Colloquially known as the 'underboob selfie'
August 16, 2016 4:15 PM Subscribe
As Thailand is discovering, the smartphone — for all its indispensability as a tool of business and practicality — is also a bearer of values; it is not a culturally neutral device.
And if digital imperialism is happening — if smartphones and other gadgets are bearing cultural freight as they cross borders — there is little doubt as to which nation’s values are hiding in the hold.
Yeah, seems a little thin, especially since it's a year old. Too bad, too, as this issue is total catnip for me. I'll poke around for some of the other pieces that must have built up the bulk of the content in the morning.
posted by adamgreenfield at 5:33 PM on August 16, 2016
posted by adamgreenfield at 5:33 PM on August 16, 2016
So, this eBay listing appears to be for a copy of the the June 7, 2015 issue of the New York Times Magazine (The Tech and Design Issue), which TFA appears to be the cover story of.
I was also annoyed with the teasing nature of TFA so I did some sleuthing. I've reproduced the listing of features below, with links to what Google and Twitter lead me to believe are the actual associated articles (because the NY Times Magazine site doesn't seem to let you look up back issues).Many Bothans diedI hit my paywall limit to bring us this information.
“Driven Mad” - Uber - has faced threats and bans from regulators but usually comes out on top Has it Met its Match in Paris?
“Face-Off” - Swiss luxury-watch makers: How will they handle the SmartWatch?
"The Downloaders" - in the "digital Bamako" markets of Mali, vendors fill old 'phones with new songs - and jump-start a homegrown musical community [ed. note: Africa!]
"The App Gap" - South Korean companies are building software for smartphones that's chaotic, multifunctional and exciting - everything that American apps aren't
"Tower of Babble" - Google and other tech dreamers think machines can make language superfluous
"Cloud Atlas" - From mining to power to waste, how the real world makes and unmakes the virtual world
"The Agency" - in a nondescript office building in St. Petersburg, Russia, an army of well-paid "trolls" has tried to wreak havoc all around the internet - and in real-life American communities
posted by sparklemotion at 6:51 PM on August 16, 2016 [10 favorites]
I was also annoyed with the teasing nature of TFA so I did some sleuthing. I've reproduced the listing of features below, with links to what Google and Twitter lead me to believe are the actual associated articles (because the NY Times Magazine site doesn't seem to let you look up back issues).
“Driven Mad” - Uber - has faced threats and bans from regulators but usually comes out on top Has it Met its Match in Paris?
“Face-Off” - Swiss luxury-watch makers: How will they handle the SmartWatch?
"The Downloaders" - in the "digital Bamako" markets of Mali, vendors fill old 'phones with new songs - and jump-start a homegrown musical community [ed. note: Africa!]
"The App Gap" - South Korean companies are building software for smartphones that's chaotic, multifunctional and exciting - everything that American apps aren't
"Tower of Babble" - Google and other tech dreamers think machines can make language superfluous
"Cloud Atlas" - From mining to power to waste, how the real world makes and unmakes the virtual world
"The Agency" - in a nondescript office building in St. Petersburg, Russia, an army of well-paid "trolls" has tried to wreak havoc all around the internet - and in real-life American communities
posted by sparklemotion at 6:51 PM on August 16, 2016 [10 favorites]
If you're interested in Malian phone music, I highly recommend the Sahel Sounds blog, which IIRC is run by a mefite.
posted by Itaxpica at 7:30 PM on August 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Itaxpica at 7:30 PM on August 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
ty sparklemotion for making my FPP better good!
posted by Sebmojo at 8:00 PM on August 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Sebmojo at 8:00 PM on August 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
This is the so catnip to me...
For individual users, everything about the smartphone nudges them by design to reveal more, to express and connect more. But all the resulting revelations then get rolled up as data that can be offered to governments and corporations — which feel practically compelled, once they know they can obtain it, to parse it all for usable intelligence.
I recall "things" this way:
In the beginning, Private info made public is dangerous! a/s/l becomes shorthand for hooking up & the first data point to be coerced is your ZIP code (product distribution databases). Next Friendster (Stalkster) & MySpace, where younger users use its "walls" like ICQ, deferring email to the olds while Blogs and LiveJournal begin the performative/expository character of the web.
