Castells discussed how the space of flows has replaced the previously dominant space of place. The space of flow may be material and immaterial, as they exist in cyberspace where things are numerically represented, or are made up of tangible electronic infrastructures, nodes and hubs. Physical constraints of place and time are thus overcome as a result.
Another fundamental dimension of the space of flows is the spatial manifestation of the elites. The elites establish their own society and construct culturally distinctive lifestyle which standardise the symbolic spatial environment of elites globally, projecting the space of power and wealth. The barriers to entrance of these communities include exclusively priced real estates and areas that require special membership or status such as country clubs, exclusive restaurants and airport lounges.
Emphasis has been place on the elites on creating their space of flows which made me ponder whether ordinary people like us have the same power. Can we utilise the networked technologies and create a space of flows that are uniquely ours? Is the virtual world a space of flows that mirrors our culture and lifestyle?
Edwin Lee Xian Ming
What exactly is the Space of Flows? While I still am unable to grasp the exact meaning of this concept, I can currently gather that it is something both material and non-material. Castells claims that the large office cultures would cease to exist due to the development of telecommunication technologies, brought about in part due to the advancement of electricity.
He further illustrates his case of such technology allowing for the “simultaneity of social practices without territorial contiguity” by suggesting that central business districts would lose its dominance gradually to small scaled businesses in domestic homes and call centers instead. Although written in the 90s, it is a very prophetic article as Castell’s theory has come to fulfilment – many businesses now outsourced certain components of their production, so much so that most MNCs are now global operations – Singapore in particular is famed for its refinementof crude oil and wafer production.
Muhammad Faisal Bin Zainal Abiden
Both Gitelman and Manovich both puts forth 2 differing interpretations of media technologies. Gitelman, as a media historian, believes that all media can be considered ‘new media’ as each was ‘new’ at one point of time. Manovich gives a more specific criteria for new media which is media that has been digitised, explained in his 5 factors.
I would like to suggest other markers that signify the onset of new media, mainly scale, time and interactivity. What really sets apart Manovich’s interpretation of new media from older forms of media is its vast scale, instantaneous transmission and interactivity which is made possible through digitisation. A newsworthy incident can now be immediately brought to attention by someone who happened to be there by taking a picture through his/her smartphone. This is unlike in the past where reporters, who were the only ones with access to cameras, had to rush to the scene. Once the picture uploaded, everyone connected to the internet, which is 7 billion people, are able see it. In the past, news could only reach specific regions via newspaper, radio and even TV. The creation of comments section and social networking sites also allow for unrestricted communication. This is much bigger scale of interaction as in the past, people were could only convey their thoughts through letters and phone calls.
Kelyn Phua
All three articles place emphasis on social structure and social context when looking at history of media. Gitelman suggests that we have to look at the socio-economic context under which the medium emerged. Manovich too, highlights that looking at the social structure helps us to understand how technology functions. Castells states that social structures shape social practices in relation to that space.
To Castells, ‘space of flows’ shapes the network of society. According to him, space is a reflection of society. Therefore spatial development is influenced and organized by technology. ‘New industrial space’ is only possible with telecommunication, which allows companies to decentralize and outsource. Gitelman mentions the beginning of telecommunication and how the phonograph initially stumbled hard against the public sphere. But it was later accepted by and further developed social and economic structures such as the market and modern corporations. I feel that technology’s rapid improvement has changed our society’s expectation. Science’s discoveries have been so amazing that we become more used to the seemingly unlimited possibilities that science is capable of. In fact, we even expect new gadgets to be equipped with new (and human-like) features, such as iPhone’s ‘Siri’. We expect more speed, convenience and interconnectedness.
What interested me was the mention of global cities having more connection with global networks but locally displaying their own marginalization. I personally encountered this situation when I visited Manila, where slum houses were literally a 5-minute drive away from a modern place with well-known restaurants like Starbucks. Although the people patronizing the restaurants and the people living in the slums were in the same place, in reality, they were worlds apart. This is an example of the ‘sphere of dysfunctionality’. The problem with this is that the people who are richer will probably always see those earning less as mere servers who, for example, take their order. The problem also, if we think about it logically, is that someone has got to be the one serving the rich. This reminds me of Wallerstein’s core and periphery theory, happening within a local context. Unless we live in a communist state, I guess inequality has to exist. Only now, technology and the ability to spatially outcast those who are deemed less valuable to the society through means such as higher property prices, has made this distinction even more obvious and widened not only the income gap, but also the cultural difference in lifestyles that the people in different classes live. It is interesting to note how luxurious hotels/restaurants all over the world and what is considered high-end brands are quite similar all over the world. This homogenizing of culture that Castells highlighted probably contributes to the dysfunctionality as rich people from different parts of the world are more connected (share the same interests/spending habits) than their local counterparts.
