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The Technocuitural Dimensions of Meaning

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The Technocuitural Dimensions of Meaning The TechnoCuItural Dimensions of Meaning: Towards a Mixed Semiotics of the World Wide Web GANAELE LANGLOIS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE YORK UNIVERSITY/RYERSON UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO MAY 2008 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-46001-6 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-46001-6 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. Canada ABSTRACT This dissertation project argues that the study of meaning-making practices on the Web, and particularly the analysis of the power relations that organize communicational practices, needs to involve an acknowledgement of the importance of communication technologies. This project assesses the technocultural impact of software that automatically produces and dynamically adapts content to user input through a case study analysis of amazon.com and of the MediaWiki software package. It offers an interdisciplinary theoretical framework that borrows from communication studies (discourse analysis, medium theory, cultural studies of technology), from new media studies (software criticism) and from Actor-network theory and Felix Guattari's mixed semiotics. In so doing, the research defines a new methodological framework through which the question of semiotics and discourse can be analyzed thanks to an exploration of the technocultural conditions that create communicative possibilities. The analysis of amazon.com examines how the deployment of tools to track, shape and predict the cultural desires of users raises questions related to the imposition of specific modes of interpretation. In particular, I highlight the process through which user- produced meanings are incorporated within software-produced semiotic systems so as to embed cultural processes within a commercial imperative. While amazon.com is an instance of the commercial use of dynamic content production techniques on the Web, Wikipedia stands as a symbol of non-commercial knowledge production. The Wikipedia model is not only cultural, but also technical as mass collaborative knowledge production depends on a suite of software tools - the MediaWiki architecture - that enables new iv discursive practices. The Wikipedia model is the result of a set of articulations between technical and cultural processes, and the case study examines how this model is captured, modified and challenged by other websites using the same wiki architecture as Wikipedia. In particular, I examine how legal and technical processes on the Web appropriate discursive practices by capitalizing on user-produced content as a source of revenue. v Acknowledgements I am greatly indebted to my supervisor, Dr. Barbara Crow, for being an astonishing mentor whose generous support, guidance and encouragement throughout the years have made my experience of graduate school truly fulfilling. My hearfelt thanks go to my other committee members, Dr. Greg Elmer and Dr. Steve Bailey, for their generous feedback and encouragement. I am extremely grateful for Dr. Wendy Hui Kyong Chun's advice and support. This project would not have been half as interesting without the support of the members of the Infoscape Lab at Ryerson University. Our conversations and collaborative work have been a central source of inspiration. My thanks also go to Dr. Fred Fletcher and Diane Jenner for their help over the years. This dissertation would not have been written without the financial support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Ontario Graduate Studies Program, the Infoscape Lab at Ryerson University and the Canadian Media Research Consortium. Finally, my thanks go to my family for their support throughout the years and to my partner Michael Gayner, for his infinite patience. VI TABLE OF CONTENTS COPYRIGHT.. ii CERTIFICATE Hi ABSTRACT iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi TABLE OF CONTENTS vii LIST OF FIGURES xi LIST OF TABLES xiv Introduction: The Technocultural Dimensions of Meaning: Software Studies and the World Wide Web 1 Chapter 1. Technology and Media: Towards a Technocultural Approach to the World Wide Web 24 1. Towards a Material Approach to Media Analysis: Medium Theory and Materialities of Communication 27 vn 2. Technologies as Actors: Actor-Network Theory, Cultural Studies and Medium Theory 32 3. Analyzing Web Technologies: The Problem with Essentializing Medium Characteristics 38 4. The Web as a Layered Technocultural Entity 44 5. Technologies of the Web and the Question of Representation 47 6. Towards a Technocultural Approach to the Politics of Representation on the Web 51 Chapter 2. Web Technologies, Language and Mixed Semiotics 60 1. The Technocultural Dimensions of Discourse 61 2. Reconsidering Linguistics 67 3. Mixed Semiotics 73 4. Mixed Semiotics and the Web 94 5. Introducing the Case Studies 100 Case study 1: Adaptive interfaces and the production of subjectivities - the case of Amazon 102 Case Study 2: Mixed Semiotics and the Economies of the Media Wiki Format 103 viii Chapter 3. Cultural Objects and Software-Assisted Meaning Creation - The Case of BooksonAmazon.com 105 .1. Amazon.com and Mixed Semiotics 105 2. The Architecture ofAmazon.com: Data Processing as A-semiotic Encoding 118 3. Signifying Semiologies on Amazon.com: Shaping the Cultural Perception of Meaning 122 4. User-Produced Content: Meaning Proliferation and Cultural Homogeneity 149 5. Amazon.com' A-Signifying Semiologies: Shaping Sociality and Individuality within a Commercial Space 167 Chapter 4. Mixed Semiotics and the Economies of the MediaWiki Format 183 1. Technodiscursive Mediations and the Production of Wikipedia as a Technocultural Form.. •. 185 2. The Circulation of the MediaWiki Software and the Rearticulation of Technical, Discursive and Cultural Domains 205 2.1 Cultural Formatting as the Rearticulation of Discursive Rules 211 2.2 A-signifying Processes and the Channeling of Cultural Formats... 226 IX Chapter 5. Conclusion: Meaning, Subjectivation and Power in the New Information Age 239 1. Rethinking the divide between Information and Meaning Production and Circulation through Mixed Semiotics Networks 242 2. Mixed Semiotics and the Politics of Usership 253 3. Mixed semiotics and Software Studies 264 Bibliography , 269 x LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: The Web Stalker 10 Figure 2: The IssueCrawler (Govcom.org) 12 Figure 3: Amazon.com Cookies - Screen Capture of Mozilla Firefox Cookie Window 107 Figure 4: The Amazon.com Interface (Cookies Enabled) 108 Figure 5: Personalization on Amazon.com 109 Figure 6: The Empire of Fashion 116 Figure 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 117 Figure 8: A-semiotic and Signifying Processes on Amazon.com 121 Figure 9: Recommendations featured on the Empire of Fashion page. 127 Figure 10: Recommendations by Items Bought for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. 128 Figure 11: "My Profile" page on amazon.com. 129 Figure 12: Personalized Recommendations Based on Items Rated. 130 Figure 13: Recommendations Based on Items Viewed for The Empire of Fashion 131 Figure 14: Recommendations based on Item Viewed for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. 133 Figure 15: Recommendation Network for the Empire of Fashion (depth 1). 28.March 2007. 137 Figure 16: Recommendation Network for the Empire of Fashion (depth 1 - subjects). 28 March 2007. 138 XI Figure 17: Recommendation Network for The Empire of Fashion (depth 2). 28 March 2007. 139 Figure 18: Recommendation Network for The Empire of Fashion (depth 2 - subjects). 28 March 2007. 140 Figure 19: Recommendation Network for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (depth 1). 27 March 2007. ______ _____ 141 Figure 20: Recommendation Network for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (depth 1; subjects).
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