Google buys YouTube & FaceBook kills Reunion.com overnight, soliciting submission of email passwords for maximum utility and the age of If the Service is Free, You're the Product begins (though Gmail did come first).
But stop there...Gmail's relational databases were anonymous (it's claimed) while FaceBook and Google would eventually wrestle with "real name" identities. And here, as well, the concepts of privacy and data become not only complicated, but complex. I cite the paranoia surrounding loyalty cards at grocery stores as instructive. The paranoia surrounding them didn't die away until people experienced they could have any number of "cards"(a data set for inventory)...cashiers would loan you theirs, or a stranger in line. Or filling out information for a new one became painless and quick.
One measure of perceived Imperialism can be the enterprise of these companies being censored by other sizable nations and economies.
I'll go you one further: Google, FaceBook, and Twitter are blocked not because they're vital platforms of speech or advocacy-- they are blocked because they're immense and relational databases eagerly selling and surrendering information about their users to corporate and government interests via EULA "agreements" by terms largely dismissed as inscrutable or clandestine court orders. China's leaders would have been treasonous to facilitate the databases western corporations and governments wish to acquire about Chinese users. Or, more importantly, what commerce it captures.
But I've gone too far...China also censored blogs (WordPress), so the concerns aren't mutually exclusive.
posted by lazycomputerkids at 10:11 PM on August 16, 2016 [4 favorites]
For individual users, everything about the smartphone nudges them by design to reveal more, to express and connect more. But all the resulting revelations then get rolled up as data that can be offered to governments and corporations — which feel practically compelled, once they know they can obtain it, to parse it all for usable intelligence.
I recall "things" this way:
In the beginning, Private info made public is dangerous! a/s/l becomes shorthand for hooking up & the first data point to be coerced is your ZIP code (product distribution databases). Next Friendster (Stalkster) & MySpace, where younger users use its "walls" like ICQ, deferring email to the olds while Blogs and LiveJournal begin the performative/expository character of the web.
Google buys YouTube & FaceBook kills Reunion.com overnight, soliciting submission of email passwords for maximum utility and the age of If the Service is Free, You're the Product begins (though Gmail did come first).
But stop there...Gmail's relational databases were anonymous (it's claimed) while FaceBook and Google would eventually wrestle with "real name" identities. And here, as well, the concepts of privacy and data become not only complicated, but complex. I cite the paranoia surrounding loyalty cards at grocery stores as instructive. The paranoia surrounding them didn't die away until people experienced they could have any number of "cards"(a data set for inventory)...cashiers would loan you theirs, or a stranger in line. Or filling out information for a new one became painless and quick.
One measure of perceived Imperialism can be the enterprise of these companies being censored by other sizable nations and economies.
I'll go you one further: Google, FaceBook, and Twitter are blocked not because they're vital platforms of speech or advocacy-- they are blocked because they're immense and relational databases eagerly selling and surrendering information about their users to corporate and government interests via EULA "agreements" by terms largely dismissed as inscrutable or clandestine court orders. China's leaders would have been treasonous to facilitate the databases western corporations and governments wish to acquire about Chinese users. Or, more importantly, what commerce it captures.
But I've gone too far...China also censored blogs (WordPress), so the concerns aren't mutually exclusive.
posted by lazycomputerkids at 10:11 PM on August 16, 2016 [4 favorites]
I take issue with the idea that Silicon Valley's products embody American values:
posted by reventlov at 10:55 PM on August 16, 2016 [5 favorites]
It continues through the design of the apps we use, which have been calibrated to make our uploading seamless, to make our posts default to public, to make the less private choice always and everywhere more attractive to us in a cycle of escalating self-revelation.These are tech company business strategies, and many of them rub Americans the wrong way, too.
posted by reventlov at 10:55 PM on August 16, 2016 [5 favorites]
But I've gone too far...China also censored blogs (WordPress), so the concerns aren't mutually exclusive.
and a long-running history magazine
(BBC) "China gets tough on media freedom" isn't much of a shock headline these days.
