"Embodiment": DTC 475 Blog #5

"For this weeks blog I want you to reflect on 'what does embodiment mean'. Hawthorn shows us how the Internet has been used to exploit women and children in the global prostitution industry and it has in turn shaped how the internet is structured, "although the Internet offers open communication to people throughout the world, it should not be permitted to be dominated and controlled by men's interests..." How do our expectations of the Internet facilitate men's desires? What does this say about men's desires and expectations of 'real' (i.e. material) women? What does this say about power reasons in society?"

From http://www.merriam-webster.com :

em·body

transitive verb \im-ˈbä-dē\
: to represent (something) in a clear and obvious way : to be a symbol or example of (something)
: to include (something) as a part or feature

"Embodiment"

“The Internet is great” 'twas said.

“No one knows what paths you tread”

“No one knows where you log on

“Or who are, 'what hat you don'”

“Trust me, you've nought to dread”

So I logged on so I could see

what my options were to “broadcast me”

I soon found out that I could start

a fanbase for me, I was off the charts

And I had all my privacy

And when social media was all the craze

Getting Facebook likes, well, I had my ways

And dating sites allowed me to mingle

(I wondered how much longer I'd be single)

Ah yes, those were the glory daze (sic)

But I found, with no one watching

Websites for gazing upon debauching

And vigor for vice awakened within

I thought to myself “could this be a sin?”

But found myself ever more wanting

And so it went on, for day after day

I must admit, it didn't feel “okay

But no one knew . . . right?

I was completely out of sight!

And then I learned it always works that way

For I read a story in the news

About a girl who had to choose

When kidnapped one night

Faced a hellish plight

Of whether to die or face endless abuse

And so she was sold, and suffered long

at the hands of thugs, who did her wrong

sold over again, for a man to posses

so he could regain his “manliness”

And then sold again, to another she'd belong.

And all this went on, for year upon year

How much sadness? How many shed tears?

And all hidden in obscurity

For the sake of patrons' privacy

All because she “had a nice rear?”

I recoiled in sadness, and in grief and in pain

I realized that all I'd ever sought to gain

all my wants, my desires, my demands, my druthers

was forcefully dredged from the life of another

And so I sat there, to weep in the rain.

My happiness found in the shackles of a fellow

My entertainment revealed to be rotten and hollow

I sat there and pondered “what path shall I follow?”

“Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.” John 3:20

http://www.metacritic.com/movie/tricked-the-documentary/trailers/3948188

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/meet-filmakers-behind-human-trafficking-documentary-tricked/

-- Drew Black, 2014.

*Witty Title* (a.k.a. "DTC 475 Blog Post #4")

This week will be a 'student led' blog response.  I want you to provide your reaction and reflection the of documentary 'Office Tigers'.  Discuss how technology is an artifact and process of globalization, how technology facilitates cultural imperialism & how the digital divide reveals the contradictions about development around the world.

  Please make sure to ground your reflection by drawing on this weeks reading by Nakamura, Shome and Dori.  

      Drori states in Global E-Litism that “the era of globalization is marked by the expansion of social exchanges internationally and transnationally. Global interaction extends to more and more spheres of our life. These days, people, commodities, capital, and information rapdily flow across national borders and to all hidden corners of the world. . . Globality, then, describes the scope of social life”(4). The Office Tiger business is built directly on this principle of globalization and is made possible by the employment of modern technology

     
     Office Tigers was definitely interesting, thought-provoking, and somewhat depressing too. The idea behind the Office Tiger company seems like a good business move, mining a new market and opening up jobs to the local population as a result. My approach to the situation is best summed up in the categories provided by a 1960's Spaghetti Western;

 

The Good:

     
The company seems to be successful. The employees act professionally. A professional work environment is put in place, and the company goes to great lengths to ensure that the employee base is educated in every aspect of their area of work, be it spreadsheet organization or graphic design for posters. Since the company is successful, they are a major employer in their area, and their work environment is probably safer than many of the other jobs available in the area.

 
The Bad:
    
I don't really like the boss. He carries himself somewhat professionally, but he seems rather...proud. I don't blame him for being pleased with the business he has started, and I certainly don't fault him for wanting to improve the company he has poured so much into. Still, he seems to think that, somehow, he is better than his employees. Honestly, from the way he carries himself in the documentary, it seems that he treats his employees like doormats. He even gets their names wrong on camera and doesn't seem to care. To him, they're just another cog in the machine. He shows off the employees as if he's showing off a new car.

