This document is based on a short presentation/discussion I facilitated several days ago at ISIS International-Manila. Entitled "Death by ICT. A Critical Look at the Information Society", the presentation/discussion was intended to stimulate critical thinking about communication and technology concepts and how these concepts relate to and affect daily tasks, decisions and issues seemingly unrelated to ICT.

This same-titled document is an extended version of that presentation/discussion and is intended to open up more possibilities for analyzing ICT use and understanding within the expanding "Information Society." While this document is in outline form, it is open-ended and will be expanded to include more of my ideas and observations regarding some important issues:

1. The social catastrophe of the "new" when dealing with "new" technologies within the context of development.

2. The succumbing of the computer as a complex programmable computation machine into a device for communication and its dangerous implications on the so-called "Information Society."

3. The US military origins and the present doctrinal model of the Internet and its implications as a "social network" and as a ubiquitous and pervasive computing tool.

This document is a work-in-progress. As usual, comments, questions, corrections and suggestions are welcome.

THE TECHNOLOGY: ICT

Information Communications Technology (ICT) is an umbrella term that includes all technologies for the communication of information.

ICT encompasses any medium to record information (whether paper, pen, magnetic disk/ tape, optical disks - CD/DVD, flash memory etc. etc.); and also technology for broadcasting information - radio, television; any technology for communicating through voice and sound or images- microphone, camera, loudspeaker, telephone to cellular phones.

At present, it is apparently culminating to information communication with the help of Personal Computers (PCs) networked through the Internet through information technology that can transfer information using satellite systems or intercontinental cables. Information technology (IT) has become a kind of a hub for communicating information, most often using computers.

THE SOCIAL IMPLEMENTATION OF ICT: THE INFORMATION SOCIETY

An information society is a society in which the creation, distribution, diffusion, use, and manipulation of information is a significant economic, political, and cultural activity. The knowledge economy is its economic counterpart whereby wealth is created through the economic exploitation of understanding.

A HISTORICAL ORIENTATION OF THE INFORMATION SOCIETY

1. Implementing the technology of bureacratic totalitarianism:

Excerpt from "The Agenbite of Outwit"
by Marshall McLuhan
From http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/mcluhan-studies/mstudies.htm

To the extent that we are unaware of the nature of the new electronic forms, we are manipulated by them. Let me offer, as an example of the way in which a new technology can transform institutions and modes of procedure, a bit of testimony by Albert Speer, German armaments minister in 1942, at the Nuremberg trials:

The telephone, the teleprinter and the wireless made it possible for orders from the highest levels to be given directly to the lowest levels, where, on account of the absolute authority behind them, they were carried out uncrtitically; or brought it about that numerous offices and command centers were directly connected with the supreme leadership from which they received their sinister orders without any intermediary; or resulted in the widespread surveillance of the citizen; or in a high degree of secrecy surrounding criminal happenings. To the outside observer this governmental apparatus may have resembled the apparently chaotic confusion of lines at a telephone exchange, but like the latter it could be controlled and operated from one central source. Former dictatorships needed collaborators of high quality even in the lower levels of leadership, men who could think and act independently. In the era of modern technique an authoritarian system can do without this. The means of communication alone permit it to mechanize the work of subordinate leadership. As a consequence a new type develops: the uncritical recipient of orders.

2. Shifting from the isolated military system to the global social network:

Excerpt from: "ARPA's 50th Anniversary and the Internet: a Model for Basic Research"
by Ronda Hauben
From http://futurezone.orf.at/hardcore/stories/253842/

Describing the paradigm change represented by computer networking research, Michael Hauben writes:

"Fundamental to the ARPANET, as explained by the [ARPANET] Completion Report, was the discovery of a new way of looking at computers. The developers of the ARPANET viewed the computer as a communications device rather than only as an arithmetic device. This new view made building the ARPANET possible. This view came from the research conducted by those in academic computer science. Such a shift in understanding the role of the computer is fundamental to advancing computer science. The ARPANET research has provided a rich legacy for the further advancement of computer science and it is important that the significant lessons be learned and studied and used to further advance the study of computer science."

This perspective shift in how to view the computer, especially in looking at the computer as a communication device, was the basis for the area of research which represents probably the greatest achievement of IPTO and of ARPA.

