GOOGLIST REALISM: The Google-China saga and the free-information regimes as a new site of cultural...
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Transcript of GOOGLIST REALISM: The Google-China saga and the free-information regimes as a new site of cultural...
Research at CNNICChina Internet Network Information Center
I lost access to my life! Hitting the refresh button when Google services were blocked in summer of 2009
CCTV Claims Google.CN is Full of Porn
http://bit.ly/c0Vqnyhttp://bit.ly/aqk7NF
Google is localized for 180 countries
Google.COM Google.COM.MX
Different search results on local domains
2006 Google.CN
2009 Google services blocked
Jan. 2010 Security breach, no more censoring
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/new-approach-to-china-update.html
March 2010 move to Hong Kong
Good-bye .CN, hello .COM.HK
PART I ethnographic analysis on why Google.CN wasn’t useful in China
PART 2 clash in moral orders
PART 3 The free-information regime as cultural imperialism and neo-informationalism
PART I ethnographic analysis on why Google.CN wasn’t useful in China
http://culturalbytes.com/post/340498962/googleandchina
Google failed at:
1brand
recognition
2marketing campaign
3Understanding
non-eliteusers
1
brand recognition
微软的名字 苹果
Unsure of Google’s actual name
Gougou.com = DOG Gogle.CN
GU GE 谷歌 Harvest Valley Song
www.noGuGE.com
2
marketing campaign
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ed7oDVyHwA&feature=player_embedded
Baidu vs. Google commercial
3
Understandingnon-elite
users
DIGITAL
ELITE-USERShighly educated • fluent in English • own a credit card
ONE software does not fit all
hire ethnographers • go beyond usability tests • understand local values
PART 2 clash in moral orders
“..both Google and China are after the
same thing…”
http://bit.ly/bgDiEi
-Alex Pasterneck
access to information
China Google
Google Seeing like a corporation
http://investor.google.com/corporate/2004/ipo-founders-letter.html
Normative statement versus prescriptive statement
“squeezing bunnies is bad” “don’t squeeze bunnies”
media stereotype of hacker
HACKER ETHIC
Information should be free
Mistrust of any form of authority decentralization
Computer access should be free
Information should be shared
Computers and free-information improves quality of life
Enlightenment Ideals
All men are created equal.Kant
I think therefore I am.Descarte
Morally good acts bring happiness to the greatest number of people
Bentham
Men [sic] are free
Contract with society
Individuals
Educated
Rational
Enlightenment ideals
The Enlightenment
2000 CE
1700-1800 CE
The Enlightenment
2000 CE
1700-1800 CE200 BCE
Confucius
China Seeing like a state
Social Harmony
Confucius, China (551 BCE – 479 BCE)Bad-ass Philosopher
dutyf i l ia l p ie tyhumi l i t yd iscre t ionobed ience
Obedience
virtuous • obey higher forms of authority • maintain harmony • acceptance
MORALCLASH
good versus bad
access to information
China Google
WEALTHGeneration
through information
GOOGLE’S PROJECT
turn the world
informationinto digital bytes of
Adsense: 97% of Google’s revenue
PART 3 The free-information regime as cultural imperialism and neo-informationalism
“It's an ethical edge...that's always been at the heart of Google's disruptive success.”
Umair HaqueEconomist, Writer at Harvard Review Blog, Director of Havas Media Lab
http://bit.ly/90nClDhttp://bit.ly/cICMFW
MORALethical beliefs that justify expansionary practices of extracting commodities and creating new markets in the name of a "higher calling."
TROPE
WEAPONSfree-information, open platforms, and
distributed architectures
guns, germs, steel
Neo-informationalismInformation functions like currency:
Borderlessunregulatedmobile
NEW QUESTIONSABOUT SOCIAL INFORMATION
For example, what role do we want to play in a social agenda that prioritizes the ubiquity of free-information?
How comfortable are we with this approach when it is part of an imposition of neo-informationalist values in support of capitalism's search for new information markets?
Values that shape our technologies
Values that shape the way we use technologies
Values that define who we are
Thanks you to the following funders whose grants have allowed me to conduct my research in China: National Science Foundation and UC Pacific Rim Research Program
Thank you!
Tricia [email protected]