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Title: Welcome to the jungle Rating: 2.3 out of 4 Reference: Directors & producers, Mark Harrison
& Leanne Klein; writer, Mark Harrison; a Barraclough Carey Production
for Channel Four. Abstract: This program explores how new technologies are poised to transform drastically the way we live and work. The internet, with its free-flow of anonymous contacts and information exchanges, may redefine the concept of friendship. Governments will also have to adapt or face a raft of new problems because information available to cybermanagers will be uncontrollable. Potentially, the fastest and most obvious difference created by the information revolution will come in the work place. Library of Congress subjects: Sociology subjects: Reviews and Numerical Ratings (2.5) ‘Welcome to the Jungle” takes a
prospective look at the possible impacts of the Internet on human relationships,
particularly social, sexual, political and economic relationships. Made
when the Internet was just coming into popular use, this video is in
many ways dated. What keeps the film relevant, however, is that it aims
less to make definitive claims than to raise provocative (2) In three parts: Part 1 (about 19 minutes): Over-the-top melodramatic tone, describing the revolution computers have brought on society. Information is out of control! It is incredible how dated discussions of the Internet in 1995 seem now. Talking heads include William Gibson and Howard Rheingold. Hilarious coverage of early "cybersex" and "cybercafes" that are sure to get your students laughing. Part 2 (about 10 minutes): Still a dated, doomsday style, but somewhat more reserved. Focuses on the concept of telework and how it is changing the workplace and the home. Decent focus on the relevant issues, both pros and cons. Part 3 (about 20 minutes): Focuses on the changing nature of the 'social glue' holding us together in the newly networked society. Highlights the digital divide by focusing on varied contexts. This is the most coherent and interesting segment, and raises issues of work/home life, identity, and community. Brian Fuller (2.5) For sociology courses, Part II is the best of this three-part video. If you want just one part, watch for the black screens with notations such as “End of part I” that separate them. Part I shows cybersex & cyberactivist community members suggesting that the internet is liberatory, & counterposes expert opinions that the internet is anarchic (not democratic), and that just as with the Church & the printing press, the old ties that bind will be dissolved by a new technology. This part doesn’t give concrete examples of the possible problems, so it wouldn’t stand well alone. Part II makes a strong case about the workplace & economic effects of the internet. An optimistic ad agency worker is shown dropping into a startling high-tech office where she has only a locker for private space; a teleworker who works only from home says that while his work has become more flexible, he’s working harder, earning less, and missing the social element of his old workplace. There’s a well-constructed argument that the existence of new technologies makes their use a necessity in a global economy and that organizations have become unstable “boxes of contracts”, which affects people’s decisions about having children, making friends, and so forth. Part III is weak. We get an overly-long interview with a millionaire who lives in a pretty small town from which he runs a 57-venture company with 4 employees. (The only thing I learned was that states have become less important in a global economy.) The clever but brief contrast, used to show the decline of working-class communities, is to a former miner who now acts as a miner in a heritage museum. By now the Steve Reich-esque soundtrack and the portentous narration about how “in the technological jungle not all can survive” is making me drowsy. Still, this is the best of a truly sad lot of videos on the new technologies; these videos become out of date incredibly quickly. Kathy Bischoping (2) I watched parts II and III of this video. It really
underlined the pros and cons of technological advancement, talking about
the fact that we are so easily entranced by the different exciting things
that technology offers, e.g., people are no longer working in the traditional
atmosphere as a result of technology. The video shows a sense of convenience
and freedom not available in that traditional setting. However, that
progressive sense also makes us more impersonal, and having less intimacy
in our contact with others. Another point the video underlined well
was that technology replaces human labour, resulting in downsizing,
shrinking, and precariousness of jobs. Again, the idea of human beings
being subject to profit motives relates to this global paradox. Profit
is sought through technological innovations, disregarding human needs
and human kindness. This is a recurring theme I continually see in sociology
videos. Having said this, the video was very boring. There’s a
monotone voice; they don’t show the narrator; I lost interest.
The video was attempting to be poetic but it wasn’t engaging.
I thought, oh my god, can you end, please? It was outdated – I
feel that students will already have a lot of background information.
Perhaps they should do an expansion on this issue and how it relates
to our current times. Finally, this video took a very passive voice:
what more, what else, where do we go from here? Marsha McQueen (undergraduate)
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