The idea that technology seems to be giving us the façade that we are interconnectedness is so disturbing. The cliché sentence always goes “With the advancement of technologies, there is increased interconnectedness and communication.” But that is precisely the façade. When we discuss technology, we cannot simply just understand how technology works (no, in fact we don’t even participate in the knowledge of using according to Gitelman, we just use it until it fails on us), we have to understand all the social, political, economic concerns associated with technology. Therefore, historicity of technology is much appreciated by Gitelman. The way technology progresses are due to how the social, political and economic activities shape them. Therefore with that in mind, it is obvious that power play, inequalities come into play. There will be privileged groups but also marginalized groups at the same time. Accessibility is definitely an issue. And we now tend to take for granted technology as it is. We don’t think about how media is translated into numerical representation, we don’t think about the hardware behind all the convenience brought to us. The convenience is for the privileged and the marginalized provides the convenience through media as the medium.
Diyana
Those who are members to the space of flows, are members to the informational economy. This already implies a kind of disparity – one is privileged, the other is the marginalized.
Spatial organization – The elites only tread within the spaces of flows. Wherever they go, they see the snazzy cityscapes. They dine in expensive restaurants, shop without financial worries. They drive in their flashy cars. Their material reality is separate from the common folk. That’s why they are ignorant of the extreme disparity. They just never been in such spaces far less glitzy.
But what happens if they do? Some sort of a culture shock. Take Anton Casey, he couldn’t even “slum out” for a moment when he rode the MRT with us poor commoners.
Stark realities. It depends whether you belong in the spaces of flows or not.
Vienna
New media
Gitelman: Media is plural. A media object comprises of many different individual pieces of media. For example the television which relies on the signal transferred by antenna. This is the unifying logic of media, as no media can exist alone.
Form vs Content: We are consumed with the content of the media not with the form when things run smoothly because it has become such a taken for granted thing in our everyday consciousness. It is only when technology breaks down that we see the different parts that were put together for the object to function. This affects content production because the point of time and the particular socio-economic context that a certain form of media impacts the content of it.
Manovich: For something to be considered as new media, it has to be represented in numerical form, quantifiable. This is the logic of factories were everything can be counted and taken into account for. This to Benjamin would constitute to a loss of aura. The pixels that can be added or subtracted from a picture there by altering the essence of the photo is what he probably meant.
Castells: space of flows is with regard to all the flows of people, labour, goods and services that occur between cities, technological nodes and hubs. He shows us how the places further away from the city all work as one large system, necessary for the city to function. There is an inter connectedness between the center and the peripheries. A space can be both material and non-material. I appreciated the example of the Amazon warehouse because I had not concerned myself with how I get my things, just as long as I get it and this really made me think about the ethics behind such capitalist ventures and the alternatives to it.
Inthaxai Maxly
New media
Throughout the reading response of this week beginning by Castells article that he conceptualize a new media in typical of space that it is complexity of interaction between technology, society, and space. He mentioned about the space of flows that it is the material of time underpins the culture abstracted the high dynamic society. He explained the global city that all his mentions analyzed the concept of technology that his claims relating to the global city. Thus, technology, financial and managerial elite that occupies the leading positions in our societies will also have specific spatial requirements regarding the material support of their interests and practices. Castells also pointed in his article for the relationships between the space of flows and the space of places that are not predetermined in the outcome that he gave the example of Tokyo underwent a substial process that its role in term of global city as well. So far his mention in the rest of article he claimed that people still live in places because of function and the power in society are well organize that in the space flows, therefore the space is no longer it just the material in space and also the pace time that cannot in case on the dimensions as a social hyperspace in the human’s knowing.
The second reading responses introduced by Manovich in terms of new media description, so that she began in a question of what is new media in her article that she gave five principles in the case of new media and discussed of what is not new media as well. Manovich claim her new media by summarized on five principles that the first one was numerical representation, which included two keys one could be described mathematically and subjected to algorithmic manipulation. Secondly principle was modularity that called a fractal structure of new media that objectively in a multimedia movie. Thirdly principle was automation that included the first and second principle by human intentionally. Fourthly principle was variability that is the variously media particularly in a stored in media data, database, content, and hypermedia. Lastly fifth principle was transcoding that basically in material principles of new media. Oppositely, new media that Manovich gave what different with the five principles that there were concepts with no longer historical of perspective and the order of old media.
Lastly reading responses created by Gitelman that examined the ways of the media and the new media were studied as in historical subject. Gitelman mentioned that media studied in the historical structure and some sources to constructed when we look back to the new media that are not really new by historical of itself. Beyond the structure of the new media that he mentioned new media came from the particular ways in which they refashion older media and also the ways in which older media refashion themselves to answer the new media.
Nevertheless, new media is just a type of generation of age but it is not exactly act different from the old media but they are depending on the functionalities in which produce be able to transfer the medium or whatever data among the items or anything in case of acting as medium on itself.
Maxly Inthaxai
New media
Throughout the reading response of this week beginning by Castells article that he conceptualize a new media in typical of space that it is complexity of interaction between technology, society, and space. He mentioned about the space of flows that it is the material of time underpins the culture abstracted the high dynamic society. He explained the global city that all his mentions analyzed the concept of technology that his claims relating to the global city. Thus, technology, financial and managerial elite that occupies the leading positions in our societies will also have specific spatial requirements regarding the material support of their interests and practices. Castells also pointed in his article for the relationships between the space of flows and the space of places that are not predetermined in the outcome that he gave the example of Tokyo underwent a substial process that its role in term of global city as well. So far his mention in the rest of article he claimed that people still live in places because of function and the power in society are well organize that in the space flows, therefore the space is no longer it just the material in space and also the pace time that cannot in case on the dimensions as a social hyperspace in the human’s knowing.
The second reading responses introduced by Manovich in terms of new media description, so that she began in a question of what is new media in her article that she gave five principles in the case of new media and discussed of what is not new media as well. Manovich claim her new media by summarized on five principles that the first one was numerical representation, which included two keys one could be described mathematically and subjected to algorithmic manipulation. Secondly principle was modularity that called a fractal structure of new media that objectively in a multimedia movie. Thirdly principle was automation that included the first and second principle by human intentionally. Fourthly principle was variability that is the variously media particularly in a stored in media data, database, content, and hypermedia. Lastly fifth principle was transcoding that basically in material principles of new media. Oppositely, new media that Manovich gave what different with the five principles that there were concepts with no longer historical of perspective and the order of old media.
Lastly reading responses created by Gitelman that examined the ways of the media and the new media were studied as in historical subject. Gitelman mentioned that media studied in the historical structure and some sources to constructed when we look back to the new media that are not really new by historical of itself. Beyond the structure of the new media that he mentioned new media came from the particular ways in which they refashion older media and also the ways in which older media refashion themselves to answer the new media.
Nevertheless, new media is just a type of generation of age but it is not exactly act different from the old media but they are depending on the functionalities in which produce be able to transfer the medium or whatever data among the items or anything in case of acting as medium on itself.
Stanley Wong
This week’s readings talk about New Media and it’s social implications.
Le Manovic starts off with discussing the principles of New media, which is 1) Numerical Representation; where all media are digitized into 0 and 1 numbers, and any processes are subject to mathematical calculations; 2) Modularity, where data are segmented and relevant bits are utilized when required; Automation, which is similar to processes in the Industrial Age, where rendering processes are done automatically; Variability, which is the a cultural object existing in multiple forms that interact with each other(intertextuality); and Transcoding, where the computer layer and the cultural layer feed and influence into each other, changes in one sphere will have impacts in the other.
This is related to Gittelman’s conception of New Media, which he defines it as “socially realized structures of communication, which involves both technological forms and their associated protocols, and where communication is a cultural practice, a ritualized collocation of different people on the same mental map, sharing or engaged with popular ontologies of representation”. When we interact with technological forms, there are often certain rituals associated with them, which we fail to acknowledge. It is also subject to certain social constraints like capitalism, who has access to these technological forms and how they are used, etc. As such, it is not just about the content (what is being shown, what are the implications), but the form as well (the interface, how it is used) which we need to consider.
Lastly, these 2 are applied in Castel’s article. Although there isn’t any relation whatsoever on first hand, media technologies play a part in these flows. These space of flows are made up of the electronic infrastructures, nodes and hubs, and the elites. They are also material and immaterial. On one hand, they exist in cyberspace, where all things are in numerical representation, which can be said to exist within the computer layer. At the same time, these spaces also manifest in very real places, like financial or operations hubs. For instance, majority of finance transactions take place in online, but have very real effects in the real world; they organize the locations of hubs and financial centers. At the same time, these spaces of flows cannot exist without cultural protocols; people need the know how to interpret these numbers and make the correct decisions so as not to cause a financial crisis.
Taken together, these readings are trying to tell us to look beyond the content of media, and understand how dynamics within technological forms have impacts on social life.
