Below is the link to my hubsite, which will lead you to all my other work. Thanks everyone!
www.jillianford.weebly.com

Hubsite: http://english363.kelsiesmith.net/blog/

Midterm Project: http://kelsiesmith.net/adderallalternatives/

Final Project: http://www.kelsiesmith.net/notfunny/

Final Coursework! - Emma Reigel

Hubsite Page: http://emmarei.weebly.com/ - 

     has all course work under course work for both projects and assignments outside of projects

Midterm Project Site: http://helpthearcticc.weebly.com/

Final Project Site: http://agricultureresearch.weebly.com/

Sites completed and in progress

Folks, here are the sites I have completed or in progress. The links are also available at the top of the course syllabus. 

Chloe Renee Lily Kronfeld Josh Bloom Hiro Kusumoto Jessica Andrews Malika Anderson Erin Penney Krysana Maragh Arome Obende Savannah Bacon Ocean Clarke Emma Reigel Jill Ford Caroline Adams Lena Sheorey

There is some really great work in there, and I'm proud of the effort you all put in. If you have an extension, please post your own hubsite with completed coursework page when ready before August 31. Have a great summer. 

Hub Page: http://oceanclarke.weebly.com

Midterm Project: http://journey2unknown.weebly.com

Final Project: http://savingthereservation.weebly.com

Final Coursework!

Midterm project: http://notjustanotherathlete.weebly.com/

Final Project: http://aclmental.weebly.com/

Hub site (all coursework available): http://savannahbacon.weebly.com/

Links to Finished Websites

Hubsite: http://jessicatandrews.weebly.com/ (all course work can be found here)

Midterm: http://effectofmusicstreaming.weebly.com/

Final: http://highereducationforthemiddleclass.weebly.com/

Completed Coursework

All of my completed work can be found on my hub site

Hub Site

Midterm Project

Final Project

Erin Penney Finished Coursework

Hubsite: erinpenney.weebly.com
Midterm: http://fandommentalhealth.weebly.com/
Final: http://classandcountrymusic.weebly.com/

All of my coursework can be found on the hubsite.

Krysana Maragh Final and Coursework

Kmaragh.weebly.com
Midterm: Dishonestacademics.weebly.com
Final:   distracteddriversedu.weebly.com

Above are links to my hubsite, wherein you can find all of my coursework and links to my revised midterm project as well as my final project.

Thank you!

Coursework

All my coursework can be found at

hirofumikusumoto.weebly.com/

I tried to remember everything that we did but if you see something that's missing please let me know so I can add it to my coursework page.

Thank you!

Lily Kronfeld's Final and completed coursework

lilykronfeld.weebly.com

Completed Coursework

Hi everyone!

Here is the link to my completed coursework page: http://chloe--renee.weebly.com/coursework.html
I've checked all of the links, but if you see one that doesn't work in passing, please let me know.

Thanks, and keep in touch!

Submitting coursework reminder

Folks, just a quick note to remind you to post a link to your completed coursework page here on the blog. There's a continuing issue with email containing a weebly subdomain link in emory.edu communications. Don't forget to test all the links on a library computer: I can't read privately published material. Have a great summer!

Kelley and Mickenberg Presentation

http://my.visme.co/projects/kelley-and-mickenberg-presentation-853c04

Link to everything

To see all coursework, go to http://joshuambloom.weebly.com/ and click on the coursework page.

PCH 12: Halavais

The mass-demass cycle is as follows: technology or media is created by a group of pioneers who collaborate in order to use and popularize the new technology or media, the technology or media is then taken over by a small number of powerful people (i.e. corporations), who in turn, present it to an audience, which then reclaims the media or technology as their own and begins to create with it. This is significant in terms of participatory culture because it explains the methods through which technologies and media are obtained. Blogging is different from this mass-demass cycle because it began in the hands of the people and continues to be an accessible technology for the people, as most blogging can be done for free (though there are corporations that are involved). Halavais describes blogging as a "free frame of reference" because it is a simple act that helps the user to reframe their way of thinking about the world. Blogging is an accessible format for discourse that almost anyone can use. When there is a free, accessible discourse format, the opportunity for radical sociopolitical change presents itself.