Gitelman agrees with this as she states how the public sphere is conceived based on one as a consumer, instead of a citizen. She quotes a similar point by saying ‘one’s place is not so much a matter of authentic location or rootedness, but one’s relationship to economic, political, technological and cultural flows’ and this of course, depends on one’s social class and financial ability to indulge in a wider range of products. This issue is worth pondering over because if the effect of media bring about a loss of one’s rootedness, this will lead to a loss of diversity of cultures left on earth, as seen in the shrinking number of languages today.
Another point that Gitelman makes is that we are unconscious of instruments and their protocols. Media technologies have become culturally accepted and are seen as natural and familiar. For example, society has changed drastically in these short years as compared to when touch screen technology first came about. From tablets to phones to televisions and computers today, people are so used to it that there was even an instance when my friend tried to swipe the screen of my MacBook to scroll.
We live in an age where we have grown accustomed to the pervasiveness of media around us and this has affected our culture. For example, we expect information to be instantly accessible and this affects like how we want work to be done quickly and efficiently as well. It probably also has an influence on our culture of seeking instant pleasure and wanting things our way immediately. Of course, there are exceptions whereby we are willing to wait, such as queuing for good food. But as we can see, there is a clear relationship between media and culture.
Brandon Lye
One of the interesting things I in this week’s readings was Manovich’s ‘the language of new media’. He mentioned ‘cultural transcoding’ as one of the 5 factors which characterize new media, which refers to how the computer has the ability to transform cultures, and I found this exceptionally true.
I feel that the computer has totally transformed the way in which people consume art nowadays. For instance, music has more portability as people are able to play mp3 files on portable players. The experience of listening to music has also changed as opposed to older ways of music consumption. Similarly, more and more people are able to download movies onto their computers to watch, rather than going to the cinema. In short, consumption of such art forms are becoming easier and more convenient.
Hence I feel that art is becoming more and more impersonal, as less effort and thought is needed, and our senses are less stimulated through the process of consumption.
Bryan Chia Yong Siang
An article which has a less direct link to the assigned topic for the week would be the one by Manuel Castells. Castells’s “Space of Flow” has highlighted an important function of the new media and that is the ability to facilitate information across geographical boundaries. Such would act like an overarching media which binds the different countries into one. An example would be Apple, where the production plants are based in parts of China but continued to be control by the US based corporation through the use of new media.
Castells brought up a point about the intangible elements brought about by the new media substituting the tangible elements we experience in the physical space. The example which was quoted was banks were become spending more resources to develop their digital banking service such as online banking and automated telephone customer service. Though such technique has removed the need for physical interaction between two parties, consumers will now be able to complete the task and enjoy the increased efficiency of service where factors such as cost and time are reduced significantly to achieve the same outcome.
Such new media can then be considered revolutionary where it alters our social experience. Another example which I can think of would be one which many of us are guilty of – not spending adequate time with our friends. Time would probably be one of the limiting factors. However, with new media platforms such as Facebook which act as the substitute for the physical time which we have spent with our friends, we can now still interact with them and know their life on the cyberspace, as if they have told all these things to us physically themselves.
Lyndon Leong
What Castells wrote in “The Space of Flows” reminds me of “The World is Flat”, written by Thomas Friedman. Friedman talks about the spatial flows of capital investment, communication and the mobility of people across global spaces. It is similar to what Castells mentions about the interplay between urbanism and social movements and that how individuals come together into collectives to advocate social change and how this interaction produces new socio-spatial forms and meanings. What is intriguing in Friedman’s book is what he mentions about “call centres”. They are drastically increasing to support the backstage processes of first world countries such as accounting, customer service and helplines. Many people in the first world are in fact unaware of such methods of outsourcing as the people in India are made to learn the language of the country that they are providing their service to and they are made to be proficient in it. For example, if they are providing service to the US, they would use the US way of pronunciation, which is different from the way english spoken in the UK. Fundamentally, the low cost of labour in India has attracted many large companies to outsource their production to such countries and people in the third world countries are willing to work more for every dollar earned. It is perhaps for this reason that technology has evidently managed to organise spaces in accordance to the unique dynamics of countries around the world.
