Tag: #libr559m #archive 2.0 #library 2.0

For one of our assignments for Module 1 of LIBR 559M, my friend J and I chose to define and edit the term “cyber-balkanization” on the social media wiki for the course. I admit, at first we chose the term because it sounded cool. Or at least I did. J is light years ahead of me in tech-savvy skills, so perhaps he actually knew what he was doing. As I began doing research on the term, I came to recognize that cyber-balkanization is something that I have deep concerns about, within and without the World Wide Web: the ability for people to create small, heterogeneous communities where their views are not questioned or forced to be reconciled with truth or FACT.  In short, rather than thinking critically, cyber-balkanization and balkanization allow people to hold their opinions, no matter how incorrect, as Truth. Being an American myself, I think about this quite often.

So! First, you may be wondering what Balkanization is. “Balkanization” is a term coined to describe how regions which are not on good terms with one another break down into smaller states rather than finding a common group and cooperating with other groups in the region. Instead of playing well in the sandbox, everyone grabs a bucket of sand and goes and sits on their own without acknowledging the others at all.

Cyber-balkanization is defined by wordspy.com as “the division of the Internet into narrowly focused groups of like-minded individuals who dislike or have little patience for outsiders.” On a more basic level, cyber-balkanization can be viewed as a process of how people construct social media networks of people, ideas, and organizations which correspond with their preconceived value structure. These communities which share one’s subjective perspectives can solidify values but also harden them, causing communities to fracture and exist in relative isolation from the larger web framework which may offer opposing views. If the value structure held by an individual is not open to questioning or thinking critically about one’s own views and beliefs, the results can be a repeating affirmation of factually incorrect beliefs, without ever having to confront information which may make one question their values, which is indeed an uncomfortable feeling.  Conservapedia is a good example of what this level of close-mindedness can be manifested as, dressing up in the robes of collaborative creation, but really just forwarding an immutable, awfully negative ideology. But upon stepping back, I recognize that cyber-balkanization is not just a tool of the conservative mentality, it is something we all do. When I follow “PlanetEarth” on Twitter, and other similar green organizations, I am constructing my own network of organizations, people, and ideas, which correspond and have value to me.

It is not only through premeditated meaning-making that cyber-balkanization can take place. Watch this video by Eli Pariser about his new book, “The Filter Bubble” to learn more about how Google and other search engines customize search results based on what the algorithm thinks you want.  In his TED Talk, Pariser discusses how this takes place, and how the filter bubble can lead us away from more meaningful content:  “filters looking at what you click on first; often you end up surrounded by ‘information junkfood.'” The scariest thing is that YOU don’t decide what gets included in your return searches, AND you don’t see what gets edited out. I wonder how many people are even aware of these practices; it’s so easy to assume that the internet is the same for everyone, but nothing could be farther from the truth. If the Web is going to herald in the new era of classless democracy, someone has got to clue in the algorithms first.

I think I’m getting the hang of this! I just added my blog to my iGoogle aggregator (though is there a less-formal term for what iGoogle does, I wonder?). Seeing my one measly post did make me want to write more posts, to start delving into this component of social media. Though I have not had time to be on the computer much the past few days, these terms and concepts have been swirling around my head. Last night, working an overnight shift at the burger joint I am currently employed at, I was thinking about how social media can be used to increase awareness not just of archives and libraries, but of the loaded vegan dogs and other goodies available at this independent business.

During the slow times (3-4 am, while everyone is throwing back one more drink before last call) I had my laptop out,  reading over the terms in the social media glossary, and looking over some other pages I had opened earlier.  I was frustrated by a lack of wi-fi access. I had all these great thoughts about cyber-balkinization, the term Jonathan and I choose to define, but I could not connect to the internet to investigate further (more on that later). Which got me to thinking about the increased divide between the World Wide Web and the tangible world. They are two realities, and sometimes I wonder that there are not enough hours in the day to fully experience one, let alone both.

I also wonder about how communities that do not have easy access to internet can take advantage of the benefits of social media for creativity, meaning-making, and critical thinking. Alec Ross, Senior Advisor for Innovation to Hillary Clinton, talked about the “digital divide” in relation to the Congo, one of th poorest countries in the world.

“50% of the country right now is covered by a wireless signal and fourteen out of every one hundred people in the Congo are already mobile phone subscribers. And one of the things that’s different in the United States is that, in the United States, everybody has their own phone. But in the Congo, it’s normal actually for three or four people to share the same phone. And so if you just do the math—today fourteen out of every 100 people are mobile phone subscribers; if you assume that there are three users per phone, what that means that today, without the United States doing a thing, 42% of the country is already on mobile phones. So [in] one of the poorest regions of the earth, the Congo, we already see that half of the people are connecting to the network.”

-Social Media Conquers the Third World

That made me feel awesome to recognize, and excited about the possibilities inherent. Ross went on to discuss paternalism, colonialism, classism, whatever you want to call it:

“I think there’s a lot of unintended paternalism when people think about technology. We oftentimes assume that people who are low income or people who are racial minorities are somehow not going to understand technology, and that we need to parcel out giving access to people who are low income or people who are racial minorities. And I think that is just completely contradictory to what all the data and evidence show, which is that it doesn’t matter how much money is in your wallet, it doesn’t matter from where you’ve come.

Young people all around the globe right now has this incredibly intuitive understanding of technology and its power, and so introducing technology into poor communities doesn’t need to be done so paternalistically because, guess what—within a couple of days these fifteen-year-olds are going to be way ahead of you.

That’s one thing that is very important to me—to take some of the paternalism that I think lives in a lot of our development practices, and recognize that, when it comes to introducing technology, when it comes to introducing innovation into poor communities, don’t be too arrogant about it, because the folks there could be a lot quicker with it and a lot smarter about it than you in very short order.”

So, okay, Ross is talking about “Third World” countries here. But apply it a little closer to home:  in inner city Detroit, “emergency financial measures” ave increased high school class sizes to 60 students per class (Huffington Post). In such large classes (which focus heavily on required standardized tests to begin with, but that’s another story) these students are being herded through the educational system without getting the attention necessary to develop the required critical thinking skills needed to utilize social media for more than just entertainment. Anyway. Personal tangent. No closure.