Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Agent Smith Goes to Washington: agency and control in social media
Ulises A. Mejias
Title of session stems from Frank Capra film Mr Smith Goes to Washington. The session is about the influence that technology has on behaviour. Who or what controls who or what?
Theories of agency:
Realism: technological determinism. Technology shapes society. Prescribes behaviour. Agency can be attributed to technology therefore.
Social constructivism: agency cannot just be attributed to artefacts however it is designed. We use and decide how to understand technologies as suits our needs. We are in control therefore.
Hybrid constructivism: actor network theory. Technology agency emerges through human interaction(?) One affects the other.
I found this theory pretty hard to grasp. Not my usual territory.
The difference between Public (and equality of active and passive participation - we all make up the public) and Mass where there is a significant difference in participation of actors. More equality in public all listen all talk. In Mass - difficult for the individual to participate. (Mills, The Power Elite, pp303-304). Not sure of what we can do with this understanding...
Ulises A. Mejias says Society and technology co-determine each other. (Hybrid). Yes I would agree that we should acknowledge that.
Ulises A. Mejias gave us this task. Do this mind hack:
Choose an ICT that has become part of your life:
1. List benefits: How does yjis technology enhance your participation in the world in new ways?
2. List motivations. What desires make the benefits listed above appealing to you?
3. Identify contradictions: Does using the technology sometimes get in the way of the motivations listed above?
4. Question competiting motivations: What makes the contradictions acceptable? Are there 'hidden' motivations?
eg Nick Noates: Skype, benefits: low cost. motivation: more contact with remote friends. Contradiction removes him from his close family!
eg Me: Second Life (loads of people suggesting SL as their mind hack subject)
Benefits: safe place to explore new ideas/relationships. Benefits: low cost, use it when you want, go where you want, try things out without risk. Motivation: to explore and find things out and see what others are doing. Contradiction: stops me from exploring in real life as it's time consuming. Always playing safe is not necessarily good for learning.
OK well I just learnt something about SL!
The Mind Hack exercise suggests Normalisation processes are useful in understanding and using technologies.
((The back chat in Elluminate is very interesting - strong parallel conversations underneath the presenter. Very coherent multi-tasking. The Applause function is really daft!)).
Title of session stems from Frank Capra film Mr Smith Goes to Washington. The session is about the influence that technology has on behaviour. Who or what controls who or what?
Theories of agency:
Realism: technological determinism. Technology shapes society. Prescribes behaviour. Agency can be attributed to technology therefore.
Social constructivism: agency cannot just be attributed to artefacts however it is designed. We use and decide how to understand technologies as suits our needs. We are in control therefore.
Hybrid constructivism: actor network theory. Technology agency emerges through human interaction(?) One affects the other.
I found this theory pretty hard to grasp. Not my usual territory.
The difference between Public (and equality of active and passive participation - we all make up the public) and Mass where there is a significant difference in participation of actors. More equality in public all listen all talk. In Mass - difficult for the individual to participate. (Mills, The Power Elite, pp303-304). Not sure of what we can do with this understanding...
Ulises A. Mejias says Society and technology co-determine each other. (Hybrid). Yes I would agree that we should acknowledge that.
Ulises A. Mejias gave us this task. Do this mind hack:
Choose an ICT that has become part of your life:
1. List benefits: How does yjis technology enhance your participation in the world in new ways?
2. List motivations. What desires make the benefits listed above appealing to you?
3. Identify contradictions: Does using the technology sometimes get in the way of the motivations listed above?
4. Question competiting motivations: What makes the contradictions acceptable? Are there 'hidden' motivations?
eg Nick Noates: Skype, benefits: low cost. motivation: more contact with remote friends. Contradiction removes him from his close family!
eg Me: Second Life (loads of people suggesting SL as their mind hack subject)
Benefits: safe place to explore new ideas/relationships. Benefits: low cost, use it when you want, go where you want, try things out without risk. Motivation: to explore and find things out and see what others are doing. Contradiction: stops me from exploring in real life as it's time consuming. Always playing safe is not necessarily good for learning.
OK well I just learnt something about SL!
The Mind Hack exercise suggests Normalisation processes are useful in understanding and using technologies.
((The back chat in Elluminate is very interesting - strong parallel conversations underneath the presenter. Very coherent multi-tasking. The Applause function is really daft!)).
# posted by Andrew Middleton @ 9:15 AM 