"Free frame of reference" originated in the late 1960s as a store where all of the items were free. The store had essentials such as food and clothing, and the "frame" was in reference to "a large yellow picture frame" by the entrance (Halavais, 114). The store revolutionized the way that its "customers" thought about consumption and the value of items in our society.

I can not say that I agree entirely with Halavais in terms of the perspective demanded by blogging. Self-expression has always been accessible in one public format or another, blogging just magnified the scale and audience. I believe that, with the diversification of blogging, it has still maintained its spirit as a free frame of reference. Very few people are willing to pay actual money to blog, whereas as few years ago, people would pay quite a bit of money in order to keep and maintain a professional blog. Now, there are more ways than ever to express oneself freely through the Internet.

The ideal is tarnished, though, through the commodification of blogging. In order to be a true "free frame of reference" profit would not be an issue. Now blogging sites are able to make money off of their users through the use of advertising. Yes, the users may not have to pay directly, but they are still being used for monetary gain.

Equality within the attention economy is a difficult idea to navigate. Perhaps equality within the attention economy would be an egalitarian format in which each person gets their say for the same amount of time among the same number of people.

Social media as gemeinschaft would be the use of free blogging among a group of people to organize a social protest. Social media as gesellschaft would be the requirement of monthly subscription fees for a website in order for the few people in charge to make a profit off of it.

Kelley and Mickenberg Presentation uploaded

Kelley and Mickenberg Presentation here

Hub site

Here's my hub site

Fuchs Ch 8

In Chapter 4 of Social Media: A Critical Introduction, Christian Fuchs explores the connections between Twitter and political participation. While reading, I started to think about the potential of repurposing aspects of Twitter to be geared more toward political activism and change. Fuchs states that, on Twitter, the topics that attain the highest visibility (as demonstrated by the Trending Box on the left-hand side of Twitter) are those that pertain to entertainment-related topics. However, I started to explore the idea of tailoring Twitter to be used as a political tool. For example, the Trending Box could be separated into subcategories, including Entertainment and Politics. This would allow for higher visibility within each category, therefore preventing the domination of visibility of one category over another, therefore facilitating political visibility within the interface of Twitter itself.  

Later, Shirky states that “with the arrival of globally accessible publishing, freedom of speech is now freedom of the press, and freedom of the press is freedom of assembly (Shirky 2008, 172). This statement resonated with me because I began to think about both the benefits and downsides of online political culture. I see the value of social media in politics the same way as Papacharissi interprets it - the idea that social media eradicates the line between the political and public spheres. I think that a greater visibility from a grassroots level is key to political change. I also think that, at times, the anonymity offered by the internet is beneficial in terms of political participation. It allows one’s voice to be heard, without suffering social repercussions from their peers or even an oppressive government. However, one downside to online political participation is that in person, physical spaces allow for an agglomeration of individuals that “provide opportunities for building and maintaining interpersonal relations that involve eye contact, communication of an emotional aura, and bonding activities that are important for the cohesion of a political movement and can hardly be connunicated over the internet” (186). So, at the end of the day, there are certain shortcomings of online participation that simply cannot be overcome or overshadowed by in-person, face-to-face, political movements.

PCH Chapter 28

Chapter 28 of The Participatory Cultures Handbook, edited by Aaron Delwiche and Jennifer Jacobs Henderson, explores the ethics of participatory culture. In her essay entitled “Toward an Ethical Framework for Online Participatory Cultures,” Jennifer Jacobs Henderson first defines participatory cultures as “spaces where thoughtful, engaged world citizens tackle complex problems, build creative networks, and contribute to political decision making” (272). Henderson then goes on to describe the potential that these spaces can achieve, such as advancing scientific discovery, empowering those who have little voice, and the elimination of geopolitical boundaries (272). However, in order for those potentialities to occur, ethical structure must first be assigned to participatory culture. To do so, Henderson establishes five fundamental aspects that must be assigned - access, rule making, connectedness, contribution, and freedom.

According to Henderson, two barriers to active participation have existed for many years - income, and geography. However, the recent development of new technology hasn’t remedied these two barriers. It has simply perpetuated their existences, but in a new way. For example, wealthier countries have more widespread internet access compared to less wealthy countries, which does nothing but perpetuate the “digital divide” (273).  In my opinion, however, barriers extend beyond income and geography. Another barrier that exists is technological literacy, or the lack thereof. Technological illiteracy prevents members from taking advantage of the participatory technology, so that even if they have the physical access to it, they are unable to use it in a meaningful way.