Koh Hui Yi
– I feel that one aspect of this week’s readings that left me thinking was pointed out by Lisa Gitelman when she talks about the reason why media inhibits and is everywhere is. This is because media has functioned to the extent that we don’t really need to know how it works just that we can use it. For example, we can buy a new smartphone model that was just released onto the consumer market. However, instead of being clueless about how to use it, we are already equipped with prior knowledge of how to operate the device. While there might be new functions in this new phone, users are still able to use the phone to a large extent. We only starts to question how it works when it fails to function as it is supposed to and yet at this time, we can still rely on the authorities such as the service staff at the service centres to fix our phones. Technology and media at this stage no longer requires users to understand its working but just to know how to operate it. In fact, the change in the dialectical relationship between media and technology has changed how we orientate ourselves towards technology. Again, we don’t think of how it works and are only concerned about the outcome because these devices are designed in such a way that is “idiotproof”.
Aloysius Teo
perhaps a digital image could be the easiest way of understanding manovich’s idea of the cultural layer and computer layer. the cultural layer would refer to the content of the image, the composition, the colors, the lines, shapes and form — in short, what makes the image (good). on the other hand the computer layer would refer to the computerized technicalities of the image such as pixels, pixels per inch, resolution, dynamic range, file size, compression, file formats — of which are incomprehensible to normal people. however, both the cultural layer and the computer layer cannot exist without the other. the resolution of an image (computer layer) will ensure that an image of our food (cultural layer) will not look pixelated. furthermore, the desire to want to capture surreal images (HDR/time lapses), the computer layer is forced to undergo improvements and transformations to render these images.
When discussing the topic of new media, Manuel Castells´s notion of the space of flows offers a valuable insight into the interaction of space and time in a modern digital age. Whilst his ideas are very abstract, it becomes clear that he links modern informational technologies, such as the world wide web, with urbanization, such as city social spaces. By relying on the examples of cities, Castells makes clear that new spatial arrangements came about based on the influence of new technologies. He makes a distinction between “space of places”, where people life and experience, and “space of flows”, where social power, for example in form of capital flows, communication and messages move from one place to another. Making this less abstract, one may say that cities are based on both – the space of places and flows, which become more and more interconnected with the use of new online information systems. These information systems find expression in wireless connections, which create a global community, where “space” and “flows” are connected. This connectivity makes one also puzzle about the differences of social spaces as found for example in London or Chicago.
Next to his analysis of the new media and cities, Manovich (2002) offers a theoretical understanding of new media in “The Language of New Media”. Here, he talks about a shift in media taking place, which is distinctively different from previous media changes, rooted in the development of the printing press or photography. With new media, one finds that all media can be transformed into a medium usable for computers. Also, he explains there is no such thing as a fixed entity of new media. Instead new media is linked to cultural changes, which resulted in a medium that is “numerically representation”, “modularity”, “automation”, “variability” and “transcoding”. Also Gitelman explores media within its social and economic surrounding, meaning that also for her its meaning is linked to a wider social and economic context. All of the given reading seems to oppose technological determinism and allow for agency and the importance of social changes that are linked to the medium of technology. How much room there actually is for the expression of agency in the end, is up for debate…
Lim Zheng Wei
Gitelman’s article “Media as Historical Subject” is built on previous words related to whether technology is deterministic. Here, she lies in the social constructionist camp as she points out that most people feel (erroneously, to her) that media has authority just as science does due to its perceived ‘natural’ or innate truth. She then goes on to say that media consists of structure and communication. Structure is the technological forms and protocols for using media, while communication is the cultural practice of media usage.
More importantly, she points out that there are real-world implications for such abstract reasoning. It determines whether individuals have agency. If the influential messages of media lies on the side of production, then regulating media is warranted. However, if agenda lies with individuals, then regulation is pointless. This is related to the perpetual debate on whether sex, violence, gore and generally dramatisation of the deviant in the media has any effect on society.
