We lack adequate metaphors for the power of digital companies.

Evidence

As many have pointed out, one of the biggest challenges of responding to the vast power wrought by our digital companies is our inability to effectively describe their presence in our lives, leaving us vulnerable to inheriting the uncritical language of surveillance capitalist boosters. Ellen P. Goodman and Julia Powles (2016) observe, “We call them platforms, networks or gatekeepers. But these labels hardly fit. The appropriate metaphor eludes us; even if we describe them as vast empires, they are unlike any we’ve ever known” (para. 2) Developing new concepts that challenge the uncritical representation of digital technologies from the point of view of users is an important first step toward transforming these technologies in ways that better suit the needs and values of users. — James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 549

Categorization

• QUESTION: What would an adequate metaphor for surveillance-capital corporates actually be — and has anyone since 2016 proposed a compelling one?
• XREF: Connects to Zuboff-style surveillance-capitalism critique and to the reader’s interest in how naming/categorizing shapes political response. — connects to: No adequate metaphor yet describes digital platform power — James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed:…, 549

Broader Connections

• No adequate metaphor yet describes digital platform power #corroborates (1.00) — James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 549