The Network Society

NETWORK SOCIETY

PRESENTATION OVERVIEW

An Overview of Social Media & The Network Society

Media: Rupert Murdoch and Convergent Technologies (DISCUSSION)

Political: Barack Obama and Social Media (DISCUSSION)

Social: Power Shifts - A Look at North Africa (DISCUSSION)

Control: US Homogenisation vs. China (DISCUSSION)

Tuesday, 12 July 2011

THE HISTORY OF NETWORKS

As a telecommunications concept, networks have long been associated with the connection of one entity to another, spreading and linking together

like the veins in a body.

It is the infrastructure from which we have built modern communication and the means by which

society advances.

From the early railroads to today’s intricate social network, let’s explore the history of the network.



1800’sAmerica’s vast landscape is connected by rail, creating the fastest network for transporting goods and personal travel yet known.

1851Telegraph lines in the US span over 20,000 miles.

1876Emerging from the success of the telegraph, the landline telephone was patented by Alexander Graham Bell as a circuit switching invention, laying the foundation for future telecommunication networks.



1896Guglielmo Marconi transmits the first radio signal. It isn’t until the early 1920’s that voice broadcast radio is developed.

1924John Baird becomes the first person to transmit moving silhouette images over a new cutting edge invention: the television.

1966Xerox invents the “telecopier”, the first successful commercial fax machine.



1969Arpanet, the Model-T of the global internet, is deployed as a packet switching network that breaks digital messages into small blocks transmitted independently and reassembled.

1971The first email is sent.

1978Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) are created to exchange data between users over phone lines. In many ways, it’s a precursor to the modern social network.



1979 - 1981Technology gets mobile. The cellphone communication network is introduced in Japan (1979). Weighing 23.5 pounds, the first commercial laptop computer is sold to the public (1981).

1983 - 1990The computer industry declares this year as “the year of the LAN” (1983). The grounds are laid for the World Wide Web when Tim Berners-Lee builds HTTP and HTML. The modern birth of the internet (1990).

1994Yahoo GeoCities allows users to develop free Home Pages where they can chat, post on bulletin boards and foster an online community.



2002Friendster is launched an introduces a new model of networking to the mainstream. A year later, MySpace introduces it’s own, more successful version.

2004 - 2006Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook becomes available. A few years later, it gathers several hundred million users, surpassing that of all other social networking platforms. Micro-blogging site Twitter takes flight.

2010Broadband access among US adults reaches approximately 65% and mobile internet catapults the smartphone into a multibillion-dollar industry.



PRESENT DAY

“The new knowledge culture has arisen as our ties to older forms of social community are breaking

down, our rooting and physical geography is diminished, our bonds to the extended and even the nuclear family are disintegrating, and our allegiances

to nation states are being redefined.”

Jenkins - Convergence Culture


MEDIA: RUPERT MURDOCH

What is Rupert SoHappy About?“Global multi-media businesses networks (including government-owned media) have taken advantage of the tidal wave of deregulation and liberalisation to integrate:

the networks of: communication, the platforms of communication, and the channels of communication

in their multi layered organisations, while setting up switches of connection to the networks of capital, politics, and cultural production.”

(Castells)



Convergent TechnologiesRupert Murdoch has been successful in obtaining huge power due to his ability to exert influence over three core areas that facilitate online economies:

the networks of: communication

the platforms of communication

and the channels of communication

In context he influences:

How news is produced...

How news is distributed...

How news is consumed...



Before Online Media Fuelled Globalisation...The process of gathering, producing and consuming news was very linear...

New producers such as Reuters might gather the news.(Facilitation)

News channels such as the BBC might distribute the news. (Context)

People like you and I might watch it at home on our Television.(Dictation)



Since Social Media...The process of gathering, producing and consuming media is increasingly convergent...

For Example:

You, I, Reuters gathers the news...(Accessibility)

We report the news...(Democracy)

We talk about the news...(Interaction)

This does not replace traditional news channels; rather it alters their role:

Media can now be distributed, consumed and discussed in one place.



Thank You & Goodbye...The recent phone hacking scandal shamed the News of the World into closing the newspaper.

Negative sentiment/accountability spreads very quickly via real-time networks...

...especially when the public is spreading it for you.

A convergent and interconnected media network can facilitate both rapid success and rapid demise at the hands of the audience.

