From: david silver [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2000 10:55 PM
To: CULTSTUD-L: A listserv devoted to Cultural Studies
Subject: [cultstud-l] Shaping the Network Society: A Conference Review
(2 of 2)


. . . part two.  david

***

While the research sessions sought to bridge research and application, the
workshops provided a forum to discuss past, ongoing, and future
projects.  Again, the spectrum was international, and conference attendees
learned about projects from around the world and brought to life by
non-profit organizations, public interest institutes, local governments,
and universities.  Although the nature of the projects was diverse, a
common theme among many was an attempt to bridge the so-called Digital
Divide.  Thus, we heard from Susan Kretchmer, Rod Carveth, and Nancy
Kranich, who presented a workshop titled, "High Tech, Low Tech, No
Tech: Moving Beyond Economics to Bridge the Digital Divide," and from
Bruce Takata and David Matteson, who conducted a workshop titled "Bridging
the Wisdom Divide: Beyond the Knowedge Era Part I & II."

Another common goal was to develop a set of strategies to reimagine and
reinvigorate community networks.  Towards this goal, William Belsey
presented early findings on Igalaaq, Canada's first arctic community
access center, while Evergreen State College students John B. Adams & Matt
Powell showcased new software which allows online applications of Robert's
Rules of Order.  One of the most rewarding -- not to mention well attended
-- workshops was an impromptu one convened by Peter Royce, coordinator of
the Vancouver CommunityNet, to discuss the current state of community
networks.  With all the chairs taken and with a few folks standing,
representatives from Davis Community Network, Eugene Free Community
Network, Petaluma Community Network, Seattle Community Network, Toledo
Free Net, and Vancouver CommunityNet shared their experiences, 
frustrations, and plans for the future.

In addition to research sessions and workshops were a number of special
events, including the plenary sessions.  The first plenary, Patterns and
Implications of the Network Society, featured Oliver Boyd-Barrett from
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, California, and Craig
Calhoun, President of the Social Science Research Council in New
York. Unfortunately, the third panelist, Veran Matic of B92 Radio and
Internet in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, was unable to attend due to the recent
seizure of B92 broadcasting equipment. The closing plenary featured Gary
Chapman of the 21st Century Project at the LBJ School of Public Affairs 
at the University of Texas, Bill Joy, Chief Scientist at Sun Microsystems,
and Howard Rheingold, author of many books, including The Virtual
Community and Tools for Thought.  The session focused on Joy's recent
article in Wired, "Why the Future Doesn't Need
Us" <http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy.html>, with Joy providing
some background on the article and with commentary from both Chapman and
Rheingold.  The audience peppered Joy with agreement and challenges, and
raised questions concerning the role of corporations (like Sun
Microsystems) in the situation Joy describes, the need for spokespeople
like Joy to work with existing organizations, and the barriers to healthy
dialogue on new technologies and society.

The closing plenary was followed by what many conference attendees
described as the most debaucherous conference-sponsored event in recent
memory.  Held at the hip club iSpy in downtown Seattle, the event was
organized by local students, artists, and activists and sponsored by
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility.  Featuring live bands on
one level and throbbing techno on another, the party also included a
"cyber fashion show" (which apparently means lots of tight black leather
and lots of exposed flesh) and a fire show seemingly organized by a local
chapter of the Burning Man movement.  Fun and confusion abounded. 

Like all conferences, Shaping the Network Society was not without a few
flaws.  Most notably, organizing the first plenary around three men and
organizing the last plenary around three men is unsettling to say the
least, and stood in stark contrast with issues of cultural diversity
addressed by dozens of research panelists and workshop conveners.  
Similarly, while questions of race, gender, and class were explored by
many sessions, issues of sexuality were altogether missing.

The other flaw was an embarrassment of riches -- there were simply too
many interesting sessions and workshops going on concurrently.  Unlike
most academic conference which offer a dizzying array of (often
unrelated) scholarship, Shaping the Network Society enjoyed -- and
succeeded because of -- a carefully crafted focus.  The result, as noted
earlier, was a mad scramble between papers, where frantic conference
attendees tried to fit in as many papers as possible.

The timing of Shaping the Network Society could not be better.  Today, as
cyberspace becomes synonymous with e-commerce and many folks' idea of an
online public sphere is a chat room on AOL, forums like this are
desperately needed.  Indeed, as cyberspace continues to be colonized by
commercial interests, progressive- and community-minded artists,
activists, community leaders, computer scientists, journalists,
politicians, scholars, students, techies, and freaks need multiple,
international forums like this one to discuss what's happening, where
were heading, and how to turn the tide.  

As an academic, I found the conference to be a breath of fresh air
compared to the commercialization of cyberspace that is currently taking
place within society in general and within academia in particular. 
Advertisements for companies like Blackboard and WebChat have turned the
first ten pages of the Chronicle of Higher Education into a shopping mall
for distance education companies. Moreover, whether you like David Noble's
ideas or not, what he describes is certainly taking place at an alarming
rate; as I write this conference review, many courses at my university
have been transformed from traditional to entirely online, as deans,
provosts, and presidents continue to run their departments, colleges, 
and universities as mini corporations. Finally, the kind of   
corporate-sponsored scholarship which marks the sciences has made its way
into the humanities.  Witness, for example, US WEST's funding of the
"research" institute, the Center for Digital Culture, whose most recent
white paper is titled, unsurprisingly, "E-Commerce and the Digital
Frontier."

While thousands race to make bank in cyberspace, it is refreshing to see
so many cybernauts from around the world brainstorm, discuss, and help
construct public space on the Internet.  Although many battles against the
forces to recraft cyberspace into cyberspace.com have been lost, the fight
-- and dance -- is not over, as was clearly evident in full force in
Seattle.

*****

David Silver is a doctoral candidate in American Studies at the University
of Maryland and the founder and director of the Resource Center for
Cyberculture Studies.  He can be reached via his Web site at
<http://www.glue.umd.edu/~dsilver/>.




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