App-centric mobile media and commoditization: Implications for the future of the open Web

Abstract

This paper traces linkages between the commoditization of the Web and what we call "app-centric media." By this we mean a media environment composed of a multitude of discrete-but-connected software applications and their associated protocols, platforms, frameworks, and institutions. The rapid growth of app-centric media, we argue, is directly dependent on the development and commercialization of the (mobile) Internet, as well as on the business models embedded in the development of key native app platforms such as iOS and Android.The emergence of app-centric media, particularly in relation to mobile media, is having a marked effect on conceptualizations of the Web. The prevailing rhetoric concerning the development of the mobile Internet and app-centric media employs imagery of autonomy, empowerment, and independence for both the users and producers of apps. We argue that the commoditization central to the commercial development of the mobile Internet evidences a fusion of neoliberal rhetoric valorizing worker autonomy, individual empowerment, and entrepreneurial independence, with a mode of production consonant with "cognitive capitalism" (Dyer-Witheford, 2014;Vercellone, 2007).Our analysis is divided into three sections. The first looks at the early development of the mobile Internet in relation to the accumulation strategies of cognitive capitalism including the structural importance of "value networks" and the "putting-out system"; the second deals with the commercialization models underpinning the two dominant app platforms, Apple's iOS and Android; the third addresses the development of HTML as a means of production and describes how HTML5 is framed as a prospectively

Exploring Consciousness: The Online Community’s Understanding of Mobile Technology Surveillance

“…Coupled with the prevalence of typically security-related monitoring by governments has been a sharp rise in (mobile) technologies for public consumption. Every day, people use "app-centric media" (see Daubs and Manzerolle 2016), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, hereinafter "drones"), laptops, and health-monitoring technologies to conveniently accomplish certain tasks and maintain their front-row seats for the rise of the Fourth Revolution (see Floridi 2014). Though surveillance is not a new phenomenon (see Weller 2012), contemporary surveillance technologies are much more advanced, as they include but are not limited to police body cameras (see Bud 2016), drones (see Finn and Wright 2012;Jensen 2016), and International Mobile Subscriber Identity catchers (see Bates 2017), commonly known as "Stingrays.…”

BabyVeillance? Expecting Parents, Online Surveillance and the Cultural Specificity of Pregnancy Apps

“…During the research, I realized, however, that in order to understand this broader political economic context of users' data appropriation, I had much to gain if I moved away from those scholars who try to map the capitalist structures of the app economy (Daubs & Manzerolle, 2016) and instead analyze the ways in which the different companies constructed the cultural discourse around self-tracking and personal data flows. Hence, I studied the relationship between the 10 apps' promotional blurbs and their data policies, and I realized that often companies construct an extraordinarily ambiguous discourse in relation to data flows and privacy, which makes it very hard for users to "opt out.…”

“…On the contrary, with the concept of digital labor, Internet scholars claimed that the participatory culture promoted by Web 2.0 technologies, rather than opening real possibilities for democratic empowerment, had strengthened the corporate exploitation of user's digital production (Andrejevic, 2003(Andrejevic, , 2007Fuchs, 2008Fuchs, , 2013Fuchs, , 2014Huws, 2003;Scholz, 2013;Terranova, 2000Terranova, , 2013Van Dijck & Nieborg, 2009). We need to contextualize the works of scholars such as Dyer-Witheford (2014) or Daubs and Manzerolle (2016) on mobile apps within this field. In fact, they follow a very similar line of reasoning as the ones of digital labor scholars and argue that mobile apps need to be perceived as a form of capitalist exploitation and surveillance.…”

“…According to Zittrain (2009), the creation of an "appliancised network" has limited the innovative capacity of the Internet by heightening the corporate control (2009, p. 9). Similarly, Daubs and Manzerolle (2016) have argued that "app-centric media" employ an imagery of autonomy and empowerment for both users and producers while being grounded in the political culture of neoliberalism, control, and commodification of user data. This is particularly true not only if we focus on discourses surrounding the "App worker" as suggested by DyerWitheford (2014) but also if we consider the complex relationship between apps, users, and commodities as discussed by Manzerolle and Kjøsen (2012).…”

“…Different scholars have addressed this transformation by arguing that we have witnessed a shift from a more "open and innovative" Internet experience to a social experience of digital interactions that has become extremely commodified, patterned, and determined by service providers (Daubs & Manzerolle, 2016;Goggin, 2010;Wagner & Fernández-Ardèvol, 2015;Zittrain, 2009). According to Zittrain (2009), the creation of an "appliancised network" has limited the innovative capacity of the Internet by heightening the corporate control (2009, p. 9).…”