Introduction of New Technologies

The people from the beginning of 1900s would probably face jetlag if they have been in our modern electrified cities. Imagine, they will start sleeping later everyday having the possibility of experiencing the benefits of the light during the night time as well (Of course, i do not disregard the farmers who need to wake up early in order to make best use of the daylight they have in the farms).

I recently hang two decorative plates on the walls of my house. They are called... and have the Electricity series painted on them. I always liked them as a symbol of the over the top usage of the popular culture as a tool to educate the society. One of them displays a grandpa reading a book under the table lamp to his grandchildren. The other plate has a drawing of an elderly man sitting on a couch reading a book and a woman next to him knitting sitting through using the light coming from a floor lamp. In both of the plates, the overal pictures is quite dark (as the lighting then was not as bright as the ones that we have now, thus the drawings portray a realistic state of a room with lighting of the time). Thus the series of plates promotes the usage of electricity through reinforcing its benefits for the users.

For a 21st century person, this might seem quite absurd as we take it granted electricity granted and it is a normal part of our life. Why would anyone resist using it? We don't think of the process of introduction of electricity and its acceptance by the users of the time.  Of course, anyone would have accepted electricity with open arms and what their homes to be connected to the electricity network. But, social scientist focusing on the development of Technologies says the opposite. It has not been an easy process as we have assumed. Explaining the actions of the American rural farmers during the introduction of telephone lines and the electrification, Ronald Kline portrays different strategies employeed by rural American in adopting these Technologies to patterns of their rural life. Resisting a technology does not just mean opposing its introduction into a certain community or not purchasing the technology. It can also signify "not using a technology in a prescribed manner" (Kline, 2002 53).

For example, in the beginning of 1900s rural farmer communities embraced the telephone lines installed in their houses, but used these party lines (the telephone lines that were shared by multiple households) in line with their patterns of rural life. The party line was used for playing music to the users of the same line or for eavesdropping (Kline, 2002 54). And this practice was considered socially aceptable among the users (ibid 56) as a party line became a tool that strengthen the community ties through being adapted within the usage patterns of the rural people.
Resistance towards electricity was for different reasons. There were people who did not "feel that electricity is worthwile to them even though they can often well afford it" (Kline, 2002 60). There were also issues in relation to the erection of the electricity poles as they were intervening the plowing of the land people owned. There were also questions raised when people heard that the power outlets will also be installed in the bedroom since it seemed like a luxury (Kline, 2002 60). Kline calls these "contested meanings" (Kline, 2002 54) rather than resistance as they can be interpreted as "Transformative Resistance because they helped to create technological and social change" (Kline, 2002 53). The meaning adhered to the telephone and the electricity in the urban was not same as the one in the rural. People used these Technologies differently according to their patterns of life. Kline's article is important as it highlights users are not passive recipients of the transfer of technology from one context to the other, they are "active consumers who resisted, modified, and selectively adopted these Technologies on an individual basis" (Kline, 2002 51).
My decorative plates display popular culture posters that were used in order to promote electricity use at home. They were actually part of the overall strategies to overcome the resistance/modification of the users.

Homecoming Queensu

One of the best parts of studying at a University (other than the vast amount of research facilities, the famous proffessors and the variety of possibilities that specific university offers) is the celebrated days. In different countries, this means different things. In Turkey, university students and adminstrators considere MayFair or SpringFest is the biggest event of the year. Each big university, organizes 3-4 day events in the month of May to celebrate the coming of the spring. Well, actually, it is mainly a celebration and a break for the students before the final exams. I remember the days of MayFest in Bilkent, 3 days of concerts/parties and laying on the grass enjoying the spring sun. The profs used to know the class turnout would be quite low in those days, so it was normal for the students not to attend the courses (even though it would mean being penalized for not attending), and delay their assignments for these specific dates (so mostly considerate profs would not have had the deadlines on ar around these dates). It was great joy.

