“Giving people what they want reduces us to consumers instead of treating us like citizens, consumers who are on the prowl for the predictable and comfortable. What we want winds up being suspiciously like what we've already got, more of the same-the cultural equivalent of a warm bath.” PeopleWantGivingWindCitizensComfortableWarmConsumersBathsPredictable Book:The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age Source: The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age
“Those who applaud social production and networked amateurism, the colorful cacophony that is the Internet, and the creative capacities of everyday people to produce entertaining and enlightening things online, are right to marvel. There is amazing inventiveness, boundless talent and ability, and overwhelming generosity on display. Where they go wrong is thinking that the Internet is an egalitarian, let alone revolutionary, platform for our self-expression and development, that being able to shout into the digital torrent is adequate for democracy.” PeopleThinkingSelfAbleSocialAbilityCreativeDemocracyTalentProduceExpressionDevelopmentInternetCapacityEverydayProductionsGenerosityRevolutionaryDigitalOnlineOverwhelmingDisplayEntertainingPlatformsAdequateEnlighteningBoundlessSelf ExpressionColorfulInventivenessCacophonyTalents And Abilities Book:The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age Source: The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age
“ulturally, we are definitely seeing people being to ask hard questions. There's been a major shift over the last year. The NSA revelations played a big part but there are all sorts of other issues too, like inequality and gentrification in the Bay Area, and labor abuses everywhere from Amazon's warehouse, to Apple's factories, to start-ups like Uber and TaskRabbit.” PeopleYearsHardBigsLastsAsksIssuesSeeingMajorsAreasLaborAbuseInequalityApplesRevelationsFactoriesLast YearAmazonNsaWarehouseBay AreaGentrificationHard QuestionsUber Author:Astra Taylor
“A big factor is that the enthusiast camp's values are really rooted in Silicon Valley and in these supposedly new business models. But again, I think this such an interesting moment because things like the NSA revelations are really forcing people to recognize the connections between corporate and government surveillance.” PeopleThinkingMomentsBigsGovernmentValuesInterestingModelsConnectionsFactorsCorporateRevelationsCampsValleysRootedSurveillanceNsaSiliconSilicon ValleyBusiness ModelsNew BusinessGovernment Surveillance Author:Astra Taylor
“The point is, there's this new sense of skepticism and questioning toward tech, even if it is pretty inchoate. What I hope the book helps to do is help people clarify what is amiss, by presenting a critique that is grounded in economics.” PeopleIfsBookHelpingEconomicsQuestioningSkepticismGroundedCritiquePresenting Author:Astra Taylor
“Technology isn't simply addictive - it's addictive because it's a servant to business incentives. There are huge departments in these companies that are devoted to this and staffed by incredibly talented people who have skills that could be put to socially beneficial projects but who are now trying to find out how to make you click and how to maximize your time on a certain site, or encourage teenagers to "friend" more products and constantly engage with them.” PeopleTryingCertainCompanyTechnologyProductsHugeSkillsProjectsTeenagerServantDepartmentDevotedSiteIncentivesBeneficialClicks Author:Astra Taylor
“As a citizen I might be well-behaved and have nothing salacious or radical about me, I might be a total bore, but I might suffer somehow if other people are being spied on and blocked from doing important work that might have a collective benefit down the road. The personal doesn't necessarily translate to the social.” PeopleIfsWellsImportantMightSufferingSocialCitizensBenefitsRadicalCollectivesTranslateBoresDown The RoadBlockedImportant Work Author:Astra Taylor
“I'm interested in the way the whole cultural landscape can shift over time. Okay, this will seem like a silly example, but look at the whole discourse around "selling out," a concept people say is irrelevant because there's no more distinction between mainstream and underground, inside and outside (which I don't really believe, but that's another issue).” PeopleWayBelieveLooksWholeSeemsIssuesExampleConceptsOkaySillySellingLandscapeDistinctionMainstreamDiscourseIrrelevantSelling OutInside And Outside Author:Astra Taylor
