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Is the Internet a vast arena of unrestricted
communication and freely exchanged information or a regulated,
highly structured virtual bureaucracy? In Protocol
Alexander Galloway argues that the founding principle of
the Net is control, not freedom, and that the controlling
power lies in the technical protocols that make network
connections (and disconnections) possible. He does this
by treating the computer as a textual medium that is based
on a technological language, code. Code, he argues, can
be subject to the same kind of cultural and literary analysis
as any natural language: computer languages have their own
syntax, grammar, communities, and cultures. Instead of relying
on established theoretical approaches, Galloway finds a
new way to write about digital media, drawing on his background
in computer programming and critical theory. "Discipline-hopping
is a necessity when it comes to complicated sociotechnical
topics like protocol," he writes in the preface.
Galloway begins by examining the types of
protocols that exist, including TCP/IP, DNS, and HTML. He
then looks at examples of resistance and subversion -- hackers,
viruses, cyberfeminism, Internet art -- which he views as
emblematic of the larger transformations now taking place
within digital culture. Written for a nontechnical audience,
Protocol serves as a necessary counterpoint to the
widely utopian visions of the Net that were so widespread
in earlier days.
Alexander R. Galloway is Assistant Professor
of Media Ecology at New York University.
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