When Technocultures Collide: Innovation from Below and the Struggle for Autonomy

by Gary Genosko

"When Technocultures Collide" provides rich and diverse studies of collision courses between technologically inspired subcultures and the corporate and governmental entities they seek to undermine. The adventures and exploits of computer hackers, phone phreaks, urban explorers, calculator and computer collectors, "CrackBerry" users, whistle-blowers, Yippies, zinsters, roulette cheats, chess geeks, and a range of losers and tinkerers feature prominently in this volume. Gary Genosko analyzes these practices for their remarkable diversity and their innovation and leaps of imagination. He assesses the results of a number of operations, including the Canadian stories of Mafiaboy, Jeff Chapman of Infiltration, and BlackBerry users.

The author provides critical accounts of highly specialized attributes, such as the prospects of deterritorialized computer mice and big toe computing, the role of electrical grid hacks in urban technopolitics, and whether info-addiction and depression contribute to tactical resistance. Beyond resistance, however, the goal of this work is to find examples of technocultural autonomy in the minor and marginal cultural productions of small cultures, ethico-poetic diversions, and sustainable withdrawals with genuine therapeutic potential to surpass accumulation, debt, and competition. The dangers and joys of these struggles for autonomy are underlined in studies of RIM's BlackBerry and Julian Assange's WikiLeaks website.

222 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2013

Reviews

[John Adkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an academic librarian with an interest in technology and the Internet I was very excited to begin reading this book. The "technoculture" referred to in the title refers to the intersection of technology and culture, and the way that these two intertwined areas influence society. Topics covered include the lives of hackers such as Canada's "Mafiaboy", urban exploration of abandoned buildings or restricted areas, wearable technology (though interestingly without referencing Google's Glass eye wear, early telephone Phreaking, and the impact of Wikileaks on privacy and governments allowing access to information.

Each chapter presents a look at a specific technology or idea and in many cases grounds it in a substantial amount of philosophical and cultural theory. The amount of theory varies widely and in some cases became a bit too scholarly and dense for someone like myself without a strong background in the specific literature. Nonetheless, there is much to recommend here for the general reader as well as the more specialized academic reader.