Week 5 Flashcards
Living History
Places the reader in the history, describes evolution of industrial art, detect correlations between social customs and technologies.
Space Binding Media
Harold Innis
Make local culture less prevalent by spreading global consciousness.
Babe views technological Nationalism as
a myth.
Technological imperative and technological determinism
The order of things: humans have little control over advancement of technology.
Technological advancement accounts for human culture and behaviour.
Babe challenges the myth of technological dependence by saying
that humans have agency and are responsible for the advancement of technology.
Technology is talked about as if it is separate from humans, and out of their control. But in fact, Babe reminds us, technology is human’s invention.
Telephone networks are made up of 5 components
1 terminals 2 access facilities 3 local distribution 4 exchanges 5 long lines
Terminals
Devices for initiating/receiving messages
Access Facilities
Copper wires, radio waves
Local Distribution
Local trunk cables
Exchanges
Switching centres
For Winseck there are three major periods in early telecommunications period
1 1880 federal charter allows Bell to develop a national telephone network
2 1893-1920 competitive telephone situation
3 Emergence of semi-corporatist political economic arrangements
The 1880 charter allowed Bell to
Expand out to the West from the East
What resulted from Bell’s corporate collusion with CPR?
A monopoly
The backbone
Main line that handles all of the traffic (in regards to the internet)
Most providers have a neighbourhood circuit that feeds into the backbone.
Backbones are fibre
Middle mile
Ex. in my community
Last mile
From the street to my front door, most expensive.
Materiality of the internet
Things you can tangibly touch
RIFO in 2017
Restoring Internet Freedom Order
No net neutrality
FCC remains solid in its decision, current chair needs RIFO in place before the election.
Why does Babe argue that telecommunications is ripping Canada apart rather than bringing it together?
- We mostly consumer American media
- Early telegraph tied Canada to U.S. centres and was mostly U.S. owned.
- Bell does not extricate itself from the U.S. until 70s.
- Satellite and cable only brings U.S. media
Break up of Bell in the 1980’s in the U.S. courts
Anti-trust: government feels company has too much power and is stifling competition, feels company is a trust that must be broken up.
Bell is slowly coming together after it’s break up in the 80’s.
Why the socialist approach to building telecommunications in the west?
No one was going to build rural systems, we have to make it accessible to the boonies.
Markets not going to do it, so we do it ourselves.
Winseck argues that when people get engaged they can
change the system. The public has the power.
Wholesale
Companies that do not own infrastructure pay companies that do for use of infrastructure.
Ex. Superstore/PC have their own mobile phones, they pay Bell for the use of Bell’s infrastructure.
Smaller companies getting access to companies that own facilities.
Wholesale Code Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC
Regulates wholesale rates
Regulates how much Shaw can charge me for them to carry my television station
A way of making sure the companies that own the wires can’t control everything.
How is the wholesale approach beneficial?
Brings new actors into the system and big companies stil make a profit.
