think piece, it is still superb. One of the best things I have read this year. Castells has a real ability to concisely report the dynamic nature of the internet while making remarkably sage forecasts of the coming storm. It was written in 1999 and obviously a lot of ground has been covered since that time. But what it does so well is take the then current state of the offline world, add the decentering effects of the online as well as ICTs (information and communication technologies) and stir in a little prudent foresight. Tah dah!
Take education. Similar to today, there is quite a diverse range of ICT penetration in learning environments. But what is still the issue is not so much the availability of these technologies but the context. Without a transformed environment that is capable of supporting these ventures as well as a trained and knowledgeable staff, ICT interventions may in fact cause more chaos in schools.
What puzzles me most in the context of education is how painfully accurate these words are today. Somehow, although close to ten years has passed since this report was completed, we are essentially in the same situation in many jurisdictions.
Investment in education reminds me of investment in municipal transportation. In transportation, there just seems to be a perpetual inclination to invest in the most "sexy" thing possible - capital projects like new subway lines, light railroad lines, subways cars, buses, etc. What gets perpetually left behind are operating expenses like maintenance, wages, fuel costs, etc. "Sure you can have this brand spanking new transportation line but good luck affording to run it!"
The same thing happens with schools. New schools are great. So are new computers. States, provinces, foundations love funding these kinds of capital-based projects. But allocating significant amounts of money to banal things like training just doesn't cut it. As a result, schools have the computers but not the human resource infrastructure. Same problem, later date.
Overall, I found Castells incredibly concise about the current state of affairs in 1999 as well as his short-term predictions. I just hope we progress enough so that these short-term prognostications don't turn out, due to neglect, indifference, etc., into long-term ones.
References:
Castells, M. (1999) The social implications of Information and Communication Technologies. In The world social science report (236-245). Paris: UNESCO.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
“Welcome Home to Facebook": Social Networking as a Tool for Maintaining Social Capital - A Small-Scale Exploratory Qualitative Study of International and Out-of-State Post-Graduate Student Experiences Using Facebook
Introduction, Research Question and Hypothesis:
Computer-supported social networks (CSSNs) have been studied less than other computer-related phenomena (Garton, 1998, p. 1). To help address this gap, the main research question for this study is the role that the CSSN site Facebook plays for post-graduate students in terms of maintaining social capital and how this potentially differs between international students and those who study out-of-state within their own country. For the purposes of this study, those who are classified as out-of-state students are ones who are American citizens who normally live outside New York state. Maintained social capital “speaks to the ability to maintain valuable connections as one progresses through life changes” (Ellison, 2007, 1148).
Description of Study:
I initially conceived this as a quantitative study but, at least for the purposes of the class requirements, I would prefer it to be qualitative. As you will see, this project is an expansion of Ellison et. al.'s "The benefits of Facebook 'friends': Social capital and college students' use of online social network sites" but this would include the international student experience.
The proposed sample of two people is incredibly small, but I would like to compare only one international and one out-of-state student. After investigating the breadth of possible interview questions I could ask, I think I could arrange to do at least one, but probably a couple, of highly extended interviews (e.g. an hour or more) with each respondent. Ideally I would complete this incredibly small qualitative study for your class and later expand it to include other interviews, a more widely disseminated questionnaire, etc. Given my time constraints, I think I could do the "best" study by following the interview route. And by best I mean the "thickest" possible qualitative research given my time and resource constraints (e.g. after an agreement with the subjects, I would like to be able to negotiate return interviews if possible, etc.). My belief is that if I get the kinks out of the interview process this time while still getting "good data" (for a novice researcher), I could use this information and experience to scale up next time. This is assuming, of course, that the study will be good enough for there to be a next time... Unfortunately I have not previously conducted any qualitative interviews as a basis for a study. I think in terms of my longer term development as a doctoral student, it would be good for me to begin to understand the many difficulties associated with the qualitative process.
Literature Review – Tentative Articles:
The choice of articles has not been finalized but the Ellison article is obviously focal to this study. Garton provides more of a macro level context to rationalize CSSN research.
Ellison, N.B., Steinfeld, C., Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook “friends:” Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12, 1143-1168.
Garton, L., Haythornthwaite, C., & Wellman, B. (1998). In S. Jones (Ed.), Doing Internet research: Critical issues and methods for examining the Net (75-105). London: Sage.
References:
Ellison, N.B., Steinfeld, C., Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook “friends:” Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12, 1143-1168.
Garton, L., Haythornthwaite, C., & Wellman, B. (1998). In S. Jones (Ed.), Doing Internet research: Critical issues and methods for examining the Net (75-105). London: Sage.
Introduction, Research Question and Hypothesis:
Computer-supported social networks (CSSNs) have been studied less than other computer-related phenomena (Garton, 1998, p. 1). To help address this gap, the main research question for this study is the role that the CSSN site Facebook plays for post-graduate students in terms of maintaining social capital and how this potentially differs between international students and those who study out-of-state within their own country. For the purposes of this study, those who are classified as out-of-state students are ones who are American citizens who normally live outside New York state. Maintained social capital “speaks to the ability to maintain valuable connections as one progresses through life changes” (Ellison, 2007, 1148).
Description of Study:
I initially conceived this as a quantitative study but, at least for the purposes of the class requirements, I would prefer it to be qualitative. As you will see, this project is an expansion of Ellison et. al.'s "The benefits of Facebook 'friends': Social capital and college students' use of online social network sites" but this would include the international student experience.
The proposed sample of two people is incredibly small, but I would like to compare only one international and one out-of-state student. After investigating the breadth of possible interview questions I could ask, I think I could arrange to do at least one, but probably a couple, of highly extended interviews (e.g. an hour or more) with each respondent. Ideally I would complete this incredibly small qualitative study for your class and later expand it to include other interviews, a more widely disseminated questionnaire, etc. Given my time constraints, I think I could do the "best" study by following the interview route. And by best I mean the "thickest" possible qualitative research given my time and resource constraints (e.g. after an agreement with the subjects, I would like to be able to negotiate return interviews if possible, etc.). My belief is that if I get the kinks out of the interview process this time while still getting "good data" (for a novice researcher), I could use this information and experience to scale up next time. This is assuming, of course, that the study will be good enough for there to be a next time... Unfortunately I have not previously conducted any qualitative interviews as a basis for a study. I think in terms of my longer term development as a doctoral student, it would be good for me to begin to understand the many difficulties associated with the qualitative process.
Literature Review – Tentative Articles:
The choice of articles has not been finalized but the Ellison article is obviously focal to this study. Garton provides more of a macro level context to rationalize CSSN research.
Ellison, N.B., Steinfeld, C., Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook “friends:” Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12, 1143-1168.
Garton, L., Haythornthwaite, C., & Wellman, B. (1998). In S. Jones (Ed.), Doing Internet research: Critical issues and methods for examining the Net (75-105). London: Sage.
References:
Ellison, N.B., Steinfeld, C., Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook “friends:” Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12, 1143-1168.
Garton, L., Haythornthwaite, C., & Wellman, B. (1998). In S. Jones (Ed.), Doing Internet research: Critical issues and methods for examining the Net (75-105). London: Sage.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
what happens now?
Two quick post-election anecdotes that I experienced the following morning.
First, an African-American woman was proudly typing away on a laptop emblazoned with a new screen saver. "The Obama's. America's New First Family".
Second, I saw a person of color working in a restaurant struggling to lift a big metal container full of food around a hot kitchen. His head was beaded with sweat and lines of effort carved into his face over many years of toil.
These contrasting anecdotes aptly summarize the great promise and tremendous peril of the new Obama presidency.
People across the world, especially of color, have imputed much hope in this astoundingly historic victory.
However, although he will be, in the space of less than 60 days, the holder of the most powerful office on earth, there are limits to what even a remarkably skilled politician like Mr. Obama can do.
In a precarious world that has become increasingly intertwined, where social problems have seemingly become intractable, Mr. Obama's words of hope resonated with a large proportion of the population. But still, there is a sizable minority of Americans who resoundingly rejected his message and, more disturbingly, who he is as a human being. It will take every ounce of Mr. Obama's inestimable skills as a communicator to invite the entire population into a frank discussion about its future. And perhaps, more importantly, to depolarize an increasingly fragmented House and Senate that is divided among party lines, get them to work together and come to a consensus on a number of important issues that will effect this nation for a long long time.
If that is not the most tremendous American communication problem of our time, I'm not sure what is...
First, an African-American woman was proudly typing away on a laptop emblazoned with a new screen saver. "The Obama's. America's New First Family".
Second, I saw a person of color working in a restaurant struggling to lift a big metal container full of food around a hot kitchen. His head was beaded with sweat and lines of effort carved into his face over many years of toil.
These contrasting anecdotes aptly summarize the great promise and tremendous peril of the new Obama presidency.
People across the world, especially of color, have imputed much hope in this astoundingly historic victory.
However, although he will be, in the space of less than 60 days, the holder of the most powerful office on earth, there are limits to what even a remarkably skilled politician like Mr. Obama can do.
In a precarious world that has become increasingly intertwined, where social problems have seemingly become intractable, Mr. Obama's words of hope resonated with a large proportion of the population. But still, there is a sizable minority of Americans who resoundingly rejected his message and, more disturbingly, who he is as a human being. It will take every ounce of Mr. Obama's inestimable skills as a communicator to invite the entire population into a frank discussion about its future. And perhaps, more importantly, to depolarize an increasingly fragmented House and Senate that is divided among party lines, get them to work together and come to a consensus on a number of important issues that will effect this nation for a long long time.
If that is not the most tremendous American communication problem of our time, I'm not sure what is...
Thursday, October 30, 2008
random thoughts about this whole election thingy
Please find a collection of random thoughts about the role of the media in the election.
U.S., that is.
There was also a recent federal election in Canada. Funny thing is that the entire process, from dropping of the writ to final tally, took less time than even the nomination process for either major U.S. party... How does that happen?
The maturation of the internet within the electoral cycle:
Former Democratic Party presidential nominee Howard Dean may have started reaching out to the electorate using the internet back in 2004 but it has greatly matured in these intervening years. Online donations have become a major source of campaign financing and will only develop. Also, creating a database of voters/potential voters grew in sophistication. From now on, any candidate looking to win a major political office at any level will need to have a serious strategy to elicit funds and find potential voters. I am unsure how fundraising strategies will significantly improve from the present - there is only so many ways, and so many times, you can get people to open their wallets. But tracking people to elicit as much information as possible, and get-out-the-vote developments, will only improve.