“One thing that struck me about going to those tech conferences was all the enthusiasm for free culture, and remixing, and social media, but people's greatest ambition was to be sponsored by Chipotle or something equivalent to that. It was this weird mix of collaborative, utopian claims and this total acquiescence to commercial imperatives.” PeopleCultureSocialOne ThingMediaAmbitionClaimsSocial MediaEnthusiasmConferencesImperativesUtopianAcquiescenceChipotle Author:Astra Taylor
“Early on, America took one path and went down the advertising road, and in the UK they founded the BBC and developed a different kind of public broadcasting. There was a point where TV was so beholden to commercial interest that people - civil society - actually rose up and said, "This is ridiculous: we have our soap-selling soap operas, cigarette-sponsored news broadcast; we have our rigged quiz shows - let's put some checks and balances here."” PeopleKindSaidDifferentShowsAmericaInterestPathTvsBalanceNewsRoseRidiculousChecksSellingAdvertisingOperaDifferent KindsCigaretteSoapCivil SocietyBroadcastingSoap OperasRiggedQuizQuiz Show Author:Astra Taylor
“Again, it does seem like frustration is mounting in interesting ways, but I'm not sure there will be some dramatic tipping point. Then again, looking back on the history of television, you never know. People had to fight and articulate the politics and the rationale for different funding mechanisms. That was a long and drawn-out battle fought in different countries; it's not like BBC and the CBC in Canada just magically appeared out of the ether. People had to organize for it. I'm always willing to be surprised.” PeopleKnowsWayLongDoeDifferentCountrySeemsFightingInterestingTelevisionWillingBattleDramaticNot SureCanadaFrustrationMechanismLooking BackOrganizeFundingTippingDifferent CountriesRationaleTipping PointInteresting WaysCbc Author:Astra Taylor
“Are we on the tail-end of a generation that is enamored with the novelty of these devices and will younger people coming of age be more blasé about them in a healthy way? You look back at the history of any medium and the people who were there when it was developing, whether it was the telegraph or cable television or radio, thought, This is amazing, it's going change everything, or, The human community will finally be able to recognize each other and speak and be one - I mean, some people thought the telegraph or television would usher in world peace.” PeopleWorldWayHumansLooksMeanEndsAgeAbleSpeakCommunityGenerationsTelevisionHealthyRadioMediumsDevelopingDevicesComing Of AgeTailsNoveltyCablesEnamoredTelegraph Author:Astra Taylor
“Whether it's a professional, academic keeping people out by using certain mystifying language, or technologists presenting their work as incredibly complicated, no one can understand it (especially not "moms," who are always invoked as the ultimate know-nothings, which is incredibly insulting to a whole lot of people).” PeopleKnowsWholeCertainLanguageMomUltimateComplicatedAcademicInsultingPresenting Author:Astra Taylor
“One sad consequence of this is that people don't feel permitted to try understand Internet infrastructure, so I'm really grateful to groups like Free Press and other nonprofits who are trying to make the issue urgent and comprehensible. And Andre Blum's book Tubes is great on this topic.” PeopleFeelsTryingBookIssuesGroupsInternetConsequenceGratefulPressesTopicsInfrastructureUrgentTubesFree PressNonprofits Author:Astra Taylor
“One of the big myths about people growing up is that they are "digital natives;" that just because they've been raised with the Internet - that you're very adept at using the app on your phone - it doesn't mean you have any idea about how the Internet actually works.” PeopleMeanIdeasBigsGrowing UpGrowingInternetRaisedPhonesMythDigitalAppsAdept Author:Astra Taylor
“The market won't let us treat all data equally because there's a potential to make huge gobs of money not doing that. In the United States of America, people will pay to be first unless we do something to stop them. We don't have defenses built in because we haven't been investing in criticism that would help us mount a defense. I” PeopleFirstsStatesHelpingAmericaUnitedPayUnited StatesHavensHugeBuiltCriticismTreatsInvestingDefenseDataUnited States Of AmericaGob Author:Astra Taylor
“There was all this enthusiasm about amateurism and the idea that people could now just make videos in their bedroom, or blog news stories and share it online, and isn't this great? Now we can do it just for the love of it and not try to be professionals, corrupted by careerism.” PeopleTryingIdeasStoriesCan DoShareNewsVideoEnthusiasmOnlineBedroomBlogsNews Stories Author:Astra Taylor
“One thing I point out is, a lot of people tooting the horn of amateurism, actually, these people were professionals. Some are professors who are employed full time. Others are marketers or business consultants.” PeopleOne ThingProfessorsEmployedHornsMarketersConsultants Author:Astra Taylor
