Technology and Power: Agency, Discourse and Community Formation
0 likes123 views
The document outlines the evolution of technology and discourse within the realms of social sciences and humanities, highlighting significant milestones and cultural shifts from the dot-com boom to the rise of open source and maker movements. It discusses the interplay between technology, community formation, and power dynamics, emphasizing the emerging narratives around free software and the impact of the internet on creativity and production. Additionally, it reflects on the changing nature of technology entrepreneurship and the societal implications of these shifts.
Technology and Power: Agency, Discourse and Community Formation
- 1. Technology and Power: Agency, Discourse and Community Formation IT studies in Social Sciences and Humanities University of Tyumen Dec 1 2020 Aleksandar Bradic
- 2. MY JOURNEY SO FAR IoT/AnalyticsVertical Search + Enterprise Vertical Search + SaaS ENGINEERING ENGINEERING DATA SCIENCE GROWTH EARLY STAGEGROWTH/MATURITY STARTUP/GROWTH PRODUCT DESIGN GROWTH PRODUCT DESIGN GROWTH ENGINEERING PRODUCTPRODUCT UX STARTUPS ACADEMICS University of Belgrade MSc, Computer Engineering University of London MSc, Quantitative Finance Academy of Art University MFA, Web Design & New Media
- 4. DISCOURSE TECHNOLOGY CREATION “Internet of Things” CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY DISCUSSION THREAD, 1982 WEISER, MARK (1991) "THE COMPUTER FOR THE 21ST CENTURY" SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. 265 HYPE CYCLE METHODOLOGY GARTNER, INC (1995)
- 6. 1990 2000 2010 2020 2001 Dot Com crash “R.I.P. Good Times” — Sequoia Capital, 2008 Aug. 19, 2004 Google IPO May 18, 2012 Facebook IPO Aug 9, 1995 Netscape IPO April 1993 Wired Magazine Issue #1 1991 “Cyberpunk,” John Markoff Alpha Go vs. Fan Hui (2015) May 9, 2019 Uber IPO May 15, 1997 Amazon IPO CYBERSPACE DOT COM WEB 2.0 CLOUD COMPUTING BIG DATA ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FREE SOFTWARE OPEN SOURCE MAKER MOVEMENTHARDWARE HACKING AN (AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL) TIMELINE OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGICAL DISCOURSES
- 9. THE PROMETHEAN MYTH JOE KIM, HACKADAY EDITORIAL ILLUSTRATION, AUG 2016JOE KIM, HACKADAY EDITORIAL ILLUSTRATION, JAN 2017 RANDOM ASYMMETRIC RETURNS
- 10. THE REALITY OF WORK OFFICE SPACE, MIKE JUDGE, 1999 ETHICS / SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
- 15. ASYNCHRONOUS SYNCHRONOUS ANONYMOUS REAL IDENTITY Hacker Culture HackChat Demo Scene Maker Culture IRC Open Source BBS / Zine Culture Tech Meetups Startups Discussion Forums
- 16. 1990 2000 2010 2020 2001 Dot Com crash “R.I.P. Good Times” — Sequoia Capital, 2008 Aug. 19, 2004 Google IPO May 18, 2012 Facebook IPO Aug 9, 1995 Netscape IPO April 1993 Wired Magazine Issue #1 1991 “Cyberpunk,” John Markoff Alpha Go vs. Fan Hui (2015) May 9, 2019 Uber IPO May 15, 1997 Amazon IPO CYBERSPACE DOT COM WEB 2.0 CLOUD COMPUTING BIG DATA ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FREE SOFTWARE OPEN SOURCE MAKER MOVEMENTHARDWARE HACKING AN (AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL) TIMELINE OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGICAL DISCOURSES
