Dave Young Annotation-Cyburbia

An Annotation of two chapters from James Harkins' Cyburbia [The Network Effect, Peer Pressure]

The Network Effect

In The Network Effect, Harkin provides a contextual analysis of network theory, introducing the concept with a reference to Pierre Bayard's book How To Talk About Books You Haven't Read: “More important than mere books [...] were the teeming associations that tied those books together in the literary system.” (Harkin: 72) This idea of the study of the relationships between objects is central to network theory, and ultimately, as Harkin argues, to the way we live in the 21st century. Further elaborated on through the discussion of various mid 20th century social experiments (from Milgram's Small World Theory to the 70s Deadhead's dreams of a global consciousness with computer networks) and later the assimilation of network theory into economics and business models, the link with Norbert Wiener's theories of cybernetics becomes apparent. The concept of viewing the human body as a control and communication system, as Weiner proposed in his book Cybernetics (1937), had been “refined and extended into the network metaphor” (Harkin, 83) by the 1990s. Harkin describes how the network effect (ie - how the number of connections in a network rises exponentially to the number of nodes within the network) can be understood as a real-world social phenomenon, influencing how people look for jobs or organise protests. The chapter comes to an end with Harkin citing many critics of network theory, including a failed re-attempt of Milgram's Small World theory which, upon further investigation, resulted in the discovery of the cover-up of the original experiment's failure. On a final note, he suggests that network-theory becomes more directly relevant to society with the rise in popularity of the internet and Web 2.0.

Peer Pressure

Harkin's historical overview in the previous chapter naturally leads to how network theory has affected current trends in cyberculture. According to Harkin, Facebook is a perfect example of the network-effect: it becomes much more valuable as it's population increases and it reaches a critical mass. Along the way, it changes how we socialise -and how we talk about socialising - through the introduction of new words and phrases derived from Facebook itself. Harkin partially attributes the success of social networks and other web 2.0 concepts to technological advancements in internet speeds, without which the late-90s worries of a “monumental” cyber traffic-jam might not have been unfounded. Fed by a the public appetite for voyeurism, amateur pornography, diy reality tv websites, and fictional v-loggers proliferated online. The result, argues Harkin, is a labyrinthine mass of content that turns surfers into a state of cyburban daydreamers, clicking their way aimlessly around the internet.

While connecting people through a network of tags and google's page-rankings, the ability to communicate with people of similar opinions and worldviews as yourself is more instant than ever before. Harkin discusses the internet presence of the perpetrators of school shootings and the existence of pro-ana (anorexia) websites, providing a view on the darker results of social networks. Harkin finishes by linking the myriad of content previously discussed with cybernetics, and how feedback systems and other ideas central to network theory describe the very basis of how we communicate online.

Other books on a similar topic:
Bell,David: The Cybercultures Reader
Weiner, Norbert: Cybernetics