Abstract
Beaton examines how apps (software applications) manifest within contemporary literature, focusing on a recent story about Uber by the American author Colby Buzzell. The chapter highlights the value of literary sources within the history of early digital culture and technology. Buzzell’s story about Uber, Beaton argues, is particularly notable for how it chronicles some of the contradictions that surrounded early apps in their specific contexts of use. In addition, the chapter looks at how Buzzell’s recent story about Uber offers a glimpse into a larger process of technology recession that coincided with the era of early apps. As Beaton points out, lurking inside Buzzell’s story about Uber is a subplot about the “social death” of things.
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Beaton, B. (2018). A Recent Story About Uber. In: Bilić , P., Primorac, J., Valtýsson, B. (eds) Technologies of Labour and the Politics of Contradiction. Dynamics of Virtual Work. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76279-1_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76279-1_9
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