Misunderstanding the internet

Pedagogies: An International Journal

ISSN: 1554-480X (Print) 1554-4818 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/hped20

Misunderstanding the internet, by James Curran, Natalie Fenton and Des Freedman Renee Morrison To cite this article: Renee Morrison (2016) Misunderstanding the internet, by James Curran, Natalie Fenton and Des Freedman, Pedagogies: An International Journal, 11:3, 270-273, DOI: 10.1080/1554480X.2016.1209759 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1554480X.2016.1209759

Published online: 27 Jul 2016.

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Misunderstanding the internet, by James Curran, Natalie Fenton and Des Freedman, London, Routledge, 2016, ix + 223 pp., $39.95 (paperback), ISBN 9781-138-90622-8 In an era when the only thing developing faster than the internet is the tendency for technological determinism, Curran, Fenton and Freedman challenge readers to realise that “society exerts, in general, a greater influence on the internet than the other way around” (p. 76). In this second edition of Misunderstanding the internet, the authors update their work of 2012 and call for greater reflection as to what role we should assign this powerful digital medium. Nowhere is this reflection perhaps more important than in modern classrooms. Indeed, elsewhere the internet has been credited with revolutionising education, changing what it means to be knowledgeable and with permanently altering traditional roles of teacher and student. This book serves to challenge such naive assumptions. If teachers and students are to truly understand the internet, and therefore benefit from it, the authors would contend, they must see the technology, albeit spectacular, as one reflecting wider social agendas. The book gives a compelling history of the internet, from its militaristic origins to tweets and eBay and everything in between. In so doing, the authors cleverly prompt us to see the online world as one we have orchestrated, despite early mispredictions, and to see the future of the internet, as also in our hands. The technology, the Preface concedes, has changed a vast array of human experiences on a global scale, but a central premise of the book is that the nature, speed and strength of these changes differ from state to state and city to city. Accordingly, the authors also contend that any legitimate consideration of regulation or censorship, and any deliberation of the internet’s impact must be situated in the specific economic and political context of interest. Anything short of this would simply be, as the title suggests, a misunderstanding. Many students, including those in educational, IT, political science and media fields, will find the edition both informative and provoking, whilst those with real power to make changes to key aspects of the internet would do well to read this work. The 2012 publication arranged chapters thematically. This edition sees the chapters framed largely in chronological order which take readers on a journey from the days when the internet was but a dream through to aspirations for the “internet we want” in future. The chapters are independently authored with the exception of the last chapter which is co-authored by all three authors, yet a shared belief regarding the internet’s past failures and successes and future potential is evident throughout. Readers are at once educated and entertained and at all times reminded that “technologies are never neutral. They are enmeshed with the system of power they exist within” (p. 197). One of the book’s key contributions in fact is its analysis of multiple international cases which sees it surpass other works and remind audiences that the net has a global past and future, not just a Western one. Indeed, the successful manner in which the authors contextualise all discussions of the technology makes it as much an “overview” of our recent history as it is an overview of the internet (p. viii). Right from the opening passage of Chapter 1 Curran appears critical when reminiscing of the initial hopes society had for the internet, including its ability to transform the economy, global tolerance, journalism and political control. This critique does not stem, however, from