“There's something odd about telling people, artists, that they need to work for free to be pure while you're sitting there getting a salary that ultimately is paid by a generation of young people going deeply into debt for their education.” PeopleNeedsYoungArtistGenerationsPureSittingPaidDebtOddSalary Author:Astra Taylor
“Look back on the utopian dreams of the previous century, or even the century before that, where people thought machines would ultimately give us a quality of life where our needs would be taken care of so we could all basically be artists together in the evening, after we had fished, hunted, raised cattle - or whatever it was Marx imagined for us.” PeopleNeedsGivingLooksDreamWould BeCareTogetherArtistQualityTakenCenturyMachinesRaisedEveningQuality Of LifeCattleUtopianHunted Author:Astra Taylor
“To go from the vision that we would all be free to express ourselves creatively because our material needs were being met, to this reality where nobody has money, people are unemployed, and the machines are harnessed by the lucky guys who Facebook or Google and we're supposed to be happy just to contribute content to their site.” PeopleNeedsRealityGuyVisionMaterialsMetsLuckyMachinesSupposed To BeGoogleSiteBeing MeUnemployedLucky Guy Author:Astra Taylor
“I try to look at the evolution of these utopian claims. In the late '60s there was an assumption that the wealth generated by industry would be taxed and then put into social programs and it would provide a baseline of stability that would allow people to have the time for self-expression; and that social contract has eroded over the last four decades and now it's every person for themselves.” PeopleTryingLooksPersonsSelfWould BeLastsSocialWealthFourExpressionIndustryEvolutionLateProgramClaimsDecadesAssumptionContractsStabilitySelf ExpressionUtopianSocial ContractSocial Programs Author:Astra Taylor
“One consequence of this is that people are expected to make it on their own by chasing clicks or building a brand. What a diminished vision that is.” PeopleVisionBuildingConsequenceExpectedBrandsChasingClicksBuilding A Brand Author:Astra Taylor
“As an individual navigating this reality, you have to make choices to survive. Sometimes you happily work for free if it's something you love and believe in. I'm not categorically saying that working for free is bad. I'm just looking at the broader implications of it, and also challenge this idea - and again, this is an argument made by certain people in the tech world - that amateurs are automatically more pure and will triumph over stodgy professionals.” PeopleIfsWorldBelieveMadeIdeasSometimesRealityCertainChoicesIndividualChallengesPureArgumentTriumphImplicationsSomething You Love Author:Astra Taylor
“It's very complicated. There's been this broader mechanism, an industry, which wants people to use free services, from the old days of advertising-supported papers and magazines, to ad-supported free television.” PeopleWantUseTelevisionIndustryPaperComplicatedAdvertisingMagazinesAdsMechanismPapersOld Days Author:Astra Taylor
“It wasn't that people wanted things for free and asked for advertising to fund it - it's that these companies wanted to amass an audience whose "eyeballs" they could sell, and they gave people things for free to do that. Free services and content has been foisted upon us because there wasn't the will power to explore other options.” PeopleHas BeensWantedCompanyAudienceSellsAdvertisingFundWill PowerEyeballs Author:Astra Taylor
“I would like people to be more aware of the fact that ultimately we are paying for things, and it's not just as privacy advocates point out that we're paying with our time and our data. We're also paying with money, because the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on advertising is just factored into the cost of the goods that we buy. It's all coming out of our pocket, just in a really roundabout way.” PeopleWayFactsCostDollarsBillionsAdvertisingDataOur TimePrivacyPocketsGoodsComing Out Author:Astra Taylor
“We like to say the Internet is the ultimate library. But libraries are libraries because people come together and fund them through taxes. Libraries actually exist, all over the country, so why is it such a reach to imagine and to someday build a public institution that has a digital aspect to it? Of course the problem is that libraries and other public services are being defunded and are under attack, so there's a bigger progressive struggle this plays into.” PeopleCountryPlayProblemTogetherCoursesStruggleImagineInternetTaxesAspectUltimateBiggerInstitutionsLibrarySomedayDigitalFundProgressivePublic Service Author:Astra Taylor