...
The rapid response unit:
Campaign strategists have exponentially increased the speed with which they spread information about their candidate (flattering), the other candidate (unflattering) and responses to perceived misinformation (using flattering information to put their candidate in the best light after being made to look unflattering by their opponent, usually by making the other candidate look unflattering).
And repeat.
The 24-hour-news-cycle mandates almost instantaneous response to any accusations. Both parties put a premium on answering as quickly as possible so that any rumors could not gain traction. For the most part, candidates were able to define themselves and not let the other party do it for them.
...
Hillary's flame out:
Carol Moseley Braun was the first, and only, African-American woman elected to the U.S. Senate. She also briefly ran for the Democratic presidential nomination.
I can't find the quote, but I believe it was Ms. Braun who said she faced more difficulty being a woman than a person of color in politics. (If you find the quote, please please please let me know). After Hillary's shoddy treatment during her campaign, and even Governor Palin (please see “Clothes Shopping Spree Scandal”), I believe that is still true.
Sure, you could make a pretty convincing argument that Obama organized the pantsuit off Hillary's team. However, her entire time in political life has been an endless parade of chauvinistic sentiments rationalized through the idea of gender equality/neutrality. She has been a veritable lightning rodham for criticism that has just been too angry in tone and too negatively gendered given the realities of the situation at hand. Whether it was criticism regarding her efforts in the health care reform initiative (Bill 1.0), the Lewinsky scandal fall out (Bill 2.0), the "could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas" comment, or even her hearty laugh (for the love of God can you please stop!) (2008 Democratic Nominee Campaign), the press has been a little to eager to pounce at even the slightest mishap or hiccup. We simply need more females working in politics and this kind of stuff needs to end. Why any sane person would run for public office these days is beyond me.
...
Sensical Springer:
I saw a tidbit on television the other night where Jerry Springer spoke eloquently about the need for universal health care and education as well as the importance of the middle class. When a sensationalistic talk show host is saying some of the sanest policy statements during an election campaign, you know things are messed up.
Next thing you know, we will be seeing Secretary of Defence Steve Wilkos.
"What?!? Secretary Wilkos wants us to replace all military rifles with folding chairs from his show?!?
U.S., that is.
There was also a recent federal election in Canada. Funny thing is that the entire process, from dropping of the writ to final tally, took less time than even the nomination process for either major U.S. party... How does that happen?
The maturation of the internet within the electoral cycle:
Former Democratic Party presidential nominee Howard Dean may have started reaching out to the electorate using the internet back in 2004 but it has greatly matured in these intervening years. Online donations have become a major source of campaign financing and will only develop. Also, creating a database of voters/potential voters grew in sophistication. From now on, any candidate looking to win a major political office at any level will need to have a serious strategy to elicit funds and find potential voters. I am unsure how fundraising strategies will significantly improve from the present - there is only so many ways, and so many times, you can get people to open their wallets. But tracking people to elicit as much information as possible, and get-out-the-vote developments, will only improve.
...
The rapid response unit:
Campaign strategists have exponentially increased the speed with which they spread information about their candidate (flattering), the other candidate (unflattering) and responses to perceived misinformation (using flattering information to put their candidate in the best light after being made to look unflattering by their opponent, usually by making the other candidate look unflattering).
And repeat.
The 24-hour-news-cycle mandates almost instantaneous response to any accusations. Both parties put a premium on answering as quickly as possible so that any rumors could not gain traction. For the most part, candidates were able to define themselves and not let the other party do it for them.
...
Hillary's flame out:
Carol Moseley Braun was the first, and only, African-American woman elected to the U.S. Senate. She also briefly ran for the Democratic presidential nomination.
I can't find the quote, but I believe it was Ms. Braun who said she faced more difficulty being a woman than a person of color in politics. (If you find the quote, please please please let me know). After Hillary's shoddy treatment during her campaign, and even Governor Palin (please see “Clothes Shopping Spree Scandal”), I believe that is still true.
Sure, you could make a pretty convincing argument that Obama organized the pantsuit off Hillary's team. However, her entire time in political life has been an endless parade of chauvinistic sentiments rationalized through the idea of gender equality/neutrality. She has been a veritable lightning rodham for criticism that has just been too angry in tone and too negatively gendered given the realities of the situation at hand. Whether it was criticism regarding her efforts in the health care reform initiative (Bill 1.0), the Lewinsky scandal fall out (Bill 2.0), the "could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas" comment, or even her hearty laugh (for the love of God can you please stop!) (2008 Democratic Nominee Campaign), the press has been a little to eager to pounce at even the slightest mishap or hiccup. We simply need more females working in politics and this kind of stuff needs to end. Why any sane person would run for public office these days is beyond me.
...
Sensical Springer:
I saw a tidbit on television the other night where Jerry Springer spoke eloquently about the need for universal health care and education as well as the importance of the middle class. When a sensationalistic talk show host is saying some of the sanest policy statements during an election campaign, you know things are messed up.
Next thing you know, we will be seeing Secretary of Defence Steve Wilkos.
"What?!? Secretary Wilkos wants us to replace all military rifles with folding chairs from his show?!?
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
an ode to community
“His overall conclusion is that virtual communities cannot reclaim ‘lost’ community in society, largely because the cultures and identities created are ‘too partial, heterogeneous and fluid to create a strong sense of membership and belonging’” (Van Dijk, 1998, 59 in Jankowski, 2006, 63).
community is permeable.
organic.
we’re still hunter-gatherers.
but we hunt with cunning sharpened by textbooks,
and gather in our pocketbooks.
moving from group-to-group,
their contours are more or less the same,
it’s what’s inside that changes.
or does it?
the play remains the same,
it’s just the actors who change.
we are part of more-and-more groups,
but in less-and-less personal ways.
introduction,
interaction,
and emigration
seem …
somehow …
less traumatic in the virtual world
than face-to-face.
“who do YOU think you are?”
“why the hell did you do THAT?”
“hey … where are you going?”
in the good old days,
leaving a group seemed more difficult.
a departure implied a slight.
indifference
can change diffidence
to belligerence.
You talkin' to me?
You talkin' to me?
Then who the hell else are you talkin' to?
in present days,
information surrounds us,
envelops us,
becomes us.
traffic moves
from the front sidewalk
to the front cortex.
physical impact becomes mental.
emotional.
spiritual?
possession is unimportant,
transformation assumed,
and dissemination key.
"Who gets what to the most whoevers"
is the headline of the day.
why is irrelevant.
when? instantaneous.
"HAVEN’T YOU READ MY E-MAIL?!?"
where goes our information flow,
there goes our social glow.
social structures evolved
through medieval torture,
and victorian proper,
to modern,
post-modernism.
are rules
even rules
when they’ve been …
ruled out?
the formalization of …
informality?!?
staid strictures secede,
silly sensibilities slowly surface.
old society,
its mores ever-shifting,
becomes embedded
on new society.
that is, if there ever was one...
old society, that is.
virtual communities can’t “reclaim ‘lost’ community”
any more than mrs. c. can call the fonz and richie
back to the dining room table.
an illusion
captures the imagination
because it’s elusive.
was there ever really a community?
or was it just something we made up?
to help us get through troubling times
nostalgia
covered in sepia
leads to dementia?
was that my family?
or your family?
who’s family?
the cunningham family?!?
hysteria!
goodbye 50s pot-roast.
hello tomorrow’s ...
oh, who knows?
well joanie, you're going to have to wait until tomorrow night to see how this story turns out...
References:
Jankowski, N. (2006). Creating community with media: History, theories, and scientific investigations. In L. Lievrouw & S. Livingstone (Eds.), The handbook of new media, updated student edition (pp. 55-74). London: Sage.
Van Dijk, J. (1998) The reality of virtual communities. Trends in communication 1(1) pp. 39-63.
community is permeable.
organic.
we’re still hunter-gatherers.
but we hunt with cunning sharpened by textbooks,
and gather in our pocketbooks.
moving from group-to-group,
their contours are more or less the same,
it’s what’s inside that changes.
or does it?
the play remains the same,
it’s just the actors who change.
we are part of more-and-more groups,
but in less-and-less personal ways.
introduction,
interaction,
and emigration
seem …
somehow …
less traumatic in the virtual world
than face-to-face.
“who do YOU think you are?”
“why the hell did you do THAT?”
“hey … where are you going?”
in the good old days,
leaving a group seemed more difficult.
a departure implied a slight.
indifference
can change diffidence
to belligerence.
You talkin' to me?
You talkin' to me?
Then who the hell else are you talkin' to?
in present days,
information surrounds us,
envelops us,
becomes us.
traffic moves
from the front sidewalk
to the front cortex.
physical impact becomes mental.
emotional.
spiritual?
possession is unimportant,
transformation assumed,
and dissemination key.
"Who gets what to the most whoevers"
is the headline of the day.
why is irrelevant.
when? instantaneous.
"HAVEN’T YOU READ MY E-MAIL?!?"
where goes our information flow,
there goes our social glow.
social structures evolved
through medieval torture,
and victorian proper,
to modern,
post-modernism.
are rules
even rules
when they’ve been …
ruled out?
the formalization of …
informality?!?
staid strictures secede,
silly sensibilities slowly surface.
old society,
its mores ever-shifting,
becomes embedded
on new society.
that is, if there ever was one...
old society, that is.
virtual communities can’t “reclaim ‘lost’ community”
any more than mrs. c. can call the fonz and richie
back to the dining room table.
an illusion
captures the imagination
because it’s elusive.
was there ever really a community?
or was it just something we made up?
to help us get through troubling times
nostalgia
covered in sepia
leads to dementia?
was that my family?
or your family?
who’s family?
the cunningham family?!?
hysteria!
goodbye 50s pot-roast.
hello tomorrow’s ...
oh, who knows?
well joanie, you're going to have to wait until tomorrow night to see how this story turns out...
References:
Jankowski, N. (2006). Creating community with media: History, theories, and scientific investigations. In L. Lievrouw & S. Livingstone (Eds.), The handbook of new media, updated student edition (pp. 55-74). London: Sage.