 
The Ugly:
     
Let's face it, the work that Office Tigers do is mundane, stressful work. Since you serve clients around the globe, the company operates 24/7. It seems that many of the employees work very, very long shifts, staring at computer screen for hours at a time. Add to that the fact that they are frequently on a tight schedule, and the work life seems even less healthy. Of course, some of these elements are part of the industry, and can't be avoided. Time zones exist, there's no way around that. It does seem, however, that shifts could be scheduled more efficiently (which might result in a better final product as well). Still, it does seem that a position at Office Tiger is a highly desired job in the local community.

    

 Discuss how technology is an artifact and process of globalization, how technology facilitates cultural imperialism & how the digital divide reveals the contradictions about development around the world.

     
     Now, the blog prompt instructs us to discuss how technology is an artifact and process of of globalization. However, I am arguing that it is not. Changes in technology are not caused by globalization. Rather, technology is an enabler of globalization. Technology itself does not globalize industry, culture, etc., but it does make globalization easier. It usually doesn't take long for someone to figure out how to use the tech in such a fashion, and thereby make a profit.

     
     This same technology also facilitates “cultural imperialism” to some degree. The rest of the world is starting to look more and more like the Western world. Even the various places in the Western world are beginning to look more and more like America. Yet as various cultures in the American melting pot begin to re-separate into the figurative salad bowl, America is beginning to look more like other parts of the world.

     
      In the case of Office Tigers, some of the employees may feel pressured by their clients who live in 1st world countries and have high expectations for the work they have contracted out. When one of the employees is lambasted for “inferior” work, one might say this is a prime example of cultural imperialism, as the employee in the 3rd world has to live up to the expectations of the 1st world. However, there may yet be a power balance possible. If more and more work at a 1st world business is outsourced to 3rd world countries, the 1st world business may eventually become dependent on that outsourcing, which then puts the power in the hands of the 3rd world contractor. America was once a manufacturing superpower, but is no longer, and now relies on other countries to make its things, which is definitely having an effect on American economics.

     
     As a final note related to that last thought and one of my previous blog posts, we often think of “technology” as the newest Facebook machine that was imported from China, will be used for a few years in America, and then will be junked and burned for copper salvage in Africa. But technology was and can be so much more than that. Before globalization, the “Made in USA” stamp on just about anything was a sign of a quality product. Now, it most frequently appears on old things sitting in the local antique mall.

    
      Perhaps that will change. If you haven't seen this ad yet, you should. Building, crafting a quality product to last is something to be proud of, and something America needs to get back to. We don't neccesairly need to globalize our culture, but we do need to work on re-cultivating it here in our homeland. “Work is beautiful thing”.

      Digital Culture Pintrest Board:
 http://www.pinterest.com/wkndrailroader/digital-culture-defined/

I decided to focus on some of the problems with digital technology and how it, when mishandled or poorly used, ends up hurting those in various countries of various races and classes. I focused on sharing videos, as they tell the story more efficiently.

Digital Culture always loves the next trending thing and wants it instantly, rarely thinking about what the human cost for the newest gadget will be, and not caring about the human cost of what happens to the the last-generation gadget.

      Filter bubbles are set in place to keep us from having to suffer things we don't like. When I think of filters, my first impression is “oh, something unwanted is being kept out”. However, when one looks into the various uses of filters, they are put in place not so much to keep unwanted things out, but to bring good things and only good things in. Swimming pools have filters not so much to keep twigs and scum out, but to allow clean water in. We put filters into our coffee pots not because coffee grounds are horrible, but because pure coffee tastes better. It all comes down to signal versus noise. Audio filters are put in place in broadcasting, not so much to reduce the noise, but to increase the strength of the signal. We could care less about noise if only it wasn't interfering with our desired signal.

      The prompt uses the act of wearing headphones in public as an example of a self-implemented filter bubble. With the example of the headphones, we don't really care what is happening in the audio world around us, so long as it isn't interfering with the signal coming from the cans around our ears. At least this instance of filter use is self-implemented. In the real world, interference (noise) is part of everyday life, and often is very important. Sometimes that interference is itself another signal. Say you put on the headphones, turn up the volume, and go for a jog. While you are on your jog, you cross the railroad tracks downtown. Your headphone filter is doing such a good job at what it does and you're so “in the zone”, that you don't get any unwanted noise from other “channels”, such as the air horn on top of the locomotive that's you didn't see. Meanwhile the engineer in the locomotive is trying to create a strong enough signal with that airhorn that it overcomes your filter and interferes with your signal. Hopefully you'll hear it in time.