In Canada, and in specifically in Queen's University, the biggest event of the year is the Homecoming - the second weekend of October every year. Don't let the name fool you, it is for both the alumni and the present students of the university. It is three days of celebrations and revival of university spirit. Three days of blue, yellow and red (the colors of Queen's University- Tricolour) all around the streets, on the t-shirts, on the jackets. Streets full of new and old alumni and lots of drunk students. In addition to the official schedule announced by the university (that covers variety of team games played against other universities' teams, university tours, brunches, tree planting activities and the Street Festival with a main act), currently enrolled students also organize house parties where beer in the keg is the main drink. If you are an undergraduate these house parties are the places to be in these days. If you are doing a PhD like I do, the saturday night Street Festival is the most enjoyable part of the Homecoming. This year, the main act was "Walk off the Earth" (https://www.walkofftheearth.com/). Their music was awosome and it was great to be outdoors listening to a live performance. I loved every bit of their performance, it was also the first time I have seen four musicians playing the same guitar. The closer to the stage, the better it is :)
This year, the Street festival was called reUnion, as the name implies, it is a reunion party at Union Street :) If you want to have a better idea of the Homecoming, I would also recommend you to go to the Homecoming Football game, where seats at Richardson Stadium are arranged according to the graduation year and tickets are sold at minumum 40$. Even if you just go to the Street festival, it would be a well spent time to enjoy the Homecoming.

The information on the festival:
https://myams.org/reunion/
http://www.queensu.ca/alumni/homecoming/register
http://www.queensu.ca/alumni/homecoming/homecoming-events

  

   

   

The Circle by Dave Eggers

I finally completed reading the acclaimed novel of Dave Eggers. The topic of the book is within my research area, so it was a must-read, but I also heard so many nice things about `The Circle`. The context is set in an Engineering and Technology company (similar to Google) called `The Circle`, which has a span of products that its users/customers use. The products can be used with a single login name, and they are all integrated (sounds familiar, right?). In order to use The Circle products, that are "the most dominant and ubiquitous and free, you had to do so as yourself, as your actual self, as your TruYou. The era of fales identities, identity theft, multiple user names, complicated passwords and payment systems, was over...Once you had a single account, it carried you through every corner of the web, every portal, every pay site, everything you wanted to do"(p22). So it was end of anonymity and also it meant our real identities are traced, analyzed, profiled and also acted upon all the time (Again, not much of a distant story - I know that as I am writing these lines, all the logs are compiled in my google account. So the readers would not be stumped by the idea, it is the extend of it that is different from our current state. Imagine there is just one company who has the capabilities of all these tech companies, a total monopoly). The Circle is considered as one of the most desired companies to be employed. Thus, our protagonist - Mae - is a new recruit, dazzled by the services, technology and capabilities of the Circle tools and also by its corporate benefits. I like the book in two respects, first, it bluntly portrays the direction of the technological advancements (of course in a more dramatized way, as there is not much global organized resistance portrayed in the book, such as the privacy lobbies); and second it is actually a criticism of corporate life where all the employees are made part of the shiny world of the big international companies.

The book can also be considered as a response to those still believing in the idea of `I have nothing to hide`, thus surveillance of any kind can be accepted for the bigger good of security, education etc. without drawing a line. Would you like people to know who you voted for in the last election?  or what your sicknesses are? or what you are thinking right now? or any of your choices that you make by yourself? Would you like all this to be open to public? Thus, then why should a company should know all your actions, all your clicks, all the products you bought in the internet or offline. They are personal decisions, given without taking into account any consequences. But what if they have consequences as they actually fill in the gaps in your data-profile. Then Especially the last chapter of the book allows the reader to think about these issues.

The surveillance practices varies and they are accepted as a normal part of the daily life, either by corporations, by individuals, by institutions, and the book portrays it very well through portraying a global understanding where absolute transparency (to watch, to be watched, being always at the gaze, to be judged) become the norm, where `right to disappear`(p.490) vanishes. Being connected is the norm and moreover it is a must.

Of course, most of the characters in the book is portrayed from a technological deterministic point of view: The Circle will save the world with all technologies it will offer. But as with any technology, multiple directions a technology can take within use is an open question. What would humans do with that technology, what will be the unintended consequences be, would it be accepted in the same fashion all over the world? All these questions are actually left to the imagination of the reader, in the sense that Eggers actually displays us the completion of the Circle, but he leaves the portrayals of struggles within this process to the imagination of the reader. Eggers also provides us a point of criticism through the main character, Mae, who believes technology can solve it all. Once it is put into use, it will solve all the problem in the world. It is like these computer advertisements, where once there are computers in the schools, the students will suddenly become geniouses :) Well, are they geniouses? (I know, this is a very simplistic point of view :).

I recommend the book to all! Great book that will urge you to think about technology, surveillance and data ownership. Do numbers tell it all? Does created reality or constructed reality (in the CCTV, in the internet, as your data double) tell it all about our reality? Who do our data belong to? Once you put them in the cloud/social media/web/in our computer, who owns our data?

The Circle:
https://www.amazon.com/Circle-Dave-Eggers/dp/0345807294

A review by Margaret Atwood
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2013/11/21/eggers-circle-when-privacy-is-theft/