Castells presents the notion of the space of flows as existing in both material and non-material forms. I find this a curious way of conceptualizing the space of flows, as it clearly demonstrates the impacts of the non-material sphere on the material sphere as well as vice versa. Castells illustrates how these two spheres interact and interconnect.
In today’s Digital Age, many workings of the non-material sphere take place over the internet. Every minute, numerous interactions and transactions take place on this virtual platform, allowing users all over the world to connect and communicate with one another. Despite such intercommunications taking place virtually and invisibly, Castells crucially notes that these interactions have significant implications on the “real”, tangible world. These material spaces are understood as the megacities of the world, such as London, Paris and New York. Castells understands these cities as nodal points as they act as global economic hubs of the entire global economy. That these nodal cities are impacted by the virtual sphere demonstrates a key element of interconnectivity between capitalists and the networked technological infrastructures present today. This redefines the existing spatial logic, as interactions are no longer limited to and constrained by physical presence.
This impact of non-material technologies on the material world may be observed in the economic realm of global cities. The Bitcoin is an example of a non-material construct having a major impact on our material world. We can already observe the increasing popularity of the Bitcoin and its increasing acceptance in the global economy. With the passage of time, the Bitcoin may be expected to revolutionize and redefine the notion of currencies of the global economy.
Castells also examines the impacts of the space of flows on an international division of labour. Economic activities are no longer constrained or defined by international boundaries, instead transcending them. As the saying goes, the world is now our oyster. This is indeed true as we observe the shifting of numerous production facilities to developing nations where the costs of labour are generally lower.
This explosion of the internet and the virtual sphere is only possible if new media possesses shared meanings across the world. Only if there exists a common, or mass, understanding of the instruments of new media can it obtain universal acceptance and usage on the global scale we are seeing today. For instance, a mobile phone serves the same functions, whether it is used in Sweden or Singapore. Such meanings are not inherent in the devices and technologies themselves, but are ascribed to them by actors, such as producers or users, of the technologies. Indeed, Gitelman describes the meaning of media as “socially realized”, acknowledging the agency of media actors in defining the significance of various media forms.
Lim Fang Yu, Russell
Hi James,
Interesting point about the emergence of such multiplayer games. In some ways, it challenges the notions of the video games that we have grown up with in the 80s and 90s. Instead of wanting to beat the game, we now want to beat each other in the game.
However, I note that the earliest video games, such as Pong, were solely 2 player affairs with no A.I. controlled opponents. In this sense, we have come full circle. It is possible that A.I. controlled opponents gained traction because it allowed for complex challenges without the need for human controlled opponents in a time when Internet and LAN technologies were not as advanced. However, with Internet tech becoming more capable, it is now much more convenient to locate and play with human controlled opponents from anywhere around the world.
I believe that automation is also present in games that do not have A.I. controlled opponents. Simple tasks such as generated terrain, objects, levels could be attributed to the automation process. In computer role-playing games, a character’s attributes as he progresses in game can be said to be kept tracked by an automated process. This is in contrast with pen-and-paper type games, which require the player to go through rule books and perform his own calculations to keep track of his progress.
Lee Wei Jie
Reading Response
In Castell’s argument, he notes the trend emerging of the rise of mega-cities, which are not exactly ‘spaces’ in the sense of a place, but ‘spaces’ in relation to a process. Contemporary society is now predicated by ‘flows’ of various kinds (e.g. capital, technological, information, images, etc.), and these are “expressions of processes dominating our economic, political and symbolic life.”
In his long definition, space of flows is defined as “the material organisation of time-sharing social practices that work through flows. By flows I understand purposeful, repetitive, programmable sequences of exchange and interaction between physically disjointed positions held by social actors in the economic, political, and symbolic structures of society. Dominant social practices are those which are embedded in dominant social structures. By dominant structures I understand those arrangements of organisations and institutions whose internal logic plays a strategic role in shaping social practices and social consciousness for society at large.”
Castell later makes things clearer with the concept of ‘space of flows’ serving as a material support for flow-oriented social practices, that are comprised of 3 distinct layers.
