Untitled - socium.ge

1. Informationalism, networks, and thenetwork society: a theoretical blueprintManuel CastellsNETWORKS, SOCIETY, AND COMMUNICATIONTECHNOLOGYA network society is a society whose social structure is made of networkspowered by microelectronics-based information and communication technologies.By social structure, I understand the organizational arrangements ofhumans in relations of production, consumption, reproduction, experience,and power expressed in meaningful communication coded by culture. Anetwork is a set of interconnected nodes. A node is the point where the curveintersects itself. A network has no center, just nodes. Nodes may be of varyingrelevance for the network. Nodes increase their importance for the network byabsorbing more relevant information, and processing it more efficiently. Therelative importance of a node does not stem from its specific features but fromits ability to contribute to the network’s goals. However, all nodes of a networkare necessary for the network’s performance. When nodes become redundantor useless, networks tend to reconfigure themselves, deleting some nodes, andadding new ones. Nodes only exist and function as components of networks.The network is the unit, not the node.“Communication networks are the patterns of contact that are created byflows of messages among communicators through time and space” (Mongeand Contractor, 2003: 39). So, networks process flows. Flows are streams ofinformation between nodes circulating through the channels of connectionbetween nodes. A network is defined by the program that assigns the networkits goals and its rules of performance. This program is made up of codes thatinclude valuation of performance and criteria for success or failure. To alterthe outcomes of the network, a new program (a set of compatible codes) willhave to be installed in the network – from outside the network. Networkscooperate or compete with each other. Cooperation is based on the ability tocommunicate between networks. This ability depends on the existence ofcodes of translation and inter-operability between the networks (protocols ofcommunication), and on access to connection points (switches). Competition3