I.They must prove that qualitative work is both
narcissistic and unprofitable fiction.
a.In order to argue narcissism, they need to prove
intentionality on a large scale, which is near impossible.
b.In order to argue unprofitable fiction, they
must prove that qualitative work is both composed on known falsities and is not
useful.
c.I argue that all research provides temporary
truths which are useful as long as they can be sites for further inquiry.
II.Calling qualitative work fiction assumes that research
can create both true and untrue products.
a.If there are wrong types of knowledge production
(qualitative work), then there must be right modes of knowledge production
which provide objective truths.
b.We know that this is not the case. In Kuhn’s The
Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Kuhn explains that all scientific truth is
temporary; It is incremental. Therefore, all we cannot fully attribute
objective truths to any research method.
III.Modes of knowledge production (manufacturing of
facts) are inherently tied to the culture in which they arise; what is and can
be true is defined by those who devise the method of knowledge production.
a.This is an idea that arises out of Shapin and
Schaffer’s Leviathan and the Air-Pump
which chronicles the social influences on science during the early days of the
scientific method.
b.Robert Boyle’s explanation of empirical research
is that it relies on a coalescing of belief. Research that has emerged from
empiricism, whether qualitative or otherwise, still relies on this dictum.
c.Furthermore, the way that we go about doing
research predetermines what we are able to see. Following the conventions of
experimental work, if multiple people are able to see it, then it becomes fact.
IV.Facts (and thus truth) are bound entirely to the
society or culture in which they are produced. If there is a
culture—qualitative studies—that sees its own work as truth, then it is just as
valid for that population as experiment results are to scientific communities.
Therefore, qualitative work cannot be fiction; if it is observed and felt as
true within a community then it is just as true as any other methodology.
Qual needs quant observations to be useful; qual cannot get
us to places, make discoveries; qual is better for social justice, shouldn’t be
political;
How can conflict lead to good?; how is the work not
narcissistic?; studies the plight of others;
We acknowledged narcissism; what truly is the rigor of
qualitative work?
Just because we believe something to be true does not make
it material; we can miss data and facts because of our own failures;
-
What is truly profitable?
-Rigor exists in the social processes of peer
review
If I have figured anything out
this semester, it is that qualitative methods are an iterative process
constrained within certain professional expectations. Theoretically, they
respond to the problems posed by traditional scientific inquiry, notably through
acknowledging the role and position of the researcher. While metric empiricism
(and other areas such as critical methods) may attempt to make the researcher
invisible, qualitative methods take on the researcher as instrument. This is an
important conceptual move, and it is related to where we believe truth or
knowledge is located. In order to believe in the absent researcher of metric
empiricism, you have to ascribe to the notion that truth is outside of the
humans that desire it. It is something that can be reached as long as we find
more perfect tools. For the qualitative researcher, the truth resides at the
point that the self converges with the subject. It is truth that is contingent
on the researcher’s ability to recognize it. Because this process is never
simple or straightforward, the researcher must be able to constantly attune
their process and methodology.
It seems that one of the
underlying assumptions in qualitative research is that the researcher should be
given a degree of trust by those evaluating their work. Because there are not
strict guidelines for doing qualitative research—no p-values for interview
techniques—the researcher and their results are judged for qualities like
coherence and resonance. This is not to say that it is easy to become accepted
as a qualitative researcher. Scholars are expected to have certain standards of
practice, and they are constrained by expectations placed on them by their
academic institutions. This is why it is often difficult to do significant
qualitative work early in one’s career: doing a true ethnography takes far too
long, and qualitative work is simply not as frequently published as other types
of work. This does not mean that it is not worthwhile. Qualitative work can
access types of knowledge that cannot begin to be found through metric
empiricism, particularly regarding cultural and relational information.
Judging whether qualitative work
is good is always going to be a
difficult venture. Because the qualitative researcher is their own tool, it is
exceedingly difficult to get outside of oneself to judge the work done. For
this reason, having an auditor or colleague to provide feedback can be
exceptionally valuable. For myself, I think that the way to define good work is
in looking at its ability to help the site or culture that it studies.
