#larrydiamond

[myresearcharchive]

Liberation technology as determinism and essentialism

For Diamond, the artifacts and systems that are branded as "liberation technology" are either inherently neutral, or inherently democratizing and therefore positive. The inherent aspects aren't established but presumed, and the rationale for or determination of which ones are and when they are good versus neutral is equally absent. This becomes particularly problematic with the good technologies fail to produce their expected outcome. If they have not, it's because they haven't yet -- wait, and it will happen, eventually. Or, it's because of state repression or some other intervention that prevents the technologies from actualizing their positive outcomes. 

[myresearcharchive]

Making police violence visible central to cellphones and Web 2.0 being framed as liberation technology

“Incidents of police brutality have been filmed on cellphone cameras and posted to YouTube and other sites, after which bloggers have called outraged public attention to them” (2012 p. 10).