- 17. Cyberspace has always been a metaphor for a solitary community longing for a human connection. Manifest- ed through bulletin boards and electronic zines, this teenage-centric written culture engages in a collective exploration of the limits of computing and unwritten maps of the sprawling Internet infrastructure. Cyberspace isaliterary, not technological construct. HACKER CULTURE AS A PEER-REVIEW COMMUNITY OF LETTERS TURNED ACTION. ASYNCHRONOUS ANONYMOUS
- 18. STILLS FROM “BAUD ZERO SIGNIFIER” - A PHRACK MAGAZINE TRIBUTE PROJECT // CYBERPUNK FILM FESTIVAL 2020
- 19. The emergence of Desktop Publishing has ushered a new era in trade magazine advertising, replacing the high-quality International Style-inspired agency work with gimmicky do-it-your- self designs cooked up by and for the salespeople. In this new environment, the computer text termi- nal's minimalistic aesthet- ics becomes an attractive avenue for escape. An aesthetic escape RETURN TO THE MYSTICAL BLISS OF THE COMPUTER TERMINAL ASYNCHRONOUS ANONYMOUS IBM ADVERTISING POSTER, PAUL RAND, 1981 PC MAGAZINE, SELECT ADVERTISEMENTS, OCT 1994
- 20. Wired and Mondo 2000 maga- zines emerge in the early 90ies as voices of the "mainstream" cyberculture. Both publica- tions draw heavily on the Bay Area countercultural heritage but champion fun- damentally different world- views - techno-utopianism vs. dystopian. Waiting for.... techno utopia or dystopia? THE BAY AREA DILEMMA ASYNCHRONOUS ANONYMOUS
- 21. TIME MAGAZINE COVER, FEB 8 1993 TIME MAGAZINE COVER, JULY 25, 1994 HACKERS MOVIE POSTER, SEPT 1995 TIME MAGAZINE COVER, FEB 19, 1996
- 22. 1990 2000 2010 2020 2001 Dot Com crash “R.I.P. Good Times” — Sequoia Capital, 2008 Aug. 19, 2004 Google IPO May 18, 2012 Facebook IPO Aug 9, 1995 Netscape IPO April 1993 Wired Magazine Issue #1 1991 “Cyberpunk,” John Markoff Alpha Go vs. Fan Hui (2015) May 9, 2019 Uber IPO May 15, 1997 Amazon IPO CYBERSPACE DOT COM WEB 2.0 CLOUD COMPUTING BIG DATA ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FREE SOFTWARE OPEN SOURCE MAKER MOVEMENTHARDWARE HACKING AN (AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL) TIMELINE OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGICAL DISCOURSES
- 23. In navigating the "ontolog- ical gap" between humans and computers, proprietary software emerges as an ob- structing layer, devoid of essence, hiding behind in- tellectual property law's false authority. The revo- lutionary path forward is rebuilding the computing universe with freedom as its core axiom. FreeSoftware as an antithesis MIT AI LAB PRANKSTERS TURN REVOLUTIONARIES ASYNCHRONOUS REAL IDENTITY GNU MANIFESTO, RICHARD STALLMAN, MARCH 1985 STALLMAN & THE MIT AI LAB CULTURE GNU PROJECT LOGOS TM
- 24. Building on the GNU tradi- tion of animal-based brand characters for software projects, Linux introduces the Tux character, which becomes a community-build- ing point of visual refer- ence and the primary agent of Linux's increasing commercial appeal. Revolution witha human face ANIMAL REPRESENTATION SEMIOTICS AS A VISUAL DISCOURSE AGENT ASYNCHRONOUS REAL IDENTITY LINUX TUX BRAND CHARACTER, LARRY EWING, 1996
- 25. Concerns about the commer- cial viability of the "free" software model lead to the formation of the Palo Alto-based Open Source Initiative - a (first of many) project of rebranding a grassroots technology movement and converting it into a viable "market." The new narrative allowed for the participation of estab- lished companies such as IBM and the proliferation of Open Source evangelism as a business agent disrupting the technologi- cal status quo. TheAge of OpenSource Software Advocacy FREEDOM OR AN IPO? PICK ONE. SYNCHRONOUS REAL IDENTITY OPEN SOURCE INITIATIVE, FEBRUARY 1998, LOGO BY COLIN VIEBROCK OCCURENCE OF SWEAR WORDS IN LINUX KERNEL SOURCE https://www.vidarholen.net/contents/wordcount/ OCT 15 1996 MAR 11 2000 REDHAT LINUX IPO, AUG 11 1999FORBES MAGAZINE, AUGUST 10 1998 IBM x LINUX POSTER, 2002NEW YORK TIMES, MARCH 20 2000
