Tara Mann November 29, 2011 The Social History of New Media Professor Trebor Scholz

The Cultural Logic of Computation, by David Golumbia Chapter 6 Computation, Globalization, and Cultural Striation.
I. Marxist Economic Theory A. Paul Baran, Harry Braverman, Paul Sweezy (late 1960s-early 70s) 1. Appearance of competition, power is really held by a select few (monopolies). 2. Capitalism exerts pressure towards monopolistic and oligarchical powers. a) Concentration of profit amongst a small group of institutions. b) Obey macro-level laws of competition and power politics. 3. Worry of a strong anti-democratic impulse developing within large corporations. Oligarchical Capitalism A. Large-scale pricing power to manipulate human behavior. 1. Depriving the working class of choice and power. B. Many aspects of computerization can be seen as positive, but actually benefit the large corporations, not he consumers. 1. Efficiency. 2. Personalization. 3. Individual desire and need. C. Customer relationship management (CRM) 1. Marketing term for a suite of contact, maintenance, and knowledge software modules. 2. Designed to more effectively communicate with customers/target them. a) Personalization of data kept about customers. b) Can figure out the needs/likes of individuals, encourage loyalty and retention. 3. CRM keep track of the communication between companies and contacts, in order to track progress, ROI, etc. 4. Make it seem like you are, as a company, providing the maximum, but really you are providing the minimum. a) Computerized customer service and interactions. b) Forwarding calls in certain ways that often avoid actual human contact. 1

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(1) Often not in favor of the consumer, especially if it is not worth it for the company. c) Building customer relationships. 5. Software is developed by large corporations like Oracle, Microsoft, SAP, BAAN, PeopleSoft, Computer Associates. 6. Defining and controlling social actions. a) Precise and deliberate. b) Analyze marketing results. c) Decide a course of action based on success rates, etc. d) Automatically personalized web pages. 7. Business are controlled by a small group of people at the top. a) Those beneath the management are given less opportunity to make decisions, meaningful contributions, etc. 8. Can be directly manipulated in the interest of the company. D. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) 1. Connections to the Industrial Revolution. a) Division of work into specific, defined tasks. (1) Division of labor. (a) Efficiency! (b) Specialization. (2) Similar goals as the Industrial Revolution. 2. New levels of power and control. a) Supply-Chain Optimization (SCO)/Supply Chian Management (SCM)/Customer Relationship Management (CRM)-Extreme Integration. (1) Backoffice (a) Operations. (b) Logistics. (c) Finance. (d) Human resources. (2) Non-transaction based systems/ Frontoffice (a) Sales. (b) Marketing. (c) Customer Service. 3. Can be directly manipulated in the interest of the company. Cultural Striation A. Technologies whose explicit purpose is to striate the contents of public cultural existence 1. Going beyond what the public is aware of. 2. The creation of new knowledge, completely inaccessible to the general public. a) This knowledge is used to control public behavior. 2

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Computer models meant to dictate policies and specific solutions. 1. Managed Care/HMOs a) Deny service to people based on the potential for profit. 2. Most of these systems are closed and inaccessible to the public and researchers. 3. These policies have gone beyond what anyone expected, as they now effect almost every aspect of our lives. 4. Predictive analysis, data mining, customer behavior emulation. a) All of this data is used to figure out where costs can be cut, profits can be maximized, and customer patterns can be figured out. Geodemography. (Jonathan Robbin) 1. Tools that precisely calculate statistics in advertising and sales. a) Target marketing. 2. Claritas a) A provider of these services in the U.S., owned by Nielson. (1) (PRIZM) Suite of marketing applications to group populations into statistics based on their consumption. (a) Allows for specific marketing. (b) Segmenting people (e.g. Urban Uptown, Urban Core, etc.) b) Cybertypes (Lisa Nakamura) (1) Data about people can be collected and distributed heavily. (2) Preserves racial classifications and stereotypes. (a) Its difficult to rid data analysis of these assumptions. Should we? c) Tools like Claritas, and the results it produces can be difficult to conceptualize, especially the power they hold. d) It has grown so effective that its functions can be exposed through their effects with little fear of public reprisal. Striations become more real than what they actually represent. 1. Numbers become more important than the social behavior. 2. Politically useful 3. Most people are unaware of these tools, so they remain most useful for the elite, those managing everyone else. 3

