“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
“I'd go to conference after conference and it would essentially be the talking points. Either pro or con. It's amazing how polarized the tech conversation is. There's also this neurological fixation, the incessant wondering what the Internet's doing to our brain: "Does it make us stupid, does it make us distracted?" And then the other guys say, "No, it's making us smarter than ever, and better than ever, and more connected." And it's like, where is the economic and social context? Why is that rarely considered?” DoeGuySocialBrainTalkingWonderEconomicStupidInternetConversationConnectedSmarterConferencesDistractedOther GuysIncessantFixation Author:Astra Taylor
“It's always the balance between the individual's subjective experience and the social structural condition. As individuals we have access to more than we've ever had before. Giving up our data seems a small price to pay, especially if, as you say, we don't feel we have anything to hide.” IfsGivingFeelsSeemsIndividualSocialPayConditionsBalanceGiving UpAccessDataSubjective Author:Astra Taylor
“It's the same thing in a way with privacy. You can say "I'm not doing anything wrong, therefore this doesn't concern me," but what does it mean about our society if we're all being watched and recorded? The personal experience - negotiating this as individuals - doesn't describe the social reality and the broader social costs.” IfsWayMeanDoeRealityIndividualSocialCostConcernPrivacyOur SocietyPersonal ExperiencesNegotiating 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
“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
“think there's a culture of Silicon Valley that seems to have the attitude that you can have it both ways, that you can be an insurgent but also, ultimately, it's paid for by advertising, when in fact advertising is totally retrograde. Now that's an industry we should be disrupting, and maybe you disrupt it by funding public media. None of this is technological destiny; there are only social choices.” ThinkingWayShouldFactsSeemsChoicesCultureSocialAttitudeDestinyMediaIndustryPaidAdvertisingValleysTechnologicalFundingSiliconSilicon ValleyInsurgentRetrograde 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
“We haven't developed a progressive vocabulary. We say something is "public," but we just mean it's viewable online. Or we say it's "open," but we just mean it's accessible. I would like for us to think about terms critically and maybe change our vocabulary a bit. What if pubic actually meant publicly-funded, or social meant socialized.” IfsThinkingMeanSocialBitsTermHavensOnlineWhat IfProgressiveVocabulary Author:Astra Taylor
