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| Societal Change (Source: Wikipedia Commons) |
Social change is not something easily diagrammed on a chart. Sweeping transformations that rearrange the workings of an entire culture begin imperceptibly, quietly but steadily entering people’s minds until one day it seems the ideas were there all along. - (Walljaspe, 2011)
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In week six we deal with matters of the 'commons', and the information published by those in this sector. Also, we look at 'attention' - and specifically how publishing and assemblages affect our day-to-day lives.
Key questions to be discussed as per this week's moodle slides...
Attention:
- How do publishing, and assemblages involving publishing, affect/construct your attention, and what does this do to you?
- What are the implications? Personal, social, political?
- How are the senses assembled differently in the use of different archives, and different modes of publishing more generally?
- What difference does this make to our (literal and figurative) sense of the social?
The Commons:
- Who owns, gets to see, share, publish information or data, etc, from personal data to state and corporate data?
- What difference does this make? Should publishing be open access?
- What difference do different forms of publishing (eg filesharing or P2P, or Apple apps, or niche music “netlabels”) make to the bringing together of a social group?
- What are the implications? Personal, social, political?
When I first came to think about how i would approach this discussion, I immediately saw it fit to address these overarching questions...
The first: How do publishing, and assemblages involving publishing, affect/construct your attention, and what does this do to you?
And secondly: What are the implications? Personal, social, political?
In the current media climate, we are so often engaged with readily-accessible technologies that our attention is somewhat shifted from that of the real world. Means of contemporary publishing, and too those assemblages involving publishing, construct and/or alter our attention - sometimes without us even realising.
By becoming more so connected with our peers in a digital context, it is often the case that we distance ourselves from those closest to us - think the use of our mobile phones in public....
The video below perfectly illustrates these aforementioned points of discussion.
So, from that video, we immediately come to know of the 'how' and the 'when (and perhaps also the 'why') our attention is altered through publishing methods .... but not so much the 'what' (or the implications to come out of these behaviours)
Times technology journalist Matt Richtel (2010) put that question forward to his readership in an article entitled 'The Price Of Putting 'Your Brain On Computers''
"What is the line right now when we go from a kind of technology nourishment to a kind of stepping backwards, to a kind of distraction — where instead of informing us, [technology] distracts us and impedes our productivity?... There's growing evidence that that line is closer than we've imagined or acknowledged."
Thus, we may deduce that an over-indulgence in technology (and more so, published material on a whole) may divert our attention to those lengths where by productivity becomes reduced and so too our engagement with our peers most closest to us.
"There's growing concern among scientists that indulging in these ceaseless disruptions isn't good for our brains, in much the way that excessive sugar or fat - other things we evolved to crave when they were in shorter supply - isn't good for our bodies." - Temple (2011)
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| “It’s one of those things that regardless of where you are, everyone has experienced it" - Australian graduate student,Alex Heigh, on 'Phubbing' (Source: Time) |
From these points, it is now more clear how our behaviour is affected by publishing. The question then beckons, who, in fact, are those publishing this material?
It is here that this week's discussion leads into the 'commons' - an explanation of which is delivered below...
Quite simply, the 'Commons' are public spaces. So therefore in a media context, that 'public space' should be one where the public can contribute to discussions - however that is not always the case.
Our modes of public discussion have shifted over time, from the days meetings in town halls to private user-gen forums on the web.
"...On the Internet, the viral spiral is how new commons are born. It began with free software and later produced the web..."
- David Bollier (Activist, writer, and policy strategist, co-founder of the Commons Strategies Group)
Prof. murphie summed up the notion of the 'Commons' well in this weeks lecture slides:
There will always be some kind of common... whether this is the land people share to grow food, or a space in which all can participate in political discussion, or common social life or the current sharing of information/ knowledge/media forms (music, films, yes, but also, books, published research, educational materials)
References:
Walljasper, Jay (2010) ‘The Commons Moment is Now’, Commondreams.org, <http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/01/24-0>
Meretz, Stefan (2010) ‘Ten Theses about Global Commons Movement’, P2P Foundation, <http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/ten-theses-about-global-commons-movement/2011/01/05>
Temple, James (2011) ‘All those tweets, apps, updates may drain brain’ San Fransciso Chronicle, April 17, <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/16/BUTO1J0S2P.DTL>
Steinmetz, Katy (2013) 'Why the ‘Stop Phubbing’ Campaign Is Going Viral' August 6, <http://techland.time.com/2013/08/06/why-the-stop-phubbing-campaign-is-going-viral/>
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