Mark your calendars! Registration is open to the public
Date And Time:
Friday, March 1, 2019, 4:00 PM – 6:30 PM MST
Location:
University of Calgary, Taylor Institute Forum - TI 160, 434 Collegiate Boulevard NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4
Date And Time:
Friday, March 1, 2019, 4:00 PM – 6:30 PM MST
Location:
University of Calgary, Taylor Institute Forum - TI 160, 434 Collegiate Boulevard NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4
This event will showcase the winners of our student essay contest on the pros and cons of social media, and feature a public lecture by Dr. Rob Gehl, University of Utah, who will present his paper, “A Deep Dive into the Marianas Web: Surveillance, Information, and Mythologies of the Dark Web,” and a paper by doctoral candidate, Safaneh Neyshabouri on "#Resistance on Social Media: From Toppling Governments to Everyday Life."
Lecture Abstracts and Speaker Bios
A Deep Dive into the Marianas Web: Surveillance, Information, and Mythologies of the Dark Web
No matter what you think you know, no matter the facts that you're presented with by the media, no matter what our leaders or so-called "experts" say, the Truth is just out of reach. It is hidden behind a veil made of lies and obfuscation. But, if you dig deep enough, and if you're skillful enough, there are parts of the Internet that will reveal the Truth to you.
This is the logic behind a powerful Internet myth: the "Marianas Web," a layer of computer networking resources that lies deeper than the "surface" Internet. It's even deeper than the "Deep Web" or the "Dark Web" – that is, deeper than even Tor hidden services. Starting sometime in the 2010s, an infographic meme has circulated the Internet, describing the Marianas Web as only accessible with advanced programming languages or quantum computers. With such technology, the infographic promises, one can find all the answers to all of our burning questions about global conspiracies, computer hacking, corporate or government surveillance, or celebrity gossip.
Rather than dismissing the Marianas Web as a joke, this presentation considers the cultural power of this meme. Why do hundreds of people take to Internet forums (including on the Dark Web) and ask how to reach this deep layer? Why do security experts reference it? Why do oceans, immateriality, and the Truth haunt our Internet visions? In short, what keeps this myth alive? I argue that the power of the Marianas Web arises because key contradictions identified by scholars of modernity and digital culture: that the more information we have access to, the less certainty we have.The more we are monitored by governments and corporate social media, the less we know about each other and ourselves. Thus, myths such as the Marianas Web derive their power from their capacity to provide answers in a "Post Truth" age of politics and doubt.
Speaker Bio
Robert W. Gehl received a PhD in Cultural Studies from George Mason University in 2010. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Utah, as well as an affiliated faculty member with the Department of Writing & Rhetoric Studies at Utah. His research draws on science and technology studies, software studies, digital ethnography, and critical/cultural studies and focuses on the intersections between technology, subjectivity, and practice. He has published research on the Dark Web, alternative social media, corporate social media, knowledge management, and artificial intelligence in a variety of journals, including The International Journal of Cultural Studies, New Media and Society, Television and New Media, Media, Culture & Society, Communication Theory, and Social Text. His first book, Reverse Engineering Social Media (Temple, 2014), explores the architecture and political economy of social media and won the Association of Internet Researchers Nancy Baym Book Award. His second book, Weaving the Dark Web (MIT, 2018), explores the culture, history, and technology of the Dark Web. At Utah, he teaches courses in communication technology, new media, internet cultures, software studies, and political economy of communication.
No matter what you think you know, no matter the facts that you're presented with by the media, no matter what our leaders or so-called "experts" say, the Truth is just out of reach. It is hidden behind a veil made of lies and obfuscation. But, if you dig deep enough, and if you're skillful enough, there are parts of the Internet that will reveal the Truth to you.
This is the logic behind a powerful Internet myth: the "Marianas Web," a layer of computer networking resources that lies deeper than the "surface" Internet. It's even deeper than the "Deep Web" or the "Dark Web" – that is, deeper than even Tor hidden services. Starting sometime in the 2010s, an infographic meme has circulated the Internet, describing the Marianas Web as only accessible with advanced programming languages or quantum computers. With such technology, the infographic promises, one can find all the answers to all of our burning questions about global conspiracies, computer hacking, corporate or government surveillance, or celebrity gossip.
Rather than dismissing the Marianas Web as a joke, this presentation considers the cultural power of this meme. Why do hundreds of people take to Internet forums (including on the Dark Web) and ask how to reach this deep layer? Why do security experts reference it? Why do oceans, immateriality, and the Truth haunt our Internet visions? In short, what keeps this myth alive? I argue that the power of the Marianas Web arises because key contradictions identified by scholars of modernity and digital culture: that the more information we have access to, the less certainty we have.The more we are monitored by governments and corporate social media, the less we know about each other and ourselves. Thus, myths such as the Marianas Web derive their power from their capacity to provide answers in a "Post Truth" age of politics and doubt.
Speaker Bio
Robert W. Gehl received a PhD in Cultural Studies from George Mason University in 2010. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Utah, as well as an affiliated faculty member with the Department of Writing & Rhetoric Studies at Utah. His research draws on science and technology studies, software studies, digital ethnography, and critical/cultural studies and focuses on the intersections between technology, subjectivity, and practice. He has published research on the Dark Web, alternative social media, corporate social media, knowledge management, and artificial intelligence in a variety of journals, including The International Journal of Cultural Studies, New Media and Society, Television and New Media, Media, Culture & Society, Communication Theory, and Social Text. His first book, Reverse Engineering Social Media (Temple, 2014), explores the architecture and political economy of social media and won the Association of Internet Researchers Nancy Baym Book Award. His second book, Weaving the Dark Web (MIT, 2018), explores the culture, history, and technology of the Dark Web. At Utah, he teaches courses in communication technology, new media, internet cultures, software studies, and political economy of communication.
#Resistance on Social Media: From Toppling Governments to Everyday Life
Iran’s 2009 green movement was called the “Twitter Revolution”. Facebook played a huge role in Egypt’s Tahrir square revolution. #Resistance on social media sometimes rises to the level of toppling governments and dominating news headlines. Other times however, outright confrontation is too costly, and social media itself becomes a tool of oppression. In such circumstances, people calibrate their resistance and tone it down to survive. Resistance becomes subtle, indirect, uncoordinated, invisible, and hidden in everyday life. Yet this kind of resistance is still very powerful in the long run, as its slower pace and milder methods allow it to be effective where more rapid change cannot be tolerated or absorbed. Focusing on the case of women in Iran, we catch a glimpse of this invisible resistance on social media.
Speaker Bio
Safaneh Mohaghegh Neyshabouri is an Instructor of Women’s Studies and Muslim Cultures in the University of Calgary, and a PhD candidate in Comparative Literature at the University of Alberta. She is a published scholar and translator; an associate editor at the Parsagon Review; and a recipient of the Houtan Foundation scholarship. Her dissertation focuses on feminist epistemology, Iranian women, and everyday forms of resistance. She also holds BA and MA degrees in English Language and Literature from Iran, where she previously worked as a journalist.
Event Poster | |
File Size: | 332 kb |
File Type: |