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Tue Jul 31 16:30:31 UTC 2007
this labor is driven by affect, which Michael Hardt thinks of as central
form of "immaterial labor" today. He writes that "*this labor is immaterial=
,
[and] its products are intangible: a feeling of ease, well-being,
satisfaction, excitement, passion=97even a sense of connectedness or commun=
ity
*." It is exactly this satisfaction that people get out of laboring in the
sociable web."
Experiencing the market is the same satisfying feeling. Updating a social
network profile and messaging a friend is like the trying on of clothes and
asking others how it looks amid tons of other people all doing the same
thing, all in the street of the public outdoor market.
"Free labor" or "immaterial labor" is not produced because people are
thinking about doing it for money, or because it can generate money for
others. The sharing -- expression -- of personal information on Facebook
and MySpace by my peers and I (and likely you, too) may be done without a
conscious reflection on the presence of a commercial and institution networ=
k
that allows it to occur. These networks are like urbs and may not
necessarily impact or drive the work of the civitas.
The urbs of Facebook or MySpace, YouTube or EyeSpot have access to the
personal information shared and communicated within their legal frameworks,
just as I have access to evesdropping or staring at people trying on clothe=
s
in the public market, or drawing or recording something I come across. And
like the streets swelling with market stalls, or the forums and piazzas of
ancient and modern Italy, the urbs of the sociable web have been founded by
corporation and institution with enough power or clout to establish a
significantly voluminous public space for a meaningful community. There is=
,
though, a striking contrast between the level of access a digital versus
physical institution of power has to the civitas it fosters. In the urbs o=
f
social networks versus the urbs of the real city: Social networks are
digital and thus data information can be easily recorded and used for other
purposes in other contexts. In the urbs of the city "data" is more ephemera=
l
like spoken words, images remembered or air breathed, unless manifested in =
a
physical or recordable way.
Of course, one would hope, the presence of urbs controlled by powerful
institutions would not destroy accompanying civitas. Unfortunately this is
still occuring with the Ipercoop and mall and its surrounding auto
infrastructure, they are eating away at the mercato.
Ciao,
Matt Waxman
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In response to the critiques on immaterial labor... a reflection from Italy=
...<br><br>This morning I went with some new friends to the Saturday mornin=
g mercato in our neighboring town of San Giovanni in the Valdarno valley, s=
outh of Firenze, Italy. The market -- similar to markets and flea markets e=
xperienced within larger Italian cities, and more so sharing a likeness wit=
h the market of the town in which I currently live, Montevarchi, as well as=
the Greek market within the forest of apartment complexes along the Falero=
n coast of Athens where I have spent time with my grandparents -- was pulsa=
ting with the blood of Mediterranean public life: people, many people, tryi=
ng on clothes, lots of clothes, pressing bathing suits, undergarments, shir=
ts, pants, underpants, up against their bodies, asking their friends and fa=
mily what they think, all right there in the street amid tons of other peop=
le all doing the same thing. Clothing vendors dominated this market. Clothe=
s were cheap. Sometimes fashion gems could even be uncovered in mounds of c=
lothes, like a second-hand store in the USA. The friends I was with w=
ere actively shopping for clothes. I joined them and bought some underwear =
and socks.
<br><br>I was very struck by how very public this shopping experience was, =
more public than shopping in the Ipercoop (Italian Walmart) where the marke=
t-like variety of clothes, electronics, and food is enclosed in effectively=
a giant industrial hanger. It was far more public than shopping along a st=
reet of stores embedded within buildings where the near-purchase experience=
happens between window-shopping and trying on clothes within private chang=
ing-rooms. And it was way more public than shopping in a mall where t=
he giant industrial hanger has eaten the street space and stuffed the store=
s and their changing-rooms far deep into its privatized belly.=20
<br><br>I felt a tad uneasy this morning, standing next to girls my same ag=
e who were trying on shoes and shirts, heading into the back of vans to cha=
nge into dresses and then coming back out again to look at themselves in fu=
ll-body mirrors held up by young men who are also selling the clothes. =
; I felt a tad uneasy, I realized, because I was used to a much more privat=
e shopping experience! And like sitting at a dinner table with many w=
onderful, kind, loquacious people, and all of them speaking a language you =
don't speak that well, I didn't quite know how to enter the convers=
ation without feeling awkwardly bold and out of context. I stood in the mar=
ket this morning, mezmerized by this culturally-saturated Mediterranean sho=
pping extravaganza in the street.
