{"resolved":true,"match_type":"uuid","source_type":"original_book","book_id":"8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a","title":"Media and New Capitalism in the Digital Age The Spirit of Networks","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"9781349379743","requested_by":"printed_page","book":{"source_type":"original_book","book_id":"8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a","id":"8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a","uuid":"8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a","title":"Media and New Capitalism in the Digital Age The Spirit of Networks","normalized_title":"mediaandnewcapitalisminthedigitalagethespiritofnetworks","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"9781349379743","isbns":["9781349379743","9780230106062"],"parsed":true,"ai_readable":true,"document_type":"book","page_count":258,"navigation_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a","title_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/title/Media%20and%20New%20Capitalism%20in%20the%20Digital%20Age%20The%20Spirit%20of%20Networks","fixed_page_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a/page/{printed_page}","path_api_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/book/8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a/page/{printed_page}","read_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/read/8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a","page_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a/page","search_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a/search"},"page":{"printed_page":114,"pdf_page":117,"physical_index":117,"physical_index_base":0,"printed_page_status":"recognized","page_sha256":"643453e2587f4ec849445c6052e2f93f8066202322c5dda9ed812c7b43f4a62d"},"chapter":"Media and New Capitalism in the Digital Age","content":"Wired’s cover story of Linus Torvalds and Linux demarcates the two issues around which the discourse on open source revolves: collaboration (the subtitle of the article hails Linux as “the biggest collaborative project in history”) and property rights (the title hails Torvalds as “leader of the free world”; Rivlin 2003). These two concerns correspond to the more general template of discussion I identified previously: networks as a production process and networks as a product. On both concerns, the digital discourse suggests open source resolves and transcends the problematics of the old capitalism. It offers a more democratized and decentralized production process and a product that empowers individuals and individualism by being nonproprietary. Linux, and open source in general, epitomizes the new mode of network production based on collaboration, a template for the transformation of the whole mode of production in contemporary society, and with it the transformation of society as a whole. The article on Linux in fact ends with a prediction that the open source model will be exported from software to other human activities and in turn “catalyze stagnant sectors of the economy—or, better yet, create new economic sectors” (Rivlin 2003).\n\nThis prediction is explored in another article, in which the author finds “open source everywhere” (Goetz 2003). The article discusses open source as a generalized template for social production. The revolutionary crux of open source as an epitome of network production is anchored, according to the digital discourse, in the new and improved mechanism for the division of labor that it facilitates: “Open source harnesses the distributive powers of the Internet, parcels the work out of thousands, and uses their piecework to build a better whole . . . It works like an ant colony, where the collective intelligence of the network supersedes any single contributor . . . In 2003, the method is proving to be as broadly effective—and, yes, as revolutionary—a means of production as the assembly line was a century ago” (Goetz 2003).\n\nThis framework locates network production on the continuum of the process of the rationalization of production. What Adam Smith’s division of labor and Friedrich Taylor’s scientific management are for the wake and the zenith of the industrial era, respectively, so is the digital discourse’s open source for the emerging network revolution: all allow for the creation of a superior product, or “a better whole,” by implementing ever more sophisticated means of coordination between fragmented and differentiated parts of the labor process.\n\nHowever, as this framework suggests, open source is not simply a continuation of the rationalization of production. It also constitutes a radical break in that, for the first time since the industrial revolution, the rationalization of the work process through technology helps workers realize their freedom rather than contribute to their alienation. For the first time, this rationalization process is not only harmless to its practitioners, but, quite the contrary, it benefits them. Put differently, in contrast to previous advances in the mode of production, open source responds not only to the rationalization demands of production but also to the emancipatory demands of workers. Reiterating Kelly’s discourse on the Web, the discourse on open source also fuses democracy and capitalism together, heralding the emergence of a more democratic and emancipatory form of rationality:\n\n114\n\nMedia and New Capitalism in the Digital Age","previous_page":113,"next_page":115}