Public discourse about technology shapes behavior, attention, and capital flows

Evidence

What do I mean by the “discourse” of Web 2.0? I mean that when everyday people, popular media, and scholars discuss Web 2.0, they often abstract real events, technologies, and people into an all-encompassing metanarrative. Talk about Web 2.0 is a part of social life in the tech community, and is itself reflected in social media, blog posts, popular books, and presentations. These texts have far-reaching effects on how people think about themselves and their actions, on which technologies are attended to and which are ignored, and on how financial resources circulate. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 57

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the book’s analytical object — ‘discourse of Web 2.0’ as a metanarrative that shapes real outcomes.
• XREF: Connects to Foucault’s discourse analysis and to Barbrook’s Californian Ideology; also resonates with Communication as Culture’s treatment of communication shaping reality. — connects to: Attention and technology co-evolve through reciprocal causation — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 534; Technical systems shape subjectivity by functioning as discourse networks — , The Braided Reading EPUB: 5-Year…, 1224; Attention functions as a political economy embedded in specific temporal contexts — Annual Review of Anthropology contributors (⚠ verify author line), The Political Economy of Attention, 25 (+8 more)
• SEED: Angle for an article: how tech-hype discourse (metanarratives like ‘the future is here’) steers capital and public attention, independent of actual technological value.

Broader Connections

• Attention and technology co-evolve through reciprocal causation #corroborates (0.90) — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 534
• Communication technology shapes culture through interests, symbols, and community #expands (0.85) — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 622
• Technical systems shape subjectivity by functioning as discourse networks #corroborates (0.80) — , The Braided Reading EPUB, 1224
• Dynamic, time-series tests confirm that media attention shapes public concern #exemplifies (0.80) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1445
• Attention functions as a political economy embedded in specific temporal contexts #expands (0.75) — Annual Review of Anthropology contributors (⚠ verify author line), The Political Economy of Attention, 25
• Overcommercialized attention harvesting provokes strong social backlash #exemplifies (0.75) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 69