A Rage Phenomena

A Rage Phenomena

The Actor Network theory and The origin of MEMES 

Christopher Kelty (2008) came up with the idea of a recursive public. The actor-network theory (Lataour 1999) is a concept that was conceived as a means to address societal processes without being drawn into a closed, cultured and mechanical universe by traditional organisations. Actors can be anyone and when a network is established, things start to move hence becoming important. Deleuze & Guttari (1988) Rhizome principles instigates that any point of the rhizome can be connection to anything which is similar to networks.

To explain these concepts is best explaining with the use of an example. Rage comics are a prime example of a cultural phenomenon. These originated from the popular site 4chan in 2008 and gained popularity due to its simple art, real life experiences and humorous punch-lines at the end. At first, the simple image was of a guy showing rage, however these have since changed when another website named Reddit in 2009 launched a sub-reddit named ‘FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU’ which created numerous more characters. As the popularity increased, there was a need for easier method of creation, management and thus, rage makers were introduced (Knowyourmeme 2014). Organisations such as New York Times even circulated the works (Boutin 2012). There are numerous actors that occur here that has caused this popularity and it still continues. From one site to another and from various people and creation of more characters, this cultural phenomenon has merged technical and the human to operate around networks mixing entries of social, politic and aesthetics compared with previously.

As mentioned above, this phenomenon had a problem. It is often difficult to find who created the origins of the characters as the various places they are posted but altered. Some faces even remain unknown and some faces meanings were changed such as the ‘Me Gusta’ Face and some were used without authorization (Mar 2012). Faces even have emerging stories and receiving attention from other non-English speaking countries showing the network capability of a cultural phenomenon. This shows the potential power of without interference by traditional processes.

BibliographyBoutin, P. (2012). Put Your Rage Into a Cartoon and Exit Laughing. The New York Times. [online]. Avaible at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/technology/personaltech/rage-comics-turn-everyday-stress-into-laughs.html [Accessed 8 November 2014].Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1988). A thousand plateaus: Capitalism and schizophrenia. Bloomsbury Publishing.Kelty, C. (2008). Two bits: The Cultural Significance of Free Software and the Internet. Durham: Duke University Press.Know Your Meme, (2014). Rage Comics. [online]. Avaiable at: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/rage-comics [Accessed 8 November 2014].Latour, B. (1999). On recalling ANT. The Sociological Review. 47(1).  pp.15-25.Mar, T. (2012). Fffuuuuuuuu: The Internet anthropologist’s field guide to “rage faces”. Arstechnica. [online]. Available at: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/03/the-internet-anthropologists-field-guide-to-rage-faces/2 [Accessed 8 November 2014].

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The Interface Conundrum and Dark Patterns

The Interface Conundrum 

Challenges and the use of dark patterns.

Interface is an important connection between humans and machines but also machines to machines. Interface instantiates information, how it is produced, works and embodied into technology.

One challenging interface aspect is dark patterns, which are patterns that are designed by using the interface specifically to deceive users into purchasing items or doing actions they might not have done (Darkpatterns, 2014). Individuals are studying our behaviours online, our movements and our habits and use this knowledge to set ‘traps’ for said users (Puchalska, 2014).  However, this study of habits has already occurred prior to the web and could be suggested as continuation. One controversial, but famous study would be Milgram (1963) who studied humans and obedience of a higher authority. Duhigg (2012) states that almost every retailer or company has some form of department that is devoted to understanding not just shopping habits, but personal lifestyles too; for increased market efficiency. But are dark patterns all that bad?  Mesibov (2013) suggests that the design of dark patterns could be learned and used for good in fact.

Another aspect is tethering. We are tethered to companies such as Google, and their interface is designed in a way that penetrates privacy. The products we use on Google and their multiple platforms collect data from us and are intruding into our privacy. The more we use Google, the more information it collects on us (Ketcham and Kelly, 2010). This includes their other platforms such as Google Maps and Gmail (Rosenfeld, 2014). We are constantly monitored, yet we allow this to happen as we stay loyal to certain companies. Even if we use alternative platforms, we are still coupled with Facebook or Twitter data to use the application (Larson, 2014).

Another challenge that interface poses for critical media analysis is highlighted by Drucker (2011) that the design of an interface to support human or a humanistic approach is still an on-going issue but a central issue nonetheless. Interface designs are catered to us not as humans, but more as subjects who potentially hinder the true value of data being collected and more suitable design of interfaces. Drucker (2011) also reiterates that the challenge for humanists is to express the theory and designs of interfaces.

