Watching The Trap reminded me of the new models for business that stemmed from the dotcom boom. Offices were no longer setup in a hierarchical manner with cubicles at right angles on every corner, rather people moved around the office in a free-form manner. It was representative of how the businesses saw themselves – without an actual “boss,” just groups of co-workers all on the same level. It was the anti-hierarchy way of looking at things, perfect for when the internet was beginning to flourish. Non-linear associations, decentralization, multiple entry points, and rhizome models were applicable to the technology, and therefore applicable to the businesses.
The problem was, when the dotcom bubble burst, people couldn’t decide on how to downsize. Who would make the final cuts and fire people, and why was one person more important than the other? Similarly, on Wikipedia when people took advantage of editing pages, there needed to be some kind of order. It ended up being the duty of the administrators. Even in the age of the internet and free access to information, some form of hierarchy and regulation was seen as necessary for the greater good.
Possibly Relevant Posts:
- 4th Travelogue: One Ticket to Azeroth (3) | Dylan
- I am P Diddy. (5) | Patricia
- I Went On Spring Break and All I Got Was This Lousy Reading Summary (3) | Jessica
One Comment
Interesting one…
So you are claiming the dot com era has raised non-hierarchical control mechanisms? Are these more along the lines of Negative Liberty, or Anarchism? What type of environment allowed for this and in what in that environment collapsed with the bubble burst?
Wikipedia is an interesting case of control structure (which we will actually look deeply into), how would you frame it within the terms and the critique raised by Curtis in “The Trap”?