The Revolution Will Not Be Downloaded: Dissent in the Digital Age

Citation

Anne Kennan, M. (2009), "The Revolution Will Not Be Downloaded: Dissent in the Digital Age", Library Management, Vol. 30 No. 4/5, pp. 357-358. https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120910958093

The writers of this collection of work seek “to probe how the promises of the digital age have perpetuated analogue injustices (p. xiv)” and “to enter the spaces and places often forgotten by the digi‐elite” (p. xv). In the preface, Tara Brabazon states that the goal has been to challenge the implicit assumption that “everyone” is online, and that “everyone” acts online in the same kinds of ways. The collection is written by members of the Popular Culture Collective “a global community of researchers, writers, film‐makers, musicians and media activists” and has “deployed a range of research methods including interviews and surveys”. The collection aims to do more than diagnose problems, claiming to “offer policies and possibilities for their resolution” p.xxi). The book is divided into four parts: “Scanning the silences”; “Downloading harmony”; “Uploading identity”; and “Packet switching resistance and terrorism”.

The largest section, “Scanning the silences” examines some of the issues around Internet access, for example the focus on technological and information literacy to the exclusion of other, broader and more human literacies; the move to providing education online which is “accessible” and “flexible” (but which may not be what particular groups of students desire, instead they require human contact and relationships with each other and experts); and the vexed issue of “who is responsible?” (for various things such as providing Internet education and support to the elderly – much information and many resources aimed at them by government are now online). This latter question reflects the same question, often asked and less often answered, in broader social contexts. These essays propose that the silences created by these issues lead to the disenfranchising of those who are forced to be, or elect to be “off‐screen”; and the “truly unconnected”, those who are in danger of becoming more than a digital underclass. Having no presence on the screen, they may lose any visibility they may have in society and become further marginalized.

“Downloading harmony” looks at the music industry and its relationship with the internet from three perspectives; the musicians, the industry and the growing community of music downloaders. These three essays provide alternative perspectives to the common claim that downloading and file sharing will harm the music industry. “Uploading identity” goes beyond downloading and looks at Web 2.0 – uploading, sharing, collaborating, blogging the personal and the political, the trivial and the deep. Increasingly lives are shared online. The privacy pros and cons, the increasingly global nature of the personal and the challenges this affords, are discussed. Japanese internet Suicide groups, buying and selling, chatting, meeting and deleting online are explored. “Packet switching resistance and terrorism” reminds the reader that cyberspace contains risks as well as benefits, and that cyber citizenship involves responsibilities as well as rights. We get brief glimpses of how the cyberworld makes us vulnerable to thieves and terrorists as well as providing potential benefits. Brabazon finishes by asking the reader to “ask ‘the why of digitization rather than (just) ‘the how’ of computing”.

The sections and essays vary in depth, rigour and approach. Some are just snapshots, thoughts, and digressions. Others are deeper, better researched and more engaging. This gives the book an uneven quality, which makes it a somewhat jarring read, perhaps a reminder that in this space there are a range of voices and perspectives. Many are written in an Australian context, but the issues, like the Internet have potential global reach and potential global impacts. This book presents a counter perspective to much of the hype about the Internet. It is refreshing and opens a debate that needs to occur more frequently and in more depth in many communities and spaces that engage with the Internet and society.