GOOGLIST REALISM: The Google-China saga and the free-information regimes as a new site of cultural imperialism and moral tensions

Research at CNNICChina Internet Network Information Center

I lost access to my life! Hitting the refresh button when Google services were blocked in summer of 2009

CCTV Claims Google.CN is Full of Porn

http://bit.ly/c0Vqnyhttp://bit.ly/aqk7NF

Google is localized for 180 countries

Google.COM Google.COM.MX

Different search results on local domains

2006 Google.CN

2009 Google services blocked

Jan. 2010 Security breach, no more censoring

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/new-approach-to-china-update.html

March 2010 move to Hong Kong

Good-bye .CN, hello .COM.HK

PART I ethnographic analysis on why Google.CN wasn’t useful in China

PART 2 clash in moral orders

PART 3 The free-information regime as cultural imperialism and neo-informationalism

PART I ethnographic analysis on why Google.CN wasn’t useful in China

http://culturalbytes.com/post/340498962/googleandchina

Google failed at:

1brand

recognition

2marketing campaign

3Understanding

non-eliteusers

1

brand recognition

微软的名字 苹果

Unsure of Google’s actual name

Gougou.com = DOG Gogle.CN

GU GE 谷歌 Harvest Valley Song

www.noGuGE.com

2

marketing campaign

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ed7oDVyHwA&feature=player_embedded

Baidu vs. Google commercial

3

Understandingnon-elite

users

DIGITAL

ELITE-USERShighly educated • fluent in English • own a credit card

ONE software does not fit all

hire ethnographers • go beyond usability tests • understand local values

PART 2 clash in moral orders

“..both Google and China are after the

same thing…”

http://bit.ly/bgDiEi

-Alex Pasterneck

access to information

China Google

Google Seeing like a corporation

http://investor.google.com/corporate/2004/ipo-founders-letter.html

Normative statement versus prescriptive statement

“squeezing bunnies is bad” “don’t squeeze bunnies”

media stereotype of hacker

HACKER ETHIC

Information should be free

Mistrust of any form of authority decentralization

Computer access should be free

Information should be shared

Computers and free-information improves quality of life

Enlightenment Ideals

All men are created equal.Kant

I think therefore I am.Descarte

Morally good acts bring happiness to the greatest number of people

Bentham

Men [sic] are free

Contract with society

Individuals

Educated

Rational

Enlightenment ideals

The Enlightenment

2000 CE

1700-1800 CE

The Enlightenment

2000 CE

1700-1800 CE200 BCE

Confucius

China Seeing like a state

Social Harmony

Confucius, China (551 BCE – 479 BCE)Bad-ass Philosopher

dutyf i l ia l p ie tyhumi l i t yd iscre t ionobed ience

Obedience

virtuous • obey higher forms of authority • maintain harmony • acceptance

MORALCLASH

good versus bad

access to information

China Google

WEALTHGeneration

through information

GOOGLE’S PROJECT

turn the world

informationinto digital bytes of

Adsense: 97% of Google’s revenue

PART 3 The free-information regime as cultural imperialism and neo-informationalism

“It's an ethical edge...that's always been at the heart of Google's disruptive success.”

Umair HaqueEconomist, Writer at Harvard Review Blog, Director of Havas Media Lab

http://bit.ly/90nClDhttp://bit.ly/cICMFW

MORALethical beliefs that justify expansionary practices of extracting commodities and creating new markets in the name of a "higher calling."

TROPE

WEAPONSfree-information, open platforms, and

distributed architectures

guns, germs, steel

Neo-informationalismInformation functions like currency:

Borderlessunregulatedmobile

NEW QUESTIONSABOUT SOCIAL INFORMATION

For example, what role do we want to play in a social agenda that prioritizes the ubiquity of free-information?

How comfortable are we with this approach when it is part of an imposition of neo-informationalist values in support of capitalism's search for new information markets?

Values that shape our technologies

Values that shape the way we use technologies

Values that define who we are

Thanks you to the following funders whose grants have allowed me to conduct my research in China: National Science Foundation and UC Pacific Rim Research Program

Thank you!

Tricia [email protected]