[artinfo] Digital Networks and Social Innovation: Strategies of the Imagination

[Eugenio Tisselli]

Hello,

I wrote "Digital Networks and Social Innovation: Strategies of the 
Imagination", in 2008. It was published as a chapter of the 
book "Cultural Expression, Creativity and Innovation", volume III of 
the Cultures and Globalization series, SAGE Publications.

According to the contract I signed then, I can now share it freely. 
So here it is:
<http://motorhueso.net/text/strategiesOfTheImagination_tisselli.pdf>http://motorhueso.net/text/strategiesOfTheImagination_tisselli.pdf 

With an excerpt: "The users' rights to modify the technologies they 
use and adapt them to unintended but legitimate purposes are being 
fought for in heated battles. At the core of creative usage and 
misusage lies appropriation, a negotiation about power and control 
over the configuration of technology, its standards, modes of usage 
and the distribution of its benefits. Appropriation is a strategy 
which deeply affects the politics of daily life. In our digital age, 
it can be seen as a starting point for deep social change. As users, 
we must face the question of whether we are continuously performing 
scripts dictated by the interests of technological corporations, or 
fulfilling our real needs of expression, access and equality. We must 
face the growing tension between dominance, expressed through the 
top-down imposition of standards, and agency, represented by our 
freedom to access and reshape technology. Yes, the flat, democratic 
appearance of digital networks may just be the perfect disguise of 
capitalist authoritarianism."

I hope you'll still find it useful after all these years.

Best wishes,
Eugenio.