Attempting to judge whether a work is true is folly; the best you can do is to
critique its methods from a third-party point of view. Instead, it may be more
useful to define the merit of a work on the basis of what it can do. If the
work can provide new understandings of a group or culture, then it is good; if
it can help that group or culture become better regarded or gain validity, then
it is very good. While I would not argue that all qualitative work needs to be
prescriptive, it is hard to imagine a useful study that does not at least
implicitly suggest a new course of action. In the realm of qualitative research,
truth is always situated within the researcher, and while it will admittedly
never produce pure, objective truths, qualitative research can benefit both
scholarship and the outside world significantly.
Observation occurred at 7:45 – 8:42 p.m., 9/19/2013; Worlds
Games Store
Field Notes written at 11:12 a.m., 9/21/2013
I should
begin by acknowledging that I have a small history with the place I observed.
The store I spent time in—Worlds Games—is one I’ve visited many times before. I
went with my boyfriend Peter, who had some things he wanted to trade in. We’re both known in the store; we could be
considered regulars. For the past year, I have found myself in the store for
one reason or another about once a week and sometimes more than that.
Worlds
Games is a general video game store in Salt Lake City. As an independent shop,
they stock old and vintage games, systems, and accessories as well as new
titles and systems. They also buy products—anything that is even tangentially
related to video games. The store features everything from video and computer
games ranging from the 70s to present to card games, cardboard standees, and
other licensed merchandise (think statuettes, lunch boxes, plushes, masks,
posters, and more). Many things in the store don’t have a price, and it’s clear
that the amount of merchandise is testing the capacity of the store. Every wall
has shelving, and all of the shelving is full. In the center of the store,
there are displays—many of them made simply by stacking merchandise on top of
other merchandise until it makes 5- or 6-foot towers.
I enter
the store from the north side of the building. Worlds Games is on the north end
of a small, 3-store strip mall. In the middle is a barber (where I’ve only once
seen a customer), and at the south end is a print shop. Walking into Worlds
Games, you travel through a short hallway made by eye-level bookcases stocked
with games and merchandise. Once inside, a counter and a small office is to the
left. The counter is essentially a wood and glass display case that has been
fit with Christmas lights and filled with old and rare gaming systems. Straight
ahead, in the southeast corner of the shop is an area that is walled off with
bookcases and plywood. Inside, they have several couches and a projection
system set up. The area can be rented out to hold gaming tournaments, but more
often than not, one of the many employees of the store is in there watching a
movie or playing a game. In the southwest corner of the shop is the area for
new(er) games, featuring stock for the Nintendo Wii, WiiU, 3DS, DS, PS3, PS2,
and XBOX 360. New and used stock are placed on the shelves together. Often,
there will be multiple copies of any title, all at different price points due
to new or used status and condition. This trend holds true for the wall of PC
games found along the eastern wall of the shop. Here, new games are
interspersed with software made as early as the late 80s. One can pick up a
copy of Diablo III as well as an unopened copy of Windows NT.
The
people who work in the store seem to be on an ever-revolving basis. The owner
of the store is constant, even if he isn’t present all the time. He appears to
be in his early 30s, and all of his employees seem to be of early high school
age. It’s a running joke with my friends who shop there that you can never go
to Worlds Games without seeing a new employee. Frequently, the employees
outnumber the customers, and this is why they’re so often hanging out in the
projector room. The employees are also predominately male—I only remember
seeing a young woman working there once, and it has probably been a year since
that happened. Nonetheless, they’re usually very talkative and happy to give
their opinions on anything and everything. There is a large flat screen TV set
up on the counter, plugged into an XBOX 360. When the employees aren’t talking
to customers or in the projector room, they’re messing with the counter system.
