[Air-L] Technology as ideologically neutral?

astrid mager astrid.mager at univie.ac.at
Thu Jul 5 08:07:04 PDT 2012


Hi Charles,

maybe my article "Algorithmic Ideology. How capitalist society shapes 
search engines" is useful too:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369118X.2012.676056

Best, Astrid


Am 05.07.12 16:47, schrieb Barbara Barbosa Neves:
> One more:
>
> *Sally Wyatt (2008)*. *Technological Determinism is Dead*; Long Live
> Technological Determinism. The Handbook of Science&  Technology Studies,
> MIT Press.
>
> Best,
>
> Bárbara Barbosa Neves
> Assistant Professor of Sociology
> ISCSP, Technical University of Lisbon
> Rua Professor Almerindo Lessa,
> 1300-663 Lisboa
> Portugal
>
> www.bbneves.com
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 5, 2012 at 2:48 PM, Charles Ess<charles.ess at gmail.com>  wrote:
>
>> Dear AoIRists,
>> I'm trying to gather both accessible and, to some degree, "landmark" or
>> foundational literature that can be used to (gently) challenge a view I
>> keep
>> encountering in certain circles lately - namely, that technology in general
>> and the Internet in particular is "ideologically neutral".
>>
>> Such a view was around in the U.S. in the early days of the Internet - but
>> countered in at least two ways; those who took up Social Construction of
>> Technology and related theory from ST studies, including discussion of
>> "affordances", etc. - and then the very ideological claims (roughly:
>> California libertarian technological utopianism) that went from claims such
>> as "the internet interprets censorship as damage, and routes around it" to
>> claims that the Internet embedded and fostered specially U.S. (neoliberal)
>> values of individualism, freedom of expression, and free market capitalism.
>>
>> For better and for worse, however, my impression is that in our
>> communities,
>> at least, the recognition that the technologies embed and foster specific
>> cultural values and communicative preferences (as I like to put it on the
>> basis of the CATaC conferences) has been more or less a given for quite
>> some
>> time.  Hence, having to re-visit and re-establish these understandings for
>> those for whom this recognition is apparently quite new is a bit of a
>> challenge.
>>
>> Any suggestions for literature, etc., would be most appreciated.
>>
>> Many thanks in advance,
>> - charles ess
>> --
>> Until August 31, 2012: Professor MSO
>> Media Studies, Institute for Aesthetics and Communication
>> Aarhus University
>> Helsingforsgade 14
>> 8200 Aarhus
>> Denmark
>>
>>  From 1. Sept. 2012: Associate Professor in Media Studies
>> Department of Media and Communication
>> Forskningsparken II
>> Gaustadalléen 21
>> 0349  Oslo  Norway
>>
>> Lifetime member, AoIR
>>
>> ³At vove er at miste fodfæstet for en stund, ikke at vove er at miste
>> sig selv² [To dare is to lose your footing for an hour; not to dare is to
>> lose yourself] - Kierkegaard
>>
>>
>>
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