Van Dijk, J. (1998) The reality of virtual communities. Trends in communication 1(1) pp. 39-63.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Legal issues in virtual ethnographies
Legal issues in the making of a virtual ethnography: The Louise Woodward case
Louise Woodward was a British au pair responsible for caring for the two Eappen children over their parents' long periods of absence. Matthew Eappen suffered a brain haemorrhage, 'shaken baby syndrome' and died from damage caused inside his skull. He was 8 months old. Louise was charged with murder. The presiding judge released his decision on the case through the internet. This choice leads to many interesting issues.
Firstly, was there a legal requirement for the presiding judge to release his judgment in a more traditional method? (e.g. in a paper format for newspapers)?
Probably not.
American states publish reports of appellate level cases in legal reports which go all the way up to the Supreme Court. In the jurisdictions of England and Wales, higher English court decisions are reported in a complete series from the Year Books of Edward II to Henry VIII to the present. Similarly, Canadian provinces have official legal reports for superior and appellate court decisions as well as for federal courts and the Supreme Court of Canada. Although criminal cases like the Woodward case would normally need to be reported in a formal legal reporter to become a part of the "public record", it does not appear as though there is a firm legal requirement for the presiding judge to report it to the press, print or online.
Further, regardless of legal requirements to share results, since the Woodward case was criminal in nature, it would be difficult to find an appropriate traditional medium which could support its gravity and widespread concern such a case would create. For example, municipal and regional newspapers do not have jurisdictions that mimic the national nature of, or international interest in, a criminal offence. As a result, although it appears as though there is no legal compulsion to publish in the popular press in any manner, even if there was, it would be difficult to choose an appropriate medium that has suitable scope.
Secondly, is it morally suspect to release a legal decision on the internet?
In this case, arguably yes.
The case was decided during the infancy of the internet (1997) and relatively few people had access to information provided this way. Since the legal decision in this case was a public issue of wide concern (e.g. care of a child), this information should have been published in the most pervasive and least restricted manner. The internet arguably did not meet this criteria at that time.
However, perhaps you could potentially make the alternative case today and especially "tomorrow". Given the high penetration of broadband access in homes, perhaps internet publication is, or will be, the only way to fully inform the populace about matters of public concern. As the balance transitions from print to online news consumption
, perhaps the internet will be the only medium of choice. But given economic barriers and resistance by a minority of citizens to be plugged in, will full internet access ever occur? Will tomorrow ever come?
Finally (I had to stop somewhere), was it legal or moral to conduct a study based on this subject matter?
It was definitely legal, probably moral, but personally a bit strange.
In this case, it appears as though there was separation between researcher and subject. The periphery of the internet culture that circled around the issue was surveyed, not the sufferers themselves. Even then, as long as subjects were informed of the nature of the study and were treated in a civil manner and with care, legality should not be an issue. However, is it ever truly moral to exploit someone in a tender situation, even in the most peripheral manner even if it contributes to the "common good", the banner for most research? Hmmm...
References:
Hine, C. (2000) Virtual ethnography. London: Sage. (Ch. 4: The making of a virtual ethnography).
Carr, D. (2008, October 29) Mourning Old Media’s Decline. New York Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/29/business/media/29carr.html?scp=4&sq=gannett&st=cse
Louise Woodward was a British au pair responsible for caring for the two Eappen children over their parents' long periods of absence. Matthew Eappen suffered a brain haemorrhage, 'shaken baby syndrome' and died from damage caused inside his skull. He was 8 months old. Louise was charged with murder. The presiding judge released his decision on the case through the internet. This choice leads to many interesting issues.
Firstly, was there a legal requirement for the presiding judge to release his judgment in a more traditional method? (e.g. in a paper format for newspapers)?
Probably not.
American states publish reports of appellate level cases in legal reports which go all the way up to the Supreme Court. In the jurisdictions of England and Wales, higher English court decisions are reported in a complete series from the Year Books of Edward II to Henry VIII to the present. Similarly, Canadian provinces have official legal reports for superior and appellate court decisions as well as for federal courts and the Supreme Court of Canada. Although criminal cases like the Woodward case would normally need to be reported in a formal legal reporter to become a part of the "public record", it does not appear as though there is a firm legal requirement for the presiding judge to report it to the press, print or online.
Further, regardless of legal requirements to share results, since the Woodward case was criminal in nature, it would be difficult to find an appropriate traditional medium which could support its gravity and widespread concern such a case would create. For example, municipal and regional newspapers do not have jurisdictions that mimic the national nature of, or international interest in, a criminal offence. As a result, although it appears as though there is no legal compulsion to publish in the popular press in any manner, even if there was, it would be difficult to choose an appropriate medium that has suitable scope.
Secondly, is it morally suspect to release a legal decision on the internet?
In this case, arguably yes.
The case was decided during the infancy of the internet (1997) and relatively few people had access to information provided this way. Since the legal decision in this case was a public issue of wide concern (e.g. care of a child), this information should have been published in the most pervasive and least restricted manner. The internet arguably did not meet this criteria at that time.
However, perhaps you could potentially make the alternative case today and especially "tomorrow". Given the high penetration of broadband access in homes, perhaps internet publication is, or will be, the only way to fully inform the populace about matters of public concern. As the balance transitions from print to online news consumption
, perhaps the internet will be the only medium of choice. But given economic barriers and resistance by a minority of citizens to be plugged in, will full internet access ever occur? Will tomorrow ever come?
Finally (I had to stop somewhere), was it legal or moral to conduct a study based on this subject matter?
It was definitely legal, probably moral, but personally a bit strange.
In this case, it appears as though there was separation between researcher and subject. The periphery of the internet culture that circled around the issue was surveyed, not the sufferers themselves. Even then, as long as subjects were informed of the nature of the study and were treated in a civil manner and with care, legality should not be an issue. However, is it ever truly moral to exploit someone in a tender situation, even in the most peripheral manner even if it contributes to the "common good", the banner for most research? Hmmm...
References:
Hine, C. (2000) Virtual ethnography. London: Sage. (Ch. 4: The making of a virtual ethnography).
Carr, D. (2008, October 29) Mourning Old Media’s Decline. New York Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/29/business/media/29carr.html?scp=4&sq=gannett&st=cse
Friday, October 10, 2008
The final project. Duh duh duh…
(1) Reflections on what I think I need in order to move forward on my final project? (more concrete questions, more reading in a particular area, etc.)
I am interested in the hesitancy in classmates registering for Second Life accounts. Given that all of us are enrolled in a course entitled “Social and Communicative Aspects of the Internet and other ICTs” and that all/most/many of us are studying within Communication, Computing, and Technology in Education, I would have expected a higher rate of adoption. As a result, I am interested in possible reasons for this resistance to embrace this particular technology.
I am planning on looking more into questions about how identity is formed, online representations of identity and any similarities or differences between the two. Due to my relative lack of familiarity with the field, these areas all look like ripe for further reading and questioning. To be honest, I do not think I know enough about the field at this time to ask any informed questions...
(2) How can you get what you need?
I am unsure whether or not, at this time, I will be conducting a traditional literature review/discussion of a given topic or a project/mini-study. I am initially swaying towards the literature review because of my lack of background in the area. I do not think I really know enough about this subject area to conduct a proper study. I think I will initially investigate studies/readings concerning traditional forms of identity formation, studies/readings about online identity formation and any overlap through an online and offline search of Columbia resources.
I am interested in the hesitancy in classmates registering for Second Life accounts. Given that all of us are enrolled in a course entitled “Social and Communicative Aspects of the Internet and other ICTs” and that all/most/many of us are studying within Communication, Computing, and Technology in Education, I would have expected a higher rate of adoption. As a result, I am interested in possible reasons for this resistance to embrace this particular technology.
I am planning on looking more into questions about how identity is formed, online representations of identity and any similarities or differences between the two. Due to my relative lack of familiarity with the field, these areas all look like ripe for further reading and questioning. To be honest, I do not think I know enough about the field at this time to ask any informed questions...
(2) How can you get what you need?
I am unsure whether or not, at this time, I will be conducting a traditional literature review/discussion of a given topic or a project/mini-study. I am initially swaying towards the literature review because of my lack of background in the area. I do not think I really know enough about this subject area to conduct a proper study. I think I will initially investigate studies/readings concerning traditional forms of identity formation, studies/readings about online identity formation and any overlap through an online and offline search of Columbia resources.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Technological determinism
Technological determinism - negotiating the space between its extremes
By far the most dominant theme I have encountered during my time in the Instructional Technology and Media (ITM) program is the idea of technological determinism (TD). For the sake of clarity of thought in this discussion, I will define TD as "the human tendency to create the kind of society that invests technologies with enough power to drive history" (Marx & Smith, 1994, p. xiv). Also in this piece, the ideas of “hard” and “soft” determinism are compared and contrasted. “At the ‘hard’ end of the spectrum, agency (the power to effect change) is imputed to technology itself, or to some of its intrinsic attributes; thus the advance of technology leads to a situation of inescapable necessity” (Marx & Smith, 1994, p. xii). In contrast, “[a]t the other end of the spectrum, the ‘soft’ determinists begin by reminding us that the history of technology is a history of human actions … Instead of treating ‘technology’ per se as the locus of historical agency the soft determinists locate it in a far more various and complex social, economic, political, and cultural matrix”(Marx & Smith, 1994, p. xiii).
The reason I have found TD so prevalent in my readings, conversations and thoughts in ITM is that I use it as an analytical framework within which I examine the interplay of technology within a variety of settings. I find the TD framework especially useful when it contextualizes spatial, temporal, psychological, social, economic, political, and, of course, educational issues. When the implementation of a technology is implemented, its effect needs to be measured. These interventions invariably take place within a physical or online setting (spatial) and occur over time (temporal). These effects usually manifest themselves in either micro levels (psychological) or macro levels (social, economic, political), or a combination of the two. Like many distinctions, the lines between these issues and levels can become easily blurred. Similarly, educational milieus, whether at the school, university or alternative settings, are ripe for technological interventions and the examination of their effects at a number of levels depending on the requirements of specific research questions. As a result, I have found TD to be a particularly fruitful in looking at the myriad number of issues involving instruction, technology, media, communication, computing and education.
Two lingering questions
In my first post for this blog, I formulated two questions that had arisen from my readings and discussions within my courses in Communication, Computing, and Technology in Education (CCTE). I further reflected on why these questions were important to me in relation to my personal and academic interests. These questions were first, what is TD? Second, how are competing intellectual schools of thought reconciled?