Seow Yi Min Eunice
With regards to Castells’ notion of the Space of Flow and the dominant spatial form it takes in society, the haphazard quality of it was depicted through artists from the creative industry who created architecture that were considered ‘cold structures’. These post-modern structures derived little or no historical value, and had been termed “the mediated expression of the deeper tendencies of society”. Historical value is once again intrinsically connected to meaning making, and the example of these cold structures highlighted the resistance for the preservation of meaning in the generation of knowledge. An example provided by Castells was the Barcelona Airport, and it’s abstract material interpretation of it’s appropriately stark, empty, silent and transparent space, supported by it’s architectural design.
Despite the substantial point made, an alternative view would be that generation of knowledge via meaning making does no necessarily have to be limited to the historical context. Even within the abstract “nudist” design of the airport itself, the work of architecture and design should not just end at the surfaces of the building. One should also take into consideration the way the design has been managed, occupied and used. For example, there are check-in desks, baggage trolleys, barriers within the airport. Visual and aural aspects can be seen in the form of signage (protocols, instructions) found all over the airport. Furthermore, the people within these airports, and their movements, too derive significant meaning making.
Thus, the social processes occurring within such architectures may not necessarily have been inherited by previous socio-spatial structures, yet, generation of knowledge does not have to stop there. It’s expressive quality can be studied not merely by the exterior design, but within the architectural space itself too.
Tiara Robyn Chew
In the article, “The Space of Flows”, Castell explores the advancement of electricity as leading to the further development of telecommunication technology, which would render large office culture obsolete. He suggests in his work that corporate headquarters and central business districts would ‘give way’ to home based businesses and call centers instead. Although this article was written in 1996, this continues to be very much relevant almost twenty years on. In fact, the idea of expansion has progressed to a global scale, and not just the local sphere. Many corporations today engage in outsourcing, which according to Peter Barrar, involves the “procurement of physical and/or service inputs from outside organisations either through cessation of an activity that was previously performed internally or abstention from an activity that is well within the capability of the firm” (2006). For instance US-based corporation, IBM, has been outsourcing jobs to Brazil, India and China to take advantage of the large and educated workforce, specialised call center outsourcing services, advanced technology as well as their high-end infrastructure. This shows how technology, virtual currency and information has enabled these emerging spaces to take shape, and is not limited to major centers alone.
Castells discussed how the space of flows has replaced the previously dominant space of place. The space of flow may be material and immaterial, as they exist in cyberspace where things are numerically represented, or are made up of tangible electronic infrastructures, nodes and hubs. Physical constraints of place and time are thus overcome as a result.
Another fundamental dimension of the space of flows is the spatial manifestation of the elites. The elites establish their own society and construct culturally distinctive lifestyle which standardise the symbolic spatial environment of elites globally, projecting the space of power and wealth. The barriers to entrance of these communities include exclusively priced real estates and areas that require special membership or status such as country clubs, exclusive restaurants and airport lounges.
Emphasis has been place on the elites on creating their space of flows which made me ponder whether ordinary people like us have the same power. Can we utilise the networked technologies and create a space of flows that are uniquely ours? Is the virtual world a space of flows that mirrors our culture and lifestyle?
What exactly is the Space of Flows? While I still am unable to grasp the exact meaning of this concept, I can currently gather that it is something both material and non-material. Castells claims that the large office cultures would cease to exist due to the development of telecommunication technologies, brought about in part due to the advancement of electricity.
He further illustrates his case of such technology allowing for the “simultaneity of social practices without territorial contiguity” by suggesting that central business districts would lose its dominance gradually to small scaled businesses in domestic homes and call centers instead. Although written in the 90s, it is a very prophetic article as Castell’s theory has come to fulfilment – many businesses now outsourced certain components of their production, so much so that most MNCs are now global operations – Singapore in particular is famed for its refinementof crude oil and wafer production.
Both Gitelman and Manovich both puts forth 2 differing interpretations of media technologies. Gitelman, as a media historian, believes that all media can be considered ‘new media’ as each was ‘new’ at one point of time. Manovich gives a more specific criteria for new media which is media that has been digitised, explained in his 5 factors.
