My Apple Purchases: A Political Failure, Consumer Weakness, or Ambitious Scholar?
Technologies are social and political. More than merely functional objects and software packages, technologies of all sorts represent the intersection of myriad social, political, economic, and cultural forces. Using a technology is a political act. Purchasing (or stealing, for that matter) is also a political act. We have a material impact on the world when we use a technology; that same technology has an impact on us when we use it. None of these assertions is new or novel. Marcuse, Ellul, Feenberg, Heidegger. More germane to this blog’s projects: Ong, (C) Haas, Bolter, Drucker, Chartier. But I want to take a step back and expand the scope of this reflection to include discussions of technology in general. Because lately I’ve been feeling like a contradiction. But it’s a contradiction that I seem to be embracing. I’m making the switch to Mac. It’s a transition, sure, but I’m committed to it at this point.
But what, exactly, is it to which I’m committing? Apple is now the biggest, most dominant technology company in the world. They are a company who basically blew-off their relationship with the die-hard fan base that helped same them from extinction in the nineties. They purposely leave out functionalities for their products in order to include them in a later model to encourage their customers to purchase more items. They are the pot calling the kettle “closed and proprietary” in terms of their ongoing battle with Flash. They are a company who, in their attempt to revolutionize (this is gonna change everything) the way we use computers, gave us a device which made it much, much harder for users to actively produce and contribute mediated cultural content. And yet, in the last year, I’ve purchased a phone, a laptop, and and iPad from them. What sort of a political gesture is this? Read the rest of this entry »Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-26
- i was a high-school physics dork. but not since. until now. wow. wow. you… must… watch… http://bit.ly/9ziatf (#cgi) #
- looking for Fantasy Football League participants. Anyone out there interested? Low-key. Low investment. Free. (ok to retweet) #
- Omeka…treating a single scholar's work as a digital collection. http://post.ly/oNa4 #
- "key questions a unified field theory has to answer: * What are the characteristics of a successful…" http://tumblr.com/xsle0wqqr #
- "Objectified is a feature-length documentary about our complex relationship with manufactured objects…" http://tumblr.com/xsle0z8dm #
- @jenlmichaels re@posterous tweet… posterous is great; i just started messing with @tumblr. Beautfl interface. More robust. You tried it? in reply to jenlmichaels #
- @bonniekyburz LOVED Objectified. Saw Helvetica Couldn't finish it. Much ado about… a font?I respected it; but couldn't invest. Just taste. #
- @jenlmichaels Excellent point re@tumblr comments. Wasn't thinking re teaching. Thx. WP (with BuddyPress?) for this fall's 101. in reply to jenlmichaels #
- @jenlmichaels @betajames OK, you're scaring me. Just gettting my tumblfeet wet. Certainly nothing wrong with @posterous. Will see. Thx! #
- anyone love @seesmic vs @tweetdeck? (iPhone relevant decision). or alternative? #
- Heat index here in Louisville: 111 degrees. Sigh. Sizzle. #
- @jenterysayers got a link to your Scalar software/tech? I'm curious. Google search wasn't clear. Thx. in reply to jenterysayers #
- @mkirschenbaum Yep. I agree. WIthout any other discussion necessary, it was simply beautiful and exciting and tragic. I better stop. in reply to mkirschenbaum #
- @jenterysayers Yes. Definitely keep me updated. The invite to stay with you for THATCamp still open? in reply to jenterysayers #
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