Cheryl Chern
Castells talks about how space organizes time in the network society where there is a complexity of interaction between technology, society and space. This space of flows that he talks about is becoming the dominant spatial manifestation of power and function in society today. He posits that the global city today is not a place but a process by which centers on production and consumption of advanced services, and their ancillary local societies, are connected in a global network, while simultaneously downplaying the linkages with hinterlands on the basis of information flows. In this global city, we find that advanced service activities are neither concentrated nor decentralized; instead they are taking place across borders, throughout continents and countries. Also he talks about the new industrial space that is organized around flows of information. These spaces are created by technology and are made possible through decentralization. Today, people live in spaces, but because function and power in our societies are organized in the space of flows, we find that these spaces are no longer just material spaces, also they include non-material spaces.
Gitelman talks about how all media was once new, as such, media has a past and a history. She emphasizes the need to think about the process of media and how media really works.
Manovich’s work centers on what constitutes new media and puts forth to us the 5 principles of new media: 1. Numerical Representation 2.Modularity 3. Automation 4.Variability and 5.Transcoding. New media represents the synthesis of both computing and media technologies, this convergence brings about the translation of all existing new media into numerical data accessible for computers and as such, we have things like graphics, sounds, moving images, etc. Also in Manovich’s work, we see what new media constitutes, and we also see what the new media is not. Often times we see that certain characteristics of media today are attributed to the rise of new media, but we fail to see that these characteristics or principles could already be found at work in older cultural forms and media technologies. Therefore we may not be able to separate entirely old and new media.
Manuel Castells is very conscious of space when he discusses the space of flows with regard to technology and cities. Firstly, he states that space is not just a reflection of society, but it is society. He explains how the global economy is centred around information flows, which includes businesses, finance, security, research and development. He then notes the spatial concentration of information flows, and defines the congealment of such flows as “nodal” centres.
Drawing a contrast to non-nodal points, that play “an increasingly subordinate function” to information flows, Castells says spaces are separated by power – those who have power to control these flows, versus those who don’t. He illustrates this by describing how lowly skilled employees don’t co-exist with scientists or engineers. Information flows thus determines the kinds of lifestyles that exist in different spaces. For example, in the areas of research and development, where these places are considered to be more ‘developed’, living conditions, security, and amenities are vastly different compared to areas of production.
Interestingly, in cities themselves, information flows can be so concentrated and segregated that areas not involved in these pivotal information flows can be very much left out. When I was in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, I was stunned that across a few streets of the Old Building where sex workers live, was a multi-million dollar development slated for the rich. It just perplexed me on how societies like this function – how two different worlds can coexist within the same geographical space. Castells later expands on this idea, stating that technology helps reinforce the social dimension of space flows.
But while he discusses technological space, Castells dismisses the notion that material spaces will be replaced and cease to exist. He says, for example, shopping malls do not decrease even as online shopping increases, and universities still rely much on material spaces for curriculums, despite the electronic space being a large part of curriculums.
He proposes three layers that materially support the space of flows: firstly, electronic exchanges (where positions define the exchange of flows in the network), nodes and hubs (where space of flows is not placeless, but its structure is), and managerial elites (where the spatial logic of the dominant interests in society determines the dominant spatial logic of society).
Lisa Gitelman firstly establishes that the term, “the media”, should not be read as a singular whole, but should be studied in its plural form, made up of a complex structure of various mediums. She defines media as “socially realised structures of communication” and further breaks it down, explaining that structures include protocols of “social, economic, and material relationships”. For example, the technical protocol of using laptop is typing on its keyboard placed on top of a hard surface. Such technical protocols are governed by the interfaces of the medium.
Gitelman asserts that ‘new’ media are inhabits of the past, because their existence is dependent on preceding mediums. She emphasizes the importance of studying media in terms of the social context from which they are birthed, and the social structures that brought about their inventions or developments.
Media has also become so naturalised that we hardly question the function of our different mediums. “As much as people may converse through a telephone and forget the telephone itself, the context of telephoning makes all kinds of difference to the things they say and they way they say them” writes Gitelman. This follows Mc Luhan’s thought of the medium is the message.
Manovich defines new media as five aspects: numerical coding, modularity, automation, variability and cultural transcoding.
Numerical representation: The new media object should be able to be described mathematically, and should be programmable.
Modularity: “Fractal structure of new media” – media elements are represented as collections of discrete samples eg. pixels, polygons, voxels, and maintain their independent identities even when combining with larger objects.
Automation: Two types of automation – “low level” automation in terms of modification of images like editing, and “high level” automation that includes artificial intelligence, creating personalized experiences. For examples, lots of electronic games have “high” level automation.
Variability: The ability to be assembled into numerous sequences through programme control.
Transcoding: Describing media’s computerization, where the medium’s computer layer affects its cultural layer.
People exist under the confines of a certain technological structures that govern their moves, suggesting that the individual has little agency over his actions.
Sasha Kaur Dhillon
I found the Castell reading to be intriguing in the sense that he is rather ironic in his juxtaposition of the space of flows itself. For him, the space of flows is both material and non-material and this is essentially recognized by the fact that though he talks about the myriad of transactions that happen over the internet ( and are virtually invisible) he always links these transactions in impacting a material space ( physically) that are the mega/global cities. The mega cities are “nodal points” that is to say they are the key economic cores of the world and are not fixed in their occurrence but rather process oriented. It thrives on the inter-connectivity present amongst producers, networks and the technological infrastructure. Technology also transforms these nodal points in integral ways and this gives rise to a new spatial logic.
So, essentially these global cities survive through connecting with one another but Castells also showcases his spatial logic by emphasizing that these same cities do not seek inter-connectivity in their local spheres – which ultimately become dysfunctional. This was seen in lecture, when we were shown the contrast between Downtown Chicago & Southside Chicago. This was interesting to note because it showcased that these nodal points of the world – had nodal points within themselves – or at least, I would like to think so. This would therefore explain, why some areas in the city are better transformed and kept relevant with its economic agenda over others. The reasons could be many – from the stability of the land to built infrastructure to the degree of connectivity and centrality that the area would hold. Thus, there is a distinct spatial organization due to and affecting the space of flows.
I feel that Castells also sheds light to some extent on the New International Division of Labor ( NIDL) because he talks about new industrial spaces globally that are created and connected by technologies. These technological flows result in the decentralization of certain economic activities from the developed countries ( usually, though there may be exceptions) to the less developed countries where they become centralized. A good example of this would be global call centers that have shifted from countries like the UK to India which has cheaper labor but are connected to the parent companies in the UK via technological processes. This is also relevant to us as Singaporeans – or at least as my experience as a network user where my service attendant on the phone is usually either an Indian or Filipino ( as I assume via their accents). Thus, while the space of flows talks about a placeless logic ( you cannot see the flows at work) it is essentially not placeless – because its effects and transformations affect places such as the cities ( which can be seen). Castells then divides these space of flows into three characteristic layers – technological infrastructure, nodes and hubs and the elites who via their symbols and dominant definitions of certain perpetuations of the spatial flows result in the closed exclusivity of certain areas – that are more symbolic and cultural in their essence.
Next, Lisa Gitelman also provides a compelling argument regarding her definition of what new media is, saying “ I define media as socially realized structures of communication, where structures include both technological forms and their associated protocols, and where communication is a cultural practice, a ritualized collection of different people on the same mental map, sharing or engaged with popular ontologies of representation.” This implies that there is a mass understanding of new media. You could live in the Swiss Alps / a Cave / or a condominium but when and if presented with an apple laptop you will essentially understand it and hold it in the same way, use the keyboard in the same way and search for things using the same equipment ( ok, provided you are media literate). This involves to some extent a socio-economic and cultural form. We cannot understand the content of the medium without understanding its form ( user interface). Also this socio-cultural aspect of technology brings to the fore that there is no inherent logic in using technology – this logic is ascribed onto technology by societal institutions. The user and creators of technology also create its meaning.
Gitelman also invokes an evolutionary essence of technology in the sense that new media is always changing and innovating from a previous form of media – so in a sense it’s not completely new, but rather an improvement of what there was before. Funnily this is seen prominently in iPhones – they all look more or less the same / have the same functions and apps – but once in a while you get slimmer models and models with talking interface voices like Siri that are merely additions but not a complete transformation of the technological device itself.
There is also an unifying notion of new media. Media is plural linguistically but yet it is taken to refer to a single entity.
Finally, Manovich gives an essential insight into the very characteristics of new media. At first these just seemed like descriptions of an extended notion of new media – but after reading all of them in depth I feel that they actually help in categorizing what is “new” in “new media” and thus is also crucial to understanding the form that new media takes.
1) Numerical representation – this is to say that new media takes a numerical form because there is need for it to be quantifiable and also accessible ubiquitously. It is coded so that it can be computed and this is the language that characterizes new media.
