“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
“Also, after Examined Life was finished I found myself thinking about the way creative opportunities and distribution channels were shifting. Should I be showing my films in theaters or just think about getting them out online? There were other issues, too.” ThinkingWayShouldFilmFoundOpportunityCreativeIssuesTheaterFinishedOnlineShould IDistributionShiftingExamined Life 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
“I think that overall, ultimately the impact of advertisers calling the shots is a more cloying, complacent culture. For example, it was just announced that Unilever is branding environmental content at The Guardian. How radical or pointed can that content be?” ThinkingCultureExampleCallingShotsImpactEnvironmentalRadicalBrandingGuardianComplacentAdvertisersCalling The Shots Author:Astra Taylor
“Technology and television didn't dictate one path or the other - it was civil society and public policy intervening in creating alternative funding models. So I think that's one of the questions for our time: do we want to intervene in this model or completely acquiesce and leave it to the unfettered, not-actually-that-free market? Neither path is inevitable.” ThinkingWantTechnologyPathPolicyTelevisionCreatingModelsAlternativesInevitableOur TimeFree MarketFundingCivil SocietyPublic PolicyIntervening 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 think somebody who is more self-reflective should ask why they personally aren't going on that path. If amateurism is so great, why didn't you stay one? You have to look at the larger economy, a backdrop of unemployment; it's shitty out there.” IfsThinkingShouldLooksSelfAsksEconomyPathUnemploymentBackdrop Author:Astra Taylor
“One thing that's important to point out is that this kind of populism has a long and mixed history. It's part of this tradition of problematic anti-elitism where the elites are always the liberal class - the intellectuals, the professors, the artists - and not the economic elites. Why are we so mad and aggrieved at newspaper editors but not at corporate executives? I think we need to look more at the latter, at economic elites.” ThinkingNeedsLooksKindLongImportantArtistClassOne ThingEconomicTraditionMadNewspapersCorporateLatterExecutivesEditorsProfessorsElitesElitismPopulismNewspaper Editors Author:Astra Taylor
“I was shocked when I tried to articulate this to someone who had posted the film and asked them to remove it for a few months, and I actually told them that after that they could put it back up and they were just completely unwilling to compromise - you'd think I was Rupert Murdoch or something.” ThinkingFilmMonthsCompromiseRemoveShockedUnwilling 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
“All the utopianism of the early days of the Internet seems to have dissipated. But I don't want us to lose that utopianism altogether, even if it was naïve and ill-informed and sometimes silly. Rather I want us to ask about the obstacles that are preventing the good stuff from coming to fruition. Let's investigate and think about creating something worthwhile instead of assuming that there is an inevitable track of increased centralization, consolidation, and commercialization that we can't do anything about.” IfsThinkingWantSometimesSeemsAsksStuffLosesInternetCreatingAssumingIllTrackObstaclesSillyInevitableWorthwhileWant UPreventingFruitionCreating SomethingConsolidationCentralizationCommercialization Author:Astra Taylor