I would like to suggest other markers that signify the onset of new media, mainly scale, time and interactivity. What really sets apart Manovich’s interpretation of new media from older forms of media is its vast scale, instantaneous transmission and interactivity which is made possible through digitisation. A newsworthy incident can now be immediately brought to attention by someone who happened to be there by taking a picture through his/her smartphone. This is unlike in the past where reporters, who were the only ones with access to cameras, had to rush to the scene. Once the picture uploaded, everyone connected to the internet, which is 7 billion people, are able see it. In the past, news could only reach specific regions via newspaper, radio and even TV. The creation of comments section and social networking sites also allow for unrestricted communication. This is much bigger scale of interaction as in the past, people were could only convey their thoughts through letters and phone calls.
All three articles place emphasis on social structure and social context when looking at history of media. Gitelman suggests that we have to look at the socio-economic context under which the medium emerged. Manovich too, highlights that looking at the social structure helps us to understand how technology functions. Castells states that social structures shape social practices in relation to that space.
To Castells, ‘space of flows’ shapes the network of society. According to him, space is a reflection of society. Therefore spatial development is influenced and organized by technology. ‘New industrial space’ is only possible with telecommunication, which allows companies to decentralize and outsource. Gitelman mentions the beginning of telecommunication and how the phonograph initially stumbled hard against the public sphere. But it was later accepted by and further developed social and economic structures such as the market and modern corporations. I feel that technology’s rapid improvement has changed our society’s expectation. Science’s discoveries have been so amazing that we become more used to the seemingly unlimited possibilities that science is capable of. In fact, we even expect new gadgets to be equipped with new (and human-like) features, such as iPhone’s ‘Siri’. We expect more speed, convenience and interconnectedness.
What interested me was the mention of global cities having more connection with global networks but locally displaying their own marginalization. I personally encountered this situation when I visited Manila, where slum houses were literally a 5-minute drive away from a modern place with well-known restaurants like Starbucks. Although the people patronizing the restaurants and the people living in the slums were in the same place, in reality, they were worlds apart. This is an example of the ‘sphere of dysfunctionality’. The problem with this is that the people who are richer will probably always see those earning less as mere servers who, for example, take their order. The problem also, if we think about it logically, is that someone has got to be the one serving the rich. This reminds me of Wallerstein’s core and periphery theory, happening within a local context. Unless we live in a communist state, I guess inequality has to exist. Only now, technology and the ability to spatially outcast those who are deemed less valuable to the society through means such as higher property prices, has made this distinction even more obvious and widened not only the income gap, but also the cultural difference in lifestyles that the people in different classes live. It is interesting to note how luxurious hotels/restaurants all over the world and what is considered high-end brands are quite similar all over the world. This homogenizing of culture that Castells highlighted probably contributes to the dysfunctionality as rich people from different parts of the world are more connected (share the same interests/spending habits) than their local counterparts.
Gitelman agrees with this as she states how the public sphere is conceived based on one as a consumer, instead of a citizen. She quotes a similar point by saying ‘one’s place is not so much a matter of authentic location or rootedness, but one’s relationship to economic, political, technological and cultural flows’ and this of course, depends on one’s social class and financial ability to indulge in a wider range of products. This issue is worth pondering over because if the effect of media bring about a loss of one’s rootedness, this will lead to a loss of diversity of cultures left on earth, as seen in the shrinking number of languages today.
Another point that Gitelman makes is that we are unconscious of instruments and their protocols. Media technologies have become culturally accepted and are seen as natural and familiar. For example, society has changed drastically in these short years as compared to when touch screen technology first came about. From tablets to phones to televisions and computers today, people are so used to it that there was even an instance when my friend tried to swipe the screen of my MacBook to scroll.
We live in an age where we have grown accustomed to the pervasiveness of media around us and this has affected our culture. For example, we expect information to be instantly accessible and this affects like how we want work to be done quickly and efficiently as well. It probably also has an influence on our culture of seeking instant pleasure and wanting things our way immediately. Of course, there are exceptions whereby we are willing to wait, such as queuing for good food. But as we can see, there is a clear relationship between media and culture.
One of the interesting things I in this week’s readings was Manovich’s ‘the language of new media’. He mentioned ‘cultural transcoding’ as one of the 5 factors which characterize new media, which refers to how the computer has the ability to transform cultures, and I found this exceptionally true.