September
19th, 2013 was a Thursday night, and the store didn’t have many
customers. When I came in, there was an older man—thin, tall, with a white/gray
beard and glasses—accompanied by two boys, both of whom were probably around 10
or 12. He was talking to the employee currently at the register (one I didn’t
recognize) while one of the kids he was with played the 360 on the counter. He
was playing a fighting game, something put out by Capcom featuring superheroes
beating up other superheroes. The other kid spent the time back in the section
of newer games. When the transaction was finished, the older man and the kid
who had been playing the 360 went and joined the other kid in the newer games
section. One of the boys had picked up a special edition boxed copy of Call of
Duty: Black Ops and was talking about how much he loved that game. The older
man asked the other kid how he liked Black Ops, and the kid gushed that he “loved
it!”
While
the Black Ops conversation was going on, another event was taking place. When I’d
first walked into the store, I could hear that someone was using the projector
room. Because it isn’t really a room, any sound made by the system in that
corner floods the entire store. Someone was in there playing the newest Grand
Theft Auto game (GTA V), which came out on Tuesday (9/17/2013). The game series
is infamous for its violent, raunchy content, and while the man and the two
boys were talking about Black Ops, you could hear the dialogue of the game
playing out across the store, a long string of F***s and N*****s, accompanied
by what sounded like beating someone to death with a baseball bat. The owner of
the store suddenly appeared from the office, and he dashed into the projector
room. Immediately, the sounds stopped and the owner went back to the office.
Another employee (one I had seen before) emerged from the projector room a few
minutes later, looking a bit peeved. He wasn’t made to shut off his game
entirely, though. You could still see the game map projected on the wall
through the doorway to the room. As long as I was there, though, it didn’t
start up again.
It
seemed to me that the owner was trying to keep offensive content to a minimum with
young kids in the store, but at the same time, those very kids were professing
their love for Call of Duty: Black Ops, a game that consists largely of
indiscriminately shooting people to death. Fans of the game would say that it
is not indiscriminate—you are given missions to kill people. Nonetheless, it’s
a game about killing. However, the cultural taboo that was violated in the
store was not the kids that played violent games, but rather the loud
broadcasting of certain words. The older man and the two boys didn’t really
seem to acknowledge what was going on, and given current gaming culture, I
wouldn’t be wholly surprised if one of those kids didn’t already own a copy of
GTA V. When the man and kids went to leave, they walked by one of the cases
that held older systems. One of the boys pointed to a Virtual Boy that was set
up, and the older man had to explain to him that it was a Virtual Boy and it
came out before even the Super Nintendo. After this exchange, the man knocked
into one of the towers of precariously stacked merchandise, sending a half
dozen or so games flying to the floor. Immediately he shouted out, “Nothing’s
broke!” The kids scrambled, picking up all of the cases and putting them back onto
the stack.
Another
person that had been in the store when I arrived was a young man in his late
teens or early twenties who seemed to be alone, drifting through the store
picking up items. He wore a black and white shirt with a graphic of a turntable
on it and thick-framed glasses. He walked among the stacks and bins of
merchandise, picking up things here and there and digging around in the bin of
empty game boxes. After about half an hour, he approached the counter. He was
holding maybe 8-10 cases, some of them with games and others empty. He started
explaining that he was hoping he could get some kind of bulk discount. Because
Worlds Games is independent, it is more likely for them to cut deals with
customers. For this customer, however, it wasn’t to be. He’d picked up a lot of
extremely cheap items, and the owner was called out. He couldn’t justify giving
any kind of a discount when his margins on each item were already so low. The
customer paid for his items and quickly left.
The
store was empty for a while, save for myself, Peter, and the employees.
Eventually, a young man and young woman entered. Both were blond and dressed in
unusually formal looking clothes— black button-up shirt, red tie, and black slacks
on the man and a short black dress on the woman. They approached the counter
immediately, and the woman asked the owner (who had come out to work the
counter) if they sold any N64 expansions. The owner asked her if she knew which
model of N64 she had, and she responded that she didn’t. She went on to explain
that the man’s parents owned a cabin at a lake, and the cabin had an N64. I
assume that it was far enough away or so infrequently visited that they didn’t
know much about the N64 system. The owner replied to her that he couldn’t
really tell her which expansions to buy since he didn’t know the model, but
that expansions were fairly rare anyway, so he might not have what she was
looking for. The woman took the news well, and went on to look around the
store. At one point, she exclaimed “I can’t believe anyplace sells these
anymore!” while looking at some Super Nintendo peripherals. At this point, it
was clear that the shop was getting ready to close for the night, so I left
before the N64 couple had finished browsing.