With regards to the first question, from the earlier thoughts in this post, it is pretty clear that the idea of TD is still quite relevant to my thoughts. Given that I use it as an analytical framework across issues and levels, I am sure it will remain with me throughout my interrogation of technology, media and education issues. Given my multidisciplinary academic background in education, media, law and social sciences, this framework seems especially well-suited to the way I normally look at issues. And if I had to categorize myself, I would be a soft determinist with respect to most technological interventions. Although the cumulative power of technology can be incredibly strong, I would normally situate it within a wider “social, economic, political, and cultural matrix". As such, I would conceive of technology as a strong current within a powerful river consisting of other complementary, or competing, flows.
My second question, how are competing intellectual schools of thought reconciled, is much less developed right now but will take greater prevalence later on in my academic career. At the moment, I have a relatively limited background in some psychological and technological issues that are inextricably linked to technological interventions in educational settings. For example, I am just becoming more familiar with issues like constructionism, constructivism, and behavioralism on the psychological side as well as the incredible number of software, hardware intitiatives that have been, are, and will be taking place in schools, universities, etc. I am hopeful that as my understanding of these concepts and interventions grow, I will be able to more fully integrate them within my ever-evolving personal philosophy of technology, media, instruction, communication, computing and education. However, I am respectful of the fact that these things take time… Wish me luck.
References:
Marx, L., & Smith, M.R. (1994). Introduction. In M.R. Smith & L. Marx (Eds.), Does technology drive history?: The dilemma of technological determinism (ix-xv). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
By far the most dominant theme I have encountered during my time in the Instructional Technology and Media (ITM) program is the idea of technological determinism (TD). For the sake of clarity of thought in this discussion, I will define TD as "the human tendency to create the kind of society that invests technologies with enough power to drive history" (Marx & Smith, 1994, p. xiv). Also in this piece, the ideas of “hard” and “soft” determinism are compared and contrasted. “At the ‘hard’ end of the spectrum, agency (the power to effect change) is imputed to technology itself, or to some of its intrinsic attributes; thus the advance of technology leads to a situation of inescapable necessity” (Marx & Smith, 1994, p. xii). In contrast, “[a]t the other end of the spectrum, the ‘soft’ determinists begin by reminding us that the history of technology is a history of human actions … Instead of treating ‘technology’ per se as the locus of historical agency the soft determinists locate it in a far more various and complex social, economic, political, and cultural matrix”(Marx & Smith, 1994, p. xiii).
The reason I have found TD so prevalent in my readings, conversations and thoughts in ITM is that I use it as an analytical framework within which I examine the interplay of technology within a variety of settings. I find the TD framework especially useful when it contextualizes spatial, temporal, psychological, social, economic, political, and, of course, educational issues. When the implementation of a technology is implemented, its effect needs to be measured. These interventions invariably take place within a physical or online setting (spatial) and occur over time (temporal). These effects usually manifest themselves in either micro levels (psychological) or macro levels (social, economic, political), or a combination of the two. Like many distinctions, the lines between these issues and levels can become easily blurred. Similarly, educational milieus, whether at the school, university or alternative settings, are ripe for technological interventions and the examination of their effects at a number of levels depending on the requirements of specific research questions. As a result, I have found TD to be a particularly fruitful in looking at the myriad number of issues involving instruction, technology, media, communication, computing and education.
Two lingering questions
In my first post for this blog, I formulated two questions that had arisen from my readings and discussions within my courses in Communication, Computing, and Technology in Education (CCTE). I further reflected on why these questions were important to me in relation to my personal and academic interests. These questions were first, what is TD? Second, how are competing intellectual schools of thought reconciled?
With regards to the first question, from the earlier thoughts in this post, it is pretty clear that the idea of TD is still quite relevant to my thoughts. Given that I use it as an analytical framework across issues and levels, I am sure it will remain with me throughout my interrogation of technology, media and education issues. Given my multidisciplinary academic background in education, media, law and social sciences, this framework seems especially well-suited to the way I normally look at issues. And if I had to categorize myself, I would be a soft determinist with respect to most technological interventions. Although the cumulative power of technology can be incredibly strong, I would normally situate it within a wider “social, economic, political, and cultural matrix". As such, I would conceive of technology as a strong current within a powerful river consisting of other complementary, or competing, flows.
My second question, how are competing intellectual schools of thought reconciled, is much less developed right now but will take greater prevalence later on in my academic career. At the moment, I have a relatively limited background in some psychological and technological issues that are inextricably linked to technological interventions in educational settings. For example, I am just becoming more familiar with issues like constructionism, constructivism, and behavioralism on the psychological side as well as the incredible number of software, hardware intitiatives that have been, are, and will be taking place in schools, universities, etc. I am hopeful that as my understanding of these concepts and interventions grow, I will be able to more fully integrate them within my ever-evolving personal philosophy of technology, media, instruction, communication, computing and education. However, I am respectful of the fact that these things take time… Wish me luck.
References:
Marx, L., & Smith, M.R. (1994). Introduction. In M.R. Smith & L. Marx (Eds.), Does technology drive history?: The dilemma of technological determinism (ix-xv). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Paul Newman: A Life On Screen
“Yeah, I met him on my first ‘official’ date with Drew. We had been seeing each other while she was going out with this guy, then I called to say it was over after getting tired of that business, only for her to tell me that she just called it quits with him for good. So, to seem cultured and romantic, I asked her out on a date - a train ride to Stratford for lunch and a matinee of Merry Wives of Windsor. We walked down to the river afterward and, while sitting on a bench, noticed a couple walking toward us. The man seemed really familiar to me due to his walk and his posture; I thought it was a neighbour or a friend of my parents. When he got closer, I realized it was Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. My mom loved Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting, which we had watched together on t.v. After seeing those movies, then Cool Hand Luke one Saturday afternoon at the end of high school, I was a fan. I rented as many movies of his as I could after that, so I recognized the walk, despite his sunglasses and ball cap. I was so awed and surprised that I barely acknowledged Joanne Woodward. I believe my salutation was "Holy Shit!"
After shaking his hand, which he informed me had been burned on the element of their hotel room kitchenette, the four of us briefly talked about the plays they had seen, including the Merry Wives of Windsor. Joanne Woodward did most of the talking - at one point, while Ms. Woodward and I went on about the merits of the production, Paul Newman winked at Drew from over his shades. They walked along, I called my mom from the train station payphone, and the marital commitment of Drew and I experienced a blessed foreshadowing from one of Hollywood's longest, happiest marriages due to a chance meeting on an unlikely first date.
Hey, you'll have to email me and tell me how things are going for you so far. You must be a real New Yawka by now! I think Craig and I are serious about coming to stay with you some weekend, maybe in the spring.
We'll talk soon (do you have a phone number?)
Bart”
Watching movies is a communal activity negotiated in a private mental/emotional sphere. Whenever I go to a movie, I try to look back at least once at the crowd. There is something almost religious in the way that a group of strangers go under a shared trance as they watch a movie.
I had an epiphany over the last year regarding social dynamics in general, and family dynamics specifically. It’s strange that so many of us get cues from the mass media as to how a “normal” family conducts itself. For example, from watching television families, dinner is a time when parents sit at both ends of the table, usually commenced with some kind of prayer or silence and people dig in. The substance of conversation is the events of the day. With kids it’s the uncomfortable questions about what they learned at school. With parents its the bills or some other pedestrian chatter about grown up stuff. Although obviously familial tradition plays its part in perpetuating the dinner time ritual, the mass media also plays its part in showing us what the normative form of discussion should be.
Similarly, our conduct as to what is proper social behavior is also conditioned by television and film. I have always been an appropriater of pop cultural artifacts. Sayings, clothing and behavior has long been at least partially dictated in terms of what I have viewed on the screen. Extending Turkle’s idea of a fragmented identity created through multiple online identities, I have appropriated the behavior and attitude of a number of pop cultural icons to create my own fragmented. And could there be a cooler cat to steal from than Paul Newman?
Just this summer I was visiting some relatives in Italy, I noticed a moment inspired by Paul Newman. An older relative would ride his bicycle around his small village feeding chickens, goats and dogs. And whenever I would walk beside him as he rode, I subconsciously started whistling “Rain Drop Keep Falling On My Head”, the song that played as Paul Newman’s Butch Cassidy charmed Katharine Ross’ Etta Place in “”Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”. In large part, I believe I learned how to conduct myself in romantic situations by watching people like Paul Newman. Hey, I have to blame someone.
~
It is strange how we can develop an opinion of the “real” identity of a screen icon. I believe most people would say they think Mr. Newman is a decent man. See “Newman Remembered as a Good Neighbor and a Good Friend”
But why? Is it his long standing marriage to Joanne Woodward? How about his charitable work with “Newman’s Own”? How about his “Hole-in-the-wall gang” camps for kids? I am sure they all play some role.
However, I believe it was his earnest struggle with some of the more unseemly parts of the human condition in his multitude of roles which conveyed the decency of the man. Think of characters like Eddie Felson in “The Hustler” or Frank Galvin in “The Verdict”. Rightly or wrongly, the largely positive perception of the man was shaped by the composite of his fragmented identities on screen. And fortunately, unlike most people who pass away, we can easily revisit his presence.
Paul Newman died of cancer on September 28, 2008. He was 83.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/movies/28hotchner.html?ref=movies
Newman Remembered as a Good Neighbor and a Good Friend
NY Times
By MANNY FERNANDEZ
Published: September 27, 2008
Paul Newman and A. E. Hotchner lived about 10 minutes from each other in Westport, Conn. The two men, longtime friends, owned boats together. “As a matter of fact,” Mr. Hotchner said Saturday in an interview, “a couple of wretched boats.”
They would go out on Long Island Sound, drinking beer and scaring the fish. “We were terrible fishermen,” he said. Then the motor would stall. “We’d get out there in the middle of the sound and then it would poop out,” Mr. Hotchner said. “The police would say, ‘Those two guys have to be towed in again.’ There’s this major movie star being towed in by the police.”
Remembrances of Mr. Newman, the actor and philanthropist who died on Friday at his home in Westport at the age of 83, poured forth around the country on Saturday. But few remembered Mr. Newman the way his friend and neighbor did in Westport, a Fairfield County town of about 26,000.
Mr. Newman and Mr. Hotchner, 91, a playwright, novelist and biographer, had been friends for more than 50 years.