      Mr. Pariser's TED talk details a new problem; filters are being installed for us without our consent. Mr. Pariser talks about how Google, Facebook, Yahoo News, and other major modern tech companies are using algorithms to reduce the amount of content we are shown that the companies think we won't like while showing us more content that we probably will like. The consequences are obvious. In this situation, we are ripe to become experts in our own points of view, while wondering “what happened to all the other people who disagree with me?” We are online at the same time as millions of other people, and we are merely fattened up by seeing only content we totally agree with.

     Fortunately, not every website is owned by a large corporation. There are many online forums on the internet, many of them using the V-Bulletin software. Many of these forums are hobby or interest-based. I collect and operate model trains and antique lanterns. I am a member of several forums that are made up of people who have these same interests. Now, to some degree, I'm going to be similar to another human who likes trains or lanterns. However, we could live across the country from each other. We will likely have different beliefs, morals, cultural standards, education levels, etc. While “off topic” talk is generally prohibited on the public part of the forum, exposure to different view points via a private message conversation on a forum is something I may no longer get in my Youtube (or is it Google+ Video now?) comments section. Some online games work the same way, allowing you to connect and chat with other people around the world (though you may not know their real names). These forums and games, some of which are quite well established, may end proving to be the “virtual campfires” or “virtual pubs” that we need.

A few of the forums I'm on:

www.railroadforums.com 

http://tycoforums.com/tyco/forum/default.asp

 www.rypn.org 

The lantern forums are hosted as Facebook groups, but who knows? Those may have the results filtered as well.

     Of course, "with blessings come problems". Forums can be hard to moderate. People aren't always civil to each other, and the classic "flame war" begins. So I leave you with another well-known comic. 

This image from Here.

DTC 475 Blog #2

Well, I chose the 2nd option for this week's blog post:

" If you chose Age and Tech: Cooking with Bubby, I want you to first make a list of a words and ideas to describe technology and people associated with technology. Next use that list of words to create a wordcloud (http://www.wordle.net/; make sure to put this in your response). After that, watch an episode of Feed Me Bubbe.  Now reflect on your list/wordcloud and how it differs from the interview given by Bubbe in the documentary.  How does culture/age/technology intersect to create our understanding and expectations of 'appropriate' (read as expected or target) users? What about race/gender and sexuality? Do you think the internet is an equalizing place or not? What would our authors for this week say?"

Well, I started out by making my list of words I associate with technology. I thought of a few words to describe technology itself, and then I also came up with a list of names I associate with technology (in this case, the names of people I associate with technology. Some of the names, however, were also used for the business that person started). Here's the word cloud I created: 

Now, I realize a lot of people will not recognize a number of the names in this word cloud, and they'll be wondering why the ones they do recognize were included (okay, I understand Gates and Jobs, but Ford? And who the heck is Daugerre?)

The people behind each of these names had important connections to the changes in technology over the years (and yes, "Diesel" is name here, not just a fuel).

In "Race is a Technology", John Streamas identifies a problem we tned to have with understanding technology. He argues that we tend to believe "that the new is better than the old and that the new is faster, stronger, and more precise only because it is mechanical (101)." I think we suffer from another malady;  thinking that "technology" means "new" or "cutting edge". It doesn't. See here for the full etymology of "technology".

    To simplify it, technology comes from the Greek for an art or craft. It involves the process of making, creating, or building. Cultures, societies, civilizations are always making, creating, and building, and we're always using a set of tools to do it. It just so happens that those sets of tools have changed more and more quickly over the past 200 years than ever before. Certain types of people prefer different types of tools. Some like older tools because of their looks, their antiquity, or their simplicity. Others prefer tools on the cutting edge of technological development. They don't care what the tool is or does, as long as it's new.
  
   Over time, for better or for worse, certain stereotypes have been associated with certain technologies. The stereotype of the geek/nerd with big glasses and a nasal voice has been associated with computer coding. The modern, hip graphic designer uses Illustrator and Photoshop on a sleek Apple laptop. In the 80's, cassette-playing boomboxes were known as "ghettoblasters". Now, this is not to say that these categories are strict. In fact, the word "stereotype" is a technological term itself.

