Kelly’s enthusiasm is predicated on the network as both a process of production and as its end result. On both accounts, the network is superior to previous forms of the organization of production. As a process, it is more democratic, more engaging and satisfying to individuals, and more empowering to them. As an end result, or product—either as collective intelligence or simply “culture”—it is able to deliver a superior product compared with previous modes of production. In short, Kelly is able to connect an ethics of democracy, individual autonomy and empowerment, and ungovernability, together with the traditional ethics of capitalism, focused on productivity and the quality of the end product.
Let us now return to Kelly’s proclamation at the top of his article— “behold the power of the people”—and to the questions I have posed about it: Who are “the people,” and what is the kind of power that network technology gives them? And, what does it tell us about the spirit of networks? The double-spread image that precedes Kelly’s article encapsulates some revealing answers.<sup>3</sup>
The image is comprised of sixty-three portraits of individuals. What can we tell about these people? They seem to differ in almost every respect: age, habitus, class, race, and lifestyle. In fact, their common denominator could only be inferred in the context of the article: they are all connected to the Web. They are the Web, as the article’s title maintains—truly the “family of Web users.” As the image reveals, “the people” of the digital discourse are not a monolithic group; the image is decidedly not a group photograph. “The people” of Kelly’s Web are not copresent in the same place at the same time; they most likely do not know each other. They are facing us (or outward) rather than each other (or inward), and each is surrounded by a clear boundary from the others, leaving each in his or her own “bubble.” “The people” are autonomous units, the interrelatedness of which is only possible through their interconnection by network technology, or the Web. “The people” are individuals who are able to come together while retaining their individuality, a loosely connected network of individuals who assemble ad hoc; they are minimally related, but their relation is dependent upon the glue of network technology. “The people” are the new army of network production.
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Media and New Capitalism in the Digital Age