Democracy

Habermas article: Habermas is basically making the argument that the public sphereis one of the most important parts of democracy. He agrees with Schiller that all information should be made public, and that democratic demand should be subordinate to the exercise of political control at nearly all times. He goes back through European history to trace the roots of the public sphere, although Habermas seems to wish for a better public sphere than the "bourgeois public sphere." Habermas also traces the beginning of newspapers as dealers of public opinion and the change from unfounded reporting and government propaganda to having an editorial staff and reporting fairly.

Garnham article: Garnham kind of continues Habermas' argument, in that for the public sphere to be completely knowledgeable and informed, the media needs to give the public equal access and opportunities for everything. He also argues that political figures and theorists are ignoring the importance of this open public sphere, and that there will be problems if it continues to be ignored. The public good needs to be thought of as an important function instead of a forced necessity.

Keane article: Keane argues that the media is losing its dominance as people become more and more connected by networks. The public sphere is shifting away from newspapers, television and radio. It started with the development of coffeehouses and salons where Voltaire and people of the like would discuss social issues, and has moved on to other local spaces. Keane seems to think the increasing micro-public spheres with video games, etc. are hurting the public sphere because children are no longer interacting with others as much.

Papacharissi article: Papacharissi basically argues the same thing as the previous three articles, just on the internet instead of offline. His point that people who would never come together to discuss political matters normally can now do so online is a good point, as the internet is an easier public sphere. There usually is no linking public sphere between people in the U.S. and Australia, but now they can discuss issues over the internet. Whether the internet becoming a new public sphere is a good thing remains to be seen, however.

Surveillance

Foucault article: After lecture, I understand a lot more of what Foucault was talking about, I didn't see the connection so much with surveillance overall before. The idea of power has gone through many of the topics in the reader, it seems that power is priority No. 1 in any sort of information society. The idea of isolation is certainly an interesting one, in that people can't form alliances or revolt.

Zuboff article: I didn't understand any of this article.

Lyon article:

Divisions

Schiller article: The fact that the government is destroying so many documents is certainly worrisome, although not entirely surprising. It would have been helpful had Schiller actually given some sort of solution for the problem, but I'm not sure there is a solution, it's hard to regulate what the government does. Obviously Schiller is in favor of complete openness with documents, but again, he doesn't really give any sort of help for the problem, he just points it out. Most of his complaints are very valid, but there has to be a time for data deprivation once in a while.

Norris article: Norris doesn't seem to be making many new points, but there really is not much else that can be said about the digital divide. There's a big digital divide, it's much worse in South America, Africa, Latin America, etc. At least UNESCO and other companies are being brought to light by Norris, as obviously this is a fairly sizable problem that needs to be remedied sooner rather than later. And as Norris points out, perhaps even in countries where there isn't as much of a digital divide still need to sort some things out in-house, because of the social stratification in places like the U.S., Australia, Sweden, etc.

Lasch article: Lasch makes some very interesting points, especially the faulty reasoning in that artificial intelligence is celebrated as "clarity of the mind" while human brains are "bloody messes of organic matter." These people seem to forget who invented artificial intelligence. This is why there will never be a true society where everything is run by computers, because computers are just as faulty as humans are. The view that management always wants power over the work force is also a very powerful one, as that explains a lot about the consolidation of power when jobs are eliminated and specialization takes more of a hold.

Geography of the internet industry Pt II

The fact that venture capitalists don't really take chances on early technologies is interesting, one would think they would be willing to take risks, but apparently not. I was also unaware that venture capitalists had such a valid network of people to share information, they seem like an industry that would be a little more cutthroat. The line between venturing out on their own and following the network seems like a very fine line, in which VC's have a tough time walking. It also seems like a more relationship-based occupation than one would think. It does make sense that location is important when it comes to venture capitalism, as it is much easier to see how companies and ventures are doing when you're in close proximity.

Geography of the internet industry

I found it interesting that San Francisco was such a hotbed of internet activity, I knew it was a big technology city but not extremely bigger than New York City and Chicago. The statistics are really amazing, especially in the graphs when comparing San Francisco to the rest of the U.S. The fact that 30 percent of all venture capital is spent in San Fran. is astounding. I would like to look at the statistics comparing San Fran. to other cities around the world in internet activity just to see if it's a huge gap everywhere. The difference in "smart" and "dumb" money is also intriguing, in that the connections people have is just as important as actual money supply.

Mobile Sociology et al.

Urry article: The idea that there is no such thing as society is interesting, although I agree with him that it's almost impossible to pinpoint just because nobody has the same definition of "society." I don't necessarily agree with him when it comes to connecting the nation-state to society, as I believe society is a lot more personal than something as large as a nation-state. The three metaphors he uses for transformations seem well-founded, but I don't really understand the fluid one. Also, it seems much of his conclusion does not correspond much with the rest of the article, especially the part about mobilized groupings.

Reich article: I think Reich goes a little too far with his part about symbolic analysts, especially the line "real status is inversely related to length of job title." Life is not that cut-and-dry. Much of what he says about the jobs of the future seems right, but again, it seems he thinks that somehow agriculture and manufacturing jobs will almost completely disappear. Also, there are a lot of jobs that fall in between the in-person service/routine production and symbolic analysts.

Stehr article: The shift from manufacturing is certainly a marked one, but perhaps is not as marked as Stehr makes it out to be. While knowledge based industries have taken over many jobs, there will always be manufacturing to be done. I don't really get the difference between the employment society and the consumption society, they seem to go hand in hand. The emergence of the symbolic economy is obviously an important one, and the globalization of the economy is an interesting one.

Balsamo article: To tell the truth, I understood little to none of this article. The analogy to the sci-fi book made no sense to me and I don't understand the connection that she's trying to make. The article was completely Greek to me.

Digitizing the News

I found this book incredibly interesting and much easier to read and comprehend than all the other readings. The background of the first tries at online news were especially intriguing as well as the first attempts at live streaming. It's hard to tell whether the transition to more web-based news is a good or a bad thing. I suppose it's good if a lot of people are paying attention to the news, but print is still probably a more thorough source. All of the vicarious experience chapter was incredibly entertaining and informative. Virtual Voyager seems like such an innovative idea for the time, I'm surprised I had never heard of it before.