Henderson then asserts that another structure that must be enacted is rule making. She acknowledges that these rules may differ based on the medium at stake - the rules governing original uploads may differ from the rules governing comments. However, regardless of the specific rules being applied, she argues that these rules must be enforced if participatory culture has any chance to thrive.  

Henderson continues with her structural establishment, emphasizing the importance of both connectedness and contribution. In my opinion, participatory culture inherently involves a sense of commonality and connectedness. Henderson advocates for these aspects of participatory culture to be even more developed and encouraged within the community in order to facilitate the survival of the culture. She also values the aspect of contribution, stating that “respect must be at the core of valued participation” and that this respect is “often attained through recognition by others” (277).

Finally, Henderson develops the idea of freedom in participatory cultures, and asserts that a wide range of voices and opinions must exist in order for the full potential of participatory culture to be reached.

Wark Review

In his newest book, The Spectacle of Disintegration, McKenzie Wark continues the situationist-centered dialogue he established in his preceding book, The Beach Beneath the Street. Both books serve as analyses of the Situationist International, delving into their history, beliefs, and practices. Founded in 1957, the Situationist International (SI) was an international organization composed of social revolutionaries. Membership was extremely exclusive. The demographics of the members themselves varied - the organization was composed of artists, political theorists, intellectuals, and more. However, the one thing that united the members of the Situationist International was their shared social ideology.

In The Beach Beneath the Street, Wark recounts the first two aspects or phases of the Situationist International - the artistic phase during the 1950s, and the political action phase in the 1960s. He also elaborated on the first two facets of the spectacle. The first facet was concentrated spectacle. This was the period when society, and power by extension, was organized around a central personality. Later, the diffuse spectacle emerged. This type of spectacle influenced society by the use of icons and advertising in order to sell commodity. Additionally, the idea that the meaning of life could be achieved via consumption was emphasized and built upon.

In The Spectacle of Disintegration, he goes on to elaborate on the third and most current phase of the organization - the phase of the spectacle known as the integrated spectacle. Although misconceived as the end of the SI movement, Wark argues that it is simply a re-manifestation of the core ideals, adapted to today’s society.  In other words, Wark connects the past decades’ situationist theory and practice to today’s ideals. To do so, he focuses on situationists and their work. For instance, he analyzes the painter T.J. Clark, commending him for “restoring to view the life of the image and an anarchist vision” (48). Wark then goes on to the figure of Raoul Vaneigem, a Belgian member of the Situationist International from 1961 to 1970 whose main concern was the concept of utopia as well as dystopia.

Wark continues in chapter 9, exploring the society of the spectacle in the context of artistic pieces, namely the obscure Viénet film, Can Dialectics Break Bricks. It is here that Wark makes an argument that films such as these are simply remixes of films that had already existed. From this, Wark goes on to refer the audience to other Situationist pieces that stemmed from other existing artistic forms, thereby undermining their originality. He emphasizes the re-working and remanifestation of artistic elements into new constructions, yet simultaneously and confusingly asserts that nothing is innovative.

Finally, Wark explores Guy Debord, who was a French Marxist theorist and a founding member of the Situationist International. For some reason, the aspect of Debord’s life that Wark chooses to expand on is the development of the board game, Game of War, developed by Debord and his wife, Alice Becker-Ho. The connection between Wark’s extensive development of the board game and the Situationist International is unclear and extremely vague, making it difficult to understand.

           Overall, I would not recommend this text as a source for teaching participatory culture. The writing itself is very cryptic and dense, making it fairly inaccessible to a general audience, even more so to those who are not well-versed in the realm of situationist theory. In addition to the difficulty of reading the text, Wark’s main tool in his writing is the use of endless quotes. While reading, it felt like I was simply reading the work of the people Wark described in his book, simply stitched together. By doing so, Wark failed to contribute any original information or insight into the Situationist theory community, and merely summarized and repeated the thoughts of situationists who had already expressed their views. Even if Wark did contribute original insight, it would have been lost in the sea of quotes by other figures who actually did, thereby undermining Wark’s nonexistent arguments. Thus, although Wark is skilled in synthesizing information about the SI, I would not recommend this text if you are looking for new, original, and revolutionary information and insight into the Situationist International.

