Routledge Encyclopedia of Citizen Media: Abstracts [N]

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Networks and Networked Society

Dorismilda Flores-Márquez, Universidad De La Salle Bajío, México

A network, in a general sense, is defined as two or more nodes and connections among them, producing an open structure. Taking this notion as a starting point, this entry focuses on the discussion of social and sociodigital networks in the social sciences. It also offers an overview of the concept of the networked society and the work of key authors such as Manuel Castells, Jan Van Dijk and Gustavo Cardoso, highlighting the links among the networked society, the media, and the Internet.

Discussion of the networked society covers five basic dimensions: (1) Actors in the networked society, focusing on citizens and their empowerment and participation through/with/in the media; (2) Practices, specifically media as practice in a wider sense as well as citizen media production as practice; (3) Time, i.e. the temporal dimension of the networked society in the global age; (4) Space, i.e. the networked society as a social space as well as the production of multiple complex spaces in it; and (5) Power, including the reconfigurations of power and public space in the networked society. Finally, the entry discusses the political, economic, and cultural dimensions of the networked society, as well as their implications for citizen media and a future research agenda.

References

Cardoso, G. (2006) The Media in the Network Society. Browsing, news, and citizenship, Lisboa: CIES.

Castells, M. (1996/2010) The Rise of the Network Society, Malden and Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Rainie, L. and B. Wellman (2012) Networked: The new social operating system, Cambridge, MA and London: The MIT Press.

Rheingold, H. (2012) Net Smart. How to thrive online, Cambridge, MA and London: The MIT Press.

Van Dijck, J. (2006) The Network Society. Social aspects of new media, London, Thousand Oaks and New Delhi: SAGE Publications.