<br><br>For the ancient Romans there were two words for the city, "urb=
s" and "civitas." Urbs evoked the urban form, the buil=
t fabric. Civitas, or citizenship, evoked the life of the city and it=
s politics, the human fabric. Urbs and civitas are not always togethe=
r. An ugly town can have a lively civitas, and a beautiful built form=
can lack civitas.
<br><br>What I experienced this morning at the mercato, a highly dynamic sh=
opping experience outdoors in public, was an expression of civitas. Shoppin=
g this morning was not just the transaction of money nor the commercial act=
of shopping, it was a social energy, a means of communicating. The m=
arket experience works like a language one must learn to speak for living a=
certain way of life in that city. The Ipercoop and Western malls, by=
contrast, are more of a container for the shopping function, an urban form=
or urbs. Ipercoop and malls lack civitas.
<br><br>And the civitas, citizenship, and socio-political life-juice, as we=
know, has been emerging in new public-like "spaces" online. =
; The "free labor," "immaterial labor," "life time=
," "performance" or "work" put into one's pres=
ence and communications in the sociable web is an expression of civitas.&nb=
sp;=20
<br><br>From Trebor's essay: "People take their life to the web an=
d this activity; this labor is
driven by affect, which Michael Hardt thinks of as central form of
"immaterial labor" today. He writes that "<em>this
labor is immaterial, [and] its products are intangible: a feeling of
ease, well-being, satisfaction, excitement, passion=97even a sense of
connectedness or community</em>." It is exactly this satisfaction th=
at people get out of laboring in the sociable web."<br><br>Experiencin=
g the market is the same satisfying feeling. Updating a social network prof=
ile and messaging a friend is like the
trying on of clothes and asking others how it looks amid tons of other
people all doing the same thing, all in the street of the public
outdoor market.<br><br>"Free labor" or "immaterial labor&quo=
t; is not produced because people are thinking about doing it for money, or=
because it can generate money for others. The sharing -- expression =
-- of personal information on Facebook and MySpace by my peers and I (and l=
ikely you, too) may be done without a conscious reflection on the presence =
of a commercial and institution network that allows it to occur. Thes=
e networks are like urbs and may not necessarily impact or drive the work o=
f the civitas.
<br><br>The urbs of Facebook or MySpace, YouTube or=20
EyeSpot have access to the personal information shared and communicated wit=
hin their legal frameworks, just as I have access to evesdropping or starin=
g at people trying on clothes in the public market, or drawing or recording=
something I come across. And like the streets swelling with market s=
talls, or the forums and piazzas of ancient and modern Italy, the urbs of t=
he sociable web have been founded by corporation and institution with enoug=
h power or clout to establish a significantly voluminous public space for a=
meaningful community. There is, though, a striking contrast between =
the level of access a digital versus physical institution of power has to t=
he civitas it fosters. In the urbs of social
networks versus the urbs of the real city: Social networks are digital
and thus data information can be easily recorded and used for other purpose=
s
in other contexts. In the urbs of the city "data" is more ephemer=
al like spoken words, images remembered or air breathed, unless manifested =
in a physical or recordable way.<br><br>Of course, one would hope, the pres=
ence of urbs controlled by powerful institutions would not destroy accompan=
ying civitas. Unfortunately this is still occuring with the Ipercoop =
and mall and its surrounding auto infrastructure, they are eating away at t=
he mercato.
<br><br>Ciao,<br> Matt Waxman<br>
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