Media can now be distributed, consumed and discussed in one place.


CONVERGENCE CULTURE

MODERN DAY MEDIA

“The roles of content provider and consumer have become increasingly muddled, and the traditional view of the audience has been turned on it’s

head.”

Powell - 33 Million People In The Room


NETWORK SOCIETY

DISCUSSION

Q: Can we identify convergence in any form locally?

Q: Is convergence in business restricted to online environments?

Q: More Questions


POLITICS: BARACK OBAMA

How Did Obama GetIt So Right In 2008?

“By using interactive Web 2.0 tools, Mr. Obama’s campaign changed the way politicians organise supporters, advertise to voters, defend against attacks and communicate with constituents.”

(Miller)



Taking the debate to the voters...The administration understood that there were core advantages in generating a dialogue within those spaces in which audiences spend the majority of their time in terms of media consumption.

What tools did he use?

Facebook to engage communities...

Twitter to distribute materials...

Put simply, rather than waiting for the audience to come to the campaign, the administration took the campaign to the audience.



Organise SupportersUsing Social Media tools allowed the campaign to:

Organise core support groups into niche communities to fuel support...

...in essence generating mini-campaigns supported by these groups...

...which were facilitated by networked social media technologies.

The core advantage was:

To allow his supporters to make his message as accessible and widely available as possible.



Advertise to VotersUsing Social Media tools allowed the campaign to:

Access as wide an audience as possible...

...with various multi-media forms of message appropriate to specific audiences...

...which channeled and influencedon-going discussion and maximised support...

...which could be accurately measured in comparison to traditional campaign methods...

...which spread rapidly in a viral nature.



Defend andCommunicateUsing Social Media tools allowed the campaign to:

Exert influence over negative sentiment...

...by communicating in an accessible and direct manner with audience groups...

...empowering the Obama Administration with the ability to...

...manage a crisis with superior resources than that of sceptical groups.


NETWORK SOCIETY

DISCUSSION

Q: Could local politicians make better use of communications tools?

Q: Can these principles be applied to local businesses?

Q: More Questions


SOCIAL CHANGE: NORTH AFRICA

Social Media and North Africa

“There has been a common thread in the recent political upheaval in Tunisia and Egypt.”

“Social media has played a role in both influencing the protests and reporting on them”

(CNN)


SOCIAL CHANGE: NORTH AFRICA

Autocratic principles rely on...Control of the media:

Which is increasingly degraded by various democratic social media distribution methods that facilitate freedom of speech.

A closed society:

Which is difficult to achieve when networks of communication allow messages to leave the country and for foreign influence to flow back in.


NETWORK SOCIETY

DISCUSSION

Q: Could the social change have occurred without Social Media?

Q: To what extent did western influence over communications networks “fuel the fire”?

Q: More Questions


WHO CONTROLS THE INTERNET?

Western Influence...

“The effects of technology do not occur at the level of opinions and concepts.

But alter sense ratios or patterns of perception steadily and without any resistance.”

(Redhead)

Consider the Western legacy of the Internet; both in terms of structure and influence over time.



Did we really ever have a level playing field?

“Paradoxical as it may appear isn't it through the rights of man that transpire today at a planetary level the worst discriminations?”

(Poster)

Social Media has ‘globalised’ western opinion and influence. Did we ever really have an equal voice?



A War over Influence...Western influence has prevailed online to this point in time...

...spreading democratic western influence across the globe.

We have seen those with lesser resources, such as North Africa, succumb to change...

...but the west has one big challenge:

CHINA

China has the resources, both culturally and economically to challenge western influence online.



Food for thought...The Google China Incident.

Limited Use of Social Media in China?

Can Democracy Work in China?

Chinese Internet fuelled capitalism.

Increasing Cyber Warfare Budgets.

China has a vested interest in exerting social, economic and political influence over the internet.


NETWORK SOCIETY

DISCUSSION

Q: What does this mean for western economic models?

Q: How will the US respond to opposition online?

Q: More Questions


SO WHAT ABOUT GUERNSEY?

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR US?

Guernsey needs to drive innovation to support its service based economy.

To neglect use of any form of technology in the face of a rapidly evolving market place, that relies on

communications, could render Guernsey ill equipped to “do business”.


The Network Society

Technology

Transcript of The Network Society