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Computationalist World History A. Gaming strategy 1. Quantified resources are maximized so that the player can win the game. 2. Real-Time Strategy (RTS). a) Building worlds by monitoring the growth of resources such as food, water, etc. b) Villagers, drone collect resources to serve you. c) Outsmarting your opponents. 3. Artificially intelligent opponents. a) Cannot differentiate AI play and human play if you are watching the screen as a oppose to the human controlling the player on the screen. b) We emulate the patterns of the computers we are playing against. 4. Games are all calculated ahead of time, so winning is about numbers, and the discovery of a pattern or computerized behavior you can apply to your strategy. 5. Real world strategies. a) Adventure. (1) Gather resources to fight increasingly more powerful opponents. b) Civilization. (1) Different civilizations fight against each other. c) Users repeatedly play the game, eventually becoming bored with it. (1) Realpolitik. (a) Users continuously trying to gain power. 6. Age of Empires (Microsoft) a) Choose a race/civilization/nation to play. (1) Each group offers different features/advantages for game play. These groups are not really customizable, so you are bound to the characteristics of the group you initially chose. (2) Minority groups are not present within the civilization you chose, ignoring historical issues. (3) These categorizations reduce the complexities of social life to measurable quantities. (much like PRIZM) (4) The cultural characteristics of a nation are reduced down to military value.

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b) Nations start in the dark age then move into the castle age, and then the imperial age. Gaining higher learning and religion. (1) Human history is unified, progressive, and linear. (a) Culture as a decoration. (b) Computer-generated history. c) Win by defeating everyone else with your army, or by great economic development that allows you maintain a stronger army than anyone else. (1) All civilizations eventually want to become empires, striving towards Western technology. (a) Civilizations are eliminated as they are replaced by more powerful forces. (2) The user maintains their godlike power and they watch all of their pawns do the work. They are not completing the actual labor themselves as they levelup. d) About the absence of history, or the transcoding of history into specific mathematical models. (Alex Galloway) e) The winner is America. (McKenzie Wark) B. ERP values are set by humans who only have a certain amount of power when it comes to actually fulfilling demands. 1. Humans deceive themselves with these numbers. 2. Maximize human social satisfaction. a) Satisfied system. (1) The ideal. (2) Static, uninteresting, boring. Empires and Computation A. Multinational corporations. 1. Political power and control. 2. No longer subject to the either the internal (labor union) or external (governmental) oversight that had been the hallmark of [a] liberal political economy. B. The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Friedman (2005). 1. People can collaborate on a more equal level. 2. Technological determinism/technocentrism. a) Technological changes will lead to egalitarian social changes. 3. Globalization will be driven by a more diverse group of users. 4. While people at the bottom may be empowered via access to technology and the internet, the people on top have more access to 5

