Table Of ContentOff the NetwOrk
Electronic Mediations
Katherine Hayles, Mark Poster, and Samuel Weber, Series Editors
41. Off the Network: Disrupting the Digital World
Ulises Ali Mejias
40. Summa Technologiae
Stanisław Lem
39. Digital Memory and the Archive
Wolfgang Ernst
38. How to Do Things with Videogames
Ian Bogost
37. Noise Channels: Glitch and Error in Digital Culture
Peter Krapp
36. Gameplay Mode: War, Simulation, and Technoculture
Patrick Crogan
35. Digital Art and Meaning: Reading Kinetic Poetry, Text
Machines, Mapping Art, and Interactive Installations
Roberto Simanowski
34. Vilém Flusser: An Introduction
Anke Finger, Rainer Guldin, and Gustavo Bernardo
33. Does Writing Have a Future?
Vilém Flusser
32. Into the Universe of Technical Images
Vilém Flusser
31. Hypertext and the Female Imaginary
Jaishree K. Odin
30. Screens: Viewing Media Installation Art
Kate Mondloch
29. Games of Empire: Global Capitalism and Video Games
Nick Dyer- Witheford and Greig de Peuter
(continued on page 194)
OFF THE NETWORK
Disrupting the Digital World
Ulises Ali MejiAs
electronic MediAtions, VolUMe 41
University of Minnesota Press
Minneapolis
London
The University of Minnesota Press gratefully acknowledges fnancial assistance
provided for the publication of this book by the Offce of Academic Affairs at the
State University of New York, College at Oswego.
A different version of chapter 2 appeared as “The Limits of Networks as Models
for Organizing the Social,” New Media and Society 12, no. 4 (June 2010): 603–1 7.
Portions of chapters 6 and 8 were previously published as “Liberation Technology
and the Arab Spring: From Utopia to Atopia and Beyond,” Fibreculture 20 (2012).
A different version of chapter 7 appeared as “Peerless: The Ethics of P2P Network
Disassembly” in the proceedings of the 4th Inclusiva.net Meeting: P2P Networks
and Processes (Madrid, July 2009).
The Open Access edition of this book is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs
License.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290
Minneapolis, MN 55401–2 520
http://www.upress.umn.edu
ISBN 978-0-8166-7899-0 (hc)
ISBN 978-0-8166-7900-3 (pb)
A Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book is available from the Library of
Congress.
The University of Minnesota is an equal-o pportunity educator and employer.
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
fOr asma
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
PART I. THINKING THE NETWORK
1 The Network as Method for Organizing the World 3
2 The Privatization of Social Life 19
3 Computers as Socializing Tools 37
4 Acting Inside and Outside the Network 55
PART II. UNTHINKING THE NETWORK
5 Strategies for Disrupting Networks 81
6 Proximity and Confict 95
7 Collaboration and Freedom 123
PART III. INTENSIFYING THE NETWORK
8 The Limits of Liberation Technologies 145
9 The Outside of Networks as a
Method for Acting in the World 153
Notes 163
Bibliography 177
Index 189
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Gilles Deleuze observed, “We write only at the frontiers of our knowledge,
at the border which separates our knowledge from our ignorance and
transforms the one into the other.”1 This attempt to breach the frontiers
of my own ignorance was aided by the Grace of the Guide but also by
many people whose support and knowledge greatly contributed to the
work.
First, I want to thank the editorial team at the University of Minnesota
Press, in particular Doug Armato and Danielle Kasprzak. Their efforts
helped to make this, my frst book publication, a gratifying experience.
I am also very grateful for the support and encouragement I’ve received
from people at SUNY Oswego, including Dean Fritz Messere, Provost
Lorrie Clemo, and the many wonderful colleagues and friends from
across the college who have inspired and motivated me.
The point of departure for this project was a set of queries originally
posed in my dissertation, “Networked Proximity: ICTs and the Media-
tion of Nearness,” undertaken at Teachers College, Columbia University,
under the guidance of Robbie McClintock, Hugh Cline, and Frank Moretti.
Their tutelage during that initial stage is much appreciated. Some of the
initial ideas for this work also emerged during a 2008 Visiting Research
Fellowship at the University of Amsterdam Business School, Program
for Research in Information Management. I am thankful to Rik Maes for
facilitating the visit and being such a good host.
The book beneftted from the insights, critiques, and corrections of
many who devoted their time to reading early drafts or providing com-
ments during conferences. My spring 2011 Social Networks and the Web
class at SUNY Oswego reviewed the frst two chapters, and I thank them
for being both critical and enthusiastic. I acknowledge Tiziana Terranova
. ix
and Nick Couldry for comments offered during the 2011 Platform Politics
conference in Cambridge, and Michel Bauwens and Juan Martín Prada
for their reactions to a presentation made in 2009 at the fourth Inclusiva-
net meeting in Madrid. Electronic correspondence with Trebor Scholz
forced me to clarify my position and improve the framework for my argu-
ment. Zillah Eisenstein and Geert Lovink read the manuscript draft and
provided valuable feedback, and they were extremely generous mentors
as well. The two reviewers assigned by the University of Minnesota Press,
Nick Dyer-W itheford and Jodi Dean, contributed detailed responses that
helped to strengthen my argument. Thanks also to Anna Reading, Hart
Cohen, and especially Ned Rossiter for inviting me to the University of
Western Sydney to share my work. The conversations I had with everyone
I met during my visit were encouraging and instructive. Without the help
of all these people, this project would not have been possible. I am grate-
ful for their assistance.
Additionally, as I learned, one cannot write without a strong sup-
port network, and I was fortunate to have around me friends and family
who never failed to inspire and encourage me. It would be impossible to
list all of them here. But I cannot fail to thank Madhavi Menon and Gil
Harris, whose friendship is a gift and who continuously provided encour-
agement and good advice (thanks also to Madhavi for reading parts of
the draft and making helpful suggestions).
I also want to specially thank my parents, Elizabeth and Manuel, for
always believing in me and doing their best to nourish my intellectual
curiosity. There are no words or deeds that would suffce to express my
gratitude and love. I should add that this book is very much written with
my cherished nieces and grandchildren (the younger, networked genera-
tion) in mind: Abril, Ilse, Ana Elena, Mina, and Batu.
Most important, I thank my beloved wife, Asma. As my “resident
critic,” she forced me to develop ideas and improve arguments. As my
“in- house editor,” she painstakingly reviewed the entire manuscript and
offered suggestions on everything from the writing style to the structural
aspects of the argument. As my private mentor, she provided advice and
support during the more diffcult stages of the writing and publishing
process. As my loving partner and companion, she was truly a source of
inspiration, comfort, and well-b eing. She nourishes not only my mind
but also my heart, and because of this I dedicate this work to her.
.
x Acknowledgments
