Hello nettime,
I wrote "Digital Networks and Social Innovation: Strategies of the Imagination", in 2008. It was published as a chapter of the book "Cultural _expression_, Creativity and Innovation", volume III of the Cultures and Globalization series, SAGE Publications.
According to the contract I signed then, I can now share it freely. So here it is:
With an excerpt: â"The users' rights to modify the technologies they use and adapt them to unintended but legitimate purposes are being fought for in heated battles. At the core of creative usage and misusage lies appropriation,
a negotiation about power and control over the configuration of technology, its standards, modes of usage and the distribution of its benefits. Appropriation is a strategy which deeply affects the politics of daily life. In our digital age, it can be seen as a starting point for deep social change. As users, we must face the question of whether we are continuously performing scripts dictated by the interests of technological corporations, or fulfilling our real needs of _expression_, access and equality. We must face the growing tension between dominance, expressed through the top-down imposition of standards, and agency, represented by our freedom to access and reshape technology. Yes, the flat, democratic appearance of digital networks may just be the perfect disguise of capitalist authoritarianism."
I hope you'll still find it useful after all these years.
Best
wishes,
Eugenio.