Session 4: Time-Space Compression and its Correlates � Speed-Space in the Global Village: A Conceptual Review � The Incredible Shrinking World � Being Almost There: “I may be in France, but my spirit is in Tahrir Square” o “We are all [ insert favourite identity of the day ] now!” o High-Speed Revolutions on Demand, with an a la carte Menu � Participant Voyeurism: The Iranian Twitter Revolution that was American o CONFIRMED! @ Breaking: You retweeted me because you believe. Please RT. o The Fast and the Unfiltered o Iran: There is No There, There 1
Speed-Space in the Global Village: A Conceptual Review � David Harvey “ time-space compression ”: “the speeding up of economic and social processes has experientially shrunk the globe , so that distance and time no longer appear to be major constraints on the organization of human activity” (Jonathan Xavier Inda and Renato Rosaldo,”Tracking Global Flows,” in The Anthropology of Globalization: A Reader, Oxford, Blackwell, 2008, p. 8). � “time-space compression”: in part, from inexpensive air travel, telephones, e-mail. 2
� Paul Virilio, Dromology : “Today we are entering a space which is speed-space ” “the olden space-time was an extensive space , a space where duration of time was valued. Whatever was short-lived was considered an evil—something pejorative. To last a short-time was not to be present ; it was negative. Today we are entering an era of intensive time: that is to say that new technologies lead us to discover the equivalent of the infinitely small in time” “This new other time is that of electronic transmission, of high-tech machines, and therefore, man is present in this sort of time, not via his physical presence, but via programming ” (Chris Dercon, “Interview 4: Speed-Space,” in John Armitage, Ed., Virilio Live: Selected Interviews , London: Sage, 2001, pp. 70, 71) � Marshall McLuhan, Gutenberg Galaxy (1962) � an “implosion” of personal experience—distant events are brought to the immediate attention of people halfway around the world. 3
The Incredible Shrinking World � Anthony Giddens: “all the individual social ties that are established on the planet”—“the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa” – “genuinely world-wide ties” (see The Consequences of Modernity . Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990, p. 64). � Space has shrunk � “Distanciation” (anthropology) � “ Compression ” � Martin Albrow (see “Travelling Beyond Local Cultures,” in The Globalization Reader , 2nd. ed., edited by Frank J. Lechner and John Boli. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004): Globalism = “the values informing daily behaviour for many groups in contemporary society,” and how they “relate to real or imagined material states of the globe and its inhabitants” (p. 134) 4
Globality = ”images, information and commodities from any part of the earth [that] may be available anywhere and anytime for ever- increasing numbers of people worldwide, while the consequences of worldwide forces and events impinge on local lives at any time” (p. 134) Time-space compression = “information and communication technology now make it possible to maintain social relationships on the basis of direct interaction over any distance across the globe” (p. 134). � Frederic Jameson: globalization “reflects the sense of an immense enlargement of world communication ” (see his Preface in The Cultures of Globalization , edited by Frederic Jameson and Masao Miyoshi, Duke University Press, 1998, p. xi). � Roland Robertson: “the compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole ” (see “Globalization as a Problem,” in The Globalization Reader , 2nd. ed., edited by Frank J. Lechner and John Boli. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004). 5
� James Mittelman “globalization compresses the time and space aspect of social relations [emphasis added]” (quoted in Manfred B. Stenger, Globalization: A Brief Insight , New York: Sterling, 2009). 6
Being (Almost) There: “I may be in France, but my spirit is in Tahrir Square” � “The Speed of Revolutionary Resonance,” by Gastón Cordillo � “ expansive empathy ,” built on “instant systems of global communication” that “now shoot out powerful revolutionary resonances that travel at high speed toward anywhere on the planet.” � Cordillo: ”unfathomable speed of this briefly disembodied resonance” � “not bodies but affects decomposed in bits of information through networks of instant media communication that, on impacting TV and computer screens, affects other bodies and makes them resonate.” � velocity and acceleration : “new revolutionary velocities,” “high-speed deterritorializing force,” “fast-paced rhizomic synergy,” “ instant forms of communication .” 7