2) Modularity – basically all elements of new media ( the image, the video, the HTML code) retain their individual properties while simultaneously having the potential to be assembled into a mass that contains all these elements in an intertwined fashion. He gives the example of Microsoft Word and states that it is crucial for this sense of independency to be retained cos it gives us an agency – in the sense that we can modify these elements individually too.
3) Automation – We are presented with low level ( lacks meaning) v high level ( has some sense of semantics in meaning laden in its function) automation. This automation characterizes another form of new media – and that is immediacy. This is because new media relies on automation to be fast so that its information can be disseminated faster and this affects the space of flows because the degree of transmission is affected by the speed of it.
4) Variability – Basically one type of media can usually be morphed into a myriad of other forms of media. This is showcased in the changing of one’s avatars and the like. There is just so much of flexibility and thus agency given to those who are absorbed into the realm of new media. Also, this sense of flexibility is in line with the logic of a post-industrial society and its modes of production such as the “ Just-In-Time” production method.
5) Transcoding – New media comprises of the cultural and the computer layers and these layers can be transformed from one to the other. For instance, images being uploaded onto a website are representative of the computer layer in that the pixels are arranged and saved and then transmitted onto another platform. But, the manner in which they are interpreted – takes on a cultural connotation and lens. Thus, one layer can potentially affect the other and they are transposed onto each other.
Clarinda Ong
Castells – one of the main developers of Marxist urban sociology which focuses on the role of social movements in the contradictory transformation of city (namely the post-industrial society). During the 1980s, he emphasizes on the role of new technologies in the restructuring of an economy. The concept of “space of flows” has been introduced, together with the material and non-material aspects of global information networks used for the instantaneous and long-distance workings of the economy. It is important to note the relationship between technology, the city and society, bringing about more tension between local and global. Castells also wrote in another book, he regards “social development as inseparable from the changes in the technological infrastructure through which most of society’s activities are carried out, ‘since technology is society and society cannot be understood or represented without its technological tools’”
Castells is intrigued by the extent in which urbanization has occurred and to what extent it is being affected by technological advances. Urban constellations are scattered and found within the metropolitan areas, functionally integrated and socially differentiated around the urban centre, city. Online, virtual communities develop with close interactions with the physical communities; however, there is a challenge of increased idea of individualization of work, social relationships and patterns. Living spaces have been taken over precedence by informational production spaces for economic productivity. (This is characterized by cities such as London, Tokyo, Beijing, Taipei…) Naturally, there are formations of elite spaces (for the rich) and territorial turfs for the poor (eg: ghettos).
It is not just a dichotomy of inclusivity of trans-territorial networks, and exclusivity of spatial segregation of places, but these two happen simultaneously and thus, producing the irony of “space of flows”.
Tension between “space of flows” and “space of places”:
(a) Space of flows: links up electronically separate locations in an interactive network that connects activities and people in distinct geographical contexts.
(b) Space of places: organizes experience and activity around the confines of locality.
What does city play a part in? In the virtual networks, city does not exist but are being transformed by the interface between electronic communication and physical interaction, by the combination of networks and places. What define a ‘global city’ are its centrally global functions. Mitchell (1999) had pointed out a new spatial concept of “e-topia” – where people interact, on purpose/ unintentionally using online communication system.
Gitelman’s definition of media as “socially realized structures of communication, where structures include both technological forms and their associated protocols and where communication is a cultural practice, a ritualized collocation of different people on the same mental-map, sharing or engaged with popular ontologies of representation”. Different mediums are also commodities, structures of communication that she defines can be owned by the same company – Tumblr, Myspace, Twitter, Instagram – and they call into existence of public. Users shape how we come to use and understand these structures. However, to certain extent, the company still controls these structures. We won’t have access to know the workings of communication unless we have ownership to it. For instance, if we are unplugged, we won’t get to access the information of webpages we saved online and the company is with control of these information.
Manovich explored the definition of the newness of media, the differences of the old and new broader technological views.
The underlying message throughout these readings is the fact that media is ever-changing. It is also the process and the empowerment of agency that are crucial in addressing the history of media. In terms of ‘space of flows’ and ‘space of places’, they can both overlap, and cause irony and thus it is difficult to just analyse one as entity, it needs to be seen as a relation to the communication, community, economic, social and political factors that constitute them.
Kerri Heng Yi Ping
HS2018 WEEK 9 BLOG:
MANOVICH –– The Language of New Media
Manovich talks about the five principles of new media: Numerical Representation, Modularity, Automation, Variability and Transcoding.
Numerical Representation:
All new media content can be represented numerically, in terms of numbers, digital formats, codes (HTML, Java script, Binary Code and various web codes) and algorithms. The different formats of new media can all be converted to digital formats and read on a computer device. The film: The Social Network, tells us clearly how Facebook was conceptualised and brought to the world wide web, through mathematical calculations, formulae, web encoding and software.
Modularity:
New media is in modules and independent segments. These parts can be modified, separated and pieced together to form new media objects. This makes new media very flexible, as in the Photoshop example where we can edit photos with many layers and tools.
Automation:
This changes the creative process as things previously done in person are now performed by the computer, at the speed of light. An example would be photoshop and imaging processes –– we no longer painstakingly draw lines and colour images, we just click icons that crop, colour, fill-in and add lines to our images.
Variability:
This is my favourite principle of new media. Manovich says that new media objects are not fixed, and that a single new media object can exist in different forms and on different platforms. We have a “base object” and many different versions derived from it. For instance, the base object, The Hunger Games novels, have spanned a series of Hollywood blockbuster films. The film is also available on DVD and CD soundtracks. It certainly has a heavy presence on social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc). The book has also spanned video game franchises and numerous food/game apps on the App Store. Recently, actors from the Hunger Games movie had a fan meeting on Twitter, bringing film and new media interaction to a new level –– meeting people all over the world online. New media also takes on the logic of the post-industrial society, which promotes/highlights individualism instead of breeding conformity. Example: customised online ads. Ad companies store our web browser information, and each time we go online on a computer, pop-up ads from companies will spring up and follow us wherever we go. If we’ve been looking at handbags online, we could expect a trail of handbag pop-up adverts if we do not clear our browser histories and block pop-ups. Online advertising gets intrusive in this sense.
Transcoding:
New media has two layers: the cultural layer and the computer layer. The cultural layer would be the content itself, while the computer layer would be the computerised format of the object (the computer language of the cultural object). An obvious example would be that of an e-book. The e-book’s content –– its storyline, chapters, plot and book cover design –– make up the Cultural layer. The computer formatting, data packet and iBook/ePub software that encodes the book in its new media form make up the Computer layer.
CASTELLS –– The Space of Flows
Castells speaks of the space of flows as fluid and not fixed. The space of flows is material and immaterial at the same time. The production and manufacturing processes of media objects are very material. However, the fact that a lot of transactions (Internet banking, online business deals, etc) takes place in cyberspace renders the space of flows immaterial, as it cyberspace is intangible.
Castells reminds us that in this new space of flows, we’ve to be cautious of how we use it. It’s a dialectical process –– how we use space and how space affects us/others. The large and overwhelming processes of globalisation, global city formation and the exchange of socio-economic-political capital signify increased interconnectivity and productive forces throughout the world. We can connect with people with the Internet, we can carry out business transactions online at the click of a button, and work from home today. An elite group of globe trotting businesspeople is formed, and they travel in through VIP lounges across global cities worldwide. Castells provides a lot of mind-boggling statistics on megacities and outlines the massive transformations that cities undergo, so as the connect to the global nodes of the world.
I read in a storybook, about this guy living one of China’s developing cities. He goes to sit at a public bench everyday and says that there is a small change every 5 days, a medium change every two weeks, a large change every month and a landscape change every year. Construction in his area is fast and relentless in an attempt to achieve the status of a city of economic and financial control.
However, we have a price to pay in this enlarging space of flows –– lower wages, harsher and faster working conditions, labour exploitation, environmental degradation and the exclusion of certain groups of people who do not contribute to the space of flows (the unemployed, the poor, the sick, minority groups, the villages, etc.) People are exploited in the labor market (Amazon, etc) in a bid to bring consumer goods faster to consumers. People live in slums throughout megacities such as Mumbai. Areas that do not contribute to the city’s financial/economic growth either get left behind (like failed projects) or they fade into decay. For instance, there is this huge ghost town in China –– complete with highways, bungalows, city centres and empty office buildings –– that is uninhabited. Like it’s a product of the space of flows and the aim to build a social-economic hub, but it’s a failed project.
We’ve to be cautious about the rate we’re going in this space of flows. The benefits and get-rich-quickly effects can be seen and felt easily, in terms of fast online convenience and the spatial development of new towns. However, there are negative effects of this phenomenon, that tends to escape our notice.
