During this week the key topic was that of the ‘Network Society’. The most basic things needed to make a ‘Network Society’ are essentially: People, Things, Interactivity and big/innovative ideas. However this will not take into account things failing or things evolving within the society. The key resource for power within the newly founded network society is information flow, with information comes power. Also network societies are generally capitalist, other ways of running would not work as well. Wealth, power and culture came to depend on the technological capacity of a society or individual, therefore making network societies fairly essential to the development of a society.

I found the topics we spoke about in regards to the network society within the seminar particularly interesting as we covered that of the pro gaming scene, something i am very familiar with. The part i found the most interesting was that of the Korean Starcraft scene, the players are treated as celebrities with adoring fans, very different to that of the western world. The interactivity we have through internet allows the western world to take part in this scene without even being there though through things like twitch (an online streaming service mainly to stream games and tournaments).

Another thing we covered was the idea of time within the concept of connectivity. When it comes to being online time loses its meaning in the traditional sense as things have potential to last infinitely and you are able to talk to people half way around the world without the delay of sending letters or travelling to speak to them in the traditional sense.