Updated Hub and Project Sites and Project Presentation

Hub Site
Midterm Project Site
Presentation

Kelley and Mickenberg presentation

Wark Review

                The Spectacle of Disintegration by McKenzie Wark is based on the premise that the Situationist Movement did not end when the Situationist International disbanded in 1972 and that it is still alive and well in the modern world. To do this, Wark chronicles the history of Situationism from 1968 on. Wark had already written The Beach Beneath the Street, which discussed Situationism up to this point, which raises one of the main problems with the book. Wark immediately dives into Situationism, assuming that either we have read The Beach Beneath the Street or have extensive knowledge of the Situationist Movement before reading this book. This is not a stand-alone book by any means, but does not advertise that a reader will have difficulty if they have no background on the subject. In order to get the most out of this book, the reader needs to have a background in Situationism and 19^th Century French Are, both of which are specific and not particularly overlapping areas.

            The structure of the book added to its inaccessibility. Each chapter was a separate anecdote, and while some of these were quite entertaining, they did not clearly connect into an overarching narrative. I understand that Wark purposefully removed these anecdotes in order to make a theoretical agenda for Situationism in everyday modern life in order to prove that it still is applicable today, but this has the consequence of forcing the reader to pick up context along the way. The anecdotes are so short that you can read a majority of one before you know what is going on, then you have to reread it now that you have context to fully understand what is being said.

All of these anecdotes acted as metaphors for what Wark was attempting to explain, but again, they required expert knowledge to comprehend. I had none of this knowledge so I read and knew the meanings of the majority of the words I was reading, but never understood what was going on. This was not for lack of trying on my part, I did research on the Situationist International, but was still rather mystified by what the spectacle, the central idea of the entire book, truly was. Wark would have been well served by including an introductory chapter that clearly elucidated the central tenets of Situationism at the very least.

            Eventually, I began to understand the spectacle, the society that surrounds it, and what it has become a little more. Initially, the concept of the spectacle was centralized. Governments used media and images to control their population. These governments more or less had a monopoly on the spectacle, but the rise of Mass Media has decentralized the spectacle. Now, we are bombarded by images from governments and corporations through a variety of media. The rise of the Internet also gave more of a voice to individuals as well. All of this combines to shape and control what we see as the norm. Even if we are not aware of it, the spectacle shapes us and our perception of the world we live in. To exemplify that the spectacle exists, Wark discussed two revolutions, one in France in 1848 and the other in Thailand in 2010. The latter provides an example of the spectacle in modern times. Radio broadcasts were used to incite the revolution and bring about a change in the power structure.

            While I did struggle with this reading, I can see how it applies to the class. Wark provides examples of people who are aware of the spectacle and use this awareness to bring about change. These individuals participate in enacting real change not only by calling for change, but also by changing how they live their lives once they realize the spectacle and what those creating it want us to think and believe. While it is one thing to be aware of the spectacle, it is another to be able to break free from its control. I wonder if anyone truly can be free of the spectacle. We are indoctrinated at such a young age and it is so pervasive in our lives that I doubt that anyone can truly break completely free from the control of the spectacle.

           

           

            

Wark Review

Krysana Maragh

In what ways was the Wark book, The Spectacle of Disintegration, useful in understanding participatory culture in present time?

This book offers terrific insight about the key issues of modern society. People in modern society have a tendency to believe that everything they see in the media is good. The spectacle is the image that mediates relations between people. Wark maps the historical stages of the spectacle from the concentrated, to the diffuse, to the integrated, to the disintegrated. He argues that the media is responsible for the misconception of the relationship between desires and needs. As it relates to participatory culture as a whole, The Spectacle of Disintegration highlights a particular concept that I find key to the understanding of the relationship between the two, “No matter what happens her next day or next week, I just want to record the fact that this actually happened.” (Wark, 204). This is modern day social media: a constant updating of what is happening regardless of the level of impact it may have. It happened, it is posted, and it is recorded forever.