GITELMAN –– Always Already New
Gitelman defines new media as: socially realised structures of communication, where structures include both technological forms and their associated protocols.
Communication and the use of new media objects is a ritualised, cultural practice. Gitelman reminds us that when we use media, we often fail to remember that media is plural, not singular. Media is made up of many processes and linking technologies. When we watch a film, we’re not just watching a perfect end product of moving images, but a collection of extensive, exhaustive processes of film production. Film producing, for instances, goes from the very beginnings of plot and story creation, to sourcing for cast and crew, to rehearsals, to location scouting and actual shooting processes and schedules. Then comes the film editing processes where the shots and sound are put together in a narrative and edited to perfection. And then comes the distribution, advertising and publicity features of the film, via movie releases, premieres, interviews, soft and hard launches, etc. All these long and tiring processes go behind the $10 movie ticket we buy.
This brings us to ‘form versus content’, as discussed in our tutorial. When we use a media object, we don’t think about how it works. We use it as it is, without consider the dynamics of it. Media objects are designed to be idiot-proof today –– its functions are easy and self-evident, they require no learning. We need to remember that behind idiot proof cultural/media objects lie extensive technological and intellectual processes –– invention, discovery, innovation, etc. Media objects should not be taken for granted, and we usually realise this whenever our media objects break down (Eg: laptop breaks down in the middle of an online project submission.)
Media ARE thus socially realised structures of communication, and we cannot disentangle the cultural and structural processes of media. The cultural aspect of media enables our new media processes to take place easily and seamlessly (for instance, a group discussion on Google Drive, with an Internet connection). The structure aspect of media refers to the technological processes behind this Google Drive and Internet connection –– the wireless cables, the Internet command centre (SingTel, Starhub, etc) and how Google formats and automates its software packages for us to us.
Even though we can use media objects by just understanding its cultural aspect (Eg: I click ‘send’ on my phone to send a text message), Gitelman reminds us that we cannot fully understand media content without understand the form –– the exact ways in which it works. Eg: a blog is not just a random consolidation of images and text, it is a whole process of the server, the HTML data encoding, the blogging software feature (Blogger, WordPress, etc) and the input of text/images into the software.
Lucy Molloy
On the basis of the reading and the lecture there were key concepts about New Media that struck me:
Process
Production
Outcome
Capital
Consumer
Investment
Development
and how technology both empowers individuals within these structures and/or helps perpetuate them.
Money may make the world go round, but
How do we chose to spend ours?
How do we chose to gain it?
Do we have the choice? (If we’re unfortunate to be born into extreme poverty perhaps not)
Are we even conscious about these structures within which we are operating?
And if we are. When we become conscious, how can move within them in order to achieve self-actualisation?
Whilst Castel was concerned with identifying these structures and the role that technology plays in governing and construing them. Gitleman’s argument emphasises the role of agency within these structures.
In capitalist system one could argue that the individuals with the greatest amount of capital have the greatest amount of agency. However, if they then adopt a lifestyle they have to work very hard to afford, they are simply rendering themselves a ‘slave to the machine’. (read Real Housewives of Beverly Hills/Celebrities that make themselves bankrupt) On the other hand, someone who is aware of how to invest, has a notion of their spending limits and a concept of non-material gains that they hope to gain from the system stands to fare better. This works because even within structures, one can have agency. Going to an event with a free bar, needn’t mean you have to be carried out. This type of moderation isn’t usually publicised in the types of magazines that the Frankfurt School so (rightfully) despise.
You don’t see: Beyonce worked 60 hours this week, in order to afford her new home in Singapore.
You see: BEYONCE HAS A NEW HOME IN SINGAPORE
You read: LOOK AT BEYONCE, SHE IS SO RICH, NOT TO MENTION PRETTY! DON’T YOU WANT TO BE HER?!
(Or so they intend you to read)
Now of course, i’m not denying i’d love to be Beyonce for a day, but my point is that just as this weeks readings pointed out. The fault of the tabloid media is that it only shows outcome, it doesn’t show process. It doesn’t reveal the true cost of such material gains. You never see in a job advert for KPMG:
Get a suit, spend 70 hours a week in an office with others in suits. Be encouraged to marginalise other people in your office, especially females, not to mention anyone that is lower than you. Develop an unhealthy relationship with time, your peers and stimulants. Learn to accept morally reprehensible behaviour exhibited by your superiors. Because they own you. This is what it takes, to be ‘successful’ and earn a 6 figure salary.
But this is often the reality of the corporate workplace, experienced first hand by many peers of mine. This is the process that underlines the outcome.
In the context of a capitalist economic system. Singapore is a very interesting hybrid of western and eastern influence:
The Singaporean context is an interesting way to examine this issue. A city state, located in the South Eastern peninsular . It straddles eastern and western tradition in terms of institutional make up and political policy. Singapore is a myriad state. It’s a former British colony, with English as its official national language. Yet Chinese is predominantly spoken as a first language and there is a marked eastern influence from its geography and population. Singapore holds its ‘western’ influences in an official context; schools, universities, government institution. In these settings English is the language spoken, however on a base level, in hawker centres and playgrounds, there are a rich range of languages and dialects used by individuals from a range of ethnicities and cultures.
This notion of the official, sanction means of communication and the ‘organic’ bottom up forms of interaction can be applied to ‘New Media’
Castells, Gitelman & Manovich all shift this focus to flows and shifts.
Emphasising the fluid nature of technology and culture in terms of media.
NEW and MEDIA
are not fixed constructs.
Sherilyn Tan
Castells explored how the network society is characterized by social forms of time and space. He proposed that space and time are interrelated and space organizes time. The concept of space cannot be separated from social practices. There is space of flows – the interaction of society, technology and society which allow for simultaneity and real time interaction. The space of flows refers to allow for important functionings in today’s network society where society is constructed around flows of: capital, images, technology, organizational interaction, sounds and symbols. This space of flows enables connections between different localities via networks and nodes in an overarching electronic network, whereby information processing and flows are rapid, simultaneous, and interact in an electronic circuit. Furthermore, there is spatial organization of technocratic, dominant, managerial elites who occupy leading positions in society.
Manovich described what constitutes new media and how there is a new media revolution in today’s society. New media differ from traditional media forms as computers are used for their distribution and communication and not simply for their production. The computer becomes a tool for the consumption and storage of new media objects as well, thereby, it affects all stages of communication. Manovich posited that the convergence of the trajectories of both computing and media technologies led to a rise in new media and computed-mediated processes. A new media object is translatable into numerical data (digitalization), that computers can access and this allows for the graphics, images, sounds etc to become computable. Secondly, a new media object has the same modular structure throughout, each element is accessible individually. For instance, webpages on the internet provide for a fully customizable experience for each user. Next, the numerical data coding and the modularity of new media objects enable the automation of new media creation and access. Content can be generated and transferred automatically, for example through software programs. Since new media can be automated, there is variability since there are not created by a human author. For instance, ecommerce websites that make use of computer cookies to track consumer preferences result in different targeted and customized e-shopping experience for consumers. Lastly, there is transcoding – the transformation from one format to another. Computing concepts are transformed into cultural concepts. The computer layer can overlap the cultural layer. For instance, the use of SNSes affect users’ social interactions and social experiences. Overall, new media is digitalized, continuous, interactive and allows for ease of production, distribution and communication,
Evon Thung
Anything that requires the use of a computer for distribution and exhibition is new media as defined by Manovich. Such is the broad definition, there are 5 principles to distinguish what is new media and what is not. The first principle is numerical representation where new media can be described numerically or by using a mathematical function thereby making media objects as data as media becomes programmable. Modularity is the second principle where new media comprised of more discrete samples like pixels or scripts and these different elements of new media exist independently. The third principle is automation where new media objects can be created or modified automatically without the presence of human. New media object can exist in multiple versions where it can be published various formats and templates termed as the fourth principle-variability. The last principle is transcoding where the logic of the computer influences how we understand and represent ourselves. Manovich brought forth that these 5 principles are the key consequences of the status of new media which could serve as differentiating factors to distinguish new media from old media.
Gitelman emphasised the importance of history in studying new media where media works as the simultaneous subjects and instruments of historical inquiry. Hence, the new in new media should be understood as historically constructed. The new is also constructed with an eye on the future, or more correctly, an eye on what we think the future will be. An emphasis on the history of the future gives us an understanding of what this newness can be said to represent. For Gitelman, the definition of new media depends intricately on the whole social context within which production and consumption get defined. New media does not necessarily mean that a whole new medium has been created rather new media represents the refashioned and improved versions of existing media.
Castells conceptualise a new type of space that allows distant synchronous, real-time interaction is reconceptualise under the new forms of spatial arrangements brought about by the new technological paradigm. He mentioned about space of flows which is the high-level cultural abstraction of space and time and their dynamic interactions with digital age society. In the digital age society, the demand for new media will increase as it plays a major role in linking between and across societies.