For my video interpretation, I will be looking at two videos about Project Meshnet, an activist group creating an ad-hoc internet.
Video #1:
Description key: [Bracketed words] appear visually on the
screen. Italicized words are spoken.
Regular text is commentary, description, or analysis.
Scene 1
[Beware he who would deny you access to information, for in
his heart he dreams himself your master.]
Beware he who would
deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.
The
first scene begins with the above quote from video game creator Sid Meier, with
the words of the quote appearing on the screen sequentially, forming the shape
of a hexagon. The word ‘heart’ appears as black text on a red heart, and the
following ‘he’ begins with a red ‘h.’ The rest of the words are white on a
black background, in a sans serif font. As the quote ends, the words spiral clockwise
as the camera pulls out to reveal them situated within a gray hexagon. The
words fade as the hexagon assumes a position at the top of a triad of hexagons,
which is the Project Meshnet logo. The word ‘meshnet’ appears next to the logo.
Three lines, forming a triangle, fad in, connecting the centers of each of the
hexagons.
[meshnet]
Scene 2
Every time an internet
censorship bill [SOPA ACTA PIPA CISPA] like SOPA or ACTA is shot down by
protest, another takes its place.
The
scene begins with a white, mesh sphere (computer graphic, not photograph)
situated on a black background. The words SOPA, ACTA, PIPA, and CISPA slide
into frame one by one, and are each destroyed by a red line emanating from the
sphere, meant to represent a laser.
Scene 3
Many feel
disillusioned by this process and are pursuing alternative means of defending
internet freedom through technology itself.
The camera pans down as the mesh
sphere fades and a crowd of people graphics (think restroom sign men, again,
white on black) rises from the bottom of the frame. At the word ‘disillusioned,’
text bubbles appear over two of the members of the crowd, with one on the left
showing the icon for WiFi and the one on the right showing a skull and
crossbones icon. A third text bubble appears dimly in the background with an
image of a bomb. These fade as another person rises in the foreground, arm
extended to the left of the frame. A text bubble pops up containing one of the
hexagons from the Project Meshnet logo. This is followed by text bubbles with
hexagons appearing over two other figures, one to the left and one to the right
of the foregrounded figure.
Scene 4
This is the meshnet,
originally called the darknet, an alternative to the internet with no
centralized authority, making it impossible to censor or shut down.
The
hexagon in the speech bubble of the foregrounded figure slides to the center of
the frame as the rest of the elements on the frame fade to black. Immediately,
more hexagons form, encircling the first hexagon. Waves of hexagons appear in
quick succession until the screen is filled like a honeycomb. One of the
hexagons in the upper center area of the screen turns blue as the rest disappear.
It enlarges and appears to glow as human figures similar to those in the
earlier crowd pop up from the bottom of the screen. Six figures appear, three
to each side of the glowing blue hexagon. Their arms are extended toward the
center, and each appears to have their own blue hexagon hovering above where
their hands would be. A red X appears over one of the figures in middle right,
and the figure drops rapidly downwards, replaced by a new figure. The same then
happens to a figure in the upper left. The blue hexagon blinks and expands,
engulfing the screen in blue.
Scene 5
An unfiltered,
uninhibited flow of information and ideas all held in the hands of those who
use it.
The blue
screen shrinks back into a single hexagon held by a single white figure in the
center of the frame. Four more figures fade in, two on each side of the first
one, each holding a blue hexagon. Rapidly, more figures appear behind these,
filling the upper half of the frame, each holding a blue hexagon.
Scene 6
[How does it work?]
The
meshnet logo appears again, white on a black screen, with the text ‘How does it
work?’ to the right of it.
