Communications Technology and ChangeTutorial Week 4

Smart TechnologyGoogle

By Jessica Hickeyu3062973

Case Study: What is Google?

• Google is a web search engine.

• An example of a participatory platform to assist with everyday tasks for example, calendar and organiser, videos, blogs, email and social media tools.

• Most successful information platform in the world.

• Google is an example of a platform which adapts to previous searches to anticipate which advertisements will appeal to that viewer.

• Google as an assemblage: apart of users, systems and processors which work together to source specific information.

Case Study:

Google and Technological Change:

• Books and encyclopedia's transformed into ‘Google Search’

• Demands and expectations of users changed over time.

• People’s habits developed to expect easily accessible information.

• Google expanded into g-mail and blogs. Identifying itself as a social platform.

Case Study:

Strengths• Saves Time• Organisation• Easy to access• Unlimited

information

Weaknesses• Privacy issues• Cause changes in

social behaviour• Rely to heavily on

it, ‘dumbing’ ourselves down.

Case Study:

Reading Summary: J. Macgregor Wise ‘Intelligent Agency’

• As technologies develop they are changing and affecting our lives.

• We create these technologies to take tasks of our hands, allowing us to focus on other tasks and therefore more is expected to be accomplished.

• No only delegate tasks to technologies, but they then impinge behaviours back on us. Changing our social actions (Latour, 1988).

• Where will these technologies take us in the future? Will our lives be completely taken over by technological agents, controlling our actions and abilities?

• Currently facing a technology assemblage. Technologies that resonate with each other include:– Satellite TV– ATM’s– Video Games– Internet interfaces

Reading Summary: J. Macgregor Wise ‘Intelligent Agency’

• Wise states predictions and impacts on the future developments of these technologies. Eg. Agents will become personal assistants serving all of our needs before the task is communicated to the device.

• “ We think it’s important to keep users in control, or at least always give them the impression they are in control” (Bekun, 1995:117)

• Corporations use these advancements to their advantage. Eg. The online shopping market is thriving within the retail industry. Taking over sales in shopping centers. Purchases are now made by clicking a button and the item being delivered within hours or days.

• These sites are prime examples of pushing information at people rather than viewers seeking it out.

• Programs adapt via previous searches and purchases, anticipating the viewers wants.

Reading Summary: J. Macgregor Wise ‘Intelligent Agency’

• Users are now intimidated by technology more than ever before.

• Wise states the question of whether society places too much trust in these technological agents.

• “Will we become timid in the presence of our own agents and machines? Will they begin to control us? Trust becomes a central factor in dealing with and designing agents (Indermaur, 1995)

Reading Summary: G. Langlois ‘Participatory Culture & the New Governance

of Communication’ • Langlois discusses participatory media and its influence culturally.

• Participatory media - is media which the audience can play an active role in the process.

• Tools used include Youtube, Wikipedia, Facebook and Twitter.

• New online technologies change the limitations and hierarchy when communicating to audiences.

• “ There is no seperation between producers and audiences anymore”

(Bruns, 2008).

• There is surveillance and monitoring of users, advertising and marketing through new profiling techniques (Langlois 1995).

Reading Summary: G. Langlois ‘Participatory Culture & the New Governance

of Communication’

• New level of control over cultural, political and social life.

• Participatory media models are assemblages of systems, actors and processes that work together (Phillips, 2006:2)

• Privacy control is an issue. Possible exploitation of users that use these media platforms.

• Langlois (1995) states “Communication is first and foremost a human affair and online technologies are here to support the creation and sharing of cultural meanings”.

Reading Summary: G. Langlois ‘Participatory Culture & the New Governance

of Communication’ • 2 Network Centric paradigms (Galloway,2004).

• User-centric – the tools available to cultural expression

• Net-Centric – the technical elements that enable the transmission across networks.

• Some networks control content. For example Google advertising tailors ads to past online content.

• The governance of these networks focus on the assemblages of culture and technology, user and software which creates platforms for self expression.

Discussion Questions:

• Do you think we rely too heavily on technology in our daily lives?• Do you think privacy is one of the major issues when it

comes to Participatory media and networks? Why?

??? (found in Wise Reading)• What is common to this at times diverse group is an

underlying libertarian view of cyberspace. The libertarian position takes technology to be the extension of rational individuals.