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better technology, so how can the people at the bottom really trump that? 5. Forces. a) Personal PC, Microsoft Windows. b) Commercialization of the internet. c) Work flow software. (1) Distribution of work, more hours of labor. 6. The market place and labor are flattened. a) Technology can bring power to workers, but it brings more power to those overseeing the workers. Technological progressivism 1. Important for U.S. identity. a) Promotion of technological progressivism as essential to the success of a democracy. b) Technology as an advertisement for America, making it look attractive. (1) Other cultures (e.g. Asian) begin to promote this same idea. c) Multinational Corporation (1) Geographical location is no longer as important. (a) Locations exist on a single global grid. (i) We have access to this grid (e.g. Google Earth). (2) Changes in communication technologies and transportation. (a) No communicative lag. (3) Corporations existing as a brand, almost like a nation. (a) Employees must dedicate their lives to this brand, they are controlled by it. IT Doesnt Matter (Nicholas Carr) 1. Technology no longer gives businesses an advantage over one another as these tools are so widely distributed. 2. Transformation from strategic resource into a commodity input. Must be paid by all but provides distinction to none. 3. We look towards new technology as a savior of sorts, as we hope for a future filled with solutions to the problems of today. Surveillance 1. One of the only things the general public is routinely made aware of about computers. 2. We know about government surveillance, and that they use all sort of technology to keep an eye on us. 6

a) If we could also use technology to watch those governing us we would be less concerned about this technology watching over us. F. Counterculture 1. In the late 1960s groups of radicals embraced the computer as a means of change, as it made them feel like they were the master of something, they could create and control. a) Although in the end this didnt work out for these hippies as this revolution became about exactly the individualistic power it said it was resisting, in no small part via the embracing of a technology that wears its individualist expansionism on its sleeve. G. Establishment of hierarchy in places that did not previously have such forms of precise control. 1. What had previously gone unnoticed or uncontrolled. 2. Individuals seen as cogs in larger political machines, as objects available for the manipulation of those with real power. Chapter 7 Computationalization, Striation, and Cultural Authority. VI. Mass Computerization A. Too see the world as computable. 1. Is this the ultimate accomplishment? 2. Technocentrism. B. Distributed knowledge/productivity. C. Majority language/technology. 1. Threat to minority/cultural customs. a) Is this a bad thing? b) Does this allow for opportunities with a majority language/technology? 2. The rightful attainment of modern oppourtunity. 3. Cannot deny anyone the right to change their life. a) Economic opportunities. b) Seek new language/culture. 4. Computers as a grounding cultural principle. a) Networking the World Mattelart D. We can pinpoint anyone on the grid. 1. The mobile phone is supposed to be a liberated technology, as it allows you to no longer be bound to something. a) It can become a burden, it is always attached to you. b) You are expected to answer it right away, it become a responsibility of yours, not the person calling you.

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(1) There are very few excuses for not answering, because it is always on you. (a) No service? 2. Mobile phones are generally advertised as beneficial to the employee or person carrying it, rather than to the company or person who may call them. a) Can be annoying to have your boss contacting you all the time. You cant escape. (1) Notice people who go on vacation and leave their phones behind, this is why. b) We are so used to viewing these devices as helpful to us, so that we can stay in contact with everyone all the time, but what if we dont want to stay in contact with everyone all the time? Spreadsheets, Projects, and Material Striation A. Different applications capable of organizing/approaching information in a variety of ways. B. Microsoft Office. 1. Suite of all these different productivity tools. a) Makes you think you need them, makes you think about using them all or approaching different tasks different. (1) Important for Microsoft to have a hold on this. b) The potential always exists for one way of looking at the capabilities to swamp the others unexpectedly. C. Spreadsheets. 1. Existed before actual computers. 2. Became a standard for the operation of businesses. 3. Companies now think in spreadsheets, they organize their data based on this logic. 4. Uses some of the most obvious capabilities of a computer. 5. Scientific management. 6. Encourage the capitalization of almost all resources, far beyond the ordered capitalization of physical labor that Taylor studied so carefully. 7. Balance Sheets. a) Financial tools. b) Allowed anyone to use them, they didnt have to be trained or know how to calculate properly. (1) They also existed before the computer itself, but they made the process so much easier with the use of the computer. 8. It is the spreadsheet reality and not the everyday phsycial activity of employees that is the most real object of discussion. 8