But events at Yanhuang Chunqiu - a distinguished, if somewhat dry, history magazine - are evidence of a watershed moment, its former staff believe.
"I've not seen this kind of thing since the Cultural Revolution," the recently dismissed - some might say purged - founder and director Du Daozheng tells me.
In July, the magazine's offices were taken over by strangers, who changed the computer passwords, began to open the mail as if it was their own and took over the running of the magazine.
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:31 PM on August 16, 2016
and a long-running history magazine
(BBC) "China gets tough on media freedom" isn't much of a shock headline these days.
But events at Yanhuang Chunqiu - a distinguished, if somewhat dry, history magazine - are evidence of a watershed moment, its former staff believe.
"I've not seen this kind of thing since the Cultural Revolution," the recently dismissed - some might say purged - founder and director Du Daozheng tells me.
In July, the magazine's offices were taken over by strangers, who changed the computer passwords, began to open the mail as if it was their own and took over the running of the magazine.
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:31 PM on August 16, 2016
sparklemotion deserves some kind of an award, thank you kind mefite!
I'll come back after coffee to rant and rave further after RTFAs
posted by infini at 1:34 AM on August 17, 2016
I'll come back after coffee to rant and rave further after RTFAs
posted by infini at 1:34 AM on August 17, 2016
Just speaking of Thailand and sharing directly, I regularly spend about 20-30 min daily hovering over video feeds on the world map on Facebook Live and, for some reason, there are almost always more live cameras in the public feeds from Thailand than nearly anywhere else. In addition, I've almost always been able to find someone broadcasting something that's in some nexus of goofy/interesting/OMG coming out of Thailand. I've seen a cock fight, backstage at a makeup table at a Pattaya trans performer show, an attractive but clothed woman dancing seductively in a shower tied to a page that didn't appear to be selling porn or webcams that had a name Google Translate converted as "McDougall's Cough," what appeared to be a pop star in giant heels at a mall for a public appearance who dragged a much smaller man up on stage and looked to be ridiculing him publicly and so much more.
I find the whole Facebook Live thing fascinating in spots, but nowhere are they punching above their weight from a fascinating perspective more than they are in Thailand, I assure you.
posted by GamblingBlues at 5:44 AM on August 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
I find the whole Facebook Live thing fascinating in spots, but nowhere are they punching above their weight from a fascinating perspective more than they are in Thailand, I assure you.
posted by GamblingBlues at 5:44 AM on August 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'm a bit dubious about the idea that telecommunication in general is cultural imperialism. You could make the argument that various particular apps are, or even that the way Americans use their phones represents an exportable bit of cultural imperialism, but one constant through all cultures is gossip and a desire to talk to one another. I don't think the argument that phones qua phones is cultural imperialism works well.
For that matter, exhibitionism and randy teenagers shocking the elders isn't exactly a uniquely Western thing either. During the Edo Period in Japan porn sharing via woodblock engravings was culturally normative, and lovers exchanged erotic poetry, the West was at that time fully excluded from Japan. People, no matter their culture of origin, like to do sexual things.
lazycomputerkids China's leaders would have been treasonous to facilitate the databases western corporations and governments wish to acquire about Chinese users. Or, more importantly, what commerce it captures.
I'm also a bit dubious about that. It isn't as if the interests of, say, France and the USA, or the UK and the USA, align, in fact given shared language and a lot of trade you could argue that the UK is more vulnerable to US datamining via social networks benefiting US corporations at the expense of UK corporations.
The idea that it was necessary for China's commercial and/or informational security to block Google, Facebook, etc doesn't seem to fit with the fact that plenty of other non-American nations don't block it and are doing ok from a commercial and/or informational security standpoint.
posted by sotonohito at 6:44 AM on August 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
For that matter, exhibitionism and randy teenagers shocking the elders isn't exactly a uniquely Western thing either. During the Edo Period in Japan porn sharing via woodblock engravings was culturally normative, and lovers exchanged erotic poetry, the West was at that time fully excluded from Japan. People, no matter their culture of origin, like to do sexual things.
lazycomputerkids China's leaders would have been treasonous to facilitate the databases western corporations and governments wish to acquire about Chinese users. Or, more importantly, what commerce it captures.