Bibliography

Darkpatterns.org, (2014). Dark Patterns - User Interfaces Designed to Trick People. [online]. ( http://darkpatterns.org/). (Accessed 2 November 2014).Drucker, J. (2011). Humanities approaches to interface theory. Culture Machine. 12(0.  pp. 1-20.Duhigg, C. (2012). How Companies Learn Your Secrets. The New York Times. [online]. (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0).  (Accessed 6 November 2014).Ketcham, C. and Kelly, T. (2010). The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows About You.[online].Available at: http://www.alternet.org/story/146398/the_more_you_use_google%2C_the_more_google_knows_about_you  [Accessed 8 November 2014].Larson, S. (2014). Are There Too Many Social Networks?. [online]. Readwrite.com. Available at: http://readwrite.com/2014/01/07/are-there-too-many-social-networks [Accessed 8 Nov. 2014].Mesibov, M. (2013). Using Dark Patterns for Good UX Booth. [online]. Available at:  http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/using-dark-patterns-for-good/ [Accessed 6 November 2014].Milgram, S. (1963). Behavioral Study of obedience. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67(4), pp.371-378.Puchalska, E. (2014). Dark Patterns in UX – The Jedi Way. [Blog]. Usability Tools. Available at: http://blog.usabilitytools.com/dark-patterns-in-ux/#sthash.p41qIQnu.dpbs [Accessed 8 November 2014].Rosenfeld, S. (2014). 4 ways Google is destroying privacy and collecting your data. [online]. Available at: http://www.salon.com/2014/02/05/4_ways_google_is_destroying_privacy_and_collecting_your_data_partner/  [Accessed 8 November 2014].

The Extended Mind Relationship With Devices and Technology

The Extended Mind Relationship With Devices and Technology

Have devices and technology become part of our bodies and mind?

It was suggested that devices have become part of an extension outside of our bodies and minds. Clark and Chalmers (1998) denote Active externalism and advocates that the external environment plays a crucial role in driving our thought processes by creating a coupled system. If we remove the external part, behavioural competence will drop. Just like a fragment of the brain being removed. Note the word active, which is particularly significant and differentiates from Putnam (1975) and Burge (1979) of passive externalism. The distal nature of passive externalism does not drive cognition so it is therefore irrelevant.

Apple advertisements cater towards a materialistic, affective and emotional attachment to devices https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODmfmUWqlSA. This shows the shift in focus when it comes to the construction of new technology. In addition, human and technology have become ubiquitous as well as the processing of information now differs from the past.

Clark’s notion of the extended mind proposes a mutual relationship with technology and our minds. Mcluhan (2001) in understanding Media had a similar hypothesis to Clark as well, which in essence, complement each other but are both unique yet similar perspectives. Elmore (2014) a term coined nomophobia which is the fear of being without phone contact and produces anxiety. This supports the notion of the extended mind that external environment does affect our cognition. This spreads into Digital Media too with social media sites and the web. Harraway (1991) also likened us to cyborgs with digital technologies that can be associated with our body suggesting our connection with machine and technology too. Robert Logan (2013) in Mcluhan’s extended and the extended mind thesis identifies fourteen messages that support our relations with data, knowledge and information which therefore extend our minds.

However, there are numerous problems that come with this theory and for digital media. The theory stretches the limit of cognition too far implying that entirety of the internet is part of individual cognition (Adams and Aziwa, 2010) but also continues to divide biological part and non-biological part, thus this comes as a relabeling as suggested by William Ramsey (2010). If active externalism is true, then would this medium indicate a potential concern of control and surveillance over our cognition and minds?  Could this change the way we think and change our emotions? Could the accumulation of data through extension and technology eventually replace our whole cognition?

 Bibliography

Adams, F., & Aizawa, K. (2010). Defending the bounds of cognition. The extended mind. pp. 67-80.

Apple - iPhone 5s - TV Ad - Powerful. (2014). [video] Apple.

Burge, T. (1979). Individualism and the Mental. Midwest Stud Philos, 4(1), pp.73-121.

Clark, A. and Chalmers, D. (1998). The Extended Mind. Analysis, 58(1), pp.7-19.

Elmore, T. (2014). Nomophobia: A Rising Trend in Students. [online] Psychologytoday.com. Available at: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/artificial-maturity/201409/nomophobia-rising-trend-in-students [Accessed 19 Oct. 2014].

Haraway, D. (1991).  A Cyborg Manifesto. [online]. Available at: http://www.egs.edu/faculty/donna-haraway/articles/donna-haraway-a-cyborg-manifesto/ [Accessed 20 October 2014].

Logan, R. (2013). McLuhan Extended and the Extended Mind Thesis (EMT). Pismo Awangardy Filozoficzno-Naukowej, [online]. Available at: http://www.academia.edu/3776248/McLuhan_Extended_and_the_Extended_Mind_Thesis_EMT  [Accessed 21 October 2014].

McLuhan, M. (2001). Understanding media. London: Routledge.

Putnam, H. (1975). Mind, language, and reality. Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press.

Ramsey, W. (2010). The Extended Mind Reviews Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. University of Notre Dame. [online]. Available at: https://ndpr.nd.edu/news/24553-the-extended-mind/ [Accessed 20 October 2014].