   “Stereotype” comes from the letterpress printing industry. Print shops received special paper plates with images pressed into them. These plates were fitted into a casting machine that covered the plate in a thin sheet of molten lead. When the lead cooled, it was removed from the plate, revealing a lead “cut”, a mirror image of the image on the paper plate. This “cut” was called a “stereotype”, which, over time, has come to mean “a fixed, unalterable image”.

 

 "Stereotype" Plates and "Cuts" for Letterpress Printing as seen at the Newspaper & Printing Museum in Palouse, WA.

  
 Of course, stereotypes can be and do change. We all know that social stereotypes are the result of “painting with a broad brush” and don't usually line up with reality. The video of “Bubbe” proves exactly this point. Very few people would expect grandma to make cooking videos for Youtube, but “Bubbe” does, and appears, at this time, to have finished her 38th video. She defies the stereotype. Anyone can be famous on the internet, but this does not drastically increase anyone's chance of becoming famous at all. I think my word cloud is a fairly accurate representation of technological history. It's not polarized towards digital or analog. It is merely a representation of what has happened and who became famous because if it.

   Finally, there comes the question of whether or not the internet is equalizing. Though Streamas seems to hope so, I must argue that it will only be an equalizing place if that is what we make it. Technology is a set of tools which we must decide how to use. Technology itself cannot save us. We have seen this happen time and again throughout history. But, history can only help us if we learn it and then learn from it. Technologies are made of people, by people, and for people. They will, naturally, reflect the people who are creating, building, and using them.

On this note, I leave you with a little comic I found the other day:

--Drew Black

You Need the Content AND the Context.

When history is preserved, archived, shared, etc., there always comes the debate between saving just the content and also saving the context. Imagine you are at, say, a museum. This particular museum preserves railway history. It's house in a clean, modern building with fancily lit displays and exhibits. All of the old steam locomotives have gleaming paint, their headlights are on, a couple mannequins are displayed in the cabs as the engine crew, etc. Everything looks perfect. But they just sit there. The paint is shinier than it was when these engines were brand-new. The content has been preserved, but most of the context has been lost.

On the other hand, consider a heritage railway operation. This outfit has several miles of historic railway, which allows them to give train rides to the public behind antique steam locomotives. There is the locomotive shop, filled with antique lathes, drill presses, forges, and other machinery for maintaining the locomotives. One locomotive is disassembled in the back of the shop for rebuilding. Out front, another locomotive is getting ready for the day's work. There is dirt, grease, oil, grime, soot, and smoke everywhere. The locomotive sounds like it is breathing as the steam pressure builds. The scene is alive with energy. I

In this scenario, the context of the historic locomotives has been preserved. You can't take the railroad out of the locomotive, but is taking the locomotive out of the railroad (to be preserved elsewhere) always the best idea? What is lost in terms of context when the locomotive is “stuffed and mounted”? How much of the story do we lose?

This same argument pertains to Foot's article. If we are to preserve the content, we also need to preserve the context. If we are to preserve a chunk(s) of Web 2.0 for the future, we need to preserve it in situ. Yes, we can (and likely should) apply preservation measures to the world of online social networking. But we can't just save individual texts, tweets, or posts. We also need the comments associated with those posts. We need the meme someone shared as a response. We need the ads on the sidebar to let us know what world these folks were operating in. It is pointless to preserve posts if we aren't also preserving the whole conversation, the whole story. The graphic design of the website being operated in has just as much to do with experience as the content posted on the site. Merely using an SNS feed would leave the content “stuffed and mounted”, divorced from all sense of context.

As for how things have evolved since Foot's “Table 1” in “Web Sphere Analysis”, I think there's a good chance that news media sites and personal sites (I'll include company-owned “personal” sites here, like Facebook) is where most of the online discussion takes place. Topic oriented forums (V-Bulletin, anyone?) would also make a large chunk of discussion concerning the 2013 bombing. In 2011, many different types of websites owned by various organizations set forth their views on the 9/11 tragedy, and many allowed some sort of user/viewer response. I think that more and more “viewer participation” is limited to the comments sections of media-sharing sites, be they the New York Times website, Youtube, etc., along with your own Facebook wall or that forum that you're a member of.  Perhaps this is because of the problem of flame wars requiring a large task force to keep under control. No comments section on your website? No maintenance-intensive flame wars. Problem solved.

Well, I don't usually blog very often, but I had this blog left over from a class I took last semester, so I'll be using it again this semester, but this time for DTC 475.

I suppose now would be the time to introduce myself. Fortunately, I have link to my brand-new "About" page in the right-hand sidebar. Just click on that for more information.

--Drew Black