Hypertrail. Herlander Elias
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Other Published Works
. (2020). ProMind - Enhance Yourself With Performance Thinking. Tablo, Melbourne, Australia / Apple iBook Store.
. (2020). Digital Delta: About Media, Change And The Influencers (Elias, H.). Tablo, Melbourne, Australia / Apple iBook Store.
. (2019). Drone Society (Elias, H.; Pires, O.). Tablo, Melbourne, Australia / Apple iBook Store.
. (2019). The Complete Men School. Tablo, Melbourne, Australia / Apple iBook Store.
. (2019). Macromedium: The Internet As The Convergence of All Media. Tablo, Melbourne, Austrália / Apple iBook Store.
. (2018). Homo Cypiens: Man In The Age of The Macromedium. Tablo, Melbourne, Australia / Apple iBook Store.
. (2018). Cloudpunk – The Digital Fifth Wave. Tablo, Melbourne, Australia / Apple BookStore / Amazon / Barnes & Noble
. (2018). Cloudpunk – A Quinta Vaga do Digital. Lisbon, Portugal: Fronteiras do Caos.
. (2018). Homo Cypiens 3-3: Massive Dynamics. Tablo, Melbourne, Australia / Apple iBook Store.
. (2017). Homo Cypiens 2-3: The Moving Frontier. Tablo, Melbourne, Australia / Apple iBook Store.
. (2017). Homo Cypiens 1-3: And The Connected World.Tablo, Melbourne, Australia / Apple iBook Store.
. (2017). Cloudpunk – A Quinta Vaga do Digital.Tablo, Melbourne, Australia / Apple iBook Store.
. (2016). Brandware – Quando as Marcas e os Meios Digitais Colidem. Tablo / Apple iBook Store / Amazon.
. (2013). Post-Web: The Continuous Geography of Digital Media. Odivelas, Portugal: FormalPress
. (2012). A Galáxia de Anime: A Animação Japonesa Como New Media. Covilhã, Portugal: UBI - Livros LABCOM.
. (2008). First Person Shooter: The Subjective Cyberspace. Covilhã, Portugal: UBI - Livros LABCOM.
. (2008). O Videojogo e o Entretenimento Global: First Person Shooter. Lisbon, Portugal: MediaXXI-FormalPress.
. (2007). Néon Digital – Um Discurso Sobre os Ciberespaços. Covilhã, Portugal: UBI - Livros LABCOM.
. (2006). A Sociedade Optimizada pelos Media [The Media-Optimized Society]. Lisbon, Portugal: MediaXXI-FormalPress.
. Elias, Herlander (Ed., 1999). Ciberpunk – Ficção e Contemporaneidade. Lisbon, Portugal: Dist. Sodilivros.
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Copyright© Herlander Elias, Author 2020
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Authors: Herlander Elias
Translation & Proof Reading: Herlander Elias & Ondina Pires
1.Brands, Control And The Future
In agreement to author Mark Tovey, “hypertrail” (2008, xxxii) is the moment in which there is too much dialogue between brand and consumer, user and technology, meaning that people leave a historical and digital trail behind when sharing or searching data in the Internet. “Hypertrail” is also the focus of our research presented in this chapter and throughout the whole book, as well. We are facing a new era of networking and smart devices where brands we engage to dialogue with are the ones that connect and keep in touch with us ― they track us and anticipate every move of ours, meaning this we cannot flee from the huge trail we leave behind on the networks, websites and apps. As Tovey speaks about, we rely on the hypertrail, we track the brands and in return, they track us. Besides, brands are aware that we use our smartphones as complete devices for all facts in our lives and that nowadays we are all synchronized. This day and age is what Lipovetsky & Serroy call “hypermodernity” (2013, 13). Furthermore, this is the modernity in which digital media is being used to push us further in technology, science, information and consumerism. Never before has the system known so much about ourselves. In addition, there is more up to it. Without previous instance, have we confessed so much detail about our lives and shopping habits as we do online by giving up our privacy in order to use digital systems. What defines the online media is that is often “hypertextual or hypermediated” (Miller, 2011, 25), meaning that the digital media are context-aware of us and they rely on crossing information about us, thus anticipating every move of ours. Some authors, such as Turkle, prefer to label this media as “narcissistic devices” because we use them as mirrors of our own personality. We shop online, too. Therefore, we are “in” without noticing we do many different things in a “virtual” space without thinking very much as we used to in the past. Events, concepts, facts and actions just happen all the time and we go with the flow. We use special smartphones as extensions of who we are, and of how we think and behave. Whenever we take selfies, we are objectified in representations (Leurs, 2015, 192). This occurs because we do not care about the kind of trail we leave behind ― algorithms digest all our photos and web searches. We came to build a hypertrail online independently we are or not aware of that.
Some authors believe that what is at stake is “these micro-politics of association” (Leurs, 2015, 200), since what counts now is to be connected, wherever and whenever we wish, multiplying the links between us: social media, brands, network and cloud, which shape us. This is also a time to notice a rather different kind of sociality. In spite of this, to be more connected to other people does not necessarily mean we are more truly connected as most of the times it is just one more connection. Nevertheless, the digital system, in which we leave behind our massive hypertrail, keeps favoring"hypersociality" (Ito apud Karaganis, 2007, 96) all the time. It is not about being really social to people, but about having the ability to engage them at any given time. In 1996, Engelbart proposed the concept of "groupware" (apud Tovey, 2008, 331). Once social media are technology-based systems, and there are people in the mix, it makes sense to speak of groupware, but now there is more than groups of people online ― there are whole cities, societies and countries. Hypersociality is also a phenomenon that emphasizes people’s lack of care about the kind of trail they leave behind, in other words, what is relevant for many people is to show up and live online. To add to this fact the shopping spree takes place as we learn from YouTubers and Influencers because we feel that somebody or something is leading us, is pointing directions to us online but we do not know exactly who is doing that, and finally, in the deep end there are the brands directing people’s lives. The fact there is such an "information continuum" that comes from way back before social media (but that now is boosted) is what keeps us all checked in place. Everybody is watching each other’s performance. This is a blend between consumer culture and surveillance culture. The hypertrail is a data-driven evidence that someone built, some kind of an architecture to receive, examine and profile our data. In Primo’s regard, "The younger generations use the platforms the same way you do: strategically. Their goal is to get their message out and stay relevant" (2014, para.7). Yet, the issue is that if everybody uses media in a strategic manner, then this is but a society of strategic media. Moreover, this is the reason why the hypertrail is so relevant for the brands that remain in charge. Actually, hypersociality is the core of change here ― we are measured by the people who are measured by us. Currently, we are not a product of our environment, it is precisely the opposite, it is our environment that is our product. In return, something else happens; we became this saturated Self, the type of person that produces too much hypertrail online. We rely on connection and consumerism and we are all focused on the politics of performance, something similar to a role-play online now, and brands are aware of these behaviors and