Main Idea:
799 - This article employs "configurable culture" to
describe the range of emerging cultural practices that have blurred the
boundaries between traditional production & consumption in the wake
of digital technological developments. In other words, media can serve equally well from its original form to
its mediated form & modifiers (such as effects, plug-ins, etc) serve
as a form of second order expression.
800 - As a result, the linear process of culture production faces disruption
_______________________________________________________________________
798 - Production & Consumption - emerging digital technology afford users to do both
-it's an "inversion of the power hierarchy represented by traditional culture industries"
-conflict over regulation - copyright, authorship, ownership
799 - the appropriation & reconfiguration comes without consent of culture industry
-copyright law allows the culture industry to retain dominant economic gatekeeper position
digital technologies transforms mass consumers to mass producers & mass distributors
-this threatens to erode the foundation of industrial & commercial exchange that has long dominated
some scholars (Herman 2012, Lessig, & Vaidhyanathan) have argued this freddom of users should be fostered:
Lessig 2004 - "Remix Culture" rise should lead to creative commons licenses that stipulate how content can be used.
Aufderheide & Jaszi 2008 - Fair Use allows users to participate
Jenkins - participatory culture - which is democratizing
Jenkins - convergence culture - which is old and new media combining
Contrarians (traditionalists) - Keen - professional work is debased by amateurism
Industry Enforcers - Karaganis 2011 - employs the language of piracy & theft to discuss digital appropriation by users
799 - This article employs "configurable culture" to describe the range of emerging cultural practices that have blurred the boundaries between traditional production & consumption in the wake of digital technological developments.
In other words, media can serve equally well from its original form to its mediated form & modifiers (such as effects, plug-ins, etc) serve as a form of second order expression.
800 - As a result, the linear process of culture production faces disruption
Differences in Configurable Culture from Previous Terms:
1. These changes in culture production are not inherently democratizing
-many of these are not truly bottom up - but have been deployed strategically by the culture industry to extend hegemonic positions.
2. Although they may now have a voice (such as social media), users may also reproduce traditional biases and power dynamics
3. legal mechanisms (like copyright) create conflict with these new digital practices (cultural regulation and resistance)
800 - 2006 & 2010 surveys were administered to see the extent of freedom vs control in configurable culture by users behavior and opinions
804 - An important distinction was found in the study:
production - adjacent activities = requires people with tools and knowledge to consume and recreate/reappropriate media (therefore not entirely democratic)
consumption - adjacent practices = people in the digital space that consume configurable culture, but lack the ability or desire to participate more.
804 - This very distinction nullifies the overly optimistic assumption of Jenkins and participatory culture
810 - engagement levels with young people 18-25 continue to grow steeply
However from 2006 - 2010, the gap narrowed and older folks were becoming more aware and engaged in configurable culture
Also found that reflexive judgments about configurable culture across all age groups are biased negatively
820 - concluded that full participation in digital culture still requires a degree of social power conferred by wealth. - supports notions of digital divide
Showing posts with label prosumption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prosumption. Show all posts
Sunday, March 1, 2015
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Comor (2010) Digital Prosumption and Alienation
Comor is critical of the celebrants of digital technologies
440 - Co-creation and prosumption are non-alienating activities for celebrants (which he disagrees)
441 - Marx: Self-creation - individuals producing the conditions of their own environment
However in capitalism: workers' engagement in production is more of a matter of survival than self-creation (you work to make money to suvive, rather than create something of importance for your survival).
441 - Therefore, the worker resides in a state of alienation. He does not produce to realize his own creative powers, but rather he works to produce a wage, which will then allow him to consume (proletariat). The low wage and non-ownership of anything but his labour power, allows the worker the potential to realize his alienation (p. 444)
441 - The capitalist, meanwhile, (bougeois owner) doesn't even produce, but is insulated by his capital wealth, with no need to uncover or realize his alienation. This is because he is afforded power and status by this capital (444).
442 - Under capitalism, there are two main types of alienation:
product-alienation: the products the proletariat helps to produce is not owned by the proletariat or in some cases, not even viewed in total (as in assembly line work)
process-alienation: surplus value, rather than use-value, is generated from the Fordist environment of workers
Capitalism emphasizes market value, not use-value. The work of the proletariat does not serve the direct needs of the proletariat, but rather wages earned allow them to fulfill needs.
Comor disagrees with the argument that open source software and online collaborative work resolves this alienation: Empirical evidence doesn't prove it - because in cases where this appears to be the case, there is usually less job security (p. 443) or more pervasive forms of surviellance (p. 443).
443 - Plus, another contributing factor of alienation's persistance in the digital age is due to the consistant need to generate and increase surplus value - which is more easily captured by digital technologies
444-445 - For Marx, the heart of alienation is not in any of the alienations discussed above, but rather in the production process itself - production, distribution, exchange, and consumption. This process requires capitalists to "get more for less out of people". Therefore, more "dead" labour (machines) is employed which increases the dehumanization and creative capacities of people/workers. Workers merely become tools of capital. (People are alienated from their essence, species-being this way).
446 - Neoliberals that argue that digital technologies afford people the chance to become entrepreneurs and gain wealth & status are covering up for the fact that the consumer still has to operate within the economic system's control, relying on a network that compels them to constantly improve skills on new (and expensive) teachnology, hardware, and software. Many of these hopefuls' work also contributes to promoting and branding activities.
