Mengxiao Zhu's Seminar Blog

Today's Question: In several of the books we've read so far, we have found the hope or fear that new communication technologies challenge national borders or that they create new conditions for international unity (e.g., they will "bring the whole world together" or make place irrelevant). The Price book is an extended analysis of this one idea. Throughout the book Price compares and contrasts the consequences of specific technologies (satellite radio, AM radio, shortwave radio, the Internet, television, newspapers, books, etc.) for transnational migration, identity formation, international relations, and domestic politics. There are several examples in each chapter from specific places. Speaking generally, where is the agency (meaning: the means of action) in Price's accounts? In other words, is there an account of causation here, and if so, what is it? What leads to the consequences identified here, and what would we need to change to obtain different consequences?

Price’s book, Media and Sovereignty, provides us with a thorough analysis of national responses to media globalization. All nations, no matter what political forms they adopt, all involved in this revolution process. Through examples from different countries and areas Price argues that the process of remodeling global communication systems, negotiation of information boundaries, and reinforcement of national identities are influenced and controlled by many parties, including governments, religions, corporations, human right organizations and individuals. Among all these forces, according to Price’s description and argument, nations take the major power of controlling the new technologies and influencing the media by means of laws and regulations. Consequently, the governments can control the information and influence the public opinion both inside the country boundary and outside. On the other hand, the impact and influential power of nations vary depending on the different context. The reformation process is the results of interaction, negotiation and conflict of international forces. The policies adopted may be very different for different forms of nations, such as democratic, authoritarian and totalitarian, which results in different foreign policies and media systems. According to Price, nations are also influenced by other factors when response to the globalization trend, such as national security concerns, sensitivity to international speech norms, isolation versus vulnerability to power realignments, etc. The influence of technology is only one of them. For me, this book didn’t put the emphasis on discussing the deterministic power of technologies, but on reactions and policy shifts of nations facing information globalization in different conditions.

Posted by mzhu4 at 11:51 PM | Permalink

Today's Question: What would Innis make of the Internet? Write a brief analytical comment about the relation of the Internet to society that you can defend as consistent with Innis's ideas in some way. For example, you might employ one of his concepts (information monopoly, time-biased, space-biased) or borrow one of his analyses from an earlier technology (cuneiform's effects on the invention of abstraction in math) and apply it to the Internet.

My Response:
When thinking of Innis and Internet together, the first question hit my mind is how Innis would label Internet. That is, is Internet time-biased or space-biased? It seems that Internet belongs to neither category, but the Internet has the advantages of both at the same time. For service providers, the operation of the Internet requires heavy media and devices, such as cables, computers, routers and etc. All of them are not very portable to provide stable services. The Internet for the users, however, is independent of specific devices. Individual users can always access the Internet no matter where they are and what receivers they are using, which could be laptops, desktops, or even PDAs and cell phones. So, the Internet is both portable and unportable. On the other hand, while the information on the Internet is constantly changing, it is usually convenient to find archived information with the help of search engines. So, it could be said that the Internet is both changing and stable. Innis may conclude that the Internet breaks the limitation of time and space and thus doesn’t fit into the “time-biased and space-biased” classification.
Actually, the Internet integrated almost all communication methods and media adopted by human beings. On the Internet, people can exchange information using oral method with the help of audio or video communication tools. Written characters and texts are also widely used on the Internet in all kinds of websites. Radio and TV services are provided online as well.
Another important characteristic of the Internet is that individuals are no longer silent information receivers. They can easily become information providers. Consequently, this new technology has the potential of breaking the information and knowledge monopoly, and can eventually change the social relations and the society structures.

Posted by mzhu4 at 06:32 PM | Permalink

Today's Question: The Bias of Communication is known as a "classic" in the study of communication technology, but it is also described as "difficult," "nonlineal," "puzzling," and "a struggle" -- probably chiefly because the book does not build to a sustained or coherent argument. Choose one of the three essays assigned for today and read them in the manner suggested by the introduction -- as an "idea file." Identify some important concept, theory, or insight in the essay you chose and describe its importance. Please describe the idea critically as appropriate -- list drawbacks as well as praise. It may be helpful to reference earlier class readings as a point of comparison to show what is different about Innis' ideas or his disciplinary approach (economic history).