I'm also a bit dubious about that. It isn't as if the interests of, say, France and the USA, or the UK and the USA, align, in fact given shared language and a lot of trade you could argue that the UK is more vulnerable to US datamining via social networks benefiting US corporations at the expense of UK corporations.
The idea that it was necessary for China's commercial and/or informational security to block Google, Facebook, etc doesn't seem to fit with the fact that plenty of other non-American nations don't block it and are doing ok from a commercial and/or informational security standpoint.
posted by sotonohito at 6:44 AM on August 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
...you could argue that the UK is more vulnerable to US datamining via social networks benefiting US corporations at the expense of UK corporations.
I would argue transnational corporations aren't neatly defined by nation states. It's more regional and reflected in currencies. Specifically, Google's Analytics (circa 2007 that replaced web counters) monetized the web to replace television advertising and its offices were embraced throughout Europe.
So India and China (2.6 Billion) consumers...China moved to protect and develop its economy by the same "engines" e.g., Baidu (web search) and TaoBao (online shopping) and maintains relational databases to implement a "social credit system/score" in a few years.
I admit it's complex. Alibaba, that owns TaoBao, went public with western banks. WalMart's rise has been halted by TaoBao/Amazon models. Africa's resources are the focus from Lake Victoria to Equatorial Guinea for two centuries and more.
posted by lazycomputerkids at 7:11 AM on August 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
I would argue transnational corporations aren't neatly defined by nation states. It's more regional and reflected in currencies. Specifically, Google's Analytics (circa 2007 that replaced web counters) monetized the web to replace television advertising and its offices were embraced throughout Europe.
So India and China (2.6 Billion) consumers...China moved to protect and develop its economy by the same "engines" e.g., Baidu (web search) and TaoBao (online shopping) and maintains relational databases to implement a "social credit system/score" in a few years.
I admit it's complex. Alibaba, that owns TaoBao, went public with western banks. WalMart's rise has been halted by TaoBao/Amazon models. Africa's resources are the focus from Lake Victoria to Equatorial Guinea for two centuries and more.
posted by lazycomputerkids at 7:11 AM on August 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
I admit it's complex. Alibaba, that owns TaoBao, went public with western banks. WalMart's rise has been halted by TaoBao/Amazon models. Africa's resources are the focus from Lake Victoria to Equatorial Guinea for two centuries and more.
An interesting development in this realm is the launch of an e-commerce platform in Togo, offering direct trade in China made goods at "fair" and/or "factory" prices, without an intermediary and in many cases, shipping. They have both a warehouse locally, as well as offer to bring in larger things that might not be in stock, such as agricultural machinery (as opposed to a mobile phone for instance).
Unlike Amazon, Rural TaoBao has experience in using human agent networks to reach the last mile of e-commerce in the hinterlands of China. One expects something of the sort to emerge soon, given that Togo only has ~ 8% of its population accessing the internet out of a total population of some 8 million. Otoh, Togo is well placed regionally to be a trade hub, as mentioned in the article, and they're already seeing sales from various other neighbouring countries.
Its too early for consumer data of course but the implications of this are fascinating to contemplate. A similar warehouse/logistics/trade hub has just been initiated in Tanzania, on the other side of the African continent. I'm waiting to see if such a platform might be launched there as well. It will disrupt the local informal trade's global value web but Guangzhou is already seeing a decline in African presence due to various market forces.
All this, mind you, while FaceBook and Google potter around with balloons, drones, and various other means to blanket the underserved continent with free and/or affordable wifi and/or internet.
posted by infini at 7:33 AM on August 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
An interesting development in this realm is the launch of an e-commerce platform in Togo, offering direct trade in China made goods at "fair" and/or "factory" prices, without an intermediary and in many cases, shipping. They have both a warehouse locally, as well as offer to bring in larger things that might not be in stock, such as agricultural machinery (as opposed to a mobile phone for instance).