In analysis of the “spectacle”, Wark offers four categories total: the concentrated, diffused, integrated, and disintegrated. The concentrated is to be understood as the focusing of efforts to raise the status of one, equivalent to what we understand to be a “media-whore”; the Kim Kardashians of the world. The diffused is understood to be the converse of the concentrated where advertising allows for public focus to be separated; the meaning of life is found everywhere. The integrated spectacle is understood as the combination of church and state meaning what we believe to be good mixes with what we are told is good. The spectacle of disintegration is the attempt to separate these two.

Wark focuses heavily on the Situationalist movement of the 1960s. The Situationalist International movement led by Guy Debord was made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorist. They examined Marxist theory and capitalism with the understanding that shifts from individual expression through first-hand experiences and fulfillment of desires to individual expression by proxy inflicted significant damage to the quality of human life for both individuals and society. Consumers are passive subjects ruled by their commodities in the spectacle that is mass media. Wark also narrows in on the role of the middle class. He centers on the ambiguity of the “new” and its attraction for the avant-garde artists. There was a strong draw to this group because an overarching image that depicted the masses had yet to be established. Even the situationists had motive to represent this public’s desires, frustrations, and boredoms and claimed these feats as a new frontier. The power of the middle class was its ability to both command popular space and consume it. This was the beginning of a new market of people and speaks directly to idea of participatory culture.

Participatory Culture is one in which the prosumer was birthed. The consumer is also the producer. Thanks to modern advancements in technology, the ability to contribute is shared by all whom have access and knowledge of social media. This is considered a relatively low barrier for entry because of the wide-spread use of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. These also prove to be an integral component to the notion of participatory culture as it encourages collaboration and thus a connecting of people.

The role of media today is overwhelming. Wark argues that the main problem of modern society is that people often don’t understand the differences between desires and needs because we often led to believe we need the items we see, i.e. the biggest houses, the fastest cars. But we could and should do without as most people do not possess the purchasing power to obtain these items. Wark’s insight on the Situationalist movement provides the precursor to this problem we are facing today. Our quality of life is defined by our fulfillment of desires when in truth it should be defined by the fulfillment of need. But the two are often confused. Wark offers an analysis of power but it is now in our hands as prosumers in a participatory culture to set the new standard, one where the things we record are regarded as art that reflects our times, much like that of the Situationalists.

Wark, McKenzie. The Spectacle of Disintegration. London: Verso, 2013. Print.

PCH chapter 23

PCH chapter 23

There has been a lot of debate about the uCreate initiative from the Edge Project as discussed in chapter 23 of the Participatory Cultures Handbook; one of the main issues of this project being anonymity and privacy. It was concluded that pseudo-anonymity was the most beneficial for participants in this setting because it allowed youth to be identified and take pride in their work yet allowed distance from published material should it prove to be damaging at a later date. Hiro posted the question: What is being done to educate the younger members of society – minors who have never known a world without Facebook, Twitter, and the like about the consequences of misbehavior in the digital age? This question brought to mind this famous Facebook post:

Supposedly, in an attempt to educate her daughter about the dangers of internet exposure a mother posted this picture to show just how many people have access to anything posted online. I agree that the youth of today are faced with a problem that previous generations have never dealt with, establishing an online presence without tarnishing their identity. I think awareness is the key to solving this issue. Acts such as the above picture that physically show the theorized consequences are the best way to educate the youth about their actions. Maybe it will prompt them to think twice before posting content that would later prove to be incriminating. 

PCH 28

In this chapter, the claim is made that “the paired concepts of the ‘known’ and respect relate directly to the concepts of the anonymous and untrustworthy in online participatory cultures,” (277). We touch on the fact that there exists valid ethical concerns regarding responsibility for words and actions and that anonymity avoids these constraints but conclude that the contributions to the participatory culture are significant but the identity is not. Ocean raised this question on March 17, 2015: Can the real world knowability of a person affect their respect within online participatory cultures? Nikki says yes so long as those in the online realm know the real world identity of the participant. I agree that knowing a person’s real world identity alters the kind of content he or she feels comfortable posting. As previously stated, anonymity provides escape from accountability. But I also agree that that the problem of anonymity is the question of validity. It’s hard to trust the content provided from an unknown source because we also don’t know that person’s motives in providing accurate information. So to Ocean’s question about the relationship between knowability and respect, I’d say the two a closely linked. An online participatory culture could be led to believe they are following the thoughts of distinguished philosopher about modern entertainment figures later to find out the contributor is a Gossip Columnist who’s paid by the word. This person would have motive to provide pages and pages of lies that stem from a single sentence of truth, if any truths are to be found at all. By disguising his or her identity and effectively removing the knowability component, readers/participators are left with only the content to value.