Nikolai Grozni: “Ever since the uprising in Egypt began on Jan. 25, I have hardly moved an inch away from the TV screen. I may be in France, but my spirit is in Tahrir Square. I’m throwing stones. I’m breathing in tear gas. I’m lighting up Molotov cocktails. I’m dodging bullets. I’m fighting thick-headed policemen. I’m cursing every symbol of the regime until my voice cracks.” � Cordillo: “the spatial distance between Egypt and France seemed to had dissolved. His body resonated, via his TV, together with those bodies on Tahrir Square. This instantaneous affectation [was] amplified through global networks.” � Emily Bell: “We are now looking at a much more compressed time frame . Six weeks instead of six months.” Was there an Egyptian revolution? 8
“We are all [ insert favourite identity of the day ] now!” � What has changed? � “We are all Americans” (9/11) � “We are all Palestinians” (Gaza, 2009) � “We are all Egyptians” (2011) � “We are all Trayvon Martin” (2012)…”no you ain’t” High-Speed Revolutions on Demand, with an a la carte Menu � “Revolutions” at the speed of Twitter, or a cruise missile 9
Participant Voyeurism: The Iranian Twitter Revolution that was American � “Where is my vote?” � “This is it. This is the big one,” Clay Shirky � “Ian Kelly, a state department spokesman, told reporters at a briefing that he had recognized over the weekend the importance of social media ‘as a vital tool for citizens’ empowerment and as a way for people to get their messages out’. He said: ‘It was very clear to me that these kinds of social media played a very important role in democracy – spreading the word about what was going on’” 10
CONFIRMED! @ Breaking: You retweeted me because you believe. Please RT. � “show support for the Iranian people”: � RT Huffington Post: “Iran’s Revolution Will Be Twittered (and Blogged and YouTubed and…)” � The revolution will be tweeted � WOW, Twitter is awesome!!! � Yep Twitter Owns! #cnnfail #iranelection � astounding what twitter has done with #iranelection � thinks Twitter’s role in the #IranElection could be historical � thankyou twitter � We’re getting more news from social media than from traditional media. Social intelligence progress! � facinating [ sic ] how twitter brings real time accounts of events � It is pretty easy being green. Turn Your Twitter Avatar Green To Show Solidarity with People of Iran � My Twitter photo has gone GREEN in support of the freedom revolution of #IranElection 11
� “don’t retweet anything until it’s confirmed, spreading rumors will do more harm than good #iranelection” � “all users IGNORE all post except from reliable sources” � “I’m really following this closely. Fascinating watching the protests unfold” � “information is flooding out of the country — on Twitter” The Fast and the Unfiltered � Hanson Hosein, director of digital media at the University of Washington: “I’m having a hard time filtering through #iranelection, beyond the re-tweets and second-hand information passed around by Twitterers outside the country ….We can’t take [tweets] at face value. It can be quite dangerous. We should be doing as much fact- checking as possible” � Michael Crowley: “One thing that really bothers me about these twitters and first-hand accounts posted on blogs is that there’s no way to verify them; I’ve seen several that either seemed suspect or turned out to be false” 12
� “If you, as an average news consumer, relied on Twitter you might believe all sorts of things had happened, which simply hadn’t, running a high risk of being seriously misled about events on the ground. You might at best, have simply been confused. You probably wouldn’t have thought Ahmadinejad enjoys much popular support at all”. � deliberate misinformation (i.e. “Gay Girl in Damascus”) “RT From Iran: CONFIRMED!! Army moving into Tehran against protesters! PLZ RT! URGENT!” “military is rumoured to refusing orders to shoot” “2 million in the streets” “@VOA claims 5000 Lebanese Hezbollah Milita h/b brought down to Iran to help control the situation #iranelection” 13
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