Scene 7
Imagine a room full of
people. They’re all standing and cannot move. However, they can use their hands
to pass notes to one another. If a person at one of the room wants to get a
message to someone at the opposite end, they will pass it to the person closest
to them who will then pass it to the person next to them, and so on until it
reaches its intended recipient. If one person along the way refuses to pass the
note, then the note will bypass them and be passed to someone else and still
reach its destination. This is how a meshnet works.
White
figures drop in from above. There are 18 this time, and they are placed in a
diagonal grid formation (top to bottom: 4, 3, 4, 3, 4). An icon of a letter appears
on the figure in the upper left corner. It moves haltingly from figure to
figure until it reaches the figure in the bottom right corner. It spirals and
shrinks into the figure in the lower left and disappears. Another letter icon
appears on the figure in the upper right corner. It moves twice, but when it
attempts to move to the third person, a red X appears. The letter icon moves
quickly back to the previous figure and takes another route through the grid of
figures. It encounters another person with an X and reroutes again. It reaches
the person in the lower left corner, spins, and disappears.
Scene 8
Multiple computers are
all connected to each other via a wireless connection spanning a large area and
all information, documents, messages, images, music—anything at all—is passed
from computer to computer until it reaches its destination. If a computer or
node is down, then an alternative route is found.
The
images of figures are replaced by blue hexagons with icons of computers in
them. A grid of gray circles appears behind the hexagons, corresponding to the
connections between the computers. A music note appears on the hexagon in the
middle right, and it appears to float along the lines of the circles to reach a
hexagon in the lower left. We also see a text bubbles and document icons
performing similar movements from hexagon to hexagon. Red Xs appear on two of
the hexagons, and a music note and document icon fly offscreen to the left.
Scene 9
All of this is done
automatically by the computer itself, allowing the user to browse the meshnet
as they would the regular internet. Likewise, all information sent and received
is secure, meaning only the intended recipient is capable of receiving it. This
means the architecture of the meshnet is owned by countless individuals instead
of a handful of corporate providers, which makes the oppression of free speech
impractical, bordering on impossible.
The
camera pans to the left, showing the icon of a figure seated at a desk with a
computer. A document, music note, and text bubble emerge from the right edge of
the screen and fly into the back of the computer. A padlock icon appears and
hovers over the image of the computer. A key appears above it and drops down to
mimic an unlocking motion. A document appears, and the key and lock do the same
unlocking animation. A blue hexagon appears around the figure and computer, and
the camera pans out to reveal numerous hexagons, all with the same icon,
situated in a spread out honeycomb pattern.
Scene 10
[Where can I find out more?]
The
screen fades to black, and the Project Meshnet logo fades in with the question ‘Where
can I find out more?’ written to the right of it. This fades to black.
Scene 11
There are multiple
sources to be found currently on the internet. The first is reddit,
[http://www.reddit.com/r/darknetplan] where the project first came into being.
From there, you can find many other sources, such as the official website
[http://projectmeshnet.org/], an online discussion, IRC [irc.subliminal.net
#darknetplan], and a wiki [https://wiki.projectmeshnet.org/]. The meshnet will
take a long time to develop into a perfect working system, and it will take
longer still to spread and set up on a large scale. So, until that time comes,
arm yourself with knowledge and information, and, whenever possible, lend a
hand. Anyone can help with or without computer skills. If you can help other
people understand and get them interested, you’re helping. If you can help
people test their homemade meshnetwork, you’re helping. If you can tell those
who are writing tutorials and FAQs how to make their work more accessible to
those without computer knowledge, you’re helping. Any contribution is welcome.
So get out there, and help us build a way to freedom.
