Real vs. Virtual

In class this on Tuesday we discussed a topic that hits home for all of us, literally.  With the growth of the internet and the amount of people that are connected to it, the way information is transmitted changes.  The new technologies that are provided to us are profoundly changing the way that people interact with one another on a daily basis. 

What’s happening right now is a shift in way that we’re communicating with one another.  Before the rise of the internet, a physical public place was the site for people to meet and communicate.  Programs like Windows Live Messenger, Skype and website like Facebook are becoming the prominent forum for meetings among friends and co-workers.  These programs and website allow for a new political activism, which can be seen through the utilization of social networking of the recent Occupy Movement.  While this is a positive thing for groups separated by great distances, these programs and websites are used by individuals who are physically close to one another.  Online activity is being equated with real group activity.

Another interesting phenomenon is the use of online gaming as a social activity.  You know those games where you can play online with people around the world or with your group of friends?  These activities are also being interpreted as real group activity.  Even though an individual might spend three or four hours gaming per day, they interpret this as a group activity with their friends, while others might consider this an anti-social activity.  Does this have an impact on our education and our careers? So far, women are out-graduating men. Who knows if this is just a parallel or a causation though.

It’s so interesting how new media technologies shift our perception of the world and how we communicate with one another.

Consumer Society

Throughout the semester, Dr. Strangelove has discussed the issue of consumption and the need for corporations to stay in power through the capitalist system.  For a capitalist system to work, the corporations must be in control of the production of things and the meanings that are associated with them.  Corporations aren’t just selling us a product, they’re selling us a meaning, a meaning that will keep us passive and buying, buying, buying. 

It is through the text, images and film that we consume that corporations embed values and beliefs that we will integrate into our system.  You know the television show Gossip Girl? That show completely oozes the message of the consumption of designer clothing.  You’ll always see in movies, especially chick flicks, a moment where the ugly duckling goes shopping and has a makeover performed on them.  This perpetuates the idea that we will find happiness and our identities through the consumption of products.  We all have a friend who comes to us saying “I’m having a bad day, let’s go shopping”.  Corporations know us; they know our weak points and what it takes to get us to buy something.  Perhaps the most powerful message of them all is the one that tells us “to set yourself from the crowd, buy this product”.  We’re always looking for ways to distinguish ourselves from others, and a message like this works.

This happens a lot in our society when it comes to marriage.  There has always been the rule that a man must spend 2 or 3 month’s salary on an engagement ring because “she’s worth it”.  Remember Kim Kardashian’s supposed 2 million dollar engagement ring? That thing was a weapon.

What’s interesting is that these messages have become orthodoxes, and the heresies of our time encourage us to do the opposite.  Messages that encourage us to reuse something or not buy something are rare and are few and far between.  You’ll never see a car company encouraging us to drive less and walk more, they’ll tell us to buy a newer car that uses less gas. 

Constraining Thought & Action

In class on November 22nd we discussed the notion of constraining thought and action, in that we're shaped by the society that we live in.  The trajectory of corporations is a totalitarianism state which is defined by a "if you want it, get it from us" mantra.   It is a perfect tool of control for corporations to control and privatize the production of meanings and things.  One major tool of control that capitalism has over us is the push for individualism instead of collectivism.  They don't want us to share our music and other media with our friends, they want us to only think about ourselves.

What kinds of meanings are they trying to attach to issues of piracy? That it's illegal and immoral. What surprises me the most about this commercial is that there's a hotline for reporting people who pirate movies and music. 

The internet allows for liberation and deprivatization of things. The internet might have the status of private property, but we treat it as public through file sharing.  The internet also allows for the mash up of digital objects, culture jamming and the changing of meanings.  As a result, the meanings are becoming less stable and are being contested in the public sphere; capitalism is struggling.

Although the internet allows for a new public sphere for public debate, capitalism is still attempting to stay in power (e.g. taking advantage of our gift economy on websites like YouTube). Even though the public sphere redefines the normative debate by allowing everyone's opinion to be published, it is a filtered process. Unfortunately, not every blogger will receive the same recognition as the people on CNN. Still though, us bloggers are increasingly setting the agenda, with a greater variety of opinions into the social system.  In countries like Iran though, the same media system that expands the normative debate allows the elite to punish the people who speak out.

So, keep on and blog on!

Property & Meaning

On November 15th in class, Dr. Strangelove discussed the notion of property and meanings in relation to capitalism.  Since the rise of the 20th century, an industrial society has emerged, with the increased production of things.  Along with the production of things is the production of meaning.  Capitalism must control the meaning of things to stay in power, it is dependent on it.  For capitalism to be successful, identity and meaning must be stable.

