This is for everyone? Some steps towards decolonizing the Web
This is for everyone? Some steps towards decolonizing the Web
From the outset, the Web has been steered by powerful commitments to ‘openness’: in its technical requirements - open standards, protocols; and in the promotion of free and open information exchange. The mutual co-construction of conceptualisations of the Web as both an embodiment and facilitator of ‘openness’ is not without its problems, however. In this brief (deliberately provocative) discussion we explore ways in which treating openness as a ‘universal good’ ignores (and marginalises) diversity in cultural practice and obscures the structures of power and control embedded in the processes of the cultural appropriation of knowledge. In this way, questioning the Web’s ‘openness’ is a mechanism by which to explore the digital divide, the inherent politics of the Web as a socio-technical infrastructure and the historical processes that have led to its continued development.
Ogden, Jessica
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Halford, Susan
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Carr, Les
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Earl, Graeme
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Ogden, Jessica
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Halford, Susan
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Carr, Les
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Earl, Graeme
724c73ef-c3dd-4e4f-a7f5-0557e81f8326
Ogden, Jessica, Halford, Susan, Carr, Les and Earl, Graeme
(2015)
This is for everyone? Some steps towards decolonizing the Web.
Digital Divides Workshop at Web Science 2015, Oxford, United Kingdom.
28 Jun - 01 Jul 2015.
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
From the outset, the Web has been steered by powerful commitments to ‘openness’: in its technical requirements - open standards, protocols; and in the promotion of free and open information exchange. The mutual co-construction of conceptualisations of the Web as both an embodiment and facilitator of ‘openness’ is not without its problems, however. In this brief (deliberately provocative) discussion we explore ways in which treating openness as a ‘universal good’ ignores (and marginalises) diversity in cultural practice and obscures the structures of power and control embedded in the processes of the cultural appropriation of knowledge. In this way, questioning the Web’s ‘openness’ is a mechanism by which to explore the digital divide, the inherent politics of the Web as a socio-technical infrastructure and the historical processes that have led to its continued development.
Text
jogden_decolonising_web.pdf
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e-pub ahead of print date: July 2015
Venue - Dates:
Digital Divides Workshop at Web Science 2015, Oxford, United Kingdom, 2015-06-28 - 2015-07-01
Organisations:
Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 397709
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/397709
PURE UUID: bbc84d61-c1ff-4029-83c5-e2afda8a311d
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Date deposited: 04 Jul 2016 13:47
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:33
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Contributors
Author:
Jessica Ogden
Author:
Susan Halford
Author:
Graeme Earl
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