Unlike Amazon, Rural TaoBao has experience in using human agent networks to reach the last mile of e-commerce in the hinterlands of China. One expects something of the sort to emerge soon, given that Togo only has ~ 8% of its population accessing the internet out of a total population of some 8 million. Otoh, Togo is well placed regionally to be a trade hub, as mentioned in the article, and they're already seeing sales from various other neighbouring countries.
Its too early for consumer data of course but the implications of this are fascinating to contemplate. A similar warehouse/logistics/trade hub has just been initiated in Tanzania, on the other side of the African continent. I'm waiting to see if such a platform might be launched there as well. It will disrupt the local informal trade's global value web but Guangzhou is already seeing a decline in African presence due to various market forces.
All this, mind you, while FaceBook and Google potter around with balloons, drones, and various other means to blanket the underserved continent with free and/or affordable wifi and/or internet.
posted by infini at 7:33 AM on August 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
A simplification, but low-margin consumables sold to hundreds of millions moves more money than high-margin durables to thousands. The distinction is not zero-sum, but the momentum of quarterly ROIs...markets supplanting social services at every turn.
To return to topic: I posted to challenge the narrative that US companies are banned where freedom is curtailed to present a case that economics has as much to do with how leaders of a large fraction of the people on Earth view western technology-- invasive and appropriating-- imperial-- and seek to own its capital/benefits.
I work in China and related its status quo and the freedom narrative is both true and conveniently false. I stopped using the word "free" or "oppressive" to describe my experiences abroad and prefer what sort of scrutiny is culturally and politically systemic.
posted by lazycomputerkids at 8:11 AM on August 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
To return to topic: I posted to challenge the narrative that US companies are banned where freedom is curtailed to present a case that economics has as much to do with how leaders of a large fraction of the people on Earth view western technology-- invasive and appropriating-- imperial-- and seek to own its capital/benefits.
I work in China and related its status quo and the freedom narrative is both true and conveniently false. I stopped using the word "free" or "oppressive" to describe my experiences abroad and prefer what sort of scrutiny is culturally and politically systemic.
posted by lazycomputerkids at 8:11 AM on August 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
What Is A Road ? Kenyans On Twitter Are Mapping Out Potholes
posted by infini at 11:19 AM on August 17, 2016
posted by infini at 11:19 AM on August 17, 2016
Facebook believes its service is best used by real individuals using their real names, and goes to great lengths to remove accounts it believes to be fictional. But when Facebook comes to a country like Myanmar, where it is seen as a news service, not a social networking service, phone shops specializing in setting up accounts using fake names and phone numbers render Facebook’s preferences null and void.
Smart technologists and designers have learned that their preferences are seldom their users’ preferences, and companies like Intel now employ brilliant ethnographers to discover how tools are used by actual users in their homes and offices. Understanding the wants and needs of users is important when you’re designing technologies for people much like yourself, but it’s utterly critical when designing for people with different backgrounds, experiences, wants, and needs.
The Perils of Using Technology to Solve Other People's Problems
posted by infini at 11:45 AM on August 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
Smart technologists and designers have learned that their preferences are seldom their users’ preferences, and companies like Intel now employ brilliant ethnographers to discover how tools are used by actual users in their homes and offices. Understanding the wants and needs of users is important when you’re designing technologies for people much like yourself, but it’s utterly critical when designing for people with different backgrounds, experiences, wants, and needs.
The Perils of Using Technology to Solve Other People's Problems
posted by infini at 11:45 AM on August 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
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In this Tech and Design issue, we try to see American technology as it looks from elsewhere. In some locales, we focus on industries that are mourning or battling (or both) the arrival of high-tech competition from afar. In others, we linger on homegrown technological creations that face the prospect of displacement as the American juggernaut rolls on. We chart the unexamined footprint of technology on landscapes and languages, on fashion and friendships, far from the California office parks in which so many of these tools are devised and honed.
I'm assuming there's more around somewhere? I don't see any links. I'd like to see if they managed to notice Africa. Otoh, imperialism is in the eye of the beholder
posted by infini at 5:18 PM on August 16, 2016 [2 favorites]