The idea that technology seems to be giving us the façade that we are interconnectedness is so disturbing. The cliché sentence always goes “With the advancement of technologies, there is increased interconnectedness and communication.” But that is precisely the façade. When we discuss technology, we cannot simply just understand how technology works (no, in fact we don’t even participate in the knowledge of using according to Gitelman, we just use it until it fails on us), we have to understand all the social, political, economic concerns associated with technology. Therefore, historicity of technology is much appreciated by Gitelman. The way technology progresses are due to how the social, political and economic activities shape them. Therefore with that in mind, it is obvious that power play, inequalities come into play. There will be privileged groups but also marginalized groups at the same time. Accessibility is definitely an issue. And we now tend to take for granted technology as it is. We don’t think about how media is translated into numerical representation, we don’t think about the hardware behind all the convenience brought to us. The convenience is for the privileged and the marginalized provides the convenience through media as the medium.
Those who are members to the space of flows, are members to the informational economy. This already implies a kind of disparity – one is privileged, the other is the marginalized.
Spatial organization – The elites only tread within the spaces of flows. Wherever they go, they see the snazzy cityscapes. They dine in expensive restaurants, shop without financial worries. They drive in their flashy cars. Their material reality is separate from the common folk. That’s why they are ignorant of the extreme disparity. They just never been in such spaces far less glitzy.
But what happens if they do? Some sort of a culture shock. Take Anton Casey, he couldn’t even “slum out” for a moment when he rode the MRT with us poor commoners.
Stark realities. It depends whether you belong in the spaces of flows or not.
New media
Gitelman: Media is plural. A media object comprises of many different individual pieces of media. For example the television which relies on the signal transferred by antenna. This is the unifying logic of media, as no media can exist alone.
Form vs Content: We are consumed with the content of the media not with the form when things run smoothly because it has become such a taken for granted thing in our everyday consciousness. It is only when technology breaks down that we see the different parts that were put together for the object to function. This affects content production because the point of time and the particular socio-economic context that a certain form of media impacts the content of it.
Manovich: For something to be considered as new media, it has to be represented in numerical form, quantifiable. This is the logic of factories were everything can be counted and taken into account for. This to Benjamin would constitute to a loss of aura. The pixels that can be added or subtracted from a picture there by altering the essence of the photo is what he probably meant.
Castells: space of flows is with regard to all the flows of people, labour, goods and services that occur between cities, technological nodes and hubs. He shows us how the places further away from the city all work as one large system, necessary for the city to function. There is an inter connectedness between the center and the peripheries. A space can be both material and non-material. I appreciated the example of the Amazon warehouse because I had not concerned myself with how I get my things, just as long as I get it and this really made me think about the ethics behind such capitalist ventures and the alternatives to it.
New media
Throughout the reading response of this week beginning by Castells article that he conceptualize a new media in typical of space that it is complexity of interaction between technology, society, and space. He mentioned about the space of flows that it is the material of time underpins the culture abstracted the high dynamic society. He explained the global city that all his mentions analyzed the concept of technology that his claims relating to the global city. Thus, technology, financial and managerial elite that occupies the leading positions in our societies will also have specific spatial requirements regarding the material support of their interests and practices. Castells also pointed in his article for the relationships between the space of flows and the space of places that are not predetermined in the outcome that he gave the example of Tokyo underwent a substial process that its role in term of global city as well. So far his mention in the rest of article he claimed that people still live in places because of function and the power in society are well organize that in the space flows, therefore the space is no longer it just the material in space and also the pace time that cannot in case on the dimensions as a social hyperspace in the human’s knowing.
The second reading responses introduced by Manovich in terms of new media description, so that she began in a question of what is new media in her article that she gave five principles in the case of new media and discussed of what is not new media as well. Manovich claim her new media by summarized on five principles that the first one was numerical representation, which included two keys one could be described mathematically and subjected to algorithmic manipulation. Secondly principle was modularity that called a fractal structure of new media that objectively in a multimedia movie. Thirdly principle was automation that included the first and second principle by human intentionally. Fourthly principle was variability that is the variously media particularly in a stored in media data, database, content, and hypermedia. Lastly fifth principle was transcoding that basically in material principles of new media. Oppositely, new media that Manovich gave what different with the five principles that there were concepts with no longer historical of perspective and the order of old media.
Lastly reading responses created by Gitelman that examined the ways of the media and the new media were studied as in historical subject. Gitelman mentioned that media studied in the historical structure and some sources to constructed when we look back to the new media that are not really new by historical of itself. Beyond the structure of the new media that he mentioned new media came from the particular ways in which they refashion older media and also the ways in which older media refashion themselves to answer the new media.
Nevertheless, new media is just a type of generation of age but it is not exactly act different from the old media but they are depending on the functionalities in which produce be able to transfer the medium or whatever data among the items or anything in case of acting as medium on itself.
New media
Throughout the reading response of this week beginning by Castells article that he conceptualize a new media in typical of space that it is complexity of interaction between technology, society, and space. He mentioned about the space of flows that it is the material of time underpins the culture abstracted the high dynamic society. He explained the global city that all his mentions analyzed the concept of technology that his claims relating to the global city. Thus, technology, financial and managerial elite that occupies the leading positions in our societies will also have specific spatial requirements regarding the material support of their interests and practices. Castells also pointed in his article for the relationships between the space of flows and the space of places that are not predetermined in the outcome that he gave the example of Tokyo underwent a substial process that its role in term of global city as well. So far his mention in the rest of article he claimed that people still live in places because of function and the power in society are well organize that in the space flows, therefore the space is no longer it just the material in space and also the pace time that cannot in case on the dimensions as a social hyperspace in the human’s knowing.
The second reading responses introduced by Manovich in terms of new media description, so that she began in a question of what is new media in her article that she gave five principles in the case of new media and discussed of what is not new media as well. Manovich claim her new media by summarized on five principles that the first one was numerical representation, which included two keys one could be described mathematically and subjected to algorithmic manipulation. Secondly principle was modularity that called a fractal structure of new media that objectively in a multimedia movie. Thirdly principle was automation that included the first and second principle by human intentionally. Fourthly principle was variability that is the variously media particularly in a stored in media data, database, content, and hypermedia. Lastly fifth principle was transcoding that basically in material principles of new media. Oppositely, new media that Manovich gave what different with the five principles that there were concepts with no longer historical of perspective and the order of old media.
Lastly reading responses created by Gitelman that examined the ways of the media and the new media were studied as in historical subject. Gitelman mentioned that media studied in the historical structure and some sources to constructed when we look back to the new media that are not really new by historical of itself. Beyond the structure of the new media that he mentioned new media came from the particular ways in which they refashion older media and also the ways in which older media refashion themselves to answer the new media.
Nevertheless, new media is just a type of generation of age but it is not exactly act different from the old media but they are depending on the functionalities in which produce be able to transfer the medium or whatever data among the items or anything in case of acting as medium on itself.
This week’s readings talk about New Media and it’s social implications.
Le Manovic starts off with discussing the principles of New media, which is 1) Numerical Representation; where all media are digitized into 0 and 1 numbers, and any processes are subject to mathematical calculations; 2) Modularity, where data are segmented and relevant bits are utilized when required; Automation, which is similar to processes in the Industrial Age, where rendering processes are done automatically; Variability, which is the a cultural object existing in multiple forms that interact with each other(intertextuality); and Transcoding, where the computer layer and the cultural layer feed and influence into each other, changes in one sphere will have impacts in the other.
This is related to Gittelman’s conception of New Media, which he defines it as “socially realized structures of communication, which involves both technological forms and their associated protocols, and where communication is a cultural practice, a ritualized collocation of different people on the same mental map, sharing or engaged with popular ontologies of representation”. When we interact with technological forms, there are often certain rituals associated with them, which we fail to acknowledge. It is also subject to certain social constraints like capitalism, who has access to these technological forms and how they are used, etc. As such, it is not just about the content (what is being shown, what are the implications), but the form as well (the interface, how it is used) which we need to consider.
Lastly, these 2 are applied in Castel’s article. Although there isn’t any relation whatsoever on first hand, media technologies play a part in these flows. These space of flows are made up of the electronic infrastructures, nodes and hubs, and the elites. They are also material and immaterial. On one hand, they exist in cyberspace, where all things are in numerical representation, which can be said to exist within the computer layer. At the same time, these spaces also manifest in very real places, like financial or operations hubs. For instance, majority of finance transactions take place in online, but have very real effects in the real world; they organize the locations of hubs and financial centers. At the same time, these spaces of flows cannot exist without cultural protocols; people need the know how to interpret these numbers and make the correct decisions so as not to cause a financial crisis.
Taken together, these readings are trying to tell us to look beyond the content of media, and understand how dynamics within technological forms have impacts on social life.