In 1982, they founded Newman’s Own food company. One night just before Christmas in 1980, they made a batch of salad dressing with oil and vinegar. They poured the dressing into wine bottles and then gave them as gifts to their neighbors. “It was a lark,” Mr. Hotchner said, a lark that would turn into Newman’s Own, which has donated all its millions of dollars of profits to charities.
In 1988, Mr. Newman and Mr. Hotchner founded a different sort of enterprise: the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Ashford, Conn., a free camp for children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases. One camp grew into other camps, nationally and globally.
The two men first met in the mid-1950s, when Mr. Hotchner adapted an Ernest Hemingway short story, “The Battler,” for television. James Dean was to play the lead, but he had died in a car crash. So the director, Arthur Penn, gave the role to a little-known actor named Paul Newman.
“Paul was an unadorned man,” Mr. Hotchner said. “He was simple and direct and honest and off-center and mischievous, and romantic and very handsome. All of these qualities became the generating force behind him.” He added: “He was the same man in 2008 that he was in 1956 — unchanged, despite all the honors and the movie stardom, not a whisper of a change. And that’s something, the constancy of the man.”
Mr. Newman was the best man at Mr. Hotchner’s wedding in 1970. When Mr. Hotchner remarried last June, Mr. Newman was the best man again. “He’s the best man in my life, so why wouldn’t he be at my wedding?” he said.
Mr. Hotchner said he last saw Mr. Newman at the actor’s house in Westport a few days ago, when Mr. Newman was losing strength in his battle with cancer. “We didn’t really talk about anything other than some funny things that happened,” Mr. Hotchner said. “As I was leaving, I said, ‘Well, I’ll keep in touch.’ He said, ‘Yeah, it’s been a hell of a ride.’ I guess I’ll always remember that.”
After shaking his hand, which he informed me had been burned on the element of their hotel room kitchenette, the four of us briefly talked about the plays they had seen, including the Merry Wives of Windsor. Joanne Woodward did most of the talking - at one point, while Ms. Woodward and I went on about the merits of the production, Paul Newman winked at Drew from over his shades. They walked along, I called my mom from the train station payphone, and the marital commitment of Drew and I experienced a blessed foreshadowing from one of Hollywood's longest, happiest marriages due to a chance meeting on an unlikely first date.
Hey, you'll have to email me and tell me how things are going for you so far. You must be a real New Yawka by now! I think Craig and I are serious about coming to stay with you some weekend, maybe in the spring.
We'll talk soon (do you have a phone number?)
Bart”
Watching movies is a communal activity negotiated in a private mental/emotional sphere. Whenever I go to a movie, I try to look back at least once at the crowd. There is something almost religious in the way that a group of strangers go under a shared trance as they watch a movie.
I had an epiphany over the last year regarding social dynamics in general, and family dynamics specifically. It’s strange that so many of us get cues from the mass media as to how a “normal” family conducts itself. For example, from watching television families, dinner is a time when parents sit at both ends of the table, usually commenced with some kind of prayer or silence and people dig in. The substance of conversation is the events of the day. With kids it’s the uncomfortable questions about what they learned at school. With parents its the bills or some other pedestrian chatter about grown up stuff. Although obviously familial tradition plays its part in perpetuating the dinner time ritual, the mass media also plays its part in showing us what the normative form of discussion should be.
Similarly, our conduct as to what is proper social behavior is also conditioned by television and film. I have always been an appropriater of pop cultural artifacts. Sayings, clothing and behavior has long been at least partially dictated in terms of what I have viewed on the screen. Extending Turkle’s idea of a fragmented identity created through multiple online identities, I have appropriated the behavior and attitude of a number of pop cultural icons to create my own fragmented. And could there be a cooler cat to steal from than Paul Newman?
Just this summer I was visiting some relatives in Italy, I noticed a moment inspired by Paul Newman. An older relative would ride his bicycle around his small village feeding chickens, goats and dogs. And whenever I would walk beside him as he rode, I subconsciously started whistling “Rain Drop Keep Falling On My Head”, the song that played as Paul Newman’s Butch Cassidy charmed Katharine Ross’ Etta Place in “”Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”. In large part, I believe I learned how to conduct myself in romantic situations by watching people like Paul Newman. Hey, I have to blame someone.
~
It is strange how we can develop an opinion of the “real” identity of a screen icon. I believe most people would say they think Mr. Newman is a decent man. See “Newman Remembered as a Good Neighbor and a Good Friend”
But why? Is it his long standing marriage to Joanne Woodward? How about his charitable work with “Newman’s Own”? How about his “Hole-in-the-wall gang” camps for kids? I am sure they all play some role.
However, I believe it was his earnest struggle with some of the more unseemly parts of the human condition in his multitude of roles which conveyed the decency of the man. Think of characters like Eddie Felson in “The Hustler” or Frank Galvin in “The Verdict”. Rightly or wrongly, the largely positive perception of the man was shaped by the composite of his fragmented identities on screen. And fortunately, unlike most people who pass away, we can easily revisit his presence.
Paul Newman died of cancer on September 28, 2008. He was 83.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/movies/28hotchner.html?ref=movies
Newman Remembered as a Good Neighbor and a Good Friend
NY Times
By MANNY FERNANDEZ
Published: September 27, 2008
Paul Newman and A. E. Hotchner lived about 10 minutes from each other in Westport, Conn. The two men, longtime friends, owned boats together. “As a matter of fact,” Mr. Hotchner said Saturday in an interview, “a couple of wretched boats.”
They would go out on Long Island Sound, drinking beer and scaring the fish. “We were terrible fishermen,” he said. Then the motor would stall. “We’d get out there in the middle of the sound and then it would poop out,” Mr. Hotchner said. “The police would say, ‘Those two guys have to be towed in again.’ There’s this major movie star being towed in by the police.”
Remembrances of Mr. Newman, the actor and philanthropist who died on Friday at his home in Westport at the age of 83, poured forth around the country on Saturday. But few remembered Mr. Newman the way his friend and neighbor did in Westport, a Fairfield County town of about 26,000.
Mr. Newman and Mr. Hotchner, 91, a playwright, novelist and biographer, had been friends for more than 50 years.
In 1982, they founded Newman’s Own food company. One night just before Christmas in 1980, they made a batch of salad dressing with oil and vinegar. They poured the dressing into wine bottles and then gave them as gifts to their neighbors. “It was a lark,” Mr. Hotchner said, a lark that would turn into Newman’s Own, which has donated all its millions of dollars of profits to charities.
In 1988, Mr. Newman and Mr. Hotchner founded a different sort of enterprise: the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Ashford, Conn., a free camp for children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases. One camp grew into other camps, nationally and globally.
The two men first met in the mid-1950s, when Mr. Hotchner adapted an Ernest Hemingway short story, “The Battler,” for television. James Dean was to play the lead, but he had died in a car crash. So the director, Arthur Penn, gave the role to a little-known actor named Paul Newman.
“Paul was an unadorned man,” Mr. Hotchner said. “He was simple and direct and honest and off-center and mischievous, and romantic and very handsome. All of these qualities became the generating force behind him.” He added: “He was the same man in 2008 that he was in 1956 — unchanged, despite all the honors and the movie stardom, not a whisper of a change. And that’s something, the constancy of the man.”
Mr. Newman was the best man at Mr. Hotchner’s wedding in 1970. When Mr. Hotchner remarried last June, Mr. Newman was the best man again. “He’s the best man in my life, so why wouldn’t he be at my wedding?” he said.
Mr. Hotchner said he last saw Mr. Newman at the actor’s house in Westport a few days ago, when Mr. Newman was losing strength in his battle with cancer. “We didn’t really talk about anything other than some funny things that happened,” Mr. Hotchner said. “As I was leaving, I said, ‘Well, I’ll keep in touch.’ He said, ‘Yeah, it’s been a hell of a ride.’ I guess I’ll always remember that.”
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Liability for online activities in academia
“Get out of jail free” - liability for online activities in academia
Are professors liable for student misconduct in classroom-mandated activities? If so, how can professional liability be limited?
These questions arise from Michael J. Bugeja’s article “Second Thoughts About Second Life”. Bugeja recounts a campus cybershooting mimicking a real-life incident at Virginia Tech. In response, Bugeja explores the issue of university liability for academically-mandated tasks taking place in virtual worlds.
I would sum up the university’s legal liability as follows.
Be proactive. But don’t worry excessively.
This opinion is based on basic criminal and civil law principals applied against the ever-evolving backdrop of online life. As such, although this opinion may prove useful in the present instance, it may prove less so in the future.
Analysis of an allegedly criminal act normally starts at its division into two main components - actus reus, the evil act, and mens rea, the evil thought. Successful criminal prosecution requires satisfactory fulfillment of both elements beyond a reasonable doubt.
An evil act without malevolent thought protects those deemed below the requisite threshold of mental ability to be held responsible for criminal behavior, namely the mentally infirm, young children, etc.
An evil thought without an accompanying act is also not criminal. A bad person who wishes you wrong but does nothing physically or verbally harmful against you may be a cad (a potential adulterer), immoral (a potential corporate thief) or even reprehensible (a potentially violent spouse). However, he is not criminal.
Looking at the facts of the Ohio University case, it appears initially as though the cybershooter fulfilled the mens rea requirement of a criminal act. He (I am assuming it is a “he”) wanted to shoot and kill these other avatars. There were no claims of lack of intention, mistake or accident. There is nothing in Bugeja’s description attesting to any extenuating circumstances that would vitiate the mental element of the crime (e.g. mental infirmity, insanity, excessive youth, etc.).
As for the actus reus, there was no dispute as to whether this particular student committed the evil act in question. The shooter consciously and deliberately logged into his account, procured a weapon, navigated through the campus and shot the other avatars. There were no other perpetrators involved, the shooter’s identity was clear and there were no claims to the contrary.
As a result, there was fulfillment of the mens rea and actus reus requirements. It looks as though the student should be convicted.
Not so fast.
It is at the actus reus stage where the alleged criminality of this act would most likely fall apart according to the tenets of the criminal justice system. In short, because the scene of the incident was a virtual world, there was no direct physical contact between the cybershooter and the victims and, as a result, it would be argued that no truly criminal act was committed. Otherwise, if the opposite was successfully argued, couldn’t the victims of other cyberworlds charge the shooter with manslaughter (e.g. within any role playing “shoot-em-up” game)? Although the incident in question was callous, poorly timed in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech tragedy, and in an environment where violence is normally not expected, extending criminal sanctions and victims’ rights into a virtual world seem far-fetched at present and ripe for appeal. As a result, lower level judges would be reluctant to extend the punitive power of the criminal courts to the jurisdiction of the virtual world despite the emotional harm inflicted. A patently offensive cyberact such as this is regrettable and will hopefully never happen again. But it is still most likely not criminal.