446 - Comor uses Wikipedia as an example and claims that the site is routinely "used to promote commercial interests". Not sure I agree, unless he is referring to product and company pages - but the companies don't own these pages, they may only monitor them.
447 - Additionally, even sites that appear to be truly democratic and collaborative use targeted marketing through prosumption aids in the disclosure of personal information
447 - For Comor, alienation comes down to the realization surplus values, a core component of capitalism - where both, the wage paid worker and the user providing unpaid intellectual labor, are both exploited (for surplus value)
448 - Comor warns that disparities in the levels of hiearchy are not flattening (as celebrants argue), but actually growing wider. The worker is doing less (de-skilling) with machines (such as price scanners, simple button-pushing repetitive machines, etc). Independent thought is "neutured"
448 - "From a Marxist perspective, these developments are perfectly rational - capital, after all, is compelled to seek profits (through the realization of surplus values) by using machines (including ICTs) to manage the division of labour in all facets of the production process."
449 - Conclusion - prosumption has the ability to hire workers as creative tools for exploitation, but can also sustain the status quo of product- & process-alienation. So really, it's more flexible and profitable for the capitalists than the traditional factory scene.
450-52 - So why does this happen? 1) the prosumer appears to be in control. 2) prosumers seek a sense of self-worth by commoditizing themselves (I think applicable to attention economy) and 3) to participate in communities that focus on celebrity culture (which I think is fans, parasocial interaction), heavily marketed brands, and other apolitical or commodified activities.
453 - Final Conclusion: "digital prosumption is destined to remain part and parcel of capital's production and reproduction priorities with alienated prosumers labouring to satisfy their own possessive individualist needs."
440 - Co-creation and prosumption are non-alienating activities for celebrants (which he disagrees)
441 - Marx: Self-creation - individuals producing the conditions of their own environment
However in capitalism: workers' engagement in production is more of a matter of survival than self-creation (you work to make money to suvive, rather than create something of importance for your survival).
441 - Therefore, the worker resides in a state of alienation. He does not produce to realize his own creative powers, but rather he works to produce a wage, which will then allow him to consume (proletariat). The low wage and non-ownership of anything but his labour power, allows the worker the potential to realize his alienation (p. 444)
441 - The capitalist, meanwhile, (bougeois owner) doesn't even produce, but is insulated by his capital wealth, with no need to uncover or realize his alienation. This is because he is afforded power and status by this capital (444).
442 - Under capitalism, there are two main types of alienation:
product-alienation: the products the proletariat helps to produce is not owned by the proletariat or in some cases, not even viewed in total (as in assembly line work)
process-alienation: surplus value, rather than use-value, is generated from the Fordist environment of workers
Capitalism emphasizes market value, not use-value. The work of the proletariat does not serve the direct needs of the proletariat, but rather wages earned allow them to fulfill needs.
Comor disagrees with the argument that open source software and online collaborative work resolves this alienation: Empirical evidence doesn't prove it - because in cases where this appears to be the case, there is usually less job security (p. 443) or more pervasive forms of surviellance (p. 443).
443 - Plus, another contributing factor of alienation's persistance in the digital age is due to the consistant need to generate and increase surplus value - which is more easily captured by digital technologies
444-445 - For Marx, the heart of alienation is not in any of the alienations discussed above, but rather in the production process itself - production, distribution, exchange, and consumption. This process requires capitalists to "get more for less out of people". Therefore, more "dead" labour (machines) is employed which increases the dehumanization and creative capacities of people/workers. Workers merely become tools of capital. (People are alienated from their essence, species-being this way).
446 - Neoliberals that argue that digital technologies afford people the chance to become entrepreneurs and gain wealth & status are covering up for the fact that the consumer still has to operate within the economic system's control, relying on a network that compels them to constantly improve skills on new (and expensive) teachnology, hardware, and software. Many of these hopefuls' work also contributes to promoting and branding activities.
446 - Comor uses Wikipedia as an example and claims that the site is routinely "used to promote commercial interests". Not sure I agree, unless he is referring to product and company pages - but the companies don't own these pages, they may only monitor them.
447 - Additionally, even sites that appear to be truly democratic and collaborative use targeted marketing through prosumption aids in the disclosure of personal information
447 - For Comor, alienation comes down to the realization surplus values, a core component of capitalism - where both, the wage paid worker and the user providing unpaid intellectual labor, are both exploited (for surplus value)
448 - Comor warns that disparities in the levels of hiearchy are not flattening (as celebrants argue), but actually growing wider. The worker is doing less (de-skilling) with machines (such as price scanners, simple button-pushing repetitive machines, etc). Independent thought is "neutured"
448 - "From a Marxist perspective, these developments are perfectly rational - capital, after all, is compelled to seek profits (through the realization of surplus values) by using machines (including ICTs) to manage the division of labour in all facets of the production process."
449 - Conclusion - prosumption has the ability to hire workers as creative tools for exploitation, but can also sustain the status quo of product- & process-alienation. So really, it's more flexible and profitable for the capitalists than the traditional factory scene.
450-52 - So why does this happen? 1) the prosumer appears to be in control. 2) prosumers seek a sense of self-worth by commoditizing themselves (I think applicable to attention economy) and 3) to participate in communities that focus on celebrity culture (which I think is fans, parasocial interaction), heavily marketed brands, and other apolitical or commodified activities.
453 - Final Conclusion: "digital prosumption is destined to remain part and parcel of capital's production and reproduction priorities with alienated prosumers labouring to satisfy their own possessive individualist needs."
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