Castells talks about how space organizes time in the network society where there is a complexity of interaction between technology, society and space. This space of flows that he talks about is becoming the dominant spatial manifestation of power and function in society today. He posits that the global city today is not a place but a process by which centers on production and consumption of advanced services, and their ancillary local societies, are connected in a global network, while simultaneously downplaying the linkages with hinterlands on the basis of information flows. In this global city, we find that advanced service activities are neither concentrated nor decentralized; instead they are taking place across borders, throughout continents and countries. Also he talks about the new industrial space that is organized around flows of information. These spaces are created by technology and are made possible through decentralization. Today, people live in spaces, but because function and power in our societies are organized in the space of flows, we find that these spaces are no longer just material spaces, also they include non-material spaces.
Gitelman talks about how all media was once new, as such, media has a past and a history. She emphasizes the need to think about the process of media and how media really works.
Manovich’s work centers on what constitutes new media and puts forth to us the 5 principles of new media: 1. Numerical Representation 2.Modularity 3. Automation 4.Variability and 5.Transcoding. New media represents the synthesis of both computing and media technologies, this convergence brings about the translation of all existing new media into numerical data accessible for computers and as such, we have things like graphics, sounds, moving images, etc. Also in Manovich’s work, we see what new media constitutes, and we also see what the new media is not. Often times we see that certain characteristics of media today are attributed to the rise of new media, but we fail to see that these characteristics or principles could already be found at work in older cultural forms and media technologies. Therefore we may not be able to separate entirely old and new media.
From the man(uel Castells) himself hahaha:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3DRjNpDAX8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ngu49ZThFSU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oajiZRT51U
Manuel Castells is very conscious of space when he discusses the space of flows with regard to technology and cities. Firstly, he states that space is not just a reflection of society, but it is society. He explains how the global economy is centred around information flows, which includes businesses, finance, security, research and development. He then notes the spatial concentration of information flows, and defines the congealment of such flows as “nodal” centres.
Drawing a contrast to non-nodal points, that play “an increasingly subordinate function” to information flows, Castells says spaces are separated by power – those who have power to control these flows, versus those who don’t. He illustrates this by describing how lowly skilled employees don’t co-exist with scientists or engineers. Information flows thus determines the kinds of lifestyles that exist in different spaces. For example, in the areas of research and development, where these places are considered to be more ‘developed’, living conditions, security, and amenities are vastly different compared to areas of production.
Interestingly, in cities themselves, information flows can be so concentrated and segregated that areas not involved in these pivotal information flows can be very much left out. When I was in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, I was stunned that across a few streets of the Old Building where sex workers live, was a multi-million dollar development slated for the rich. It just perplexed me on how societies like this function – how two different worlds can coexist within the same geographical space. Castells later expands on this idea, stating that technology helps reinforce the social dimension of space flows.
But while he discusses technological space, Castells dismisses the notion that material spaces will be replaced and cease to exist. He says, for example, shopping malls do not decrease even as online shopping increases, and universities still rely much on material spaces for curriculums, despite the electronic space being a large part of curriculums.
He proposes three layers that materially support the space of flows: firstly, electronic exchanges (where positions define the exchange of flows in the network), nodes and hubs (where space of flows is not placeless, but its structure is), and managerial elites (where the spatial logic of the dominant interests in society determines the dominant spatial logic of society).
Lisa Gitelman firstly establishes that the term, “the media”, should not be read as a singular whole, but should be studied in its plural form, made up of a complex structure of various mediums. She defines media as “socially realised structures of communication” and further breaks it down, explaining that structures include protocols of “social, economic, and material relationships”. For example, the technical protocol of using laptop is typing on its keyboard placed on top of a hard surface. Such technical protocols are governed by the interfaces of the medium.
Gitelman asserts that ‘new’ media are inhabits of the past, because their existence is dependent on preceding mediums. She emphasizes the importance of studying media in terms of the social context from which they are birthed, and the social structures that brought about their inventions or developments.
Media has also become so naturalised that we hardly question the function of our different mediums. “As much as people may converse through a telephone and forget the telephone itself, the context of telephoning makes all kinds of difference to the things they say and they way they say them” writes Gitelman. This follows Mc Luhan’s thought of the medium is the message.
Manovich defines new media as five aspects: numerical coding, modularity, automation, variability and cultural transcoding.
Numerical representation: The new media object should be able to be described mathematically, and should be programmable.
Modularity: “Fractal structure of new media” – media elements are represented as collections of discrete samples eg. pixels, polygons, voxels, and maintain their independent identities even when combining with larger objects.
Automation: Two types of automation – “low level” automation in terms of modification of images like editing, and “high level” automation that includes artificial intelligence, creating personalized experiences. For examples, lots of electronic games have “high” level automation.
Variability: The ability to be assembled into numerous sequences through programme control.
Transcoding: Describing media’s computerization, where the medium’s computer layer affects its cultural layer.
People exist under the confines of a certain technological structures that govern their moves, suggesting that the individual has little agency over his actions.
I found the Castell reading to be intriguing in the sense that he is rather ironic in his juxtaposition of the space of flows itself. For him, the space of flows is both material and non-material and this is essentially recognized by the fact that though he talks about the myriad of transactions that happen over the internet ( and are virtually invisible) he always links these transactions in impacting a material space ( physically) that are the mega/global cities. The mega cities are “nodal points” that is to say they are the key economic cores of the world and are not fixed in their occurrence but rather process oriented. It thrives on the inter-connectivity present amongst producers, networks and the technological infrastructure. Technology also transforms these nodal points in integral ways and this gives rise to a new spatial logic.
So, essentially these global cities survive through connecting with one another but Castells also showcases his spatial logic by emphasizing that these same cities do not seek inter-connectivity in their local spheres – which ultimately become dysfunctional. This was seen in lecture, when we were shown the contrast between Downtown Chicago & Southside Chicago. This was interesting to note because it showcased that these nodal points of the world – had nodal points within themselves – or at least, I would like to think so. This would therefore explain, why some areas in the city are better transformed and kept relevant with its economic agenda over others. The reasons could be many – from the stability of the land to built infrastructure to the degree of connectivity and centrality that the area would hold. Thus, there is a distinct spatial organization due to and affecting the space of flows.
I feel that Castells also sheds light to some extent on the New International Division of Labor ( NIDL) because he talks about new industrial spaces globally that are created and connected by technologies. These technological flows result in the decentralization of certain economic activities from the developed countries ( usually, though there may be exceptions) to the less developed countries where they become centralized. A good example of this would be global call centers that have shifted from countries like the UK to India which has cheaper labor but are connected to the parent companies in the UK via technological processes. This is also relevant to us as Singaporeans – or at least as my experience as a network user where my service attendant on the phone is usually either an Indian or Filipino ( as I assume via their accents). Thus, while the space of flows talks about a placeless logic ( you cannot see the flows at work) it is essentially not placeless – because its effects and transformations affect places such as the cities ( which can be seen). Castells then divides these space of flows into three characteristic layers – technological infrastructure, nodes and hubs and the elites who via their symbols and dominant definitions of certain perpetuations of the spatial flows result in the closed exclusivity of certain areas – that are more symbolic and cultural in their essence.
Next, Lisa Gitelman also provides a compelling argument regarding her definition of what new media is, saying “ I define media as socially realized structures of communication, where structures include both technological forms and their associated protocols, and where communication is a cultural practice, a ritualized collection of different people on the same mental map, sharing or engaged with popular ontologies of representation.” This implies that there is a mass understanding of new media. You could live in the Swiss Alps / a Cave / or a condominium but when and if presented with an apple laptop you will essentially understand it and hold it in the same way, use the keyboard in the same way and search for things using the same equipment ( ok, provided you are media literate). This involves to some extent a socio-economic and cultural form. We cannot understand the content of the medium without understanding its form ( user interface). Also this socio-cultural aspect of technology brings to the fore that there is no inherent logic in using technology – this logic is ascribed onto technology by societal institutions. The user and creators of technology also create its meaning.
Gitelman also invokes an evolutionary essence of technology in the sense that new media is always changing and innovating from a previous form of media – so in a sense it’s not completely new, but rather an improvement of what there was before. Funnily this is seen prominently in iPhones – they all look more or less the same / have the same functions and apps – but once in a while you get slimmer models and models with talking interface voices like Siri that are merely additions but not a complete transformation of the technological device itself.
There is also an unifying notion of new media. Media is plural linguistically but yet it is taken to refer to a single entity.
Finally, Manovich gives an essential insight into the very characteristics of new media. At first these just seemed like descriptions of an extended notion of new media – but after reading all of them in depth I feel that they actually help in categorizing what is “new” in “new media” and thus is also crucial to understanding the form that new media takes.
