Comments for simoncollister

Comment on The Network is dead, long live the network by simoncollister

simoncollister — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:53:50 +0000

Hey – sorry. Meant to reply to this sooner! Um… yes. That’s a nice analogy which captures some of the complex expressve/communicative as well as material/bodily elements being brought into play.

Comment on The Network is dead, long live the network by dekost

dekost — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 09:13:41 +0000

Hey! Are you basically talking about a deformation through connection/transformation like it happens in a chinese whispers game?

Comment on #ukriots and the limits of traditional media (and what it means for democracy) by Simon Collister

Simon Collister — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 22:53:23 +0000

yeah – there’s a tension there between tooled up pro journo and tooled down ‘citizen journalism’.
There’s tensions in the idea of what is a journalist or media professional and what role do they occupy – particularly within corporate media (BBC included).
But a really interesting tension with regard the ethics of it all and the growing ‘co-veillance’ [not my term!] which was particularly prominent in Canada during the ice hockey riot.
I did, however, also see some people (inc the Guardian’s paul Lewis, I think) say that on a number of occasions anyone seen filing with a camera/phone was attacked – so perhaps a traditional, analogue solution to a particularly technological problem.

Comment on #ukriots and the limits of traditional media (and what it means for democracy) by RooftopJaxx

RooftopJaxx — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 22:35:41 +0000

Something perhaps not fully played out as yet, and successfully exploited by some of the more sussed journos, seems to have been that whilst journos bearing all the trappings of pro equipment were attacked, those who instead used iPhones and similar were better able to ‘get away with it’ in our new culture of videoing ourselves and our mates, etc?

Comment on Escalate Collective: a critique of a critique by Simon Collister

Simon Collister — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 16:05:54 +0000

Gah – I did post a comment but typepad has seen fit to delete it (helped by my mismanagement of the software!).
Anyway – firstly, thanks! Glad you like it.
I think -at least I’d like to think – we’ll get much more/deeper engagement with the issues of social media in society as get harder and the benefits of social media/the web disappear as efforts to capitalise tools and communities increase.
The idea of web 2.0 entrapping and defusing political action is explored by Jodi Dean in ‘blog Theory’ – maybe worth checking out.
Interestingly, it may well be the case that the criticism of web 2.0 is not coincidentally linked to the criticism of defusing political action.
Most autonomists and/or anarchists would argue that political parties were a C19th invention to a) get some stuff and b) prevent other stuff getting done.
The entrapping of political dynamism in bureaucratic/organisational powers structures could be seen to apply equally – although where SM has extended this trap into purely personal/social spaces.
I agree with your luddite view, for sure. But also believe we need to be acutely aware of the drawbacks or other potential risks (e.g. corporate/state surveillance) of such behaviours.
Finally, don’t be too harsh on the luddites. They were also acutely aware of the politics of technology – only destroying tech that impacted on common-ownership…. lessons that could would benefit learning from today!

Comment on Escalate Collective: a critique of a critique by Simon Redfern

Simon Redfern — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 09:28:34 +0000

I love this piece, and it’s great that we’re getting much more analysis of the dynamics around the march, which seemed very significant at the time.
The comment about Web 2.0 being a “political trap that disempowers political action” made me chuckle. Have these guys ever been to a Labour Party GC?
My own luddite view is that, at the very lowest, most basic level, the ability for people to organise themselves into action more quickly and more easily, is the reason that social media is changing politics.

Comment on UPDATED March 26th demo: some initial thoughts by Brendadada

Brendadada — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 09:38:36 +0000

Educating people about Black Block needs to include black ops information. There is no way the anarchists I've ever met can organise their own shoelaces, let alone this number of clearly planned and very military looking actions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_operation

Comment on Wikileaks analysis Part 1: Some notes on transparency by Simon Collister

Simon Collister — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 22:54:44 +0000

Oh, Jason. Awesome response; you’re bang on the money – as I’d expect.
Your comment points to Geert Lovink’s argument that Wikileaks as it stands offers a quantitative difference, not a qualitative one. And perhaps that’s partly why the current WLs issue is so loved by the media: they get anonymous whistle-blowing whereas they might not get the notion of hundreds, thousands of ‘self-policing’ and ‘self-correcting’ voices which may reduce the need for or reliance on traditional, broadcast media channels.
I’m not sure it’s *that* impossible…. so let’s definitely demand it

Comment on Wikileaks analysis Part 1: Some notes on transparency by Jason MIcal

Jason MIcal — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 18:04:02 +0000

I think you touch on the most fascinating part of the wikileaks story here, which is information curation and trust. Transparency is only as good as justice but it’s also only as good as the quality and accuracy of the information presented. WikiPEDIA, for example, is a self-correcting community where anyone can contribute and there are teams of volunteers working together to remove vandalism and misinformation and bias. WikiLEAKS must be taken on faith that the information presented has not been altered from its original form, that context around the information is understood, and that key pieces of other important information have not been omitted that may change one’s perceptions of the facts. Wikileaks is the beginning (or rather, the next phase) in the transparency discussion, not the end of it because of the issues cited above.
The ideal scenario is not one leaky faceless voice within government or a company, but hundreds if not thousands of self-policing and self-correcting voices (anonymous or not) who can provide the kind of information curation – and ultimately context – that we see on Wikipedia.
Impossible? Sure, but why demand otherwise?

Comment on Student protests, communication power and undercover police by Brett Gerry

Brett Gerry — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 12:08:52 +0000

The mass audio-visual media has consistently misrepresented student protests and tuition fee rises - but how do we tackle them? http://bit.ly/fFKWdZ