In her article “Where do you want to go today? Cybernetic Tourism, the Internet and Transnationality”, author Lisa Nakamura brought up a number of interesting and provocative points. One which stuck in my mind and that we didn’t explicitly cover in class concerns her discussion of the post-Internet culture. Here are two interesting quotes:
“In this post-Internet culture of simulation in which we live, it is increasingly necessary for stable, iconic images of Nature and the Other to be evoked in the world of technology advertising” (19).
“In the post-Internet world of simulation, “real” things are fixed and preserved in images such as these in order to anchor the Western viewing subject’s sense of himself as a privileged and mobile viewer” (21).
Nakamura seems to overlook something that I find important to the credibility of her argument: the relationship between freedom and the post-Internet culture. According to Nakamura, the Internet is marketed as a utopian space, as a space where “freedom” is made possible simply by logging on. With her discussion on the post-Internet culture, Nakamura suggests that the “freedom” offered to us by the Internet, by the world of simulation, makes it so that we crave structure and stability more than ever. This thrust into the open, magical world of the Internet causes users to panic, which is why we moderns neatly categorize and commodify difference. Therefore, I pose the following question: How do we conceptualize freedom in a post-Internet world?
It seems to me that freedom exists for the privileged, Western Internet user who has the freedom to appropriate, construct and consume the Other. Freedom means envisioning how you want the world to look and deciding how you can structure it visually. But as we know, appearances aren’t everything. So does our control of images, of how we expect the Other to look really have an impact? Is this not a pseudo-freedom? Or does the Internet offer instead freedom of speech, of thought - just what kind of freedom is Nakamura talking about?
So I turn the question to you: How do we conceptualize freedom in a post-Internet world?
I find this quote very interesting. Particularly, I find her use of "post"-internet to be problematic. To me, such a phrase would suggest that we have moved beyond the internet, or that we are somehow past the internet culture that was originally created. I think that we are still right in the middle of internet culture and thus it is difficult to examine it critically, although it is important to try. I think as technology continues to evolve and become more affordable that freedom (through the internet) cannot just be seen as something that exists for the privileged Western user. When considering this question I am reminded of a news clip I recently saw on CBC. The piece was regarding the current political unrest in Northern Africa and the Middle East. During the news story the journalist talked to some refugees who were complaining that soldiers robbed them of their papers and took the SIM cards from their cell phones. The refugees were very upset about this, and they even showed the journalist their phones. To them, their phones, and the access they provided to the internet and other community networks were just as important to them as their passports and documentation. Why would they be so upset about loosing their SIM cards if their phones did not mean anything to them? To me this shows how much freedom can be associated with something like a SIM card. Perhaps I am simply always the optimist, but I like to see the good and believe that things can get better.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Amanda's comment that 'we may have moved beyond the interent'. Culturally I feel that we construct trends and that is one of the ways that we as Westerners are privileged. The trend within the last decade had been dominated by digitally mediated technologies ie. facebook, smart phones and also photoshop. Many of the digital technologies are derived from creative thinkers and the constant creative need to evolve. With the focus on techno-centric culture within the last 20 years, I can see a return to the power of hand- or at least a hybridization of hand drawings and digital creations. Fashion is an example of this, designs are beginning to be illustrated by hand at fashion shows, rather than photographed. These illustrations are holding more value because of the subtleties of the artists hand and the lack of precession found in digital renditions.
ReplyDeleteGreat points ladies! I certainly hadn't thought of the problem with referring to our society as one that is "post-Internet", I agree with your posts, great examples!
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