First Layer: Circuit of electronic exchanges
• Comprises of broadcasting systems, telecommunications, micro-electronics-operated devices, computer processing
• Meaning and definition of a place depends on the exchanges of flow in the network
Second Layer: Nodes and hubs of space of flows
• Constitutes of an electronic network that functions a s a link between specific places
• These hubs serve as exchange and communication
• Certain hubs and nodes can occupy hierarchical roles within the system
Third Layer: spatial organization of the dominant, managerial elites
• Spatial distribution of the social agents that dominate this space
• This can engender social hierarchies
• Interests of the numerical majority of society are being disorganized by the organizational process of the dominant elite; the minorities see their interests as being represented under the framework of the fulfilment of dominant interests
Within this framework, Castells suggest that elites thus would establish an excluded community (encompassing their own spatial processes and networks), which also seeks to standardize the symbolic spatial environment in a global stage. Non-elites on the other hand are rooted into their places, culture and history.
Within my perspective, I would like to introduce the intrusion of hacking into these mediated functions that would affect the dominant space of flows that are established. Would this thus, in Marxist terms, form that means of revolt against the dominant structures placed within contemporary cities? Perhaps as well, hacking may involve a new meaning conferred to the places within the space and time aspects of society as well?
James Ang
Lev Manovich’s New media principles involves the principle of Automation. Under this principle, the numerical coding of media and the modular structure of a media object allow automation in media creation, manipulation and access. Human intentionality is thus removed from the creative process. An example of this principle is Artificial Intelligence (AI) characters in computer games. The use of AIs in computer games allows users to communicate with the computer. However computer characters were able to only display intelligence and skills because the characters are coded in a way which limits our interaction with them. For example, if I am playing a first person shooter game, my aim is only shot the enemies. I can never have a conversation with them. Even when I do so, the conversation is highly scripted, with each answer leading to a scripted outcome.
Yet computer games are constantly changing. There is a rising emergence of multiplayer games, whereby the gamers are only to play the game online with other gamers. AIs or Bots are removed from such games. Users are thus forced to interact with only other human actors in such games. An example of such a game is Titanfall, a first person shooter game that can only be played online. With the AIs taken out of such interaction in such games, are such games considered as a new form of new media?
Castells presents the notion of the space of flows as existing in both material and non-material forms. I find this a curious way of conceptualizing the space of flows, as it clearly demonstrates the impacts of the non-material sphere on the material sphere as well as vice versa. Castells illustrates how these two spheres interact and interconnect.
In today’s Digital Age, many workings of the non-material sphere take place over the internet. Every minute, numerous interactions and transactions take place on this virtual platform, allowing users all over the world to connect and communicate with one another. Despite such intercommunications taking place virtually and invisibly, Castells crucially notes that these interactions have significant implications on the “real”, tangible world. These material spaces are understood as the megacities of the world, such as London, Paris and New York. Castells understands these cities as nodal points as they act as global economic hubs of the entire global economy. That these nodal cities are impacted by the virtual sphere demonstrates a key element of interconnectivity between capitalists and the networked technological infrastructures present today. This redefines the existing spatial logic, as interactions are no longer limited to and constrained by physical presence.
This impact of non-material technologies on the material world may be observed in the economic realm of global cities. The Bitcoin is an example of a non-material construct having a major impact on our material world. We can already observe the increasing popularity of the Bitcoin and its increasing acceptance in the global economy. With the passage of time, the Bitcoin may be expected to revolutionize and redefine the notion of currencies of the global economy.
Castells also examines the impacts of the space of flows on an international division of labour. Economic activities are no longer constrained or defined by international boundaries, instead transcending them. As the saying goes, the world is now our oyster. This is indeed true as we observe the shifting of numerous production facilities to developing nations where the costs of labour are generally lower.
This explosion of the internet and the virtual sphere is only possible if new media possesses shared meanings across the world. Only if there exists a common, or mass, understanding of the instruments of new media can it obtain universal acceptance and usage on the global scale we are seeing today. For instance, a mobile phone serves the same functions, whether it is used in Sweden or Singapore. Such meanings are not inherent in the devices and technologies themselves, but are ascribed to them by actors, such as producers or users, of the technologies. Indeed, Gitelman describes the meaning of media as “socially realized”, acknowledging the agency of media actors in defining the significance of various media forms.
