Costelloe-KuehnMemo7

Timelines:

Diachronic:

1906 Amateur radio organizations formed in the U.S.

1927 - the Federal Radio Act of 1927 nationalized the airwaves and formed the Federal Radio Commission - later renamed the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

1940s - Bolivian Miners' Radio

1949 Pacifica Radio beings broadcasting. It's founder, Lewis Hill stated the following as its goals: "to engage in any activity that shall contribute to the lasting understanding between nations and between the individuals of all nations, races, creeds, and colors."

1956 - Guy Debord and Gil J. Wolman publish "A users guide to [|Détournement]"

1968 - First cable access station in the U.S. established in Dale City, Virginia. Ran for two years and then closed due to lack of financing, equipment and infrastructure.

1969 - FCC orders cable stations to begin experimenting with community access stations.

1984 - "Bhopal" Largely considered the world's most worst industrial disaster. "It" is a figure for the radically uneven distribution of benefits and burdens accompanying the activities of multinational corporations. It also points to some of the poisonous and risky aspects of the green revolution. As a spectacular "event" it received a great deal of (problematic) media coverage.

1984 - Michel de Certeau's The Practice of Everyday Life is translated to English. The book is largely about reappropriation and blurs the line between consumer and producer. It is considered to be foundational to tactical media practices.

1990 - The World Bank withdraws as a funder of the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP), the largest of the highly controversial damns on the Narmada River in India.

December 8, 1993 - NAFTA is signed into existence

January 1, 1994 - The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) "goes public" The day after NAFTA went into effect.

February 8, 1996 - The **Telecommunications Act of 1996** The first major overhaul of [|United States] [|telecommunications] law in nearly 62 years, amending the [|Communications Act of 1934]. It was approved by the [|104th Congress] on [|January 3], [|1996] and signed into law by President [|Bill Clinton]. The Telecommunications Act was the first bill signed into [|cyberspace].

October, 1998 - The Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) is dismissed A well-interconnected group of NGOs (focused on human rights, labor, environment, etc.) took hold of a leaked OECD document and "translated" it into more widely readable form. The internet was key to circulating information (propaganda?) about the report.

November 30, 1999 - World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1999 and Protest Activity The [|World Trade Organization] (WTO) convened at the [|Washington State Convention and Trade Center] in [|Seattle]. It was meant to be the launch of a new millennial round of [|trade] negotiations, but the negotiations were quickly overshadowed by massive and controversial street [|protests], in what became the second phase of the [|anti-globalization movement] in the United States.

1999 - First Independent Media Center The **Independent Media Center** (aka **Indymedia** or **IMC**) is a global [|participatory] network of journalists that reports on political and social issues. It originated during the [|anti-WTO protests in Seattle in 1999] and remains closely associated with the [|global justice movement], which criticizes [|neo-liberalism], and its associated institutions. Indymedia uses an [|open publishing] and [|democratic media] process that allows anybody to contribute.

November 30, 2000 - This is What Democracy Looks Like (Film) released Shot by more than 100 activists in Seattle, 1999. Screenings shown at more than 100 cities in five continents.

2001 - Sarai opens in Delhi "...Sarai, arguably the first new media center in South Asia of its kind, opened its premises with a three days conference on the Public Domain... [It] describes itself as an alternative, non-commercial space for an imaginative reconstitution of urban public culture, new and old media practice and research and critical cultura lintervention" (Lovink 2003).

2001 - The Yes Men, posing as WTO representatives, debut "The Management Leisure Suit."

2002 - Drowned Out is released A film about a tribal family that decides to stay at home and drown rather than make room for the Narmada dam in India.

2004 - Prometheus Radio Project vs. FCC overturned parts of the 1996 Act.

2005 - Supreme Court "Brand X" Case cable companies do not have to share access to their lines with competing Internet Service Providers. ties into debate over whether internet will remain "open" or be "closed"[| article] "may forever change the character of the Internet by forfeiting open access, interconnectedness, and free flowing content principles to corporate gatekeepers" ([|book review]). 2005 - "Digital Solidarity Fund" inaugurated at the United Nations See Ginsburg, Faye "Rethinking the Digital Age."

Synchronic: 2008 (MMVIII)

Almost every entry in Wikipedia's "2008" page involves affairs of the state (elections, etc.) and various forms of disaster or violence (economic dips, suicide bombings, cyclones, oil pipeline explosions, etc.). There is very little "good news" and what there is tends to take the form of sexy technoscientific advances (implantation of bionic eyes, sending 10 satellite into space at a single go, etc.). Why is history (and the media) written this way?

November - Obama is elected the 44th President of the USA. The internet exploded with "coverage" leading up to the election. ICTs, along with "grassroots" organizing, are said to have helped get Obama elected. Demonstrations at the RNC and DNC conventions are met with protests in the streets. The police respond with violence, which is largely ignored by the mainstream media. Activists catch much of the protest action on tape and distribute through the internet. Amy Goodman, of "Democracy Now," is arrested.

The [|United Nations General Assembly] declared [|2008] as the **International Year of Planet Earth** The goal is to increase awareness of the importance of Earth sciences for the achievement of sustainable development. The plan is to raise $20 million from industry and governments and will spend half on co-funding research, and half on "outreach" activities. It will be the biggest ever international effort to promote the Earth sciences.

The United Nations General Assembly also proclaimed [|2008] as the **International Year of Languages**, (and the Potato, Sanitation, and the Frog) pursuant to a resolution of [|UNESCO]. The resolution reaffirmed the need to achieve full parity among the six official languages on United Nations websites. The Year is intended to address issues of [|linguistic diversity] (in the context of [|cultural diversity]), respect for all languages, and [|multilingualism]. The resolution also discussed language issues in the United Nations itself.

Sharing some similarities with the "Year of Languages," the [|European Parliament] and the [|Member States of the European Union] designated 2008 to be the **"European Year of Intercultural Dialogue"** (EYID). What does it mean that these organizations of nation-states are calling attention to issues of translation and cultural diversity at this historical moment?

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq rage on, but media attention has dwindled drastically. Coverage of the wars is largely replaced by financial issues. Suicide bombings are frequent.

The price of petroleum tops $100 for the first time. Rising fuel and food costs trigger riots in the "third world."

Fueled in part by the 2007 subprime mortgage "crisis," stock markets plunge. "Growing fears of a U.S. recession." Is neoliberal capitalism put into question? Or perhaps put into "exception." The bailouts...

Bill Gates steps down from "daily duties" with Microsoft to focus on "philanthropy."

The 34th G8 summit is held in Japan.

Explosions in many cities in India.

A "state of emergency" declared in Thailand.

[|Isaac Asimov]'s 1955 short story //[|Franchise]// takes place in 2008, the premise being that the U.S. president will be selected by a computer program looking for the "most representative citizen".