Week 9 Blog Post: Srinivasan

In the article “Bridges Between Cultural and Digital Worlds in Revolutionary Egypt”, the author Ramesh Srinivasan attempts to understand the intersection of networks and the power of technology, society, and people within them, in the context of Egypt’s revolution. The author provides three examples of particular events in Egypt to illustrate his argument that we need to focus on all aspects of a network – the narrator of that story, what is being told and omitted, the actors, the ways they communicate, etc… - in order to fully understand the interactions within. Through the examples of events, he described three basic themes: a ‘leaderless’ organizational manner, a media ecology and the mobilization/transmission of information, and the complication of creating a democratic state within the face of overwhelming diversity. First, the ‘leaderless’ organization manner means that networks are able to be fluid enough to allow groups to come together and cement stronger ties, while using anonymity if needed. Second, the media ecology refers to “the translations and communications between older and newer media platforms” (pg56), and is significant because, according to Srinivasan, it can lead to distortion of information and a displaced legitimacy of journalism. Lastly, the third theme was about how complicated these interactions were and that we need to expand our inquiry into networks to see “how networks have come together, been interpreted differently in different contexts, and the nature of place and community” (pg59).

In my perspective, this article presented a necessary critique of people’s desires to make assumptions about technological use, political action, empowerment, and equality. I felt like I connected/agreed with his overall argument that there are many different variables that need to be connected and understood in order for a person to have the overall picture of what is truly occurring in these networks. Another point that he brought up that was interesting was about homophilous and the idea that network connections are often with people who are similar to ourselves. This reminds me of the algorithm reading from last week and the worry that technology is putting us in ‘filter bubbles’ which do not allow for interactions outside of those comfort zones. This thought, along with the article, makes me think about how many versions there are to every story, and how many of them we actually hear/know, just based on these ‘filter bubble’-like standards that humans seem to gravitate toward.

Ramesh Srinivasan is an associate professor at the University of California-Los Angeles. According to his Wikipedia entry, Srinivasan has been following various stories dealing with technology and the digital era, especially in locations outside the United States. He specifically is involved in new media and its effects on politics, economics, poverty, and heritage.  He also co-authored a book in 2005 called Electric Fields of Brain: The Neurophysics of EEG, 2^nd Edition.