- 26. The proliferation of Open Source projects with increasingly commer- cial-friendly licensing models and the emergence of code sharing platforms such as Github leads to the com- modification of the creation process and the "Death of the Author," replicating the same alienation issues that lead to the birth of the movement. Open Sourceasa (yetanother) business model CUSTOMER ACQUISITION IN THE AGE OF ATTENTION ECONOMY ASYNCHRONOUS REAL IDENTITY APACHE SOFTWARE FOUNDATION PROJECT LOGOS GITHUB.COM HOMEPAGE NOV 8, 2018 - 100M REPOS / 500K CONTRIBUTORS GITHUB OCTOCAT LOGO
- 27. 1990 2000 2010 2020 2001 Dot Com crash “R.I.P. Good Times” — Sequoia Capital, 2008 Aug. 19, 2004 Google IPO May 18, 2012 Facebook IPO Aug 9, 1995 Netscape IPO April 1993 Wired Magazine Issue #1 1991 “Cyberpunk,” John Markoff Alpha Go vs. Fan Hui (2015) May 9, 2019 Uber IPO May 15, 1997 Amazon IPO CYBERSPACE DOT COM WEB 2.0 CLOUD COMPUTING BIG DATA ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FREE SOFTWARE OPEN SOURCE MAKER MOVEMENTHARDWARE HACKING AN (AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL) TIMELINE OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGICAL DISCOURSES
- 28. For a brief period in time, in the late 2000s, it felt that the Internet had of- fered a way for engineers to regain full access to means of production. This new medium has allowed for free dissemination of ideas, putting creators of technology back in the driver's seat. Great engi- neers became sought-after "rockstars," founders of new business, writing soft- ware that is, in the words of Mark Adreesen, "eating the world." Controlling the meansof production ONE PERSON + ONE LAPTOP = REVOLUTION SYNCHRONOUS REAL IDENTITY WEB 2.0 VOCABULARY JQUERY JAVASCRIPT LIBRARY HOMEPAGE, 2006 COFFEE SHOP ENTREPRENEURSHIP
- 29. A ghost town only a couple of years earlier, still recovering from the Dotcom crash, in 2007, San Fran- cisco emerged as the Web 2.0 universe's epicenter, a melting pot bringing together creative, bohemi- an-minded technology professionals, and libertarian entrepreneurs. San Francisco Bohemian Dream Redux WHERE COUNTER-CULTURE BECOMES MAINSTREAM DISRUPTION SYNCHRONOUS REAL IDENTITY RITUAL COFFEE ROASTERS, 1026 VALENCIA ST. / SAN FRANCISCO, CA FACEBOOK OFFICE, PALO ALTO, 2010 G2 CROWD SF IN TECH REPORT NEW YORK TIMES, NOV 1 2013
- 30. The "physical turn" of technology production, characterized by the mass migration of tech workers into major startup hubs such as the Bay Area, has led to new power hierar- chies. In these environ- ments, the older genera- tions of successful entre- preneurs control access to Venture Capital and profes- sional networks, while the younger generation is sub- ject to didactic consump- tion of the older genera- tion's "wisdom," in search of "playbooks" that will help create successful com- panies of their own. Selling pickaxes duringa gold rush TECHNOLOGY GOES SOCIAL & DIDACTIC SYNCHRONOUS REAL IDENTITY