I feel that the computer has totally transformed the way in which people consume art nowadays. For instance, music has more portability as people are able to play mp3 files on portable players. The experience of listening to music has also changed as opposed to older ways of music consumption. Similarly, more and more people are able to download movies onto their computers to watch, rather than going to the cinema. In short, consumption of such art forms are becoming easier and more convenient.
Hence I feel that art is becoming more and more impersonal, as less effort and thought is needed, and our senses are less stimulated through the process of consumption.
An article which has a less direct link to the assigned topic for the week would be the one by Manuel Castells. Castells’s “Space of Flow” has highlighted an important function of the new media and that is the ability to facilitate information across geographical boundaries. Such would act like an overarching media which binds the different countries into one. An example would be Apple, where the production plants are based in parts of China but continued to be control by the US based corporation through the use of new media.
Castells brought up a point about the intangible elements brought about by the new media substituting the tangible elements we experience in the physical space. The example which was quoted was banks were become spending more resources to develop their digital banking service such as online banking and automated telephone customer service. Though such technique has removed the need for physical interaction between two parties, consumers will now be able to complete the task and enjoy the increased efficiency of service where factors such as cost and time are reduced significantly to achieve the same outcome.
Such new media can then be considered revolutionary where it alters our social experience. Another example which I can think of would be one which many of us are guilty of – not spending adequate time with our friends. Time would probably be one of the limiting factors. However, with new media platforms such as Facebook which act as the substitute for the physical time which we have spent with our friends, we can now still interact with them and know their life on the cyberspace, as if they have told all these things to us physically themselves.
What Castells wrote in “The Space of Flows” reminds me of “The World is Flat”, written by Thomas Friedman. Friedman talks about the spatial flows of capital investment, communication and the mobility of people across global spaces. It is similar to what Castells mentions about the interplay between urbanism and social movements and that how individuals come together into collectives to advocate social change and how this interaction produces new socio-spatial forms and meanings. What is intriguing in Friedman’s book is what he mentions about “call centres”. They are drastically increasing to support the backstage processes of first world countries such as accounting, customer service and helplines. Many people in the first world are in fact unaware of such methods of outsourcing as the people in India are made to learn the language of the country that they are providing their service to and they are made to be proficient in it. For example, if they are providing service to the US, they would use the US way of pronunciation, which is different from the way english spoken in the UK. Fundamentally, the low cost of labour in India has attracted many large companies to outsource their production to such countries and people in the third world countries are willing to work more for every dollar earned. It is perhaps for this reason that technology has evidently managed to organise spaces in accordance to the unique dynamics of countries around the world.
– I feel that one aspect of this week’s readings that left me thinking was pointed out by Lisa Gitelman when she talks about the reason why media inhibits and is everywhere is. This is because media has functioned to the extent that we don’t really need to know how it works just that we can use it. For example, we can buy a new smartphone model that was just released onto the consumer market. However, instead of being clueless about how to use it, we are already equipped with prior knowledge of how to operate the device. While there might be new functions in this new phone, users are still able to use the phone to a large extent. We only starts to question how it works when it fails to function as it is supposed to and yet at this time, we can still rely on the authorities such as the service staff at the service centres to fix our phones. Technology and media at this stage no longer requires users to understand its working but just to know how to operate it. In fact, the change in the dialectical relationship between media and technology has changed how we orientate ourselves towards technology. Again, we don’t think of how it works and are only concerned about the outcome because these devices are designed in such a way that is “idiotproof”.
perhaps a digital image could be the easiest way of understanding manovich’s idea of the cultural layer and computer layer. the cultural layer would refer to the content of the image, the composition, the colors, the lines, shapes and form — in short, what makes the image (good). on the other hand the computer layer would refer to the computerized technicalities of the image such as pixels, pixels per inch, resolution, dynamic range, file size, compression, file formats — of which are incomprehensible to normal people. however, both the cultural layer and the computer layer cannot exist without the other. the resolution of an image (computer layer) will ensure that an image of our food (cultural layer) will not look pixelated. furthermore, the desire to want to capture surreal images (HDR/time lapses), the computer layer is forced to undergo improvements and transformations to render these images.