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a) What is the meaning of the employee? b) Are employees more akin to data these days? c) Hierarchy and striation are clearly visible. 9. Who is entitled access to these spreadsheets? 10. The work becomes an extension of how you want the spreadsheet to turn out in a way. a) Encourages a different view of the work, everything becomes clear, as assets or resources. b) Human processes are not really present on these spreadsheets. Project Management Software. 1. Microsoft Project a) Similar to spreadsheets, its functions are performed with spreadsheets. b) Human activity management. c) Computable symbols represent human workers, showing relational data, etc. (1) Their direct effect on the outcome of a project. d) People as stats! e) Smooth space to those at the top of the hierarchy as they think of the employees beneath them more as facts and figures than as people completing human activity. f) At higher levels tasks sometimes only involve the use of spreadsheets without the social realities of other human activity. g) Computational reality supersedes social experience. The Laws of Cool, by Alan Liu 1. Frederick Taylor a) Scientific Management. (1) Industrial psychology. (2) Employee testing. b) Organization Man. (1) Computerization in the form of industrial mainframes. (2) Computerization in the mainframe era was the logical extrapolation of the apparatuses of generalized control that originally fostered the great bureaucratic organizations of industrial society. c) Implementation of computation is more effective today because it appears to be more individualized. d) The Culture of Cool (1) It surrounds computers, we accept certain things, like the surveillance. 9

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Computationalism as a strategy in the workplace. 1. The belief that the careful documentation of each moment of each day will expose patterns that can then be analyzed and used for success. a) Documenting every minute can cause paranoia and stress. Dehumanizing. 2. Despite the fact that employees are very aware of this surveillance, it doesnt seem to cause a problem. a) Are we just that set into this reality? b) Is it that we are also users of this computational power so we dont think of it as a bad thing? c) Many employees even help to implement and keep in the power the forces that monitor them so closely. Tools for Authority A. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) 1. Connections to the Industrial Revolution. a) Division of work into specific, defined tasks. (1) Division of labor. (a) Efficiency! (b) Specialization. (2) Similar goals as the Industrial Revolution. 2. New levels of power and control. a) Supply-Chain Optimization (SCO)/Supply Chain Management (SCM)/Customer Relationship Management (CRM)-Extreme Integration. (1) Backoffice (a) Operations. (b) Logistics. (c) Finance. (d) Human resources. (2) Non-transaction based systems/ Frontoffice (a) Sales. (b) Marketing. (c) Customer service. B. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Marketing term for a suite of contact, maintenance, and knowledge software modules. 1. Designed to more effectively communicate with customers/target them. a) Personalization of data kept about customers. b) Can figure out the needs/likes of individuals, encourage loyalty and retention.

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2. CRM keep track of the communication between companies and contacts, in order to track progress, ROI, etc. 3. Make it seem like you are, as a company, providing the maximum, but really you are providing the minimum. a) Computerized customer service and interactions. b) Forwarding calls in certain ways that often avoid actual human contact. (1) Often not in favor of the consumer, especially if it is not worth it for the company. c) Building customer relationships. 4. Software is developed by large corporations like Oracle, Microsoft, SAP, BAAN, PeopleSoft, Computer Associates. 5. Defining and controlling social actions. a) Precise and deliberate. b) Data mining and analytics still need human interpretation in order for them to be more accurate/useful. 6. MarketSmart Product example. a) Decisioning tools. b) Analyze marketing results. c) Decide a course of action based on success rates, etc. d) Automatically personalized web pages. 7. Businesses are controlled by a small group of people at the top. a) Those beneath the management are given less opportunity to make decisions, meaningful contributions, etc. Health Care (Managed Care) 1. Gaming simulations. a) Responding to our behavior/symptoms as if we existed on a pre-existing chart. (1) Lowers the quality of care. 2. Using data to decide who to market to (e.g. Lasik eye surgery). 3. System of referrals from doctors other services (e.g. physical therapy). 4. Pharmaceuticals. a) Creating a relationship with customers. (1) Communities. (2) Brand loyalty. b) Marketing in particular ways. (1) It seems like these companies may be providing a lot of useful information, but they are also working to make you feel like you have learned, like you are an educated consumer. 11