This is the area of research first developing the ARPANET and subsequently providing the practical and conceptual leadership for the creation and spread of the Internet.

...

The mandate of ARPA:

While ARPA was originally created to support space related research, this function was soon moved to a civilian agency so that space research would have no apparent military connection.

James Killian, President of MIT (1948-1959), and Special Assistant for Science and Technology to President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1957-1959), is credited with establishing the environment in which ARPA was conceived. Killian believed that new weapons and weapon systems would require a different form of organization from the traditional roles and missions that the Department of Defense was accustomed to. Killian described how the great technological successes of the U.S. in World War II such as radar, the proximity fuse, and the creation of nuclear weapons were due to how the scientific and technical community
functioned even during the war. He drew attention to "the free-wheeling methods of outstanding academic scientists and engineers who had always been free of any inhibiting regimentation and organization."

Killian believed that the new approaches and weapons systems could not be spawned by the Military Services themselves. Instead they could only be expected to "originate in the creative basic research that takes place in the universities and other institutions where fundamental new ideas are most likely to be generated."

Killian argued to Congress that what was needed was research that would be directed toward new concepts and new principles, rather than toward producing pieces of military hardware. He describes why creating an environment to support basic research is of critical importance to the military.

A report written in 1975 to analyze ARPA's successes, known as the Barber Report after its main author Richard Barber, depicted ARPA as having been "spawned in an environment where basic research was equated with military security." Research of a general nature was argued to be the "wellspring" for the advanced ideas critical in the long run for the military.

The Barber Report explains that this was the changed environment in which the U.S. President at the time, Dwight Eisenhower, supported the creation of ARPA. Just after the launch of Sputnik, Killian was asked by Eisenhower to recommend how the centrality of basic research could be implemented. Killian recommended the creation of an agency that would support 'centers of excellence', flexible funding, and long term stable environments for researchers. It would be a place where failures were to be seen as expected, to be learned from, and not, as problems.

This was the vision inspiring the creation of ARPA. Fortunately, in the field of computer science, this vision found champions and the result was that the computer research at ARPA succeeded in revolutionizing the way that computers would be used in the world.

3. Commercially exploiting the social use of the network:

WEB 2.0
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0

Web 2.0 is a term describing the trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users. These concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities and hosted services, such as social-networking sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies. The term became notable after the first O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004. Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to any technical specifications, but to changes in the ways software developers and end-users use the Web. According to Tim O'Reilly:

“Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform.”

Some technology experts, notably Tim Berners-Lee, have questioned whether one can use the term in a meaningful way, since many of the technology components of "Web 2.0" have existed since the early days of the Web.

4. Giving the commercial exploitation local color:

Company launches software to track Filipinos' online habits
Article posted May 01, 2008 - 06:43 PM
From http://www.gmanews.tv/story/92752/Company-launches-software-to-track-Fil...

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine unit of one of the world’s largest media agencies announced on Wednesday that it has already installed software in selected internet cafés to track websites visited by Filipinos and monitor their online behavior.

Called MindTrack, the proprietary application was created as a web monitoring system in local internet shops, considered the first of its kind in the Philippines. The application was developed by Mindshare, one of the country’s five biggest media agencies.

According to April Yap, Mindshare’s Insights Director, the company “picked internet cafés since most Filipinos access the net through this channel." “In the future, we can use this for consumer panels suited to our client’s needs and not just limited to internet cafes," Yap said in a statement.

The tracking software­and the corresponding technology involved ­used by Mindtrack emphasized the company’s venture to harness the power of “emerging digital media in communications."

Mindshare’s digital offering, launched on Wednesday at Fort Bonifacio, intends to bridge the gap between “marketers’ understanding and adoption of digital media and the high consumption of digital media among consumers," said Mindshare’s general manager Bunny Aguilar.

According to the same statement, Mindshare also hopes to “lead the transformation of media practice in the digital age by sharing its global digital expertise" with Philippine companies.

To show the marketing and advertising potential of digital media, guests ­including corporate executives of GMA’s New Media Inc.­were asked to text codes ­found on clues attached to T-shirts ­on their phones. The interactive experience brought about by this technology is just one among the many interactive ways by which companies can further attract customers and enhance their relationships with their clients.

