network society, the dark web and alternative snss

The dark web and alternative SNSsDr Zoetanya Sujon | Regent’s University London

sujonz@regents.ac.uk

Reading

Alternative SNSsReading: Gehl, Robert. W. 2015. 'The Case for Alternative Social Media', Social Media and Society. July-December, pp. 1-12, URL: http://sms.sagepub.com/content/1/2/2056305115604338.full.pdf+html  

Overview

• Network society

• Filter bubbles

• The dark web

• Alternative SNSs

Network Society

o Similar to the factory in the industrial age, “the internet is the technological basis for the organizational form of the Information age: the network. A network is a set of interconnected nodes…” (Castells 2001: 1)

Network societyo Social structure based on networks:

Economy based on “globalization of capital, production and trade”

“Individual freedom and open communication” become central social values

“Extraordinary advances in computing and telecommunications”

o Shift from an economy based on production of goods to knowledge/service/intangible goods

http://allthingsgraphed.com/2014/08/28/facebook-friends-network/

WHO OWNS OUR NETWORKS?

http://internet-map.net/

So what?

Emergence of “webs of one” (Eli Pariser, The Filter Bubble, 2012)

Corporate social mediao Early years

Web 2.0 = democratic ethos Participatory culture embodied Produser and multi-directional flow of information

o Google, Facebook, Twitter Enclosed domains Ownership of code, profit from user generated content Multinational and global corporations (centralization

and concentration)

o Opposing principles

What Facebook Knows about you?

1. What Facebook Knows about You: https://www.propublica.org/article/breaking-the-black-box-what-facebook-knows-about-you

2. Looking at your ad preferences: https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences

3. Further instructions: Business Insider

ALTERNATIVE MEDIA AND SNS

Gehl, Robert. W. 2015. 'The Case for Alternative Social Media', Social Media and Society. July-December, pp. 1-12, URL: http://sms.sagepub.com/content/1/2/2056305115604338.full.pdf+html

What are alternative media?o An alternative to corporate social media

(e.g. Facebook, Google, Twitter etc.) Concentration of media ownership Control of content and information

o Often anti-commercial / non-profit / citizen or public oriented

o “Radical” democracy

What are alternative media?o Media “that challenges, at least

implicitly, actual concentration of media power, whatever form those concentrations may take” (Couldry and Curran as cited by Gehl 2015: 2).

o Media that offer “decentralized, democratic methods of media production” organizationally and in terms of content (Gehl 2015: 2).

Deep webo Tor: https://www.torproject.org/

Provides user anonymity but not content privacy

Encryption services separate

Cloud computing – protecting location of data, within limits

Social media tasko Review an alternative SNS to Facebook.

Join, explore, reflect and observe. Some alternative SNSs include:

Ello: https://ello.co/manifesto Diaspora: https://diasporafoundation.org/ Minds: https://www.minds.com/

o What is alternative about them?

Diaspora: The online social world where you are in control

Social and economic systemso Technical and organizational

o Capitalism Proprietary software Private companies For profit motivations

o Open source

Summing up….o Network society

o Filter bubbles

o Alternative media and SNSs

o Power

Referenceso Morozov, Evgeny. 2011. ‘Chapter 6: Why the KGB Want You to Join Facebook’, The

Net Delusion. Penguin, pp. 143-178o Anderson, Beth; Fagan, Patrick; Woodnutt; Chamorro-Premuzic. 2012. ‘Facebook

Psychology: Popular Questions Answered by Research’, Psychology of Popular Media Culture. Volume 1, Number 1, pp. 23-37

o Ellison, Nicole B.; Steinfield, Charles; Cliff Lampe. 2011. ‘Connection Strategies: Social Capital Implications of Facebook-enabled communication practices’, New Media and Society. Volume 13, No. 6, pp. 873-892. URL: http://nms.sagepub.com/content/13/6/873.short

o Fuchs, Christian. 2014. ‘Chapter 6-10’, Social Media: A Critical Introduction. Sage, pp. 126-250

o Kirkpatrick, David. 2010. The Facebook Effect: The Real Inside Story of Mark Zuckerberg and the World's Fastest Growing Company: The Inside Story of the Company That is Connecting the World. Virgin Books

o Lovink, Geert. 2011. ‘Facebook, Anonymity and the Crisis of the Mutliple Self’, Networks Without a Cause. Polity, pp. 38-49 

o Shuen, Amy. 2008. ‘Chapter 3: People Build Connections’, Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide. O’Reilly, pp. 69-106 

o Ugander, Johan; Karrer, Brian; Backstrom, Lars; Marlow; Cameron. 2011. ‘The Anatomy of the Facebook Social Graph’, arXiv:1111.4503 [cs.SI]. URL:http://arxiv.org/abs/1111.4503

o Van, Dijck, José. 2013. A Critical History of Social Media. Oxford University Press