As each
resource is mentioned a corresponding graphic and web address appear. The
reddit forum address is accompanied by the reddit logo in white, appearing in
the upper left hand corner of the screen. The Project Meshnet logo and address
appear in the upper right corner. The IRC channel is accompanied by the image
of two figures, one with a text bubble of unreadable text and the other with a
text bubble with a hexagon inside. The wiki’s logo features two hexagons aligned
diagonally, with the upper one on the left and the lower one on the right,
connected by a solid black line. Each of these logos and addresses shrink and
move to the corners. In the center, two figures appear with a hexagon in
between them. They take turns kicking the hexagon, and each time it changes
color, blue to pink to green to blue again. This fades, and another hexagon
appears with a line of four figures to the right. The one closest to the
hexagon appears to pick up a hexagon themselves, then moves offscreen to the
right. This animation fades, and another figure slide in from the bottom of the
screen. A question mark appears above its head, and it is then replaced by a
checkmark. A computer and desk slide in from the right of screen, and a red X
appears on the computer. It disappears, and a figures slides in from the left,
appearing to hold a question mark. The question mark fades and is replaced by a
blue hexagon. A lightbulb appears above the new figure’s head, and it slides
offscreen to the left. Another figures slides in from the right, holding a blue
hexagon. A text bubble appears above the central figure, which is followed by a
text bubble with a lightbulb appearing above the figure holding the hexagon.
This figure then disappears offscreen to the right. Another figure appears from
the left, this time holding a document. A red X appears on the document, and a
text bubble appears over the figure holding the document. A lightbulb fades in
above the central figure, the red X turns to a checkmark, and the figure with
the document leaves to the left. The screen fades to black.
Scene 12
The
Project Meshnet symbol appears in the center of the screen. It fades out.
The
credits fade in, in white text, and then fade out.
Video #2
Scene 1
Don’t trust the
internet anymore? Well, some activists want to build a completely new one from
scratch. But is it possible?
This is
a news segment for Tech Feed, an online, YouTube-hosted news source about
technology news. The scene begins with a host standing in front of a grey brick
wall. There is a lamp on a table to the left of the host, and above the lamp is
a television screen. On the screen is the TechFeed logo. The host is a young
woman, likely in her 20s. She wears a black and white striped shirt with a
pocket and sleeves rolled to her elbows. She is also wearing a necklace and a
visible microphone.
Scene 2
The screen turns to a dark gray, and various icons of
technology appear in an orange, angled text box. It shows a laptop, a video
game controller, and a smartphone. The background turns white, and another
angled text box appears above the first, forming the logo for Tech Feed. The
word Tech is in the upper box, and the word Feed is in the lower box. Another
textbox appears to the right. It is blue with the word ‘news’ in white on it.
Scene 3
In response to
revelations about broad surveillance of mainstream internet services, a group
of privacy advocates wants your help in building an entirely new peer-supported
internet from the ground up.
The host
and screen are back. She introduces the story while looking directly at the
camera. She uses frequent hand gestures. A Tech Feed logo appears in the lower
left corner, and to the right of it is the Twitter handle of the host:
@AnnieGaus. The logo and Twitter title disappear.
Scene 4
The project called
meshnet has taken shape partly thanks to the reddit thread DarkNetPlan where
contributors have been hashing out the details of this ambitious goal. Although
advocates of Project Meshnet want to make it clear that it’s not a dark net
project, it’s an entirely new network that defines itself as a versatile,
decentralized network built on secure protocols for routing traffic over
private mesh or public internetworks. [Our objective is to create a versatile,
decentralized network built on secure protocols for routing traffic over
private mesh or public internetworks independent of a central supporting
infrastructure.] Here’s how they describe that private mesh.
The
camera shifts, placing the host in the center of the frame. At the mention of
reddit, the screen is filled with a screenshot of the reddit DarkNetPlan
subreddit. Titles of posts on the page include “Hacktivists Want to Free the
Net by Building a New One From Scratch,” “Just FYI, we’re publishing our
traffic stats now. The (active) mods all said yes a long time ago then no one
actually turned it on, but it’s on now,” “Project Byzantium,” “looking for a hyperboria
node,” and “Video: You broke the Internet. We’re making ourselves a GNU one.”