As a result, the criminal law threshold for the case does not appear as though it would be met. But how would this incident play out in the lower threshold of the civil courts?
It would possibly merit an award for damages though it would probably still be unlikely.
Victims could claim emotional suffering as a result of the trauma of being “virtually killed”. However, in a context where so many people have been killed in other online environments this again seems beyond the purview of most civil courts and likely something that would be appealed. And on a practical level, add the fact that most college students have few valuable assets (iPod anyone?) and potentially much higher personal financial liability (e.g. student loan debt, a bill for the latest Manolo Blahniks), most lawyers would shy away from this case on purely financial grounds. Waiting four years to garnish someone’s future wages seems silly.
Bugeja believes that Linden Lab, creators of the Second Life virtual reality world, is fully insulated from liability due to a clause in its terms of service that disallows users from making claims or demands for damages. Also, Bugeja believes that universities are at great risk when promoting virtual-life games within a curricular setting when they omit a clause in course syllabi stating that engaging in virtual worlds is optional and lack of participation will not affect grades.
However, these beliefs are not entirely well-founded.
Professors apprised of the Ohio University incident should proactively add a clause that makes participation in virtual worlds optional. In fact, they should extend this type of preemptive statement to any activity that could result in liability (e.g. class trips, etc.). However, service providers such as Linden Labs appear in a much weaker position with respect to potentially criminal or tortious acts occurring within their world. This virtual environment is a place where the company has created an online setting, delineated membership standards, regulated, provided tools with which to interact as well as derived financial gain. In a legal setting, this would be compared with a university professor who unwittingly sends college students to this site. If you were a judge and felt the need to assign civil liability, would you choose the well-intentioned professor trying to appeal to a new generation of tech savvy learners who only has a cursory knowledge of a website? Or would you choose the highly impersonal multi-million dollar corporation flush with cash that created a tool that a wide swath of people can access and on which they can purchase weapons? Case closed.
In summary, the Ohio University case would probably not be judged as a criminal offence. Due to the perpetrator’s presumed lack of financial assets, a civil case against the cybershooter would probably not even be made. If anybody was going to be liable, it would most likely be a service provider like Linden Labs that would presumably have the responsibility to regulate its environment, vet its members and protect users from “violence”. But even then, due to the virtual nature of any act, and the general pervasiveness of violence and explicit sexual content in the media and technology, no award would normally be made and, if it was, it would be a nominal amount for pain and suffering. Specific threats through e-mail communication against the corporeal integrity of an actual person (e.g. sexual harassment, assault, etc.) would be the most likely scenario to merit criminal prosecution against guilty parties, gain legal protection or earn a monetary award for damages. And for those educators who still want to use virtual worlds within an academic setting, an optional participation clause within the class syllabus should provide adequate protection.
P.S And don’t let the terms of service clause fool you. The warning label “Cigarettes can kill” has not prevented tobacco companies from being sued for billions of dollars. If terms of service clauses provided absolute protection from liability, every single product ever made would have a warning added and consumer rights would be completely eviscerated. Don’t you think the manufacturers of the tainted baby formula in China would have added one of these clauses to their product to protect themselves?
P.P.S. As virtual worlds become more lifelike, technology becomes more integrated with daily life and the division between the two disappears, potential liability will only increase. In the future, all legal bets are off.
References:
Bugeja, M. (2007, September 14). Second thoughts about Second Life. The Chronicle of Higher Education, p. C1. Retrieved September 11, 2007 from http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i0303c00101.htm
Are professors liable for student misconduct in classroom-mandated activities? If so, how can professional liability be limited?
These questions arise from Michael J. Bugeja’s article “Second Thoughts About Second Life”. Bugeja recounts a campus cybershooting mimicking a real-life incident at Virginia Tech. In response, Bugeja explores the issue of university liability for academically-mandated tasks taking place in virtual worlds.
I would sum up the university’s legal liability as follows.
Be proactive. But don’t worry excessively.
This opinion is based on basic criminal and civil law principals applied against the ever-evolving backdrop of online life. As such, although this opinion may prove useful in the present instance, it may prove less so in the future.
Analysis of an allegedly criminal act normally starts at its division into two main components - actus reus, the evil act, and mens rea, the evil thought. Successful criminal prosecution requires satisfactory fulfillment of both elements beyond a reasonable doubt.
An evil act without malevolent thought protects those deemed below the requisite threshold of mental ability to be held responsible for criminal behavior, namely the mentally infirm, young children, etc.
An evil thought without an accompanying act is also not criminal. A bad person who wishes you wrong but does nothing physically or verbally harmful against you may be a cad (a potential adulterer), immoral (a potential corporate thief) or even reprehensible (a potentially violent spouse). However, he is not criminal.
Looking at the facts of the Ohio University case, it appears initially as though the cybershooter fulfilled the mens rea requirement of a criminal act. He (I am assuming it is a “he”) wanted to shoot and kill these other avatars. There were no claims of lack of intention, mistake or accident. There is nothing in Bugeja’s description attesting to any extenuating circumstances that would vitiate the mental element of the crime (e.g. mental infirmity, insanity, excessive youth, etc.).
As for the actus reus, there was no dispute as to whether this particular student committed the evil act in question. The shooter consciously and deliberately logged into his account, procured a weapon, navigated through the campus and shot the other avatars. There were no other perpetrators involved, the shooter’s identity was clear and there were no claims to the contrary.
As a result, there was fulfillment of the mens rea and actus reus requirements. It looks as though the student should be convicted.
Not so fast.
It is at the actus reus stage where the alleged criminality of this act would most likely fall apart according to the tenets of the criminal justice system. In short, because the scene of the incident was a virtual world, there was no direct physical contact between the cybershooter and the victims and, as a result, it would be argued that no truly criminal act was committed. Otherwise, if the opposite was successfully argued, couldn’t the victims of other cyberworlds charge the shooter with manslaughter (e.g. within any role playing “shoot-em-up” game)? Although the incident in question was callous, poorly timed in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech tragedy, and in an environment where violence is normally not expected, extending criminal sanctions and victims’ rights into a virtual world seem far-fetched at present and ripe for appeal. As a result, lower level judges would be reluctant to extend the punitive power of the criminal courts to the jurisdiction of the virtual world despite the emotional harm inflicted. A patently offensive cyberact such as this is regrettable and will hopefully never happen again. But it is still most likely not criminal.
As a result, the criminal law threshold for the case does not appear as though it would be met. But how would this incident play out in the lower threshold of the civil courts?
It would possibly merit an award for damages though it would probably still be unlikely.
Victims could claim emotional suffering as a result of the trauma of being “virtually killed”. However, in a context where so many people have been killed in other online environments this again seems beyond the purview of most civil courts and likely something that would be appealed. And on a practical level, add the fact that most college students have few valuable assets (iPod anyone?) and potentially much higher personal financial liability (e.g. student loan debt, a bill for the latest Manolo Blahniks), most lawyers would shy away from this case on purely financial grounds. Waiting four years to garnish someone’s future wages seems silly.
Bugeja believes that Linden Lab, creators of the Second Life virtual reality world, is fully insulated from liability due to a clause in its terms of service that disallows users from making claims or demands for damages. Also, Bugeja believes that universities are at great risk when promoting virtual-life games within a curricular setting when they omit a clause in course syllabi stating that engaging in virtual worlds is optional and lack of participation will not affect grades.
However, these beliefs are not entirely well-founded.
Professors apprised of the Ohio University incident should proactively add a clause that makes participation in virtual worlds optional. In fact, they should extend this type of preemptive statement to any activity that could result in liability (e.g. class trips, etc.). However, service providers such as Linden Labs appear in a much weaker position with respect to potentially criminal or tortious acts occurring within their world. This virtual environment is a place where the company has created an online setting, delineated membership standards, regulated, provided tools with which to interact as well as derived financial gain. In a legal setting, this would be compared with a university professor who unwittingly sends college students to this site. If you were a judge and felt the need to assign civil liability, would you choose the well-intentioned professor trying to appeal to a new generation of tech savvy learners who only has a cursory knowledge of a website? Or would you choose the highly impersonal multi-million dollar corporation flush with cash that created a tool that a wide swath of people can access and on which they can purchase weapons? Case closed.
In summary, the Ohio University case would probably not be judged as a criminal offence. Due to the perpetrator’s presumed lack of financial assets, a civil case against the cybershooter would probably not even be made. If anybody was going to be liable, it would most likely be a service provider like Linden Labs that would presumably have the responsibility to regulate its environment, vet its members and protect users from “violence”. But even then, due to the virtual nature of any act, and the general pervasiveness of violence and explicit sexual content in the media and technology, no award would normally be made and, if it was, it would be a nominal amount for pain and suffering. Specific threats through e-mail communication against the corporeal integrity of an actual person (e.g. sexual harassment, assault, etc.) would be the most likely scenario to merit criminal prosecution against guilty parties, gain legal protection or earn a monetary award for damages. And for those educators who still want to use virtual worlds within an academic setting, an optional participation clause within the class syllabus should provide adequate protection.
P.S And don’t let the terms of service clause fool you. The warning label “Cigarettes can kill” has not prevented tobacco companies from being sued for billions of dollars. If terms of service clauses provided absolute protection from liability, every single product ever made would have a warning added and consumer rights would be completely eviscerated. Don’t you think the manufacturers of the tainted baby formula in China would have added one of these clauses to their product to protect themselves?
P.P.S. As virtual worlds become more lifelike, technology becomes more integrated with daily life and the division between the two disappears, potential liability will only increase. In the future, all legal bets are off.
References:
Bugeja, M. (2007, September 14). Second thoughts about Second Life. The Chronicle of Higher Education, p. C1. Retrieved September 11, 2007 from http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i0303c00101.htm
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Manipulating information (personal/academic)
A range of influential writers, from Robert Reich (1992) and Peter Drucker (1993) to Manuel Castells (1996-8), suggest that the economy is led and energized by people whose major characteristic is the capacity to manipulate information. (Webster, 2006, p. 446, emphasis is mine)
Given the state of current global financial markets, during what the former Chair of the Federal Reserve Board Alan Greenspan might still call “The Age of Turbulence”, I am unsure if Webster knew how prescient the word “manipulate” would be...