My Response:
In his second essay, “The Bias of Communication” Innis stated his unique observation of communication medium. Innis suggested that to study communication medium’s “important influence on the dissemination of knowledge over space and over time” in “its cultural setting”, it is “necessary to study its characteristics”. Two characteristics of communication medium were identified, time bias and space bias. The former is heavy and durable medium, such as clay and stone. This kind of medium is not suitable for transportation but has the characteristic of time bias. In contrast, the latter is light and easily transported, such as papyrus and paper. Its characteristic makes this kind of medium transportable but not long lasting, i.e. space bias.
According to Innis, the history of human civilization is the evolution of communication medium. The progress of human society and dissemination of knowledge is closely related to the medium adopted. The communication medium can reflect the cultural characteristics of the civilization. As general trend, the communication media adopted by people are from heavy to light, and from time bias ones to space bias.
Innis pointed out that time bias medium is religionary, commercial and monopolistic. Time bias medium emphasizes the authority, hierarchy and inviolability. It is difficult to utilize time bias medium to control a very large area. Power can be only confined in a relatively small area when using clay and/or stone as the communication medium. The dissemination of knowledge through space is also difficult. On the other hand, space bias medium is political, democratic and for the masses. This kind of medium can help the emperors to expand their territory and assist dissemination of science and knowledge. As a result, people can easily access knowledge and development the ability of “thinking”. With the rise of printing medium, the monopoly of papacy and church was broken. In Innis’s eye, the human history is the history of communication medium development and competition. The secret of a long lasting authority is balancing of time bias and space bias medium.
Unlike other readings from this course, Innis's essay is looking at "macro-history". Instead of focusing on any specific communication medium, Innis studied and generalized the trend of medium evolution and its impact on human society development. This method is very interesting and unique. But, Innis’s opinion is obviously technology determinism, which is criticized explicitly or implicitly in our previous readings. Communication medium is considered to be almost the only driven power of human society development. Human and/or society passively accept any available communication medium and can only follow the trend of technology development. Innis also seems to be very pessimistic about the medium evolving processes. In Innis’s description, existing authority usually neglects or even confines the power of advanced medium and thus turned out to be replaced by others. The continuity of knowledge and eternity are thus hurt in this process.

Posted by mzhu4 at 08:56 PM | Permalink

Today's Question: For this answer, try to highlight a conclusion that Miller & Slater make that differs from what we know about an older technology. That is, Miller & Slater cover themes that are very familiar from our earlier readings -- such as businesspeople and consumers trying to come to terms with a new communication technology -- but they occasionally come to strikingly different conclusions. Consider Chapter 6, "Doing Business Online," which chronicles several instances where Trinis try to employ new communication technologies (Web site design businesses, textiles catalogs, Miss Universe, etc.). Compare one of these instances and any conclusions that Miller & Slater draw from this material (e.g., about decommodification, virtual vs. real, the dynamics from ch. 1) to an analogous instance with an older technology covered by another author in this course (Douglas, Marvin, Fischer, Williams). How do you explain this difference in conclusions? e.g., Is the difference the result of technology (the Internet?), the method, the theoretical approach, assumptions, Trini culture, etc.?

I would like to choose to comment on the conclusion about virtual vs. real on the online business in Trinidad. From the descriptions in the book, we found that the applications of “ecommerce” and advertising on Internet was not well supported by the advertising agencies and not understood by the business holders. The value of Internet was very “dubious” and the web designers in Trinidad encountered the paradoxical situation. It seems that in the development of Internet in Trinidad the virtual support or tools were not well combined and utilized in reality. It was a different case for the development of telephone for example. In Fischer’s book, we read that with the development of telephone technology, the business people were willing to pay to include telephone into their daily business. People seemed to have no trouble to combine the virtual world created by using telephone with reality. But for Internet, its value was either neglected or exaggerated. For me, there are three reasons for the differences. Firstly, different technologies were considered. Internet is a more complex technology with the combination of many different media and channels, which can not be easily manipulated and utilized very quickly. Secondly, if we look back now, we will say that the analysis and description in the book was based on early history of Internet. It may be very different now. The Fischer book, again as an example, was written after the technology became mature. It is possible that when writing about a technology with longer history some details and early frustrations would be omitted. Thirdly, the description in the Miller & Slater book is only about Trinidad. So, the conclusions may not be generalized to the development of the technology Internet to some other areas.

Posted by mzhu4 at 07:30 PM | Permalink

Today's Question:
Miller & Slater have elaborated four cross-cutting, non-exhaustive "dimensions" or "dynamics" that mark the Trinidadian Internet, and perhaps the Internet everywhere. Choose one of the four dynamics introduced in chapter 1 (Objectification, Mediation, Normative Freedom, Positioning) or a sub-concept within one of the dynamics (expansive realization, expansive potential). Analyze how the dynamic manifests in the ethnographic material presented in chapter 3 (Relationships) or chapter 4 (Being Trini). You might consider: What does the dynamic mean? How is the dynamic analytically useful? How is it applied? How is its use related to the method employed here, or the assumptions?

