Down in Jungleland

Lev Manovich’s article “How to Follow Global Digital Cultures, or Cultural Analytics for Beginners” opens with a comparison to information fifteen years ago. We used to have to go to libraries and use encyclopaedias, now we just use Google to find information that may not always be reliable. Usually it’s on Wikipedia. It seems like people get most of their information online, and also share that information online, but how can we track all that activity?

Before I cook my delicious bacon I try to spread the oil evenly around the pan. We are a little bit like bacon. The oil is an extension of the bacon, just like global digital cultures are an extension of ourselves. The oil and internet are liquids. We try to track where the oil spreads so we can exploit the deliciousness of crispy bacon to its peak, just like businesses try to track our activities online so they can enjoy the capital benefits.

It can be quite tough, maybe even impossible, to evenly spread that oil to get the most of your bacon. Our online activities may be even harder to track. How do we know that all those views on YouTube are actual views? I used to make YouTube videos in my teens and my friend deliberately hit the refresh button several times to get my views up. Which was nice, but neither of us really got anything out of it.

How do we truly know for sure what country internet users are from? Websites can track this, but it’s not always accurate. I can use a VPN to acquire a Netflix account, which is otherwise unavailable in Australia, but according to them, I’m a paying American customer from 123 Main St in whatever state I choose.

Tracking internet stats may be useful, but it certainly won’t help predict the future. Who in their right mind would have guessed that Psy’s “Gangnam Style” would become the most viewed YouTube video of all time? The next viral hit will be seemingly impossible to anticipate. A group of people made a YouTube series called “Epic Meal Time”, a show about making high calorie meals, and it became extremely popular, which is quite interesting considering the world’s concern towards unhealthy eating. Our animal instincts towards bacon remain as visceral as ever.

The internet may as well be called the “jungleland”. If you are naive in the jungleland you will be eaten, like delicious bacon. The wild animals are out to get us, like the adverts on social media. Watch out for the wild pests like the bots, we set CAPTCHA traps to prevent them from invading our space, but some of them get in. How do we know who is real and who is human?

The internet is full of advertisements and spam, and it’s so vast we may never fully understand it. Why not just enjoy the bacon?