GEOG | Public Space Department of Geography Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies York University Summer 2012 Class 7 Electronic Urbanity Class 7 29 May GEOG 4900 | Public Space Copyright © Amy Lavender Harris

The Internet as a Public Space Camp & Chien (“The Internet as Public Space;” Computers and Society, 30(3): 13-19, 2000) argue that the internet is best understood as a spatial phenomenon, and analyse it as a series of “public spaces” found online, including “libraries, clinics or hospitals, universities, marketplaces, international marketplaces or cultural exchange centers, schools, and as a forum for political speeches or debate ("the digital stump").” The internet as an “information agora” (Branscomb, 1994) Circa 2012, the “digital stump” comprises a very significant portion of the internet: in 2011, Americans spent more time on Facebook than on any other website; the bulk of online activity is now transacted via blogs (Blogger, Tumblr, etc.) or logged-in sites (Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.) Class 7 29 May 2012 GEOG 4900 | Public Space Copyright © Amy Lavender Harris 2

The Internet and the Public Sphere Origins of the bourgeois public sphere and the rise of civil society, via Habermas The public use of reason in rational, critical debate – in books, newspapers, salons, coffee houses... and the internet? Habermas on the effects of ‘mass media’ on the public sphere: consumption-focused (Habermas describes this as “leisure;” Lefebvre, Debord, Harvey would call it “spectacle”) and manipulative: advertising, marketing, narcissism Suggestion that these problems, and parallel opportunities (e.g., per Fraser on counter-publics) are magnified online. The internet is often idealized as a new bastion of public space, largely due to its perceived ubiquity and accessibility – even though it is tightly regulated and highly corporatized. Class 7 29 May 2012 GEOG 4900 | Public Space Copyright © Amy Lavender Harris 3

Class 7 29 May 2012 GEOG 4900 | Public Space Copyright © Amy Lavender Harris 4

On the internet everybody knows you’re a dog: The Public Sphere in the Age of Facebook Online anonymity, always somewhat illusory (IP addresses have always been easy to track, and “cookies” are nearly as old as the internet) has largely ended Facebook, Google  panoptic gaze Online access varies widely internationally: North America: 78.6%; Europe: 61.3%; Latin America: 39.5%; Middle East: 35.6%; Asia: 26.2%; Africa: 13.5%. Globally, [only] 32.7% of the world’s population has online access. [source: Internet World Stats, 2011). Corporate control / privatization Government regulation: Bill C-30 (Canada, 2012); SOPA (“Stop Online Piracy Act,” US, 2011) Class 7 29 May 2012 GEOG 4900 | Public Space Copyright © Amy Lavender Harris 5

Online Engagement: ‘Hacktivism,’ ‘Slacktivism’ or Empty Consumerism? Papadimitriou on hacktivists Hacktivists vs. ‘slacktivists’ ‘Anonymous’ (amorphous, ‘anarchist’ collective of online activists; see DDoS attacks following shut-down of MegaUploads – shut-down or near shut-down of US Department of Justice, FBI, Recording Industry Association of America, etc. websites); spectre of vigilanteism re: child pornography Kony 2012 (criticised for oversimplification, exaggeration, racism (or at least a form of neo-colonialism), avarice) Class 7 29 May 2012 GEOG 4900 | Public Space Copyright © Amy Lavender Harris 6