Conclusions

Over the past few months, as I have accumulated research for this project, I have struggled to pinpoint a specific point of entry for discussing the roll played by the Providence Phoenix in the larger Providence community. Now that I have spent a considerable amount of time absorbing the Phoenix in its environment and observing the ways in which it contributes to the community, I have come to the conclusion that the strongest tool I possess to break down the Phoenix and pinpoint its place in the larger system is my personal perspective as an outsider. After all, the development of my individual relationship with the Phoenix has coincided with the development of my relationship with Providence and the community within which the Phoenix exists. By reading the paper on a weekly basis I have begun to develop an understanding of the politics of Providence, as well as the issues in the forefront of local media, among them the economic crisis and its effects on business, culture and the individual.

The process of getting to know the Phoenix has also led me around the city to locations where Phoenix newspapers are placed: From Blue State Coffee on Thayer Street to the sidewalk outside of the Providence Phoenix headquarters on Chestnut Street to the Rhode Island Historical Society Library on Hope Street. Thanks to the Providence Phoenix I have spent my first semester of college getting to know not just a college campus existing in an isolated, impenetrable bubble, but a college campus existing within a larger community rich with culture and history.

Recall the old saying: "If it ain't broken, don't fix it!"

In his article "Of Mills and Waterwheels: The Hidden Parameters of Technological Choice" Robert Cresswell defines the source of complexity as follows: "What generates complexity is that the components of the relations are not only numerous and intricately linked... but also highly modifiable" (191). Although he is speaking in terms of a Moroccan waterwheel, an ancient technology that is still in use today despite the fact that it is less economically efficient than an industrial mill, the same definition can be used to explain the continued use of the free print newsweekly. Because the components of the relations in which a free newsweekly exist are intricately linked, the alteration of one component would effect the entire system. For this reason it is dangerous to rely on parsimonious explanations when assessing an object--to reduce the reasons for making a decision down to one primary driver. One example would be to approach the Providence Phoenix through the umbrella of economics. Because a print publication is less economically efficient than a television news network, the entire publication might be deemed inferior and defunct. However, such an approach entirely disregards the delicately-balanced heterogeneous web in which the Phoenix exists. In the 30th anniversary issue of the publication, Ray Rickman, a senior policy consultant for wellness and education organizations in Rhode Island, states that "It is part of my weekly existence to read the Providence Phoenix every Thursday morning at 7:30 am" (23). To Rickman, the economic efficiency of the Phoenix is unimportant.

The Moroccan waterwheel does not produce the maximum amount of grain for the smallest price. However, it meets the needs of the community within which it exists. It grinds grain to a consistency neither too course nor too fine, and produces grain without the subtly-affected taste associated with diesel-powered mills. It also provides the community with the distinctive sound of water rushing through a wooden mill. Similarly, the Providence Phoenix serves its community--the heterogeneous system within which it operates--in many ways. (A few examples being its promotion of routine and ability to reflect the interests and opinions of the community in print. Another being its ability to either promote or hinder socialization depending on the individual's desire). While it is easy for modern society to view progress as a straight path from simple to complex, to do so is to disregard the consequences of every action taken within a system. Increased complexity brings with it an increased number of options, which in itself provides a new set of complications. Remove the overly-simplified simple-->complex model of progress, and there is a place in the future for both a water mill and a free alternative newsweekly. Cresswell reminds his audience that within a heterogeneous system of human-object interactions, the new and modern is not necessarily more efficient than what has already been established.

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