What do I mean by the association of meanings to things? It happens wherever we look, just take a trip to the shopping mall and you'll see it around every corner.  Bank institutions like RBC tell us to "borrow with confidence" and The Hudson's Bay Company tells us that "shopping is good". What does it mean to own a Birkin bag as opposed to a $20 alternative? What it means to own it of course!

What does the new era of the internet do to this structure of control? It de-stabilizes it.   Identity of the internet becomes unstable when the digital object becomes more malleable.  The main social function of the internet is the public interpretation of privately owned meanings.  This can be seen through culture jamming and obscenity.  It is through culture jamming that we de-legitimatize things and create our own meanings out of the ones provided to us by capitalism.  This is capitalism's greatest weakness.  


While the internet allows us to create our own meanings and values, corporations are making a quick attempt to catch up with this new media system through smart advertising.  Advertisements are now tailored to our interests, by viewing our digital cash and television viewing habits to select advertisements that will most appeal to us. This is making it harder and harder for us to create our own meanings.  This Coca-Cola advertisement heavily embeds the meaning of happiness into the product, and its style moves away from a typical commercial.  Very sneaky, Coca-Cola, very sneaky.

Power and Counter Power

Throughout the semester of this course, Dr. Strangelove has always emphasized the point that for every power there is a counter power.  Whenever power is exercised by capitalism and corporations, there is always a counter reaction to it.  When corporations attempt to control the meanings and things, there is the reaction of the public through amateur cultural production to give their say about what meanings should be advertised.  

The internet the technologies that are provided to us that act as a catalyst for this counter reaction and power.  Corporations that are trying to keep a watchful eye on our consumption of music and movies through "illegal" file sharing is counteracted by our surveillance of them.  It is through our camera phones that we are able to capture a moment or event and instantly upload it to the internet.  A popular example of the counter surveillance of the government and capitalist system is the pepper spraying event that happened at the University of California during the Occupy Movement.  Multiple videos began popping up on the internet after a campus officer began pepper spraying a row of protesters.  Since this story became so popular worldwide in the media, the pepper spraying cop became a meme, being photoshopped spraying different characters in popular pictures.

Since the incident, the university has suspended the officers involved and the Chancellor has issued a formal apology to the public and the students at the university.  It just goes to show that technology does have its advantages, it prevents our government and corporations from straying out of line and actually scares them.

From this:

To this:

The Law Is An Ass

That title got your attention, didn't it? Although this quote is taken from Charles Dickins' Oliver Twist, it is now being related to new media, particularly the area of property.  Behind the struggle for rights is the struggle for benefits and the redistribution of wealth.  For the government and corporations to maintain power, it needs a code to reinforce it.  This can be seen through the role that policy has by being played by the government through "don't steal" campaigns that seek to shape citizen behaviour.

The role of the CRTC is to find a balance between the interests of the citizens and corporations.  While this is a nice notion to think about, it's not the reality.  Regulatory capture occurs when policies pay more attention to the needs of companies like Bell and Shaw Media rather than the public. This is a sad truth, and is especially relevant to the whole issue of Usage-Based Billing that happened not too long ago.

A hot topic right now is the debate of whether ACTA (The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) should be implemented. A section of ACTA is dedicated to copyright infringement on the internet and seeks to become the regulatory capture of the US by cracking down on our "illegal behaviour".  

We're moving into an era where the government can disconnect your internet connection if you are found guilty of copyright infringement (e.g. downloading and distributing content like movies and music).  As much as the government tries to tell us "don't steal", it doesn't alter our behaviour one bit!  To combat this, the government and corporations are trying to crack down on our file-sharing behaviour by taking individuals to court.  In short, court is a user pay system where only the wealthy can win.  Individuals are going up against corporations in court that are recognized as persons, not a company. Not a very fair system, right?

What I'm trying to say is that the more corporations control the content, the more they shape our culture, values and behaviour.  We pursue happiness and our identities through the consumption of corporate products. 

Need To Want Less

In class a few weeks ago (October 7th) we were discussing the standardization and homogenization of the marketplace and how the internet has influenced the system and our behaviour.  Dr. Strangelove began the lecture with an example about how our food variety is limited in that most of the chickens that we consume come from the same place and are standardized because of efficiency.  When we limit our variety, we limit our health.

This can also be seen in the limit of opinions in the mass media due to a high corporate presence.  Noam Chompsky declares that the newspapers we consume reflect a very narrow set of opinions.  This is due to the government ownership of the media and newspapers that are owned by a small group of very powerful people.

 What we need is a shift away from the corporate system and a change in values.  We need a system that puts less emphasis on consumption.  When we do depart away from the corporate system, corporations become afraid because their safety depends on our consumption habits. 