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a belief that the egalitarian aims were the wrong ones, but rather reflect frustration that often the desire for the internet to build “a more cohesive, understanding and fairer world” actually resulted in the exact opposite (p. 11). Curran ends the chapter asserting that the internet’s failure to reach its anticipated potential, was at all times the result of its impacts being “filtered though the structures and processes of society” (p. 33). In Chapter 2, Curran establishes the internet’s history as a cosmopolitan one reflecting on key milestones, including early development which saw the net go from a weapon of war designed to withstand Soviet attack to a sort of “electronic commune” for the American and European counterculture (p. 52). This chronology of contradiction continues via discussion of both the emancipatory hopes of World Wide Web creator Tim Berners-Lee and the emergence of the internet as an economic and commercial powerhouse in the nineties. Subsequent accounts tell of an emerging internet where porn and gaming industries were the chief beneficiaries, where spam accounted for more than half of all global email traffic and intellectual property became a real matter of contention. Curran reminds audiences that the evolution of the internet is at all times “shaped by the objectives of the people who funded, created and fashioned it” by naming, and sometimes shaming, those of greatest impact (p. 50). This discussion ranges from the academic scientists who imbued the net with its initial design to the multi-national giants accused of profiteering; from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to government agencies aspiring for greater surveillance; and to the wider public of today now all too happy to produce the net’s user-generated content. In discussing the role played by social media in the Arab Uprisings of 2010, it again becomes obvious that the author sees the internet as a tool used to strengthen the rebellion, rather than its major cause. Similarly, the section on the advancement of women, though fascinating, contextualises the internet as a “coincidental developmental condition’ offering a more organised campaign for otherwise socially and culturally based calls for change (p. 65). Chapter 3 challenges suggestion that the internet has been a catalyst for a paradigmatic shift where we enter a period of post-capitalism characterised by abundance and where media monopolies will be dissolved (p. 85). Freedman here returns briefly to Marxist thought and argues that much of what is today most valuable is also intangible, including access, information, openness and the ability to continue offering “free” services. Other economic changes raised stemming inherently from the internet’s technology include unprecedented storage capacity for online business inventories, the removal of middlemen and the powerfully popular sharing-economy exemplified by newcomers like Airbnb and Uber. For Freedman, though much literature heralds the net for its role in replacing mass markets with the niche and standardisation with flexibility, it is obvious that “even a digital capitalism is still subject to the same episodic crises of supply and demand and the same periods of speculation” (p. 112). He describes the culture of several market leaders including Google, Facebook and Apple as remarkably similar to those of the past highlighting heavily hierarchical company infrastructures, massive acquisitions and employee “perks” that ultimately serve to maximise returns. The chapter presents some compelling metaphors pertaining to a level playing field now experienced among businesses in this digital economy where “ants have megaphones” (p. 89) and “mass media boulders […] have been drowned by a rising tide of pebbles” (p. 91). Ultimately, however, Freedman’s comprehensive research discredits such claims highlighting yet another way in which the internet and its impacts have been misunderstood. In Chapter 4, Freedman attempts to highlight some of the more commanding ideas that “have helped to shape what we now understand as internet regulation” (p. 119). For the most part, he successfully transforms otherwise tedious concepts into socially relevant, if not disconcerting, debate. It is perhaps in this chapter that society’s complicated relationship with the net is most obvious. Internet regulation, Freedman explains, is categorised by

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people both criticising and seeking government control, by industry giants like Google and code writers regulating surreptitiously and by an ongoing struggle between protecting and prioritising public and private interests. The internet will continue to fall short of its potential, he argues, until misleading discussions surrounding self-regulation and net neutrality are replaced by moves towards regulation that focuses not on the bottom line and big data, but on how best to deliver “information, media and culture to online audiences” (p. 131). Chapter 5 sees Fenton address social media and its impacts by raising several seemingly blurred binaries: that of public versus private, of empowerment versus hegemonic consent, of individual versus corporate agendas and of producing and consuming. She attempts to balance her optimism surrounding the “endless possibility” for change inherent in social media use with several critical accounts that such use actually “personalises and depoliticises public issues […] reemphasises old inequalities [and feeds] corporations the necessary data” for maximum profit (p. 146). Like those early academic scientists and anti-establishment coders so influential to the net’s development, Fenton’s desire that social media platforms be used for individual improvement, liberation and counter creation is clear. The chapter discusses several examples where social media have sped up, if not revolutionised, communication and the distribution of news but these accounts are at all times contextualised as exceptions to the rule. Whilst recognising the potential for social media to reach mass audiences, Fenton asks readers to consider just who is telling what to whom, and unashamedly answers with predominantly “white, middle class and well educated” people (p. 153). Such themes, if raised in classrooms today, classrooms where (even very young) students are afforded a global voice, would undoubtedly prove both stimulating and informative. Though Fenton’s work in Chapter 6 goes a long way towards filling the gap, she admits “our understanding of a politics of transformation in the digital age [is still] severely lacking” (p. 181). Drawing on examples of modern radical politics, including the Indignados movement in Spain and the western Occupy Movement, the chapter offers discussion of the benefits and perils associated with “digital activism”. One of the key benefits, it is suggested, is the capacity of the net and mobile technologies to motivate and mobilise many people quickly. Moreover, Fenton contends, the internet as a medium is attractive to younger generations, those more historically likely to be disengaged by mainstream politics. Though some examples are highlighted where the internet has played a crucial role in political change, like the rest of the book, the chapter suggests the revolutionary power of the internet has been limited by the contexts it is espoused in. Fenton also explains the inherent disadvantages of employing digital technologies when building political networks of resistance. She argues, for example, that the speed with which some movements gain momentum actually impedes organisers who are left no time to plan what comes next. Now more than ever, people are able to become “political” instantly and with the click of a button. The difficulty, Fenton explains, is that only a select few who do have any real influence and fewer still are willing to sustain their “activism” beyond an immediate like or share. This results in many “popular, widespread and even global protests” being ignored by those in power (p. 179). This chapter will prove particularly beneficial for students of political science. In the final chapter, the three authors stress, despite a seeming cynicism throughout, that “they refuse to believe that change is not possible” (p. 208). Here they again remind readers that the internet’s failure to single-handedly change the world is the result of the technology reflecting, and at all times being tied to, wider social, political and economic contexts. They warn against tiresome technological deterministic discourses which neglect these contexts in discussing the internet’s impact; discourses particularly present in educational fields today. Curran, Fenton and Freedman close with their “manifesto for cyberspace” where recommendations are made for reformed journalism, public broadband infrastructure, the decommodification of big data and communication mediums, greater privacy protection and