Webster wrote this quotation as an example of the occupational change endemic to an “information society”. Webster, mimicking a sociological perspective, states that “we have achieved an information society when the preponderance of occupations is found in information work”. Although this argument smacks of circularity (e.g. How do you know when we have an “information society”? Well, when everyone in “society” has a job dealing with “information”…), this metric is as good as any of the others used to define the nature of an amorphous phenomenon like the information society.
I find this quotation especially intriguing in light of the recent financial meltdown of Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, AIG, etc. and its particularly appropriate use of the phrase “manipulate information”. In “our globalized and fast-changing world” (Webster, 2006, p. 446) with financial services that allow increasingly large amounts of money to change hands almost instantaneously, good financial information becomes a highly valuable commodity. When you mix an oligarchy that monopolizes high-end financial information with direct access to a great deal of capital, these types of cataclysmic market corrections seem highly foreseeable, if not inevitable. Although there is no certainty as to what exactly caused the collapse of Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and others (1), part of it has to do with this deliberate manipulation of information.
I believe that Reich, Drucker, Castells and Webster wrote in good faith about the phenomenon of informational leaders. When they wrote about information manipulation they used neutral terms and meant it simply as those who create and use information. But for a person who until very recently (e.g. check out last week’s blog) would count himself as a “soft technological determinist” (2), I can’t help but revisit my seemingly rash view that “hard technological determinism” (3) carries less weight. It is difficult not to revisit these thoughts during a global economic meltdown accelerated by instantaneous financial transactions carried out by technology. At least in the present instance, financial services technology has hastened the collapse of some major Wall Street players.
Could these problems have still occurred without technology? Possibly. I guess that is up to the economic historians to decide…
(1) Speculation is rampant that this meltdown was based, to some extent, on collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). CDOs are an unregulated asset-backed security. In some instances they can be mortgage-backed securities, some of which, as you would expect, were exposed to the subprime mortgage markets.
(2) Technology is viewed as a part of a more complex mix of economic, political and social factors (Marx & Smith, 1994, p. xiii).
(3) Hard technological determinism imputes agency to technology itself and technological advances leading to a situation of inescapable necessity (Marx & Smith, 1994, p. xii).
References:
Marx, L., & Smith, M.R. (1994). Introduction. In M.R. Smith & L. Marx (Eds.), Does technology drive history?: The dilemma of technological determinism (ix-xv). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Webster, F. (2006). The information society revisited. In L. Lievrouw & S. Livingstone (Eds.), The Handbook of New Media, Updated Student Edition (443-457). London: Sage.
Given the state of current global financial markets, during what the former Chair of the Federal Reserve Board Alan Greenspan might still call “The Age of Turbulence”, I am unsure if Webster knew how prescient the word “manipulate” would be...
Webster wrote this quotation as an example of the occupational change endemic to an “information society”. Webster, mimicking a sociological perspective, states that “we have achieved an information society when the preponderance of occupations is found in information work”. Although this argument smacks of circularity (e.g. How do you know when we have an “information society”? Well, when everyone in “society” has a job dealing with “information”…), this metric is as good as any of the others used to define the nature of an amorphous phenomenon like the information society.
I find this quotation especially intriguing in light of the recent financial meltdown of Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, AIG, etc. and its particularly appropriate use of the phrase “manipulate information”. In “our globalized and fast-changing world” (Webster, 2006, p. 446) with financial services that allow increasingly large amounts of money to change hands almost instantaneously, good financial information becomes a highly valuable commodity. When you mix an oligarchy that monopolizes high-end financial information with direct access to a great deal of capital, these types of cataclysmic market corrections seem highly foreseeable, if not inevitable. Although there is no certainty as to what exactly caused the collapse of Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and others (1), part of it has to do with this deliberate manipulation of information.
I believe that Reich, Drucker, Castells and Webster wrote in good faith about the phenomenon of informational leaders. When they wrote about information manipulation they used neutral terms and meant it simply as those who create and use information. But for a person who until very recently (e.g. check out last week’s blog) would count himself as a “soft technological determinist” (2), I can’t help but revisit my seemingly rash view that “hard technological determinism” (3) carries less weight. It is difficult not to revisit these thoughts during a global economic meltdown accelerated by instantaneous financial transactions carried out by technology. At least in the present instance, financial services technology has hastened the collapse of some major Wall Street players.
Could these problems have still occurred without technology? Possibly. I guess that is up to the economic historians to decide…
(1) Speculation is rampant that this meltdown was based, to some extent, on collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). CDOs are an unregulated asset-backed security. In some instances they can be mortgage-backed securities, some of which, as you would expect, were exposed to the subprime mortgage markets.
(2) Technology is viewed as a part of a more complex mix of economic, political and social factors (Marx & Smith, 1994, p. xiii).
(3) Hard technological determinism imputes agency to technology itself and technological advances leading to a situation of inescapable necessity (Marx & Smith, 1994, p. xii).
References:
Marx, L., & Smith, M.R. (1994). Introduction. In M.R. Smith & L. Marx (Eds.), Does technology drive history?: The dilemma of technological determinism (ix-xv). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Webster, F. (2006). The information society revisited. In L. Lievrouw & S. Livingstone (Eds.), The Handbook of New Media, Updated Student Edition (443-457). London: Sage.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Who's afraid of the big bad robot? (personal)
"Hard" technological determinism (hereafter referred to as "TD" to help delay the onset of carpal tunnel...) conjures up stark images in the deepest recesses of the technophobes's mind. A Terminator-like cyborg running amok and laying waste to civil society. If it was put in human form, it would be the dude from Grand Theft Auto but with a flat Austrian accent.
Or, for those of you who are more mathematical in your thinking, you could also think of this phenomenon in these terms:
Advanced Technology + Paranoia + Hollywood CGI = The Governator
Was there really any other way these three variables could add up to anything else?
Haley Joel Osment, the cute robot boy from AI who was ubiquitous years ago*, couldn't bring in the box office dollars compared to the frightening tale of technology gone awry in the Terminator series. And that's despite having the help of Jude Law playing a randy robot. There's just something eminently more compelling to the popular consciousness in an apocalyptic tale of futuristic dystopia than Pinocchio 2.0 striving for technological self-actualization through his mother.
Funny business aside, I honestly get the heebeegeebees when I entertain the concept of hard TD. Just the idea of technology having agency and effecting change in an autonomous way scares me.
This of course leads to the $64,000 question.
Why?
Recognizing that I am old-school in this sensibility, I stated the following hypothetical scenario in class.
I wonder if I would be more comfortable with hard TD if I was born X years from now, when artificial intelligence would be a bigger part of everyday life?
I initially answered yes. I would be more comfortable born in the future when confronted with this phenomenon. With the presumed almost imperceptible long-term integration of increasingly smart machines across a variety of products, I would imagine that it would only be that much easier to accept the reality of hard TD.
But the existentialism-pondering, Descartes-reading philosopher in me thinks perhaps that would not be the case. I don't know if it would ever feel completely "natural" that we, as human beings, would have our fates inextricably and inescapably linked to the whims of technology, whether it be something as malevolent as a Terminator-like machine, the initially benevolent Hal in 2001 A Space Odyssey, or maybe, one day, Apple's iPresident.
But human ego aside, given the increasing complexity of the world, with the highly likely increase in the intensity of intermingling of cultural, economic, political and social factors, wouldn't technology, even if it permeated every pore of post-industrial life, only be one wave in an ocean full of currents?
Who knows?
See you in fifty years...
* For a two-year period it appeared that everybody's favorite scamp, Haley Joel Osment, was in every major Hollywood production - The Sixth Sense, Pay It Forward, AI, Different Strokes.
Oh sorry. The last one was Gary Coleman.
But Mr. Osment has succumbed to one of Hollywood's most fickle fates - the "awkward teen stage". Now he is too old to play a child, but too young to morph into a romantic lead.
At least I hope he had the sixth sense not to pay forward that trust fund money...
Ha. Ha ha ha.
Or, for those of you who are more mathematical in your thinking, you could also think of this phenomenon in these terms:
Advanced Technology + Paranoia + Hollywood CGI = The Governator
Was there really any other way these three variables could add up to anything else?
Haley Joel Osment, the cute robot boy from AI who was ubiquitous years ago*, couldn't bring in the box office dollars compared to the frightening tale of technology gone awry in the Terminator series. And that's despite having the help of Jude Law playing a randy robot. There's just something eminently more compelling to the popular consciousness in an apocalyptic tale of futuristic dystopia than Pinocchio 2.0 striving for technological self-actualization through his mother.
Funny business aside, I honestly get the heebeegeebees when I entertain the concept of hard TD. Just the idea of technology having agency and effecting change in an autonomous way scares me.
This of course leads to the $64,000 question.
Why?
Recognizing that I am old-school in this sensibility, I stated the following hypothetical scenario in class.
I wonder if I would be more comfortable with hard TD if I was born X years from now, when artificial intelligence would be a bigger part of everyday life?
I initially answered yes. I would be more comfortable born in the future when confronted with this phenomenon. With the presumed almost imperceptible long-term integration of increasingly smart machines across a variety of products, I would imagine that it would only be that much easier to accept the reality of hard TD.
But the existentialism-pondering, Descartes-reading philosopher in me thinks perhaps that would not be the case. I don't know if it would ever feel completely "natural" that we, as human beings, would have our fates inextricably and inescapably linked to the whims of technology, whether it be something as malevolent as a Terminator-like machine, the initially benevolent Hal in 2001 A Space Odyssey, or maybe, one day, Apple's iPresident.
But human ego aside, given the increasing complexity of the world, with the highly likely increase in the intensity of intermingling of cultural, economic, political and social factors, wouldn't technology, even if it permeated every pore of post-industrial life, only be one wave in an ocean full of currents?
Who knows?
See you in fifty years...
* For a two-year period it appeared that everybody's favorite scamp, Haley Joel Osment, was in every major Hollywood production - The Sixth Sense, Pay It Forward, AI, Different Strokes.
Oh sorry. The last one was Gary Coleman.
But Mr. Osment has succumbed to one of Hollywood's most fickle fates - the "awkward teen stage". Now he is too old to play a child, but too young to morph into a romantic lead.
At least I hope he had the sixth sense not to pay forward that trust fund money...