My Response:
I have to say I was one of the people who were ignorant about Trinidad as a country. When I first read this word in this book as well as when I heard it mentioned in class, I had thought it was some kind of rhetorical place and not a real place… :-(
In the first chapter of the book, authors gave the conclusion of the whole book, which is good and helps me to better understand what they planned to do and what they got. In this short comment, I would like to focus on Objectification, one of the four dynamics they introduced in Chapter 1. As explained in Page 9, “dynamics” direct us to “look for both the driving forces as well as the emergent patterns of change”. And the problem of “Dynamics of objectification” was defined in the book as “how do people engage with the Internet as an instance of material culture through which they are caught up in processes of identification”. So, Objectification is actually the Trinidadian’s self-identification process during using of Internet. This identification can be either realization of what they really are (expansive realization) or what they could be (expansive potential).
In Chapter 3 dynamics of objectification were used to understand the Internet’s impact on Trinidadian’s everyday life. One of the examples was the kinships in families. As Trinidad is a country with vast amount of international or distant relationships, many families in Trinidad have relatives who live abroad or far away. Emails, e-cards and other Internet-based communication methods enabled the family members to keep in touch with each other on a frequent basis or even daily basis. As an example mentioned in the book that impressed me most, there was an old widow, who relied on Internet to communicate with other relatives after her husband’s death. These communications were described as “a new lease of life”. In my understanding, through the Internet communication applications, those Trinidad recreated their identity as members of their families, sent their cars and felt been cared by other family members, which became very important and part of their “real” life. Authors also mentioned the use of online chat and ICQ in Chapter 3. This communication method was considered by the author more like “expansive potential” than “expansive realization” (Page 62). Unlike the use of emails, the online chatting happened mostly between non-relatives. Many Trinidadian considered it a new method to know more friends or even develop new relationships. Research results showed that some marriages did begin with the random online chatting. As mentioned in the book, most conversations happened between opposite sexes to flirt with each other. But we also need to notice the case described in Page 65 about online chatting that realized sharing of mundane life. Some Trinidadians considered it as part of their everyday life and create serious friendship with other chatters. The chatting group or online community was also identified as part of “real” life instead of “virtual” chats. I agree with the authors that studying the dynamics of identification is very important for researchers to understand the development of Internet in that area.

Posted by mzhu4 at 02:18 PM | Permalink

Paper Proposal

Posted by mzhu4 at 04:09 PM | Permalink

Question: When scholars write about communication technologies, they often focus on successful technologies. Successful technologies, in turn, are usually described as ever-expanding or "diffusing" throughout society until they are widespread. In this context, Fischer's analysis of the decline in rural telephony in Chapter 4 is remarkable and unusual. Please evaluate this argument in chapter 4. You might comment on his evidence for the decline, his analysis, or his explanation of it. Is the explanation convincing? You might compare it to discussions of other technologies we have read. Does this analysis demonstrate a strength or weakness in his method? (Or, Why did he find this decline when other scholars rarely if ever highlight any declines?)

My Response
In his book, Fischer described the development of telephone as both technology and business. One thing makes his work unique is his description of the decline of telephone services in rural area during 1930s. In Chapter 4 of the book, the author gave evidence that the percentage of rural area’s adoption of telephone service experienced decreasing in that period of time, which was the Depression of America. But Fischer argued that the Depression was not the reason of usage decline in rural area. Because, for example, farmers still spent many money on automobiles and the tendency was increasing. So, Fischer concluded that the farmers should have the ability to pay for telephone and they just chose not to do so or just didn’t have that service. As for the reasons, Fischer attributed it to two major ones. First, the available substitute technology. As pointed out by Fischer, there were many other communication technologies available for people from rural area, including automobile, telegraph and more. These new technology made telephone not such a must-have equipment in people’s home. Farmers then evaluated several choices and some abandoned telephone. And second, the changing political economy of the industry. The government was no longer forced the service providers to serve rural areas. Consequently, many rural areas didn’t have reliable services, which led the decline of usage.
I personally found both his evidence and explanation not very strong, though the analysis process seemed to be rational. In the book, Fischer used statistical numbers to indicate the decline of telephone services in rural areas. In his description, we also had the information that many rural areas were not served directly by the service providers and some of them were operated through private and small-scale companies. It was not clear if this portion of services were included in the number of not. As stated by the author, the big companies were not willing to invest in rural area, which was even so when there was no pressure from government. But, at the same time, the farmers might find their own way to be connected. The usage of telephone is not easily traceable as the using of automobile. As for Fischer’s explanations, I’m not satisfied with his claim that the Depression was not the reason why some farmers abandoned telephone service. His evidence was the amount of money farmers spent on automobile and other technology was not declining severely as telephone. For me, it is the Depression that forced the farmers to choose between several options. And telephone is different from either automobile or radio. Users only have to pay for automobile and radio once for the equipment and the further usage is totally under the owner’s control. For example, during the Depression, the farmers may still have automobile but didn’t drive it very often. For telephone, it was different. If it was the flat-rate service, users had to pay monthly fee for the service, which might make some gave this service up. The second explanation of telephone usage decline sounds reasonable for me. The decrease of service quality would definitely lead to decline of users.
Overall, I think Fischer’s finding is strength of his study, though flawed. The reason why other researchers didn’t notice or didn’t focus on this phenomenon might be that they often look at the long-range development of certain technology on a broader view. And at the same time, it is very easy for researchers to focus on brighter side of things. The “diffusion” of telephone is ultimately successful, which may obscure the fact that it experienced some decline in certain areas during this increasing tendency.

Posted by mzhu4 at 05:08 PM | Permalink