INTERNET & CULTURE
SUBJECT GUIDE
A variety of texts exploring human relationships both with and through the Internet (and other communication technologies). Focus is mainly on the sociology, politics, and economics of the human-Internet ecosystem but there are other approaches and subtopics in this list as well. I gleaned a lot of these from the syllabus of a class I took during undergrad called "Digital Cultures," which thus serves as the core of this list, though I've since branched out beyond that.
- Anonymous.
Who Are You Streaming For?: Three Criticisms of Livestreaming . - "Digital surveillance" is a common buzzword these days. This freely available zine explores concrete examples of it - particularly how the police utilize livestreams to suppress activism and the dangers of the culture of self-surveillance which has been engendered by the Internet.
- Barbrook, Richard & Andy Cameron.
"The Californian Ideology." Science as Culture, 1996. | PDF - The quintessential takedown of the neo-liberal capitalist ideologies that fueled the development of the Internet and the hype surrounding it. Successfully predicted what the Internet has turned out to be 30 years later.
- Dzieza, Josh.
"The Cloud Under the Sea." The Verge, 2024. - A really engrossing (and beautifully designed) piece of journalism on Internet cable repair ships and the people who work on them. This article particularly focuses on the Japanese crews that kept the country in contact with the rest of the world in the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake.
- Galloway, Alexander.
Protocol: How Control Exists After Decentralization. . The MIT Press, 2006. | PDF - An interdisciplinary exploration of how the very building blocks of the Internet (ie. code) relate to power, control, and authority. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but the few chapters I read for class were fascinating, if a bit dense.
- Koch, Karl Emil.
"Architecture: The Cult Following of Liminal Space." Musee, 2020. - Provides a nice overview and some thoughtful insights into the "liminal space" subculture, which I believe says a lot about the modern digital era and the generations growing up in it.
- McDonald, Glenn.
Furialog. - This isn't an individual text, but rather, an entire blog. McDonald used to be Spotify's "data alchemist" - the guy responsible for the intensive defining and categorizing of genres on the platform, and for the (really cool) Every Noise at Once genre map. Along with many others, he was laid off in December of 2023, effectively ending the mass listening data research project that he had dedicated his career to (which is why Spotify Wrapped 2024 sucked, by the way). I've linked to his blog post about data rights, but have enjoyed exploring the various topics he's written about (from algorithms to digital surveillance). In fact, his work is partially what inspired me to start this website and reclaim some of my agency as a digital denizen!
- Sconce, Jeffrey.
Haunted Media: Electronic Presence from Telegraphy to Television. Duke University Press, 2000. | PDF - Explores the phenomenology unique to human-technological relations, particularly the ways in which new, "futuristic" technology interacts with the past and finds ways to haunt our culture(s). I have not read the whole thing yet, but I adore the chapter on radio communication and think about it regularly.
- Terranova, Tiziana.
"Free Labor: Producing Culture for the Digital Economy." Social Text, 63, Vol. 18 (2), Summer 2000. | PDF - Analysis of labor exploitation in the Internet age. Predates the term "techno-feudalism" by over 20 years, but more or less describes that exact phenomenon.
- Young, Damon R.
"Ironies of Web 2.0." Post45, vol. 2, May 2019 | PDF - An apt discussion about post-irony and the obfuscation of meaning and intention in the Internet era.
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