“We wanted to use the event as a venue for clients to experience the power of digital media that goes beyond just sticking ads online," said Crisela Magpayo, Mindshare’s Director for Digital Practice.

Besides extending its media planning, buying and optimization expertise online, the company will also be offering digital strategy, community, search and mobile advertising.

Although the company recognizes that it remains a big challenge to convince Philippine corporations to jump into the digital media bandwagon, Mindshare will be more than willing to “hold their hands" once they do.

“Whenever companies are ready, we’re going to bring in the technology of MindShare in the Philippines because we’re the leading digital agency in Asia Pacific," Aguilar told GMANews.TV, adding that the company has been honing its experience in digital for the past ten years

With seven million Filipinos owning Friendster accounts, eight million playing games online, and a billion text messages being sent in the country everyday, Aguilar said that “it’s an unspoken reality how Filipinos already have imbibed our digital lifestyle into our own culture."

“It’s just a matter of using it as a powerful channel for brands for markets to tap into," he said.

Headquartered in London and New York, Mindshare is just one of the more than 256 companies ­including AGB Nielsen and Ogilvy ­owned by UK-based Wire and Plastics Products (WPP) Group, considered as the world’s largest communications services company. - GMANews.TV

Questions and topics for discussion:

Is ICT a force for reproducing social domination or a force for liberation and emancipation?

Food crisis (totoo ba ito sa case ng philipppines o ginagawa lang ng gobyerno)? (How can ICT bring enlightenment to this issue?)

Where will the web 2.0 technologies lead us? where can web 2.0 be areas of movement building (in terms of people as rational, well-informed pressure groups for progressive policies on social change)?

How to attain a co-constructive perspective of gender and ICT / ICT and gender. People talk about it but nobody has really shown how it could possibly be done CONCRETELY.

What the existing digital landscape considers as "burning issues" (e.g. internet governance, etc. ???) and how this would compare with what might be considered burning issues for those working in ICT from a gender approach?

I. Introduction. Purpose and Methods.
II. Linguistic Mapping of ICT Elements: Objects, Concepts and Use
(Language is the medium by which concepts are internalized and externalized)

-- Activity: Create Semantic Maps of the following ICT Elements:
(In order to identify sources and relationships of meanings)
(Semantics refers to aspects of meaning, as expressed in language, and therefore pertains more to the interpretation rather than the structure or grammar of language, although the two are obviously inter-related.)

-- Activity: Create Syntactic Maps of the following ICT Elements:
(In order to identify the various contexts of ICT)
(Syntax refers to the rules of a language that show how the words of that language are to be arranged to make a sentence of that language.)

Note: See Partial Syntactic Map below.

-- Questions:
Can you identify flows of use, knowledge and effects in the maps?

Can you identify differences between ICT as object-concept and the
specific elements of computer, software and network?

What dominant patterns of differences can you see in the maps?

III. ICT and Morbidity - The Philosophical Basis
Physical, Mental and Linguistic Morbidity is attained by:
(Morbidity is the extinction of human ability through the corruption of human need)

-- Hypnosis. The Formula for Hypnosis is "one sense at a time."
-- Shutting down consciousness. Euthanasia/Lethal Injection. The Protocol for Euthanasia/Lethal Injection (first, induce unconsciousness, followed by death through paralysis of respiratory muscles, and/or by cardiac arrest through depolarization of cardiac muscle cells).
-- Shifting computation to communication. Disconnecting the brain from the central nervous system.

In contrast, Survival is attained by:
(Survival is the equilibrium of human ability and human need)
-- The ability to manipulate symbols (as opposed to only the ability to respond to unalterable signs)
-- The ability to accurately compute environmental events (the use of logical operations and feedback)
-- The ability to simulate instead of acting out (this saves considerable
energy and is not necessarily lethal)

IV. ICT in the Context of Development
-- Activity: Identify Patterns of Domination and Control in the Maps bypointing out those areas in the maps that are either:

-- Can you identify sectors of social, economic and political organization in the maps?

V. Use and continue to develop the maps as one answers "burning issues" and analyzes trends in ICT

Partial Syntactical Map