4 research outputs found
Hackers: a case-study of the social shaping of computing
The study is an examination of hacking, placing the act in the
context of theories of technological change. The account of hacking is
used to substantiate those theories that emphasise the societal
shaping of technology over the notion of technological determinism.
The evolution of hacking is traced, showing how it reflects changing
trends in the nature of information: the most vivid of these is the
conceptualisation of information known as 'cyberspace'. Instead of
simply cataloguing the impact of technical changes within computing,
and the effects they have had upon information, the study shows
how technical change takes place in a process of negotiation and
conflict between groups.The two main groups analysed are those of the Computer
Underground (CU) and the Computer Security Industry (CSI). The
experiences and views of both groups are recounted in what
constitute internalist and externalist accounts of hacking and its
significance. The internalist account is the evidence provided by
hackers themselves. It addresses such issues as what motivates the
act of hacking; whether there is an identifiable hacking culture; and
why it is almost an exclusively male activity. The externalist account
contains the perceptions of hacking held by those outside the
activity.The state of computing's security measures and its
vulnerability to hacking is described, and evidence is provided of the
extent to which hacking gives rise to technical knowledge that could
be of potential use in the fixing of security weaknesses. The division
within the CSI between those broadly cooperative with hackers and
those largely hostile to them is examined, and the reasons why
hacking knowledge is not generally utilised are explored. Hackers
are prevented from gaining legitimacy within computing in a process
referred to as 'closure'. Examples include hackers being stigmatised
through the use of analogies that compare their computing activities
to conventional crimes such as burglary and tresspass.Stigmatisation is carried out by the CSI who use it in a process of
professional boundary formation to distinguish themselves from
hackers. It is also used by other authority figures such as Members
of Parliament whose involvement in the process of closure takes the
form of the anti-hacking legislation they have passed, an analysis of
which concludes this study
The body project : transhumanism, posthumanism and modification in twentieth century cyberpunk
This thesis focuses upon the social, cultural and political implications of employing radical body modification practices through an analysis of late twentieth century cyberpunk texts. Using the early works of William Gibson, Rudy Rucker and George Alec Effinger, the aim of this thesis is to demonstrate the ways in which cyberpunk writing works to critique the inherently transhumanist desire for creating technologically advanced societies in which the human race will potentially come to be replaced by a far superior race of posthumans. The thesis begins with an examination of the history of transhumanist thought, and applies the central tenets of transhumanism to the cyberpunk works of Gibson, Rucker and Effinger to illustrate the ways in which cyberpunk critiques the concept and deployment of revolutionary technologies in its analyses of near-future technologically advanced societies. The subsequent chapters of this thesis focus upon specific aspects of selected cyberpunk texts, including the commodification and fetishisation of the modified body; theologically-informed technological transcendence; the assertion of identity and sense of self in the modified subject; and the treatment of women in the race towards posthumanity. While a great deal of critical attention has been paid to the work of high profile cyberpunk writers such as Gibson, the works of other writers such as Rucker and Effinger have been comparatively ignored. The aim of this thesis is to address this imbalance, and to provide in-depth analyses of not only Gibson’s well-known Sprawl Trilogy (1984- 1988), but also of Rucker’s Ware Tetralogy (1982-2000) and Effinger’s Marîd Audran series (1986-1991). All three sets of texts challenge the reader to consider not only the personal, but also the social, cultural and geopolitical implications of both the local and global employment of radical technologies, and this thesis analyses these implications using a transhumanist framework
The Trouble with Knowing: Wikipedian consensus and the political design of encyclopedic media
Encyclopedias are interfaces between knowing and the unknown. They are devices that negotiate the middle ground between incompatible knowledge systems while also performing as dream machines that explore the political outlines of an enlightened society. Building upon the insights from critical feminist theory, media archaeology, and science and technology studies, the dissertation investigates how utopian and impossible desires of encyclopedic media have left a wake of unresolvable epistemological crises.
In a 2011 survey of editors of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, it was reported that 87 per cent of Wikipedians identified as men. This statistic flew in the face of Wikipedias utopian promise that it was an encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Despite the early optimism and efforts to reduce this disparity, Wikipedias parent organization acknowledged its inability to significantly make Wikipedia more equitable. This matter of concern raised two questions: What kinds of knowing subjects is Wikipedia designed to cultivate and what does this conflict over who is included and excluded within Wikipedia tell us about the utopian dreams that are woven into encyclopedic media? This dissertation argues that answering these troubling questions requires an examination of the details of the present, but also the impossible desires that Wikipedia inherited from its predecessors.
The analysis of these issues begins with a genealogy of encyclopedias, encyclopedists, encyclopedic aesthetics, and encyclopedisms. It is followed by an archeology of the twentieth century deployment of consensus as an encyclopedic and political program. The third part examines how Wikipedia translated the imaginary ideal of consensus into a cultural technique. Finally, the dissertation mobilizes these analyses to contextualize how consensus was used to limit the dissenting activities of Wikipedia's Gender Gap Task Force. The dissertation demonstrates that the desire and design of encircling knowledge through consensus cultivated Wikipedias gender gap. In this context, if encyclopedic knowledge is to remain politically and culturally significant in the twenty-first century, it is necessary to tell a new story about encyclopedic media. It must be one where an attention to utopian imaginaries, practices, and techniques not only addresses how knowledge is communicated but also enables a sensitivity to the question of who can know