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the demotion of commercial content regulators like Google and Facebook. They implore readers to recognise that “the internet is too important to be left to the politicians, the generals or the accountants” and too important to continue to be misunderstood (p. 209). Possibly the only shortcoming of this edition relates to its signposting of chapter sections. An attempt is made to divide many chapters into various subsections. Though these are at times effective for revision or upon a second read, the final formatting, which sees little difference in font between sub and sub-sub headings throughout, fails in some ways to help guide readers. It is unfortunate that such a minor flaw in an otherwise commendable book was overlooked and could have easily been remedied with the inclusion of more informative, specific page headers and a potentially less sparse Contents page. Misunderstanding the internet is a timely, well-written resource that succeeds in contextualising a formidable topic in an increasingly unrecognisable world. Educators at any level who use, or require students to use, the World Wide Web will benefit from this work’s effective treatment of the internet as a topic. Though the comprehensive and up-to-date research regarding the internet’s history is commendable, the real gift of the work for educators is its power to incite greater scrutiny of the internet as a resource. The book is likely to encourage educators to question pedagogies and curriculum which represent the internet as either transparent or neutral channels of information and communication or as something independently capable of changing the world. Renee Morrison Griffith University renee.morrison2@griffithuni.edu.au © 2016 Renee Morrison http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1554480X.2016.1209759

Teaching and assessing EIL in local contexts around the world, edited by Sandra Lee McKay and James Dean Brown, New York, Routledge, 2016, 180 pp., US$49.95 (paperback), ISBN-13: 978-1138782679 The book addresses currently contested issues in English Language Teaching (ELT), especially with regard to the need to revisit and contextualize the existing monolithic concepts of English and native speaker to a broader and more accommodative view of pluralistic concept of World Englishes. McKay and Brown advocate the recognition that ELT learners are equally legitimate users of Englishes, and argue for the contextual grounding of ELT teaching and learning based on students’ need. It is a particularly relevant book for teachers of English and students from outer and expanding circles to provide them with greater understanding of their learning goals and how to achieve them. Divided into seven chapters, the first three chapters deal with an overview of the social and educational context of English as an International Language (EIL) classrooms and then it moves on to the discussion of the stereotype of bilingual teachers. Then, it touches on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students and the interaction between them, followed by the core aspects of students’ needs. Chapters Four to Six discuss the teaching and assessment of grammar, oracy and literacy. Chapter Seven concludes with the use of technology, especially corpora, in EIL classrooms. Chapter One explores the social and educational context of EIL classrooms. In the social context, the quantity of English speakers as well as its “geographical spread” is discussed. McKay and Brown bring up the fact that English is the most widely spoken language (in 101 countries) followed by Arabic (in 59 countries), Chinese (in 33 countries) and Spanish (in 31