INTRODUCTION TO UNIT-1 NETWORKED SOCIETY INTRODUCTION

• The technology today and its exponential growth are transforming the society every second. • The has become the essential fabric of our lives. There are billions of internet users in India. • In the last few decades, technology has lost its connotation of being complex, impersonal machines rather have become device which deliver real and palpable feature to the masses. • Now technology along with internet are constructing innovative arrangements for us, something which was impossible to think/consider few years back. • For Instance, Independent (UK) started producing online content exclusively as they understood great majority of the readers went online. • Technology specifically internet have revolutionised our social structure. NETWORKED SOCIETY

• , a professor in Barcelona have been closely studying these changes. He is one of the intellectuals who grasped the internet and applied its developments within a society. • In his book The Information Age- (The Trilogy) he introduced the concept of Networked Society, a new and emerging society connected by Information and Communication Technologies. • Castells argue that transformation in communication leads to the spread of globalisation and the development of a new kind of society- the Networked Society. • Majorly because of these ICTs , Castells observed the formation of a new kind of capitalism which he called’ global information capitalism’ or ‘informationalism’. • In this system the processing of knowledge and information is done through technologies (Contd.)

• Castells stated that the society is moving away from the Gutenberg’s galaxy towards Internet Galaxy. • The foundation of Information Age is the internet and wireless communication. He also stated that we are living in a virtual world. The Networked Society is the denomination to the Information Age. • According to Castells ‘Network society is a society whose social structure is made up of network powered by micro-electronic based information and communication technologies’. • The key factor that distinguishes the network society is that the use of ICTs help to create and sustain far flung networks in which new kind of social relationships are created. Network

• According to this theory network plays an important role. And network here means set of interconnected nodes these nides are adaption, open-ended, decentralised structures. It is a program made up of nodes which communicate and cooperate with one another • Networks are an old form of human practice but they have taken on a new life in our times by becoming informational networks powered by internet. • There are networks at every level of the society- professional, institutional, personal. • Earlier individuals (entrepreneurs, social class) were at the centre, but now the network shapes the society. Different companies- media, political, cultural, institutions are bound by networking logic. Space and Time

• He has worked on the concept of Network Society in which he says that society is not just restricted to TIME and SPACE. • Castells highlighted two specific features- Space of Flows and Timeless Time. • The globalisation resulting from the development of new technologies has led to a transformation of space and time in the human experience. • They did not replace the earlier concept of time and space rather they all co-exist and are the cultural expression of the Networked Society. • He sees space as an intangible and experience based rather than a physical reality. • Physical space is not the only way of interactions. Digital communications gives a sense of proximity through the use of messaging, skype , etc. this space is called as the Space of Flows. • Castells argues that the experience of time also changes in network society. Timeless time is becoming more important. Criticism

• This theory is relevant for social science and media studies. However, it is important to note that it is neither a universal truth nor it represents the actual picture regrading the political / economic realities which exist together in one world. • If any part of the network is disconnected from the arrangement, the latter is automatically excluded from the universe. • It implies that there are two contradicting realities within the same planet: • People who are part- informed • People who are disconnected to the network- powerless • Such a set up results in Digital Divide.