- 31. Since the beginning of the Web 2.0 era, tech entrepre- neurs have discovered tre- mendous business value in inventing and promoting ab- stract concepts and euphe- misms such as "Cloud Com- puting," "Big Data," or "Sharing Economy." This discourse-invention process becomes a standard part of every startup's "playbook" starting in 2010. Widening the Ontological Gap SYNTHETIC DISCOURSE GENERATION AND THE OTHERNESS OF TECHNOLOGY SYNCHRONOUS REAL IDENTITY Interaction Transaction Human Computer Cloud 50ms Cloud Round Trip Latency (USA) 250ms Cloud Round Trip Latency (Australia) 8.66sec Average Web page full page load 15ms Average Touch Stimulus Reaction Time 17ms Average Audio Stimulus Reaction Time 25ms Average Visual Stimulus Reaction Time H U M A N C L O U D CLOUD COMPUTINGCLOUD COMPUTING SOFTWARE-AS-A-SERVICE PLATFORM-AS-A-SERVICE ALGORITHMIC RECOMMENDATION INTERNET OF THINGS D A T A Interactive The Unknowable Human Computer SELLING THE IDEA OF EXTERNAL PRIVATE DATA STORAGE & COMPUTATION NUMBER OF TERM MENTIONS IN TECHCRUNCH ARTICLES 2005 - 2018
- 32. 1990 2000 2010 2020 2001 Dot Com crash “R.I.P. Good Times” — Sequoia Capital, 2008 Aug. 19, 2004 Google IPO May 18, 2012 Facebook IPO Aug 9, 1995 Netscape IPO April 1993 Wired Magazine Issue #1 1991 “Cyberpunk,” John Markoff Alpha Go vs. Fan Hui (2015) May 9, 2019 Uber IPO May 15, 1997 Amazon IPO CYBERSPACE DOT COM WEB 2.0 CLOUD COMPUTING BIG DATA ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FREE SOFTWARE OPEN SOURCE MAKER MOVEMENTHARDWARE HACKING AN (AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL) TIMELINE OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGICAL DISCOURSES
- 33. In the eye of the 2007 financial crisis, disillu- sioned by the demise of Free Software ideals, tech enthusiasts and tech-elites both turn to the world of physical creation as a way of escape from the dread of day-to-day software development. TheReturn of the Physical ATOMS OVER BITS, AN ESCAPE FROM THE DIGITAL ASYNCHRONOUS REAL IDENTITY MATERIABLE PROJECT, MIT TANGIBLE MEDIA GROUP, 2016 ARDUINO UNO MICROCONTROLLER BOARD, 2010 RADIANCE DOME BY LIGHT AT PLAY, BURNING MAN 2012 ADAFRUIT NEOPIXEL ADDRESSABLE LEDS, OCTOBER 2013
- 34. After the age of the domi- nance of Software in tech- nology enthusiast circles (since the early PC era), hardware returns to the stage. Previously thought of as, beyond the reach of an individual engineer, silicon devices become the object of reverse engineer- ing, creative reuse, and ground-up, "do it yourself" recreation. Seeking forbidden sillicon knowledge THE ART OF REVERSE ENGINEERING ASYNCHRONOUS ANONYMOUS OPEN SOURCE HARDWARE ASSOCIATION, FOUNDED IN 2012 NOVENA OPEN HARDWARE LAPTOP, BUNNIE HUANG, 2014 HACKADAY LOGO PHILLIP TORRONE, 2004 REPRAP OPEN HARDWARE 3D PRINTER, 2005 BUS PIRATE, IAN LESNET, 2008 RISC-V OPEN HARDWARE PROCESSOR, 2010 -
- 35. Combining the Warholian promise of 15 minutes of fame with a profound desire for entertainment and pa- rental connection, Make Magazine, a San Francisco publisher, has single-hand- edly created a mass phenom- ena called Maker Faire - a series of events around the globe attended by almost half a million people annualy. Bridgingthe generational gap OR HOW TO EXPLOIT GUILTY ENGINEERING PARENTS SYNCHRONOUS REAL IDENTITY MAKER FAIRE LIVE EVENTS MAKE MAGAZINE COVERS
- 36. Around 2015, governments around the world have awak- ened to the potential of the "maker" narrative as a means of serving political agendas. In the West, it was seen as a counter-nar- rative to the trend of man- ufacturing outsourcing, while in China as a path to addressing the issue of perceived lack of local in- novation. In both cases, particularly in China, this led to hyperproduction of maker spaces, and, towards the end of the decade, their ultimate demise. Serving the Nation State NOTHING BEATS A GOOD PHOTO OP SYNCHRONOUS REAL IDENTITY US GOVERNMENT NATIONAL WEEK OF MAKING INITIATIVE, 2015 PREMIER LI KEQIANG VISITS CHAIHUO MAKERSPACE IN SHENZHEN
