Paper short abstract:

Three 'social laboratories' constituted by info-capitalism itself are generating experimental, experiential, and political outcomes.The iStreet lab (Jamaica) is a miniaturised multimedia media unit in a wheelie bin. Hong Kong In-media is a citizen journalism project. Netmonster (UK) is a generative social software using the net's disordered sprawl.

Paper long abstract:

The logic of advanced capitalism prizes order, with profits not prophets heralded in information society. Order is manifold, from password-protected pastimes to flexible contortions of globalized labour. In contrast, disorder is unruly, inefficient, politically dangerous and downright unproductive, according to dominant business class rhetoric. However, tidy minds hovering in the archipelagoes of the knowledge economy are not so productive. Order does not satisfy info-capital's hunger for the latest version of the new (markets, territories, goods). Moreover, the imposition of order obstructs the sub-economy classes working towards radical social change. This global project of projects requires rebellious creativity and co-operative disorder. Disorder, creativity and social change are examined using fieldwork and interviews around three geo-spatially diverse examples of cultural activism. The iStreet lab is a miniaturised multimedia media production facility housed in a wheelie bin. Developed in a impoverished Jamaican township by the Container project, iStreet lab wheels technology with attitude to underprivileged youth 'on the corners'. Hong Kong In-media is a semi-open citizen journalism and 'action media' project. The participants combine symbolic and discursive forms of expression to effect local political change, and develop regional spaces of communication and co-operation. Netmonster is a generative social software built by UK-based Mongrel art group. Thriving on information overload, it generates interactive environments out of the net's disordered sprawl. These 'social laboratories' and 'semi-permanent autonomous zones' (SPAZ) generate experimental, experiential, social, processural and political outcomes, and are constituted by info-capitalism itself.