Is the internet a catalyst for this shift? 

While the internet allows for a diversity of opinions, it does not necessarily mean that there is a healthy democracy of beliefs. People will consume media that aligns with their beliefs, and these beliefs and values tend to align with those of corporations. A popular example of this the push for consumption during the Christmas holidays.  It is through the mass media that we have embedded beliefs that we must buy, buy, buy during the holiday season. Corporations find sneaky ways to embed their beliefs into the media that we consume, and  most of the time, we're never aware of it. While the internet creates a greater awareness of digital information, there is a reduction of awareness of our environment.

Do you plan on consuming less this coming holiday? How will you do this? DIY and handmade gifts are a great idea! Etsy also offers unique and affordable (and sometimes vintage) gifts made by talented individuals.

What's In My Bag

In class the other day we were discussing the process of amateur cultural production, and how it shapes our values and behaviours.  The text, images and videos that we consume on a daily basis affect the way we think about things like romance, love, friendship, and our careers. Dr. Strangelove pointed out that there is a de-centralization happening right now, we're not listening to the loudest voice in the land of capitalist communication systems who create structures of preferred meanings, we're now watching and listening to ourselves.

What do I mean by preferred meanings exactly? In New Media: An Introduction, Terry Flew explains that preferred meanings are hedronormative (the dominant representation of what a normal couple is).  Preferred meanings also push people to be white, be normal, be productive at work and shop, shop, shop your heart out.

The internet is encouraging the rise of amateur cultural production on YouTube, with millions of users creating and producing their own videos to be viewed by people just like us. With our collective engagement at an all time high, capitalist structures need to capture our attention to stay in control and keep these preferred meanings in power.

But are we really breaking away from this capitalist system? With the amount of people creating their own content and manipulating commercial property (fan fiction, or putting an iPhone in a blender), amateurs are also socialized by capitalism. Whether we know it or not, our amateur production produces the preferred meanings created by capitalism. 

While I think it's great that the internet allows us to express ourselves, there is definitely a downside in that our values and behaviours are shaped by Facebook and YouTube, the middle ground between our amateur internet and the capitalist commercial systems. This can be seen through "haul videos" for girls and "unboxing videos" by guys.

Take a look at this "What's In My Bag" video to see what I'm talking about:

That's all for now! Until next time!

The Printing Press & the Internet

In class on September 20th we discussed the ways in which the transmission of information changed through the rise of the Gutenburg Press.  Since the invention of the printing press in the 1400's, the church controlled the press, books and the general way of thinking regarding politics and religion.  The churches ability to control a global way of thinking was challenged by the printing press where people could distribute words and ideas, turning heresies into orthodoxe.  The printing press allowed the mass production of words, which challenged the power of the church. It became a system that separated from its highly powerful centre.

Just like the printing press, the internet is a stage of new media that allows a new way of thinking about politics and religion. With this new platform of expression though, capitalism has still dominated.  It is through the production of meanings and things by corporations that they are able to shape our values and beliefs.  How do they do this exactly? By exposing us to text, film and images that contain inherent ideas of how we should feel about a certain event or thing. 

While these corporations are trying to stay in power, there is always a counter reaction.  The internet allows us to increasingly having a say in what values and beliefs are being produced and consumed.  It is through our keyboards and webcams that we produce and upload our own content for other amateurs like us to watch.  As a result, power is being taken away from the centre and being distributed to us, the people. 

Watch Where You're Going

There was a section in chapter 1 of "New Media: An Introduction" that stood out to me and really got me thinking.  When discussing convergence in terms of the interlinking of technology, communication networks and content, Terry Flew mentions something that I really hadn't thought about before.  He mentions that it is so important for us to be aware of how communication is mediated by technology, or rather, how technology influences our behaviour.  Flew discusses that we need to study the devices themselves, how they extend out ability communicate, and the social arrangements and organizations that form around these devices and practices.

In class the other day, Dr. Strangelove mentioned that we're only half aware of what we're doing in terms of how the physicality of new media is changing.  One behaviour that really sticks out in my mind is how so many people are guilty of texting and walking.  This faux pas is something that is relatively new with the introduction of SMS in mobile phones.  I see it all the time on campus, people not being aware of where they're going and end up bumping into other people or tripping on a crack in the sidewalk. 


Instead of being mentally and physically aware of where your're walking to, texting while walking affects your ability to manoeuvre through a crowd or to avoid the vehicle that's running a red light while you're in the crosswalk. It's to the point that people are being seriously injured. 

This poor girl just takes texting and walking to a new extreme. Try to contain your laughter!