- 37. Hackaday.com started in 2004 as a tech blog, part of Endgadget.com and in its first decade of existence has amassed a quite signifi- cant readership. In 2013 the blog went up for sale and was under threat of being dissolved or repurposed as a source of lightweight “lifehack” clickbait entertainment. Buildinga metanarrative-free techcommunity HOW TO GROW A MISSION-FREE LARGE-SCALE TECH CREATOR COMMUNITY? ASYNCHRONOUS ANONYMOUS HACKADAY.COM // JULY 3 2013 HACKADAY.COM // JULY 25 2013
- 38. Drawing inspiration from diverse counter-cultural sources, from Douglas Adams and Hunter Thomson to William Gibson and Neal Stephenson, Hackaday.com aims to disseminate advanced technical knowledge in a playful and irreverent fashion. Visited by over a million people every month, it is the largest editorially independent tech publication online. Hackaday.com: AGradSchool for Hardware Hackers GONZO JOURNALISM, TECHNOLOGY SUBVERSION, CREATIVE INSPIRATION. ASYNCHRONOUS ANONYMOUS HACKADAY.COM SAMPLE ARTICLE EDITORIAL ILLUSTRATION BY JOE KIM
- 39. Started in 2014, Hackaday.io is the "social network" side of the Hackaday community, enabling creators to post ideas or complete projects, get feedback, build teams, and collaborate. Since its inception, more than 100,000 projects have been created and/or uploaded to the platform. Hackaday.io: Social Networkfor Electronic Misfits DISCOVER. GET INSPIRED. BUILD. REPEAT ASYNCHRONOUS REAL IDENTITY
- 40. HackChat is a series of online textual chat conversations on the Hackaday.io platform, held weekly with a predesignated topic and a conversation moderator. A unique poster design accompanies each of the 158 events held so far, setting an abstract visual frame, a memento that pro- vides a temporal point of reference for otherwise transient online conversation. HackChat: TheArt ofthe Transient VISUAL FRAMING OF TEXTUAL KNOWLEDGE SYNCHRONOUS ANONYMOUS
- 41. Hackaday Prize started as an engineering competition to incentivize and grow the Hackaday community. Held since 2014, Prize brings together independent creators from all over the world and results in more than one thousand new projects created each year. It's quite fascinating that the participant community has collectively rejected the "winner takes all" award structure and instead embraced the model of offering smaller "seed" funding for as many projects as possible. Hackaday Prize& Superconference CREATING INCENTIVES FOR SOCIAL GOOD. FOSTERING COLLABORATION, NOT COMPETITON SYNCHRONOUS REAL IDENTITY 2018 HACKADAY PRIZE POSTER HACKADAY SUPERCONFERENCE
- 42. 1990 2000 2010 2020 2001 Dot Com crash “R.I.P. Good Times” — Sequoia Capital, 2008 Aug. 19, 2004 Google IPO May 18, 2012 Facebook IPO Aug 9, 1995 Netscape IPO April 1993 Wired Magazine Issue #1 1991 “Cyberpunk,” John Markoff Alpha Go vs. Fan Hui (2015) May 9, 2019 Uber IPO May 15, 1997 Amazon IPO CYBERSPACE DOT COM WEB 2.0 CLOUD COMPUTING BIG DATA ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FREE SOFTWARE OPEN SOURCE MAKER MOVEMENTHARDWARE HACKING AN (AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL) TIMELINE OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGICAL DISCOURSES