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Apophenia
This novel is the first by Gibson to be set in the present, and its themes revolve around apophenia - a term for seeking patterns and meanings in the seemingly patternless cascade of experience and data: pattern recognition.
Gibson approaches this theme in a number of ways - the paranoia of building conspiracy theories around external events, espionage, surveillance, and the mysterious collection of 'footage' which is released to considerable discussion on web discussion boards. The cyberspace leitmotif for which he is credited in Neuromancer is still present here.
He uses a number of interesting ideas relevant to media theory: the protagonist, Cayce, is allergic to brands and logos, and strives in her wardrobe and living space to be 'semiotically neutral' (though any media theoretician knows that the absence of consumer branding is a semiotically charged sign in itself). There is a particularly enjoyable parodying of the trendy 'Theory' type discourse popular among media theorists, who must refer to 'hegemony' to ensure their credentials.
Interesting, then, for its exploration of viral marketing, brands, the authorship process, and the way we all try to make sense of the textual world around us.
What are the humanities for?
The first section of Bérubé's book deals with the fallout from the Sokal affair that has continued to settle over the 'arts vs sciences' debate in the last 10 years.
Bérubé's argument is that, even while humanities departments in the US shrivel, and the natural sciences dominate the research and funding agenda, and even though 'Theory' - loosely refering to continental and post-structural philosophy of the last 40 or so years - is condemned from all sides, nevertheless, it is vital that thinkers within the 'interpretive disciplines' continue to investigate meaning, whether existential or political, and as a separate entity than can be analysed empirically and positivistically. This is unlikely to please anyone in favour of the scientific method as the only method.
Bérubé's style is very accessible and engaging, and while he has much sympathy with the intellectual and political take that 'Theory' puts forward, his writing doesn't emulate the worst excesses of its other proponents.
Which is to say that he actually makes sense.
Tags: academia arts humanities sokal theory
Identity performance and society
Seminal text which analyses in depth the way in which social expectations mold our behaviour. Goffman, however, doesn't argue that we are merely 'socialised'.
We have 'front' and 'back' personae: the 'back' persona is often suppressed in social situations, in which we feel peer pressure and feel the need to conform and present 'normal' behaviour to others. In such situations we present our 'front' persona - the image of ourselves we wish to project. The 'back' persona may be revealed gradually to others whom we trust.
Of course, when you've read this book, you'll descend into a spiral of abrasive self-psychoanalysis in which you attempt to deconstruct whether the way you behave is front, back or just paranoid.
The reflexive project of the self
Identity is not fixed and stable. We perform identities. We perform in response to situations, expectations, motives and desires. Modernity is a complex situation, in which expectations are unpredictable, motives are ever-changing and desires are often sublimated.
Somewhere in between being 'socialised' by the external world, and being in control of our destinies, we are constantly negotiating who we are with ourselves and everyone around us. Sometimes it's a nightmare. Other times it's cool.
Me = windows
Ancient text, equivalent to the bible in terms of identity politics and the internet. Just as a computer user has multiple windows on a screen, so we have multiple identities, corresponding to the different activities we undertake, and personae we enact. We are like an operating system, but with bodies. Okay, I disparage a little.
Who am I
Gauntlett presents a useful analysis of the Adorno vs Fiske debate: Adorno, a marxist of the Frankfurt school, argued that mass media construct our identities for us. John Fiske argued that we appropriate and use media artefacts in order to construct our own identities. Gauntlett is in the tradition of Anthony Giddens, who argues that our identities are reflexively constructed, rather than stable and fixed (whether constructed externally or not).
Gauntlett is also withering with regard to the media-effects debate. Basically, media-effects arguments are rubbish.
Sociology doesn't like truth
And the reason sociology doesn't like truth is because no-one really knows what it is. This book traces notions of truth from Hegel to Derrida - a gradual undermining of our confidence in our ability to say things that are true with any claim to authority. Indeed, the point really is 'authority' - who has it, and why?
So in a postmodern culture in which image trumps substance, and in which truth is just a construct, maybe at least knowing the history of truth will help?
I think that's true.
Tags: media-participation post-structuralism postmodernism truth
Journalism speaks power to truth
Although this book pays woefully inadequate lip-service to the impact of the web on journalism, notwithstanding being published as late as 2004, it nevertheless charts the history of journalism in the UK in a powerful and detailed way.
For the story of the rise of journalism from the 'smart mob' of a bunch of pamphleteers, this book is compulsory. For prognosis, it is pants.
Postmodernism is dangerous
In Wheens book, Mumbo Jumbo = postmodernism. In a participatory culture where knowledge is socially constructed a la wikipedia, where the hive-mind rules as in Digg, it is salutary to pause and consider why there are things such as truth and falsity.
Wheen's problem is with the postmodern idea that if knowledge is constructed then the idea of truth is constructed. Postmodernists can come along and say that, for example, the holocaust is not an event, it is a discourse - a story with a function.
In many ways they are right. The word holocaust conjures more in our mind than a historical event, and it is worth wondering what the function of a discourse 'about a holocaust' might be.
BUT THEY ARE ALSO WRONG. It conjures in our mind more than a historical event, because it IS more than a historical event, and sometimes the function of a discourse is not merely to be a discourse.
The audience as journalist
Dan Gillmor's book is the first I know of that really celebrates the participatory power of the internet to change the face of journalism forever. In 2004 it might have seemed far-fetched, but in 2007 it makes me laugh hollowly every time I see sales figures for the newspapers. Freefall, ha ha ha.
Why is it that if you look at one of those BBC reporters' blogs, like that of Nick Robinson, that next to every comment added by a visitor, there's a big button allowing you to 'complain about this comment'? What about a button that says 'this comment is great!'? 'This comment rocks!'? 'This comment is in your base, killing your doodz!'? But no, according to the BBC, all we're likely to do with visitor comments on a blog is complain. Git-wizards.