When discussing the topic of new media, Manuel Castells´s notion of the space of flows offers a valuable insight into the interaction of space and time in a modern digital age. Whilst his ideas are very abstract, it becomes clear that he links modern informational technologies, such as the world wide web, with urbanization, such as city social spaces. By relying on the examples of cities, Castells makes clear that new spatial arrangements came about based on the influence of new technologies. He makes a distinction between “space of places”, where people life and experience, and “space of flows”, where social power, for example in form of capital flows, communication and messages move from one place to another. Making this less abstract, one may say that cities are based on both – the space of places and flows, which become more and more interconnected with the use of new online information systems. These information systems find expression in wireless connections, which create a global community, where “space” and “flows” are connected. This connectivity makes one also puzzle about the differences of social spaces as found for example in London or Chicago.
Next to his analysis of the new media and cities, Manovich (2002) offers a theoretical understanding of new media in “The Language of New Media”. Here, he talks about a shift in media taking place, which is distinctively different from previous media changes, rooted in the development of the printing press or photography. With new media, one finds that all media can be transformed into a medium usable for computers. Also, he explains there is no such thing as a fixed entity of new media. Instead new media is linked to cultural changes, which resulted in a medium that is “numerically representation”, “modularity”, “automation”, “variability” and “transcoding”. Also Gitelman explores media within its social and economic surrounding, meaning that also for her its meaning is linked to a wider social and economic context. All of the given reading seems to oppose technological determinism and allow for agency and the importance of social changes that are linked to the medium of technology. How much room there actually is for the expression of agency in the end, is up for debate…
Gitelman’s article “Media as Historical Subject” is built on previous words related to whether technology is deterministic. Here, she lies in the social constructionist camp as she points out that most people feel (erroneously, to her) that media has authority just as science does due to its perceived ‘natural’ or innate truth. She then goes on to say that media consists of structure and communication. Structure is the technological forms and protocols for using media, while communication is the cultural practice of media usage.
More importantly, she points out that there are real-world implications for such abstract reasoning. It determines whether individuals have agency. If the influential messages of media lies on the side of production, then regulating media is warranted. However, if agenda lies with individuals, then regulation is pointless. This is related to the perpetual debate on whether sex, violence, gore and generally dramatisation of the deviant in the media has any effect on society.
With regards to Castells’ notion of the Space of Flow and the dominant spatial form it takes in society, the haphazard quality of it was depicted through artists from the creative industry who created architecture that were considered ‘cold structures’. These post-modern structures derived little or no historical value, and had been termed “the mediated expression of the deeper tendencies of society”. Historical value is once again intrinsically connected to meaning making, and the example of these cold structures highlighted the resistance for the preservation of meaning in the generation of knowledge. An example provided by Castells was the Barcelona Airport, and it’s abstract material interpretation of it’s appropriately stark, empty, silent and transparent space, supported by it’s architectural design.
Despite the substantial point made, an alternative view would be that generation of knowledge via meaning making does no necessarily have to be limited to the historical context. Even within the abstract “nudist” design of the airport itself, the work of architecture and design should not just end at the surfaces of the building. One should also take into consideration the way the design has been managed, occupied and used. For example, there are check-in desks, baggage trolleys, barriers within the airport. Visual and aural aspects can be seen in the form of signage (protocols, instructions) found all over the airport. Furthermore, the people within these airports, and their movements, too derive significant meaning making.
Thus, the social processes occurring within such architectures may not necessarily have been inherited by previous socio-spatial structures, yet, generation of knowledge does not have to stop there. It’s expressive quality can be studied not merely by the exterior design, but within the architectural space itself too.
In the article, “The Space of Flows”, Castell explores the advancement of electricity as leading to the further development of telecommunication technology, which would render large office culture obsolete. He suggests in his work that corporate headquarters and central business districts would ‘give way’ to home based businesses and call centers instead. Although this article was written in 1996, this continues to be very much relevant almost twenty years on. In fact, the idea of expansion has progressed to a global scale, and not just the local sphere. Many corporations today engage in outsourcing, which according to Peter Barrar, involves the “procurement of physical and/or service inputs from outside organisations either through cessation of an activity that was previously performed internally or abstention from an activity that is well within the capability of the firm” (2006). For instance US-based corporation, IBM, has been outsourcing jobs to Brazil, India and China to take advantage of the large and educated workforce, specialised call center outsourcing services, advanced technology as well as their high-end infrastructure. This shows how technology, virtual currency and information has enabled these emerging spaces to take shape, and is not limited to major centers alone.