The screen reverts to the first shot of the host for a moment, before switching
to a screenshot of the Project Meshnet website. A selection of the Project
Meshnet whitepaper slides in from the right, with the section that the host
reads highlighted in light blue. The frame goes back to the closeup of the
host, where she introduces the Project Meshnet video.
Scene 5
Multiple computers are
all connected to each other via a wireless connection spanning a large area and
all information, documents, messages, images, music—anything at all—is passed
from computer to computer until it reaches its destination. If a computer or
node is down, then an alternative route is found.
The screen
is filled by blue hexagons with icons of computers in them. A grid of gray
circles appears behind the hexagons, corresponding to the connections between the
computers. A music note appears on the hexagon in the middle right, and it
appears to float along the lines of the circles to reach a hexagon in the lower
left. We also see a text bubbles and document icons performing similar
movements from hexagon to hexagon. Red Xs appear on two of the hexagons, and a music
note and document icon fly offscreen to the left.
All of this is done
automatically by the computer itself, allowing the user to browse the meshnet
as they would the regular internet. Likewise, all information sent and received
is secure, meaning only the intended recipient is capable of receiving it. This
means the architecture of the meshnet is owned by countless individuals instead
of a handful of corporate providers, which makes the oppression of free speech
impractical, bordering on impossible.
The
camera pans to the left, showing the icon of a figure seated at a desk with a
computer. A document, music note, and text bubble emerge from the right edge of
the screen and fly into the back of the computer. A padlock icon appears and
hovers over the image of the computer. A key appears above it and drops down to
mimic an unlocking motion. A document appears, and the key and lock do the same
unlocking animation. A blue hexagon appears around the figure and computer, and
the camera pans out to reveal numerous hexagons, all with the same icon,
situated in a spread out honeycomb pattern.
Scene 6
How does that all
work? Well, they’ve already established local networks in various cities,
including Seattle, San Francisco, New York, and others. You can support these
networks by getting a compatible router with CJdns, which is part of the
software component to the mesh network. Or you can install CJdns on your own
computer, but it takes a few steps and some technical know-how, which you can
find instructions to on their wiki.
After
the video clip stops, the frame returns to the initial shot of the host, but
quickly switches to a map of the US with red, blue, and green numbered markers
above a handful of cities. The camera switches to the close shot of the host as
she explains that users need to get routers or install CJdns. The camera
switches to the first shot for a moment before showing a screen capture of the
Meshnet wiki.
Scene 7
Once installed, you
can connect to a peer and then you can access a secure, peer-supported internet
wonderland called Hyperboria. Which, visualized, looks like this. But consists
at this point of a small list of known websites accessed only through CJdns,
including some private social networks, encrypted pastebins, a reddit clone,
and more. However, in spite of its limited size at this time, the fact that
Hyperboria is off the grid, so to speak, is enough to attract activists and
privacy-minded users to it regardless. Some calling it inspiring [Jean-Louis
Huynen, @gallypette, #hyperboria is inspiring] and a necessary project for humanity. [969 Movement, @969 Movement,
humanity needs a secure internet hyberboria.net]
The camera switches back to the
first shot. When the host mentions the visualization of Hyperboria, the frame
is filled by the image of a circle with lines crisscrossing it irregularly.
This switches back to the original shot of the host before showing a screenshot
of a list of websites available on Hyperboria. The shot goes back to the first
configuration of the host and the TV. When talking about how people find it
inspiring, the frame is changed to show a Tweet from Jean-Louis Huynen
Scene 8
You can read more
about the meshnet project at projectmeshnet.org. So, do you think this ambition
of building a new internet cooperative from scratch is possible, and is it a
good idea in your opinion? Let us know what you think in the comments. For TFN,
this is Annie.
The screen reverts to the
shot of the host and the television for the sentence about reading about the
project. Then it switches to the close-up of the host, while she asks
questions. Below her is a banner from Tech Feed, with the word “subscribe.”
For my narrative interpretation, I looked at Tiffany's Cat Pose narrative. My findings are below:
Qualification of Interpreter
Looking
at the subjects of this narrative, I am willing to say that I have some
qualifications—namely, a passing familiarity with yoga and previous ownership
of a cat. With yoga, though I have never actually owned a yoga mat, I do know
several poses and some of the general goals that people have when doing yoga.