Ha. Ha ha ha.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Defining Technological Determinism (academic)
Focus: Present two questions that have arisen from readings and/or discussions in class so far. Why are these important to me in relation to both my personal and academic interests.
Question 1: What is technological determinism?
Technological determinism appears to be a recurring theme across various Mathematics, Science and Technology classes. And like many academic terms, it appears that its meaning is provisional, changing depending on the author, her usage and the time when she writes.
Marx and Smith (1994) define technological determinism as "the human tendency to create the kind of society that invests technologies with enough power to drive history" (p. xiv). Additionally, Heilbroner (1994) defines technological determinism as "peculiarly a problem of a certain historical epoch-specifically that of high capitalism and low socialism-in which the forces of technological change have been unleashed, but when the agencies for the control or guidance of technology are still rudimentary" (p. 63 - emphasis is his).
As a relative neophyte in the world of Communication, Computing, and Technology in Education, the lack of certainty with regard to what appears to be a key conceptual building block of my field leaves me initially wary about my intellectual engagement with its constituent subject matter. More specifically, how can I begin to understand the world of the Social and Communicative Aspects of the Internet and other ICTs when my initial forays are clouded by definitional differences and ambiguities?
In terms of the question of what is technological determinism, I would combine the two definitions as follows. Technological determinism is "the human tendency, over certain historical epochs (such as high capitalism and low socialism), to create the kind of society that invests technologies with enough power to drive history. During these epochs, the forces of technological change have been unleashed but the agencies for the control or guidance of technology are still rudimentary".
I am not entirely satisfied with this definition as it appears that Marx & Smith look at technological determinism as more of a general phenomenon that is long lasting and continuous while Heilbroner appears to constrain it according to specific historical periods (e.g. historical epochs) defined by particular economic/political regimes (e.g. high capitalism and low socialism). As much of my thoughts on this field thus far, my understanding of technological determinism is provisional, uncertain and subject to change. Encountering additional definitions, usages and examples should only cloud things over until I, hopefully, find a definition that is both more all encompassing of the materials I read and the experiences I have while also reaching more definitional clarity.
Question 2: How are competing intellectual schools of thought reconciled?
In "The Social Construction of Facts and Artifacts: Or How the Sociology of Science and the Sociology of Technology Might Benefit Each Other", Pinch & Bijker (1987) "argue that the social constructivist view that is prevalent within the sociology of science and also emerging within the sociology of technology provides a useful starting point" (p. 17) to create a unified social constructivist approach. This focus intrigued me due to my previous work on my Master of Philosophy degree. I wrote a research thesis titled "The possible role of preservice teacher education programs in teacher attrition rates: the exploratory first year stage of a longitudinal, multi-year study". One of the most significant challenges I faced was attempting to integrate the quantitative and qualitative aspects of my research into a seamless whole. As I was attempting to negotiate this philosophical divide, one of the thoughts I had was concerning the utility of the exercise itself. Intellectually it was interesting trying to find a connection between two distinct entities. However, even if I could adequately do this, in practical terms, would it have much of an effect? For example, if I was using survey (quantitative) and case study (qualitative) methodologies in my study, in practical terms would it matter whether or not I successfully philosophically integrated these competing epistemologies? And when I read this article, it reminded me very much of this internal tension. Do we as academics strive to reconcile philosophical points that are moot on a practical, everyday level? If so, does this investment of time take our time and energy away from issues of greater importance? Also, and this is especially relevant to people working in educational research, does this attempt at epistemological and philosophical purity push us further away from the quotidian challenges of the classroom?
Conclusion:
In terms of these two questions, they clearly appear to engage me in relation to my academic interests. However, their relation to my personal interests appears, at least initially, less clear. Similar to the example of the distinction between hard and soft technological determinism (Marx & Smith, 1994, p.p. xii-xiii), you could also create a similar spectrum between the academic/rational and personal/emotional. However, this dichotomy feels at least partially false. Does something that is interesting to us on an academic/rational level perhaps imply that on a deeper level it could also be personally/emotionally important? If you take a holistic view of human beings as having an essential biology and cognitive makeup that is shaped by the political, economic, social environment where they find themselves, perhaps something that is inexplicably engaging on an intellectual level is the result of a combination of these forces that were somehow emotionally charged at a previous time. As an example, think of the poor child who ends up being an advocate for the impoverished as an adult. I love the idea of binaries, such as hard and soft technological determinism, because it helps me define the upper limits of the concept at hand. But these extremes are usually that - extreme. The truth usually lies somewhere in the more amorphous and highly contested space between these two endpoints. And perhaps my intellectual engagement with technological determinism and rectifying competing intellectual schools of thought is the end result of deeper unidentified currents running beneath my consciousness.
References:
Marx, L., & Smith, M.R. (1994). Introduction. In M.R. Smith & L. Marx (Eds.), Does technology drive history?: The dilemma of technological determinism (ix-xv). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Heilbroner, R. (1994). Do Machines Make History? In M.R. Smith & L. Marx (Eds.), Does technology drive history?: The dilemma of technological determinism (53-65). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Pinch, T, & Bijker, W. (1987). The Social Construction of Facts and Artifacts: Or How the Sociology of Science and the Sociology of Technology Might Benefit Each Other. In W. Bijker, T. Hughes & T. Pinch (Eds.), The social construction of technological systems: New directions in the sociology and history of technology (17-50). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Question 1: What is technological determinism?
Technological determinism appears to be a recurring theme across various Mathematics, Science and Technology classes. And like many academic terms, it appears that its meaning is provisional, changing depending on the author, her usage and the time when she writes.
Marx and Smith (1994) define technological determinism as "the human tendency to create the kind of society that invests technologies with enough power to drive history" (p. xiv). Additionally, Heilbroner (1994) defines technological determinism as "peculiarly a problem of a certain historical epoch-specifically that of high capitalism and low socialism-in which the forces of technological change have been unleashed, but when the agencies for the control or guidance of technology are still rudimentary" (p. 63 - emphasis is his).
As a relative neophyte in the world of Communication, Computing, and Technology in Education, the lack of certainty with regard to what appears to be a key conceptual building block of my field leaves me initially wary about my intellectual engagement with its constituent subject matter. More specifically, how can I begin to understand the world of the Social and Communicative Aspects of the Internet and other ICTs when my initial forays are clouded by definitional differences and ambiguities?
In terms of the question of what is technological determinism, I would combine the two definitions as follows. Technological determinism is "the human tendency, over certain historical epochs (such as high capitalism and low socialism), to create the kind of society that invests technologies with enough power to drive history. During these epochs, the forces of technological change have been unleashed but the agencies for the control or guidance of technology are still rudimentary".
I am not entirely satisfied with this definition as it appears that Marx & Smith look at technological determinism as more of a general phenomenon that is long lasting and continuous while Heilbroner appears to constrain it according to specific historical periods (e.g. historical epochs) defined by particular economic/political regimes (e.g. high capitalism and low socialism). As much of my thoughts on this field thus far, my understanding of technological determinism is provisional, uncertain and subject to change. Encountering additional definitions, usages and examples should only cloud things over until I, hopefully, find a definition that is both more all encompassing of the materials I read and the experiences I have while also reaching more definitional clarity.
Question 2: How are competing intellectual schools of thought reconciled?
In "The Social Construction of Facts and Artifacts: Or How the Sociology of Science and the Sociology of Technology Might Benefit Each Other", Pinch & Bijker (1987) "argue that the social constructivist view that is prevalent within the sociology of science and also emerging within the sociology of technology provides a useful starting point" (p. 17) to create a unified social constructivist approach. This focus intrigued me due to my previous work on my Master of Philosophy degree. I wrote a research thesis titled "The possible role of preservice teacher education programs in teacher attrition rates: the exploratory first year stage of a longitudinal, multi-year study". One of the most significant challenges I faced was attempting to integrate the quantitative and qualitative aspects of my research into a seamless whole. As I was attempting to negotiate this philosophical divide, one of the thoughts I had was concerning the utility of the exercise itself. Intellectually it was interesting trying to find a connection between two distinct entities. However, even if I could adequately do this, in practical terms, would it have much of an effect? For example, if I was using survey (quantitative) and case study (qualitative) methodologies in my study, in practical terms would it matter whether or not I successfully philosophically integrated these competing epistemologies? And when I read this article, it reminded me very much of this internal tension. Do we as academics strive to reconcile philosophical points that are moot on a practical, everyday level? If so, does this investment of time take our time and energy away from issues of greater importance? Also, and this is especially relevant to people working in educational research, does this attempt at epistemological and philosophical purity push us further away from the quotidian challenges of the classroom?
Conclusion:
In terms of these two questions, they clearly appear to engage me in relation to my academic interests. However, their relation to my personal interests appears, at least initially, less clear. Similar to the example of the distinction between hard and soft technological determinism (Marx & Smith, 1994, p.p. xii-xiii), you could also create a similar spectrum between the academic/rational and personal/emotional. However, this dichotomy feels at least partially false. Does something that is interesting to us on an academic/rational level perhaps imply that on a deeper level it could also be personally/emotionally important? If you take a holistic view of human beings as having an essential biology and cognitive makeup that is shaped by the political, economic, social environment where they find themselves, perhaps something that is inexplicably engaging on an intellectual level is the result of a combination of these forces that were somehow emotionally charged at a previous time. As an example, think of the poor child who ends up being an advocate for the impoverished as an adult. I love the idea of binaries, such as hard and soft technological determinism, because it helps me define the upper limits of the concept at hand. But these extremes are usually that - extreme. The truth usually lies somewhere in the more amorphous and highly contested space between these two endpoints. And perhaps my intellectual engagement with technological determinism and rectifying competing intellectual schools of thought is the end result of deeper unidentified currents running beneath my consciousness.
References:
Marx, L., & Smith, M.R. (1994). Introduction. In M.R. Smith & L. Marx (Eds.), Does technology drive history?: The dilemma of technological determinism (ix-xv). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Heilbroner, R. (1994). Do Machines Make History? In M.R. Smith & L. Marx (Eds.), Does technology drive history?: The dilemma of technological determinism (53-65). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Pinch, T, & Bijker, W. (1987). The Social Construction of Facts and Artifacts: Or How the Sociology of Science and the Sociology of Technology Might Benefit Each Other. In W. Bijker, T. Hughes & T. Pinch (Eds.), The social construction of technological systems: New directions in the sociology and history of technology (17-50). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
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