"Information is not simply transmitted from point A to point B: it propagates and by propagation it affects and modifies its milieu."
Information is transmitted from one area to another and by this it affects its environment. Chapter 2 was definitely a better read than chapter 1. In chapter 2 I was able to better understand Terranova's point. Chapter 2 took parts of chapter 1 that were hard to understand and put it into perspective for me. What I got from this chapter is a better understanding of what "noise" is and its affect on network dynamics. Information goes through different channels which are interpreted differently to each individual person. Information importance depends on the channel that it becomes a part of. It is upto the individuals own experience with information to determine its message. Information goes through different channels meaning that one person can gain a different perspective of information. Another person can gain a different idea depending on what channel the information passed through before getting to each person.
The sentences in this chapter that really helped me understand what Tiziana was conveying were on page 65. Tiziana states that, "messages are broken down into packets and each packet is sent out into the network to find its destination by being relayed around through a network of autonomous and decentralized nodes. If any obstacles arise along the main lines, the various packets can be sent out in different directions to find their own best possible routes. "
Information is all over the web and is interpreted differently by different people. Each person's interpretation might influence the next. The message many times can get lost in these channels. If "obstacles" as Tiziana describes arise messages go in different locations. Individuals are the routes that these messages travel towards.. We each grasp information in different ways. Information can be altered depending on individual interpretation and individual experience. Information is always changing.
It really seems like you are getting a sense of what Terranova is arguing. One thing to keep in mind: for her, the noise and the turbulence, that is, the dynamic of the network environment, has effects that are prior to meaning/interpretation. They affect the transmission of the signal. Meaning (or the question of what something means) occurs after a signal has been transmitted and received.
ReplyDeleteYou nicely quote her on packet switching--again, this has to do with the way information moves on the internet, the way a signal gets from point a to point b. Any given message can travel all sorts of different ways. If it is blocked in one direction, it can move in another one. This is one of the differences between old school broadcast television and the internet.