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Computerized Control (due to ERP) 1. Development, control, planning that is made possible on a larger scale with the use of computers. 2. Systems tend to be skewed towards profit and capital. 3. Representation of abstractions from the real world in a formalized system. a) Many of the quantifiable values given to these abstractions is more so construed than accurate. b) Identify the economic inefficiencies. Internal and External Striation A. Exposure of criminal activity within companies. 1. Many of these large telecommunications companies were run by small groups of people who had a strong personal stake in the financial outcome of the business. a) Made it seem like their priorities were in the successful delivery of service to customers. (1) Employed the minimum amount of people to get the job done, providing the minimum amount of service. 2. Enron a) Fraud/theft lied about facts, figures, data. b) Purposely manipulated the power grid in California, forced the cost of energy to go up. c) Technology as metaphor. (1) The Wizard of RAC (Risk-Adjusting Committee). (2) Looking for the technology in Oz. (3) Scarecrow you didnt need a brain to do deals at Enron. (4) Tin Man you didnt need a heart either. (5) Lion earnings-stealing, offered a job. d) Utility and ideology of computers on display. (1) Promising benefits to consumers, but really helping those on the very top the most. B. Computerization does not offer a wholly new way of doing business; it offers new speed and intensities with which to accomplish the goals that have always been there. 1. Whats the difference between being an outsourced laborer who makes silicon chips, or being a customer service operator. a) Unequally distributed resources, only visible to those at the top of the structure.

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2. Computerization thus offers accelerated processes of capital extraction and exploitation that we like to pretend we have grown past. a) Oligarchical owners have transcended everyday financial means. of course employees are still entangled within them. Walmart 1. Exemplifies the contemporary corporation. a) Dynastic succession. b) Computational activities as marks of accomplishment. 2. Hiding business practices (discrimination, taking advantage of monopoly). a) Blaming the consumers for wanting lower prices. 3. Walmarts computerization systems. a) Guarding their patents and trade secrets, yet providing a lot of information to investors. b) Display their use of technology as a badge. (1) Making it seem like its beneficial for the consumer to shop at a store that alerts warehouses automatically when theyll need more products. (2) Forces other companies/warehouse/stores to upgrade their systems in order to be up to date. c) Does not outsource their technology at all. (1) Enabled them to do everything in house at much lower rates. (2) Can implement new systems faster. 4. Unique Innovations a) A system that notifies warehouses/suppliers when a product is low. (1) Forces the other end of the deal (warehouse) and competitors to upgrade. b) RFID chips to track specific products (down to the exact details of a box of cereal). (1) Concern about the uses of technology like this in the future. (a) Personal privacy. (b) Private space. (c) Public Space. c) Surveillance of delivery systems.

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Epilogue Computers without Computationalism. X. Main goals of the book. A. Disconnect between the capabilities of physical computers and the ideology of computationalism. 1. The more we imagine computers can take over sociopolitical functions, the more we will give up our own influence over those phenomena. B. Have we discovered the process of computation? C. If the computer was actually developed, then a bulk of its features are only available to those who developed it, and profit-oriented intellectual property restrictions. D. Is everything computational? 1. If this were the case, we would ultimately build more complex machines in order to master the universe. E. Professional computationalists. 1. Connection to power/entitlement. a) Manipulation/development of tools only by experts. F. Tools of the Mind (Adele Diamond) 1. Experimental preschool curricula. a) In environments where goals are indicated, children are unable to develop the ability to regulate themselves. (1) Environments are too structured, children do not create their own rules. (2) Relation to ADHD (I do NOT agree with this btw). G. What can computers do? 1. What operations in our world can they replace or augment? 2. Should computers be used for everything of which they are capable? H. The relationship between individuals (and institutions) and computers produces problematic psychological and/or ideological formations.

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