Fuchs chp 4 and 8

Fuchs 4 and 8:

Fuch’s chapter 8 deals with the role of social media, specifically Twitter and Facebook, in aiding with slacktivism. Slacktivism is defined here as the kind of activism associated with social media that doesn’t require people to make a “real” sacrifice or invest “real” effort in the promotion of a cause. It’s remarked by Evgeny Morozo on page 188 as feel-good online activism that has zero political or social impact and gives those who participate an illusion of having a meaningful impact on the world without demanding anything past joining a Facebook group. Josh Moran posed this question on March 17, 2015: is Fuch’s underestimating the power of these social media platforms?

I believe he is underestimating these social media platforms. He makes the claim the Facebook and Twitter activism would only succeed in situations that do not require people to make real sacrifice. Fuch’s mentions in Chapter 4 that face-to-face communication and Facebook were activists most important means of obtaining information about the Occupy Wall Street movement. But he later goes on to dismiss this component as insufficient. I disagree with this comment. I keep bringing to mind the KONY 2012 video that brought national attention to the Invisible Children movement. In the course of a few days, thanks to social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube, there was such intense exposure of the video that the KONY website crashed. It was later included among the top international events of 2012 by PBS and called the most viral video of all time by Time Magazine. The purpose of the video was to draw international attention to Joseph Kony, leader of an African Militia serviced by refugee children and to have him arrested by the end of 2012. The campaign resulted in a resolution by the United States Senate and contributed to the decision to send troops by the African Union. I believe this stands as a testament of the sheer power social media platforms truly possess. What some believe to be mere slacktivism or clicktivism still aids in the cause.  

Kelley and Mickenburg Presentation

For anyone interested, I've posted my presentation to my coursework page.

active links to Midterm project site

kmaragh.weebly.com

rulefreerealm.weebly.com

PCH ch 23 discussion

The Participatory Cultures Handbook discusses a lot of ideas about what participatory culture is and ways people can be a part of it. The ideas shared in chapter 23 were particularly interesting to me because they were an example of using participatory culture to help everyone benefit--being a democratic tool and not leaving certain people out. Chapter 23 discusses programs constructed to benefit and educate incarcerated youth. This is important because it exposes ways in which education is not democratic in our society. Because free education is available, on the surface it seems that education is a system that is beneficial to everyone. But this idea does not critique the fact that not everyone is given equal educational opportunities, nor does is acknowledge that some people are left out of the equation in general. A huge part of this is lack of resources available to some people, which explains the digital divide. Incarcerated youth, and people in general, are commonly viewed as unworthy of the expected benefits and treatment of people in society, including opportunities for education and jobs/careers. But the project discussed in chapter 23 aims to fix this problem to an extent. By using digital media to provide an educational setting for incarcerated youth, participatory culture is being used to close the digital divide and the participation gap, as well as creating a democratic space within our education system. By becoming available to and benefiting those who had previously been excluded from participating, the digital media described in chapter 23 displays an example to true participatory culture.

Wark Review

The Spectacle of Disintegration: Situationist Passages Out of the 20^th Century by McKenzie Wark discusses the history and present day narrative of the Situationists and the Situationism movement. The Situationism movement took place between the 1950s and 70s and was led by an organization called Situationist International, which was comprised of a group of intellectuals, artists, political theorist, and social revolutionaries that sought to challenge and critique modern society and its perpetual use of capitalism. Wark argues that although the movement officially ended in 1972, it isn’t really over and Situationist ideology is still present today.

