The Revolution Will Not Be Downloaded. Dissent in the Digital Age

Citation

Hanlon, S. (2009), "The Revolution Will Not Be Downloaded. Dissent in the Digital Age", Records Management Journal, Vol. 19 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/rmj.2009.28119aae.004

The Revolution Will Not Be Downloaded. Dissent in the Digital Age

The Revolution Will Not Be Downloaded. Dissent in the Digital Age

Article Type: Publications From: Records Management Journal, Volume 19, Issue 1

Tara Brabazon (Ed.),Chandos Publishing,2008,Chandos Internet Series

The editor of this book describes the Popular Culture Collective initiative, of which she is director, as a “global community of researchers, writers, film makers, musicians and media activists”. This is the Collective’s second publication.

The 18 essays tackle pressing and essential concerns relating to the “Digital Age” with fresh evidence, some of which is quite personalised, giving powerful immediacy to the issues raised.

As a reviewer with no links to the Popular Culture Collective, but who shares the sense of urgency with which we need to challenge, question and critically comment on and, as the editor says “seek out the defiant, the difficult and the dissenter”, it came as an interesting surprise to encounter the distinctly Western Australian flavour of several of the essays. The reviewer has, co-incidentally, also grown up in what has often been termed as Australia’s most isolated city, Perth. This geographical area itself creates an interesting space from which to research our relationship with the digital world.

This publication covers a wide range of current critical social, political and philosophical issues and controversies arising from developments in digital space. It is divided into four sections. The first, Scanning the Silences, examines social inequities surrounding literacy in and outside the digital world, barriers to digital access for our older population, pedagogic reductionism in online learning and international student preferences for traditional physical learning environments. The section concludes with a model and definition of cultware, its component parts and the publication’s commitment to highlighting the lack of access to such cultware.

The second section, Downloading Harmony, contains three well-informed essays on the changing power play, facilitated by digital technologies and those who know how to harness it, between music fans, artists and publishers/distributors. The essays echo the now widely held view that music publisher pricing structures need an overhaul, and the march towards disintermediation grows apace.

The third section, Uploading Identity, contains six essays, which explore the digital self from a range of angles. The superficiality of communities and the juxtaposition of culture and the Internet are explored in the disturbing commentary on “Japan’s internet suicide subculture”. The travel weblog essay demonstrates the danger of superficial information being heard more loudly than the deeper experience of the local population, as a direct result of differences in access to digital spaces. The online self is also examined in the context of blogging, dating, socialising in the online gay community, and shopping for clothes.

The final section, Packet Switching Resistance and terrorism contains reflections on how various subgroups can harness the digital world to have their voices heard, subvert governments and perpetuate individual and eventually mass fear at high speed. As stated in the section’s first essay: “If citizenship is to exist in and through digitisation, then it must include rights and responsibilities”. The writer mentions the importance of the skills of evaluation and interpretation of what is found on the internet. The internet can be harnessed in ways that facilitate consciousness-raising and activism for a world of greater equity. Serious dangers are highlighted, though. These include the fact that boundaries between our private and public selves become blurred, thus making the digital inhabitant vulnerable to inappropriate surveillance, and harmful agents.

While references are made to significant modern philosophers, there is an absence of referencing to information society commentators. Among others, the most relevant is Manuel Castells, who has been raising concerns about excluded communities resulting from internet developments since the mid-90s and continues to publish to date.

Footnotes and references are placed together which can be confusing.

The last chapter doesn’t acknowledge the extent to which these topics are now being debated in many concerned communities. For example, students are continually being urged to critically analyse and challenge ideas in exactly these areas, as more and more computing and information related courses require students to study modules about ethical, social and legal issues surrounding digitisation. Many students are now choosing to research the more controversial and difficult issues surrounding the digital environment, as part of their project and dissertation fulfilments – in similar ways to some of the writers in this book.

Perhaps what is really being asked of us in the final chapter is that we find more and more ways of ensuring that the dissenting voice is heard.

About the author

Susannah Hanlon is a Senior Lecturer in information, library and web management in the School of Computing, Engineering & Information Sciences. She taught business and information systems at a college of further education for 11 years before joining Northumbria University six years ago. Prior to teaching, Susannah also worked as an administrator and text editor for an IT research journal at University College Dublin. With a particular interest in data regulations and ethics her publications are mainly in the area of intellectual property.

Susannah HanlonSchool of Computing, Engineering and Information Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK