Alt-people digital technologies and the struggle for community

188 Pages·2017·7.242 MB·English

by  Jessica Lingel

Digital Countercultures and the Struggle for Community
The Information Society Series
Laura DeNardis and Michael Zimmer, Series Editors
Interfaces on Trial 2.0, Jonathan Band and Masanobu Katoh
Opening Standards: The Global Politics of Interoperability, Laura DeNardis, editor
The Reputation Society: How Online Opinions Are Reshaping the Offline World, Hassan
Masum and Mark Tovey, editors
The Digital Rights Movement: The Role of Technology in Subverting Digital Copyright,
Hector Postigo
Technologies of Choice? ICTs, Development, and the Capabilities Approach, Dorothea
Kleine
Pirate Politics: The New Information Policy Contests, Patrick Burkart
After Access: The Mobile Internet and Inclusion in the Developing World, Jonathan
Donner
The World Made Meme: Public Conversations and Participatory Media, Ryan Milner
The End of Ownership: Personal Property in the Digital Economy, Aaron Perzanowski and
Jason Schultz
Digital Countercultures and the Struggle for Community, Jessa Lingel
Digital Countercultures and the Struggle for Community
Jessa Lingel
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
© 2017 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any
electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information
storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher.
This book was set in ITC Stone Sans Std and ITC Stone Serif Std by Toppan Best-set
Premedia Limited. Printed and bound in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lingel, Jessa.
Title: Digital countercultures and the struggle for community /
Jessa Lingel.
Description: Cambridge, MA : MIT Press, [2017] | Series: The information society
series | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016037856 | ISBN 9780262036214 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Internet--Social aspects--United States. | Internet users--United
States. | Subculture--United States. | Social interaction--United States. | Digital
media--United States.
Classification: LCC HN90.I56 L56 2017 | DDC 302.23/10973--dc23 LC record
available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016037856
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
1 Introduction 1
2 Frameworks for Technology and Communities of Alterity 21
3 The Death and Life of Great Online Subcultures: An Analysis of Body
Modification Ezine 37
4 They Came from the Basement: Tactics of Secrecy in New
Brunswick’s Underground Punk Community 71
5 Fight for Your Platform to Party: Brooklyn Drag and the Battle for a
Queerer Facebook 99
6 Countercultural Values for Theory and in Design 123
Appendix: Methodological Notes 139
Notes 151
References 157
Index 171

Acknowledgments
For giving me a love of reading and always encouraging my writing, I am
permanently indebted to my parents, Craig and Robin Lingel. I also am
indebted to my siblings and their partners—CJ, Kim, Anna, Amilia, and
Dante. While struggling to write a book about the margins, I have consis-
tently had my family as my center.
As a qualitative project, this research was possible only because of the
openness and support of participants from the communities that I have
studied. I am deeply grateful to all of my interviewees for their time and
hope that I have done right by them in my analysis.
This book grew out of several collaborative projects. In 2009, I started a
project on New Brunswick punk with Aaron Trammell, Nathan Graham,
Joe Sanchez, and Mor Naaman. In 2011, I worked with danah boyd as an
intern at Microsoft Research New England on Body Modification Ezine (BME),
and her mentorship has profoundly influenced my work and career. Adam
Golub first brought me to Brooklyn’s drag community. I also am deeply
grateful to Mark Hansen and Michael Kirsch from the Brown Institute for
their support and friendship while researching this community. These brief
mentions are woefully insufficient given the support that I have received
from these individuals. Any errors in this book are mine alone.
Most of the book’s manuscript was written while I was doing postdoc-
toral work at Microsoft Research New England in Cambridge, MA, and I am
grateful to a number of lab colleagues for their friendship and feedback:
Nancy Baym, danah boyd, Kate Crawford, Kevin Driscoll, Meg Finn,
Tarleton Gillespie, Mary Gray, Rebecca Hoffman, Sham Kakade, Tero Karppi,
Eva Lyubich, Annette Markham, Kate Miltner, Greg Minton, Jonathan
Sterne, and Siva Vaidhyanathan. I am also deeply grateful to Jennifer
viii Acknowledgments
Chayes and Christian Borgs for their support of my work during my time at
Microsoft Research.
After my postdoc fellowship, I moved to the Annenberg School at the
University of Pennsylvania, where I am grateful to be part of a rich and
rigorous academic community. I am particularly thankful for support from
Sharrona Pearl, Kelly Fernandez, Marwan Kraidy, and Joe Turow.
A number of friends and colleagues provided comments and advice
on this manuscript at various stages, including Sarah Banet-Weiser, Jack
Bratich, Jack Gieseking, Germaine Haleguoa (my office spouse!), Dave
Hesmondhalgh, Brian Hurley, Henry Jenkins, Michelle Lipinski, and Raz
Schwartz. Michelle Mariano provided sage advice and much-needed edit-
ing. At the MIT Press, Gita Manaktala has been supportive of this project
from the outset, and I am very grateful for her enthusiasm and support.
Writing this book was sometimes wonderful and sometimes agonizing. I
am grateful to Warren Allen, Sylvia Bierhuis, Stephen Bolles, Suesan Cota,
Kirk Vader, Laura Wade, and Ryan Wilson for supporting (and putting up
with) me in various forms and moods in the last two years. Thanks also to
Rinaldo Dorman and Sara Marx: Boston was a happier place for me because
of their friendship. In 2014 and 2015, I was lucky to be hosted by friends
who welcomed me into their homes as informal writing retreats. To the
Davidsons in Harlem and to Brian Crabtree and Kelli Cain in Delhi, my
heartfelt thanks for your hospitality (and bourbon!).
Finally, the greatest gift that Boston could ever give me was a chance
encounter with Ben Merriman. From this serendipitous meeting grew a
friendship that has made my life (not to mention my writing) better. I am
profoundly grateful to Ben for his love, loyalty, and ability to push my
thinking in new ways. For these reasons and more, Ben, I adore you.