            Wark is critical of people in modern society not knowing the difference between what one needs and what one desires. As a consequence of capitalism, people have fallen into believing they need material items as opposed to just wanting them. He also believes that almost everything has become a part of consumerism—for instance, his mention of sex once being a private act but being transformed into a public market for buyer consumption. Wark believes mass media/the government, or the spectacle, is to blame for this. The idea of the spectacle was the most interesting part of the book in my opinion. The spectacle is the relationship between people and the images shown in the media. These images include material items and luxuries as well as images of people (celebrities). These images seem to have control over the average person because consumerism has become so engrained in every day life of those in modern society. The idea of the spectacle is very relevant to today. Images shown in the mass media definitely have control over many people because they shape many people’s ideas. The mass media teaches people how to classify and view things—whether it is: who is or isn’t beautiful, what is acceptable as a career/job, what kind of car one should drive, how one should dress, how one should view certain groups of people, etc. Many of Wark’s ideas and the ideas of the Situationist coincide with Marxist theories.

            While I am biased to some of the ideas expressed in the book because of my personal opinions about capitalism and modern society, I still had many problems with this book. First and foremost, the book was written with the assumption that the reader had previous and vast knowledge of French art. The book brings up a lot of works of art, especially paintings, and explains their connection to the Situationism movement. As somebody who doesn’t know anything about French art, this aspect made some parts of the book hard to fully understand. In addition to this, Wark speaks of the life and work of many people that are also not commonly known to people who do not already have background knowledge on the given topic. Although this book is a sequel, it still seems that someone educated in the things that I have been educated in lacks much of the knowledge needed to really get into the book without asking an overload of questions.

            Despite this, there were things that I learned from the book. I feel that I gained more understanding of participatory culture by learning about Situationists International because their goal was to use participatory culture to create a more democratic and participatory society. By banding together as a community with a common goal, the Situationists used participatory culture. Each member of Situationist International contributed whatever he or she could offer in hopes of changing the world. Their coming together to participate in a common thing is similar to people that come together on the Internet to participate in common interests, such as our class blog. By working together with the goal of changing the world for the better, Situationist International was using participatory culture in a beneficial way, which I think participatory culture is about. Participatory culture aims to include everybody—to be inherently democratic—benefiting everybody and not just elite groups.

Kelley and Mickenberg Powerpoint

Please go to joshuambloom.weebly.com and go under "coursework" to view the document.

Fandom Mental Health - Data Collection and Presentation Uploaded

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Wark Book Review

‘The Spectacle of Disintegration,’ by McKenzie Wark discusses the history, both past and modern, of Situationists and their cause and movement. Within this book, Wark focuses on the Situationist movement post-Situationist era. The book starts by giving you a history of the movement, and really details Situationism from 1968 and on. Though this book was full of information, it was very specialized for people with backgrounds and knowledge of French art and culture and it’s ties with Situationism. Further more, this book was entirely made of up anecdotes, and unless you knew a good amount of information about the Situationists and their history, you would be lost in reading, which I was. This book would be a great second or third book to read about the Situationist history and movement, but not for your first encounter with the ideals and thoughts behind the Situationist movement.

My problem with this book was the fact that it was so entirely based on un-explained notions, making it inaccessible as it connected real life events and trends to specific knowledge. The details within the book seemed to run together, as even after googling information on Situationists; I could not comprehend their detailed yet seemingly arbitrary stories connections to “situationists” ideas. This book would be much easier to understand if the author gave some back story or explanation of what exactly Situationists were and did, rather than just giving example after example and making the reader sift for information.

            Wark’s book mapped the society of the spectacle, while tracing Situationist ideas and occurrences and showing how they could still relate in our present day society. The book starts off with an anecdote and then traces the history of Situationism. In Chapter 2 of Wark’s book, he states that he has purposely put anecdotes cut from their context to connect a theoretical itinerary to every day life to prove that the Situationist theory is still applicable and alive today. Wark points out in chapter one that today, our society relies on consuming and buying, a much more consumer-based society comparatively to past generations. Wark continues to state that this book is concerned with the “third step” of taking three steps back to take one forward. This “third step” is post May 68’ political defeat, and it works to continue to prove that the Situationist movement is alive (Wark, 19-20).