Hi James,
Interesting point about the emergence of such multiplayer games. In some ways, it challenges the notions of the video games that we have grown up with in the 80s and 90s. Instead of wanting to beat the game, we now want to beat each other in the game.
However, I note that the earliest video games, such as Pong, were solely 2 player affairs with no A.I. controlled opponents. In this sense, we have come full circle. It is possible that A.I. controlled opponents gained traction because it allowed for complex challenges without the need for human controlled opponents in a time when Internet and LAN technologies were not as advanced. However, with Internet tech becoming more capable, it is now much more convenient to locate and play with human controlled opponents from anywhere around the world.
I believe that automation is also present in games that do not have A.I. controlled opponents. Simple tasks such as generated terrain, objects, levels could be attributed to the automation process. In computer role-playing games, a character’s attributes as he progresses in game can be said to be kept tracked by an automated process. This is in contrast with pen-and-paper type games, which require the player to go through rule books and perform his own calculations to keep track of his progress.
Reading Response
In Castell’s argument, he notes the trend emerging of the rise of mega-cities, which are not exactly ‘spaces’ in the sense of a place, but ‘spaces’ in relation to a process. Contemporary society is now predicated by ‘flows’ of various kinds (e.g. capital, technological, information, images, etc.), and these are “expressions of processes dominating our economic, political and symbolic life.”
In his long definition, space of flows is defined as “the material organisation of time-sharing social practices that work through flows. By flows I understand purposeful, repetitive, programmable sequences of exchange and interaction between physically disjointed positions held by social actors in the economic, political, and symbolic structures of society. Dominant social practices are those which are embedded in dominant social structures. By dominant structures I understand those arrangements of organisations and institutions whose internal logic plays a strategic role in shaping social practices and social consciousness for society at large.”
Castell later makes things clearer with the concept of ‘space of flows’ serving as a material support for flow-oriented social practices, that are comprised of 3 distinct layers.
First Layer: Circuit of electronic exchanges
• Comprises of broadcasting systems, telecommunications, micro-electronics-operated devices, computer processing
• Meaning and definition of a place depends on the exchanges of flow in the network
Second Layer: Nodes and hubs of space of flows
• Constitutes of an electronic network that functions a s a link between specific places
• These hubs serve as exchange and communication
• Certain hubs and nodes can occupy hierarchical roles within the system
Third Layer: spatial organization of the dominant, managerial elites
• Spatial distribution of the social agents that dominate this space
• This can engender social hierarchies
• Interests of the numerical majority of society are being disorganized by the organizational process of the dominant elite; the minorities see their interests as being represented under the framework of the fulfilment of dominant interests
Within this framework, Castells suggest that elites thus would establish an excluded community (encompassing their own spatial processes and networks), which also seeks to standardize the symbolic spatial environment in a global stage. Non-elites on the other hand are rooted into their places, culture and history.
Within my perspective, I would like to introduce the intrusion of hacking into these mediated functions that would affect the dominant space of flows that are established. Would this thus, in Marxist terms, form that means of revolt against the dominant structures placed within contemporary cities? Perhaps as well, hacking may involve a new meaning conferred to the places within the space and time aspects of society as well?
Lev Manovich’s New media principles involves the principle of Automation. Under this principle, the numerical coding of media and the modular structure of a media object allow automation in media creation, manipulation and access. Human intentionality is thus removed from the creative process. An example of this principle is Artificial Intelligence (AI) characters in computer games. The use of AIs in computer games allows users to communicate with the computer. However computer characters were able to only display intelligence and skills because the characters are coded in a way which limits our interaction with them. For example, if I am playing a first person shooter game, my aim is only shot the enemies. I can never have a conversation with them. Even when I do so, the conversation is highly scripted, with each answer leading to a scripted outcome.
Yet computer games are constantly changing. There is a rising emergence of multiplayer games, whereby the gamers are only to play the game online with other gamers. AIs or Bots are removed from such games. Users are thus forced to interact with only other human actors in such games. An example of such a game is Titanfall, a first person shooter game that can only be played online. With the AIs taken out of such interaction in such games, are such games considered as a new form of new media?