With cat ownership, I know that they tend to like to put themselves in the
middle of your activities, and they are very good at stretching.
Facts
The
first photo shows in the Cat Pose narrative shows a pillow and what appears to
be a sheet or duvet. We can presume that the image is of a bed. In the lower
left corner is an object, but I can’t identify just what it is. The image seems
to be centered on the meeting of the pillow and duvet, and this is what comes
to visually define the bed.
The
second image includes a bit of the fabric from the duvet, which orients the
viewer; what we are seeing is near the bed, but in a different direction. In
this image, we can see legs and feet coming off the bed, situating our
faceless, human character. Beyond the bed, we can see a white, plastic basket
filled with something, presumably clothes. Behind the basket is a large,
semi-translucent white ball—most likely an exercise ball. Behind the exercise
ball is a blue cylindrical shape. The entire scene is lit by the large window
on the far wall.
The
third image shows the blue item again, this time laid on the ground. It becomes
apparent that it is something that has been rolled up. In the context of the
exercise ball, it appears to be a yoga mat. It is laid on the floor, still
mostly rolled up, near the basket and the exercise ball.
The
fourth image shows the yoga mat fully unrolled on the floor, situated near the
basket, exercise ball, and window. The window is now somewhat less covered than
it was in the second photo.
In the
fifth photo, the perspective changes, and from a perspective near to the floor,
we see the feet and legs of the aforementioned faceless human character. The
feet are lined up facing the window, as evidenced by the direction of shadows.
The feet appear roughly centered on the mat, pointing perpendicularly to the
long edge of the mat. Behind the person and the yoga mat, we can see what
appears to be a brown leather ottoman and some various boxes, likely for
storage.
The
sixth photo shows a change in the positioning of the feet. Now they point the
other direction. The leg closest to the camera is straight, but the leg further
from the camera is leaning or bent, with the foot pointing to the far end of
the yoga mat. A hand reaches down and touches the top of the further foot.
The
seventh photo changes the perspective again. Now we view the yoga mat and feet
from above, the camera likely held by the human character. The yoga mat is
viewed as coming diagonally from the bottom left of frame to the top right. The
photo seems to focus on the empty space at the far end of the yoga mat.
In the
eighth photo, the previous empty space is suddenly filled with an orange cat.
The cat is stretching, facing away from the camera, with its front paws
extended and lowered and its tail high in the air. The human character is still
made present by the appearance of feet in the lower half of the image.
The
ninth photo shows the cat laying on its side from the same perspective as the
last few photos. It is still on the far end of the yoga mat, lying in the sun.
The
final photo shows the cat from a much lower perspective. We can see its face as
it looks up and slightly left of camera. The human character’s arms are present
here, and it is petting the cat.
Cultural
The
narrative begins with the picture of a bed, signifying morning—or at least that
the main character is just getting up. We can then see that the main character
(I’m going to make the wild guess that this is Tiffany, the author of this
narrative) is sitting on the bed, oriented toward some exercise equipment. She
is going to begin her day with some exercise. Her intentions are made clear
when we see the yoga mat on the floor. It is spread out, and she begins her
exercise. We s
ee her doing a pose (maybe Triangle?), and then straighten back
up. The cat then appears on the mat next to Tiffany, doing a pretty formidable
Downward Dog. After showing Tiffany up, the cat flops to its side. Tiffany
leans down to pet the cat, amused by its abilities.
Implications
In this
narrative, we can see how similar doing yoga poses can be to a cat stretching.
The equating of these two things can have implications about the nature of yoga
or exercise in general. After all, the yoga mat and routine are essentially
artificial movement, but we see them happening naturally in the cat’s
stretching. Perhaps we can suggest that the movement of yoga or other exercises
are attempts at reconnecting with more naturalistic movement. It may not be too
far to say that perhaps Tiffany is doing yoga to (in a way) be more like her
cat.