1) Numerical representation – this is to say that new media takes a numerical form because there is need for it to be quantifiable and also accessible ubiquitously. It is coded so that it can be computed and this is the language that characterizes new media.
2) Modularity – basically all elements of new media ( the image, the video, the HTML code) retain their individual properties while simultaneously having the potential to be assembled into a mass that contains all these elements in an intertwined fashion. He gives the example of Microsoft Word and states that it is crucial for this sense of independency to be retained cos it gives us an agency – in the sense that we can modify these elements individually too.
3) Automation – We are presented with low level ( lacks meaning) v high level ( has some sense of semantics in meaning laden in its function) automation. This automation characterizes another form of new media – and that is immediacy. This is because new media relies on automation to be fast so that its information can be disseminated faster and this affects the space of flows because the degree of transmission is affected by the speed of it.
4) Variability – Basically one type of media can usually be morphed into a myriad of other forms of media. This is showcased in the changing of one’s avatars and the like. There is just so much of flexibility and thus agency given to those who are absorbed into the realm of new media. Also, this sense of flexibility is in line with the logic of a post-industrial society and its modes of production such as the “ Just-In-Time” production method.
5) Transcoding – New media comprises of the cultural and the computer layers and these layers can be transformed from one to the other. For instance, images being uploaded onto a website are representative of the computer layer in that the pixels are arranged and saved and then transmitted onto another platform. But, the manner in which they are interpreted – takes on a cultural connotation and lens. Thus, one layer can potentially affect the other and they are transposed onto each other.
Castells – one of the main developers of Marxist urban sociology which focuses on the role of social movements in the contradictory transformation of city (namely the post-industrial society). During the 1980s, he emphasizes on the role of new technologies in the restructuring of an economy. The concept of “space of flows” has been introduced, together with the material and non-material aspects of global information networks used for the instantaneous and long-distance workings of the economy. It is important to note the relationship between technology, the city and society, bringing about more tension between local and global. Castells also wrote in another book, he regards “social development as inseparable from the changes in the technological infrastructure through which most of society’s activities are carried out, ‘since technology is society and society cannot be understood or represented without its technological tools’”
Castells is intrigued by the extent in which urbanization has occurred and to what extent it is being affected by technological advances. Urban constellations are scattered and found within the metropolitan areas, functionally integrated and socially differentiated around the urban centre, city. Online, virtual communities develop with close interactions with the physical communities; however, there is a challenge of increased idea of individualization of work, social relationships and patterns. Living spaces have been taken over precedence by informational production spaces for economic productivity. (This is characterized by cities such as London, Tokyo, Beijing, Taipei…) Naturally, there are formations of elite spaces (for the rich) and territorial turfs for the poor (eg: ghettos).
It is not just a dichotomy of inclusivity of trans-territorial networks, and exclusivity of spatial segregation of places, but these two happen simultaneously and thus, producing the irony of “space of flows”.
Tension between “space of flows” and “space of places”:
(a) Space of flows: links up electronically separate locations in an interactive network that connects activities and people in distinct geographical contexts.
(b) Space of places: organizes experience and activity around the confines of locality.
What does city play a part in? In the virtual networks, city does not exist but are being transformed by the interface between electronic communication and physical interaction, by the combination of networks and places. What define a ‘global city’ are its centrally global functions. Mitchell (1999) had pointed out a new spatial concept of “e-topia” – where people interact, on purpose/ unintentionally using online communication system.
Gitelman’s definition of media as “socially realized structures of communication, where structures include both technological forms and their associated protocols and where communication is a cultural practice, a ritualized collocation of different people on the same mental-map, sharing or engaged with popular ontologies of representation”. Different mediums are also commodities, structures of communication that she defines can be owned by the same company – Tumblr, Myspace, Twitter, Instagram – and they call into existence of public. Users shape how we come to use and understand these structures. However, to certain extent, the company still controls these structures. We won’t have access to know the workings of communication unless we have ownership to it. For instance, if we are unplugged, we won’t get to access the information of webpages we saved online and the company is with control of these information.
Manovich explored the definition of the newness of media, the differences of the old and new broader technological views.
The underlying message throughout these readings is the fact that media is ever-changing. It is also the process and the empowerment of agency that are crucial in addressing the history of media. In terms of ‘space of flows’ and ‘space of places’, they can both overlap, and cause irony and thus it is difficult to just analyse one as entity, it needs to be seen as a relation to the communication, community, economic, social and political factors that constitute them.
HS2018 WEEK 9 BLOG:
MANOVICH –– The Language of New Media
Manovich talks about the five principles of new media: Numerical Representation, Modularity, Automation, Variability and Transcoding.
Numerical Representation:
All new media content can be represented numerically, in terms of numbers, digital formats, codes (HTML, Java script, Binary Code and various web codes) and algorithms. The different formats of new media can all be converted to digital formats and read on a computer device. The film: The Social Network, tells us clearly how Facebook was conceptualised and brought to the world wide web, through mathematical calculations, formulae, web encoding and software.
Modularity:
New media is in modules and independent segments. These parts can be modified, separated and pieced together to form new media objects. This makes new media very flexible, as in the Photoshop example where we can edit photos with many layers and tools.
Automation:
This changes the creative process as things previously done in person are now performed by the computer, at the speed of light. An example would be photoshop and imaging processes –– we no longer painstakingly draw lines and colour images, we just click icons that crop, colour, fill-in and add lines to our images.
Variability:
This is my favourite principle of new media. Manovich says that new media objects are not fixed, and that a single new media object can exist in different forms and on different platforms. We have a “base object” and many different versions derived from it. For instance, the base object, The Hunger Games novels, have spanned a series of Hollywood blockbuster films. The film is also available on DVD and CD soundtracks. It certainly has a heavy presence on social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc). The book has also spanned video game franchises and numerous food/game apps on the App Store. Recently, actors from the Hunger Games movie had a fan meeting on Twitter, bringing film and new media interaction to a new level –– meeting people all over the world online. New media also takes on the logic of the post-industrial society, which promotes/highlights individualism instead of breeding conformity. Example: customised online ads. Ad companies store our web browser information, and each time we go online on a computer, pop-up ads from companies will spring up and follow us wherever we go. If we’ve been looking at handbags online, we could expect a trail of handbag pop-up adverts if we do not clear our browser histories and block pop-ups. Online advertising gets intrusive in this sense.
Transcoding:
New media has two layers: the cultural layer and the computer layer. The cultural layer would be the content itself, while the computer layer would be the computerised format of the object (the computer language of the cultural object). An obvious example would be that of an e-book. The e-book’s content –– its storyline, chapters, plot and book cover design –– make up the Cultural layer. The computer formatting, data packet and iBook/ePub software that encodes the book in its new media form make up the Computer layer.
CASTELLS –– The Space of Flows
Castells speaks of the space of flows as fluid and not fixed. The space of flows is material and immaterial at the same time. The production and manufacturing processes of media objects are very material. However, the fact that a lot of transactions (Internet banking, online business deals, etc) takes place in cyberspace renders the space of flows immaterial, as it cyberspace is intangible.
Castells reminds us that in this new space of flows, we’ve to be cautious of how we use it. It’s a dialectical process –– how we use space and how space affects us/others. The large and overwhelming processes of globalisation, global city formation and the exchange of socio-economic-political capital signify increased interconnectivity and productive forces throughout the world. We can connect with people with the Internet, we can carry out business transactions online at the click of a button, and work from home today. An elite group of globe trotting businesspeople is formed, and they travel in through VIP lounges across global cities worldwide. Castells provides a lot of mind-boggling statistics on megacities and outlines the massive transformations that cities undergo, so as the connect to the global nodes of the world.
I read in a storybook, about this guy living one of China’s developing cities. He goes to sit at a public bench everyday and says that there is a small change every 5 days, a medium change every two weeks, a large change every month and a landscape change every year. Construction in his area is fast and relentless in an attempt to achieve the status of a city of economic and financial control.
However, we have a price to pay in this enlarging space of flows –– lower wages, harsher and faster working conditions, labour exploitation, environmental degradation and the exclusion of certain groups of people who do not contribute to the space of flows (the unemployed, the poor, the sick, minority groups, the villages, etc.) People are exploited in the labor market (Amazon, etc) in a bid to bring consumer goods faster to consumers. People live in slums throughout megacities such as Mumbai. Areas that do not contribute to the city’s financial/economic growth either get left behind (like failed projects) or they fade into decay. For instance, there is this huge ghost town in China –– complete with highways, bungalows, city centres and empty office buildings –– that is uninhabited. Like it’s a product of the space of flows and the aim to build a social-economic hub, but it’s a failed project.
We’ve to be cautious about the rate we’re going in this space of flows. The benefits and get-rich-quickly effects can be seen and felt easily, in terms of fast online convenience and the spatial development of new towns. However, there are negative effects of this phenomenon, that tends to escape our notice.
