Profound Heterogeneity

0 A few other things by way of introduction. First, to adequately address this topic it seems to me that we need to get out of the traditional method of disciplinarily and adopt an approach that is apathetic to any particular discipline, one that draws on analysis from a range of approaches. The narrowness of approach which is required in much of academic scholarship strikes me as particularly limiting, especially with regard to this particular object of study. Scholars from many backgrounds have written about the questions posed by democracy in the age of the internet, and I think it is only by combining approaches found across disciplines that we can begin to understand that historical perspectives, political science, humanities, and even hard science all have something to contribute. This is one of the first lessons that network theory yields: there are no discrete objects or methods of analysis, but rather all objects and methods are nodes connected to others, and so to treat any particular node as isolated, and whole unto itself not only misunderstands the node, but also yields a particularly bordered and limiting type of analysis. Connections across nodes is where the real purchase lies.

0 This is not to suggest that I do not have my own particular biases, my own particular training, and and a better understanding of a certain range of scholarship. Trained as a literary scholar, my background and familiarity lies far more in what is often grouped under the heading of continental philosophy or “theory,” and so the writings of individuals like Habermas, Derrida, and Foucault figure heavily in how I have come to approach these questions. But in the same regard, to limit an approach to only these type of scholars unnecessarily prejudices the exploration before it begins. So I aim to draw from a range of work here that, I hope, cuts across many borders, and more importantly invites people from an array of approaches and backgrounds to join in the conversation and discourse. There are clearly areas of expertise other than my own which can be added to this project; knowledge is a conversation best fostered with heterogeneity, not homogeneity.

0 This is not to suggest that I do not have my own particular biases, my own particular training, and and a better understanding of a certain range of scholarship. Trained as a literary scholar, my background and familiarity lies far more in what is often grouped under the heading of continental philosophy or “theory,” and so the writings of individuals like Habermas, Derrida, and Foucault figure heavily in how I have come to approach these questions. But in the same regard, to limit an approach to only these type of scholars unnecessarily prejudices the exploration before it begins. So I aim to draw from a range of work here that, I hope, cuts across many borders, and more importantly invites people from an array of approaches and backgrounds to join in the conversation and discourse. There are clearly areas of expertise other than my own which can be added to this project; knowledge is a conversation best fostered with heterogeneity, not homogeneity.

0 Second, there is no one internet. The internet is plural, not a singular space but a network and collection of spaces, and to treat it as singular ignores the differences one finds at different points and leads to hastily generalizations. Specificity is important here, as it is fairly clear that there are certain nodes in the internet which foster free speech and some which suppress expression. To treat the internet as a singular entity which either hinders or hurts avoids paying attention to the specifics—not only how the internet does both, but how in different spaces and times the same particular node of the internet might do both. The internet is, as many have observed, a network of networks, not a singular network. However, I think there are general principles of the digital network which we can speak of, which do offer themselves up for general critical analysis (specifically with regards to approaches like “network theory”), principles which across networks have similar effects.