            The topic of the Situationist idea of the spectacle was very interesting in Wark’s book. The idea of the spectacle – government control through media and central images, was shown through examples of daily life spectacles. Although it was hard to decipher, the examples were very relevant. The spectacle is now quite different from the original ideas of the term ‘spectacle.’ It is now much more decentralized and in our every day lives via television commercials and shows, advertisements on the Internet, magazines, social media, clothing, etc. And as we absorb these images, ideals, and so called ‘norms,’ they become apart of our lives and us. Wark shows how the spectacle has shifted and changed, but continues to stay alive past the official “movement.” He also gave examples of the revolution in 2010 in Thailand to show that there is still a more close to original idea of the spectacle still in certain areas of the world (Wark, 27).

            It was interesting that Wark showed participatory culture through a history and examples of a movement that wanted to change the ways of the world. It allowed me to understand how beneficial participatory culture can be, but it also shows that even though many participated through the decades, the Situationists did not win and grand win, but rather were able to change their daily lives through being aware of the spectacle, compared to people who allowed themselves to be influenced and apart of the control of media, government, etc. The book also pointed to things that could be fixed within society that would make the world a better place – less corrupted. Although this book was not my first choice for a read or textbook, it did allow for me to see specific participation in many different cultures, as well as the idea of how participation can change.

Wark Review

            The Spectacle of Disintegration by McKenzie Wark seeks to explain the Situationist International (SI) movement that occurred between 1957 and 1972. Although history states that the movement is over, he argues that is it present in everyday modern life- people just do not realize it. The situationists wanted to uncover the world for what it really is, why it is so, what it should be, and how it should be changed. They centered around this concept known as the spectacle, which can be described as the mass media of images that surrounds the modern person as well as some of his predecessors.

            The spectacle has changed over time, but overall, it has remained the same. The concentrated spectacle was prominent toward the first half of the twentieth century, and in some places, such as North Korea, it still exists today. It focused around centralized states such as Germany and the Soviet Union during these times, and how citizens were forced to obey what they were told. In this case, the media were the communist leaders, and the people were forced to believe that what they were told was true. Later, it became the diffuse spectacle- rather than leaders telling the people what to do, the mass media produced a set of prominent images that society convinced itself it needed to follow. Needs became synonymous with desire, and the world became false- what the people believed was necessary was only necessary because the spectacle told them that it was. Today, the spectacle is disintegrated- not centralized, but in our everyday lives. Advertisements, television shows, clothing- it is all part of the spectacle. Once we see it, we absorb it into our lives.

            Wark’s purpose in writing this novel was to show how the spectacle persists even four decades after the movement “officially” ended. He uses revolutions in France during the 19^th century and in Thailand in 2010 as an example (Wark 27). In both cases, the peasantry staged a revolution against the leadership. Mass media was used to spark these revolutions- in 1848 Paris, through artwork, and in 2010 Bangkok, through radio stations.

            This book requires at least some knowledge of the SI movement before reading it. While Wark explains the basics of it in the early chapters, it helped me to do some research on the movement as well as the spectacle itself before moving further into the book. If you understand the main concepts as you are reading it, you are better able to connect his examples to the goals of the movement, which explains why he uses the examples in the first place. However, if you were to pick up the book with no prior knowledge of the movement (keep in mind, the book is a sequel), it would be quite challenging to comprehend the material as well as the overall point of the novel. The issue I have with his examples is that he does not ease the reader into them- he throws a random situation at you that seems completely random, but only after finishing the explanation of that situation does he relate it to the SI movement and participatory culture.

            Despite some of the book’s odd examples, it allowed me to look at participatory culture through a movement that aimed to change the world. This is related to our final project in the sense that our goal in doing research and creating a website is to spark a sense of alarm in the public sphere that there is a problem with the world that needs to be fixed. After all, activism only follows exposure.

            Perhaps the most important thing I learned from reading this book was that I am participating in participatory culture much more often than I thought- not through Facebook, as Standage says, but through the spectacle. When society is exposed to a new object, it is led to believe that the object is desirable, is good, and is necessary. For example, every time I use or walk around with a smartphone, I am conveying the message that smartphones are necessary for survival. In previous times, as recent as ten years ago, people survived without these devices. My ultimate question for Wark is: what would he like me to do about this? Does he believe that if one person puts down their smartphone, others will follow until the point where society reverts back to a point where this technological need will not be necessary anymore? More importantly, how would society be any better without this technology? Has anything created by the spectacle been harmful to society?