GITELMAN –– Always Already New
Gitelman defines new media as: socially realised structures of communication, where structures include both technological forms and their associated protocols.
Communication and the use of new media objects is a ritualised, cultural practice. Gitelman reminds us that when we use media, we often fail to remember that media is plural, not singular. Media is made up of many processes and linking technologies. When we watch a film, we’re not just watching a perfect end product of moving images, but a collection of extensive, exhaustive processes of film production. Film producing, for instances, goes from the very beginnings of plot and story creation, to sourcing for cast and crew, to rehearsals, to location scouting and actual shooting processes and schedules. Then comes the film editing processes where the shots and sound are put together in a narrative and edited to perfection. And then comes the distribution, advertising and publicity features of the film, via movie releases, premieres, interviews, soft and hard launches, etc. All these long and tiring processes go behind the $10 movie ticket we buy.
This brings us to ‘form versus content’, as discussed in our tutorial. When we use a media object, we don’t think about how it works. We use it as it is, without consider the dynamics of it. Media objects are designed to be idiot-proof today –– its functions are easy and self-evident, they require no learning. We need to remember that behind idiot proof cultural/media objects lie extensive technological and intellectual processes –– invention, discovery, innovation, etc. Media objects should not be taken for granted, and we usually realise this whenever our media objects break down (Eg: laptop breaks down in the middle of an online project submission.)
Media ARE thus socially realised structures of communication, and we cannot disentangle the cultural and structural processes of media. The cultural aspect of media enables our new media processes to take place easily and seamlessly (for instance, a group discussion on Google Drive, with an Internet connection). The structure aspect of media refers to the technological processes behind this Google Drive and Internet connection –– the wireless cables, the Internet command centre (SingTel, Starhub, etc) and how Google formats and automates its software packages for us to us.
Even though we can use media objects by just understanding its cultural aspect (Eg: I click ‘send’ on my phone to send a text message), Gitelman reminds us that we cannot fully understand media content without understand the form –– the exact ways in which it works. Eg: a blog is not just a random consolidation of images and text, it is a whole process of the server, the HTML data encoding, the blogging software feature (Blogger, WordPress, etc) and the input of text/images into the software.
On the basis of the reading and the lecture there were key concepts about New Media that struck me:
Process
Production
Outcome
Capital
Consumer
Investment
Development
and how technology both empowers individuals within these structures and/or helps perpetuate them.
Money may make the world go round, but
How do we chose to spend ours?
How do we chose to gain it?
Do we have the choice? (If we’re unfortunate to be born into extreme poverty perhaps not)
Are we even conscious about these structures within which we are operating?
And if we are. When we become conscious, how can move within them in order to achieve self-actualisation?
Whilst Castel was concerned with identifying these structures and the role that technology plays in governing and construing them. Gitleman’s argument emphasises the role of agency within these structures.
In capitalist system one could argue that the individuals with the greatest amount of capital have the greatest amount of agency. However, if they then adopt a lifestyle they have to work very hard to afford, they are simply rendering themselves a ‘slave to the machine’. (read Real Housewives of Beverly Hills/Celebrities that make themselves bankrupt) On the other hand, someone who is aware of how to invest, has a notion of their spending limits and a concept of non-material gains that they hope to gain from the system stands to fare better. This works because even within structures, one can have agency. Going to an event with a free bar, needn’t mean you have to be carried out. This type of moderation isn’t usually publicised in the types of magazines that the Frankfurt School so (rightfully) despise.
You don’t see: Beyonce worked 60 hours this week, in order to afford her new home in Singapore.
You see: BEYONCE HAS A NEW HOME IN SINGAPORE
You read: LOOK AT BEYONCE, SHE IS SO RICH, NOT TO MENTION PRETTY! DON’T YOU WANT TO BE HER?!
(Or so they intend you to read)
Now of course, i’m not denying i’d love to be Beyonce for a day, but my point is that just as this weeks readings pointed out. The fault of the tabloid media is that it only shows outcome, it doesn’t show process. It doesn’t reveal the true cost of such material gains. You never see in a job advert for KPMG:
Get a suit, spend 70 hours a week in an office with others in suits. Be encouraged to marginalise other people in your office, especially females, not to mention anyone that is lower than you. Develop an unhealthy relationship with time, your peers and stimulants. Learn to accept morally reprehensible behaviour exhibited by your superiors. Because they own you. This is what it takes, to be ‘successful’ and earn a 6 figure salary.
But this is often the reality of the corporate workplace, experienced first hand by many peers of mine. This is the process that underlines the outcome.
In the context of a capitalist economic system. Singapore is a very interesting hybrid of western and eastern influence:
The Singaporean context is an interesting way to examine this issue. A city state, located in the South Eastern peninsular . It straddles eastern and western tradition in terms of institutional make up and political policy. Singapore is a myriad state. It’s a former British colony, with English as its official national language. Yet Chinese is predominantly spoken as a first language and there is a marked eastern influence from its geography and population. Singapore holds its ‘western’ influences in an official context; schools, universities, government institution. In these settings English is the language spoken, however on a base level, in hawker centres and playgrounds, there are a rich range of languages and dialects used by individuals from a range of ethnicities and cultures.
This notion of the official, sanction means of communication and the ‘organic’ bottom up forms of interaction can be applied to ‘New Media’
Castells, Gitelman & Manovich all shift this focus to flows and shifts.
Emphasising the fluid nature of technology and culture in terms of media.
NEW and MEDIA
are not fixed constructs.
Castells explored how the network society is characterized by social forms of time and space. He proposed that space and time are interrelated and space organizes time. The concept of space cannot be separated from social practices. There is space of flows – the interaction of society, technology and society which allow for simultaneity and real time interaction. The space of flows refers to allow for important functionings in today’s network society where society is constructed around flows of: capital, images, technology, organizational interaction, sounds and symbols. This space of flows enables connections between different localities via networks and nodes in an overarching electronic network, whereby information processing and flows are rapid, simultaneous, and interact in an electronic circuit. Furthermore, there is spatial organization of technocratic, dominant, managerial elites who occupy leading positions in society.
Manovich described what constitutes new media and how there is a new media revolution in today’s society. New media differ from traditional media forms as computers are used for their distribution and communication and not simply for their production. The computer becomes a tool for the consumption and storage of new media objects as well, thereby, it affects all stages of communication. Manovich posited that the convergence of the trajectories of both computing and media technologies led to a rise in new media and computed-mediated processes. A new media object is translatable into numerical data (digitalization), that computers can access and this allows for the graphics, images, sounds etc to become computable. Secondly, a new media object has the same modular structure throughout, each element is accessible individually. For instance, webpages on the internet provide for a fully customizable experience for each user. Next, the numerical data coding and the modularity of new media objects enable the automation of new media creation and access. Content can be generated and transferred automatically, for example through software programs. Since new media can be automated, there is variability since there are not created by a human author. For instance, ecommerce websites that make use of computer cookies to track consumer preferences result in different targeted and customized e-shopping experience for consumers. Lastly, there is transcoding – the transformation from one format to another. Computing concepts are transformed into cultural concepts. The computer layer can overlap the cultural layer. For instance, the use of SNSes affect users’ social interactions and social experiences. Overall, new media is digitalized, continuous, interactive and allows for ease of production, distribution and communication,
Anything that requires the use of a computer for distribution and exhibition is new media as defined by Manovich. Such is the broad definition, there are 5 principles to distinguish what is new media and what is not. The first principle is numerical representation where new media can be described numerically or by using a mathematical function thereby making media objects as data as media becomes programmable. Modularity is the second principle where new media comprised of more discrete samples like pixels or scripts and these different elements of new media exist independently. The third principle is automation where new media objects can be created or modified automatically without the presence of human. New media object can exist in multiple versions where it can be published various formats and templates termed as the fourth principle-variability. The last principle is transcoding where the logic of the computer influences how we understand and represent ourselves. Manovich brought forth that these 5 principles are the key consequences of the status of new media which could serve as differentiating factors to distinguish new media from old media.
Gitelman emphasised the importance of history in studying new media where media works as the simultaneous subjects and instruments of historical inquiry. Hence, the new in new media should be understood as historically constructed. The new is also constructed with an eye on the future, or more correctly, an eye on what we think the future will be. An emphasis on the history of the future gives us an understanding of what this newness can be said to represent. For Gitelman, the definition of new media depends intricately on the whole social context within which production and consumption get defined. New media does not necessarily mean that a whole new medium has been created rather new media represents the refashioned and improved versions of existing media.
Castells conceptualise a new type of space that allows distant synchronous, real-time interaction is reconceptualise under the new forms of spatial arrangements brought about by the new technological paradigm. He mentioned about space of flows which is the high-level cultural abstraction of space and time and their dynamic interactions with digital age society. In the digital age society, the demand for new media will increase as it plays a major role in linking between and across societies.