#space of flows

[noosphe-re]

The spatial articulation of dominant functions does take place in our societies in the network of interactions made possible by information technology devices. In this network, no place exists by itself, since the positions are defined by the exchanges of flows in the network. Thus, the network of communication is the fundamental spatial configuration: places do not disappear, but their logic and their meaning become absorbed in the network. The technological infrastructure that builds up the network defines the new space, very much like railways defined "economic regions" and "national markets" in the industrial economy; or the boundary-specific, institutional rules of citizenry (and their technologically advanced armies) defined "cities" in the merchant origins of capitalism and democracy. This technological infrastructure is itself the expression of the network of flows whose architecture and content is determined by the powers that be in our world.

Manuel Castells

[noosphe-re]

The global city is not a place, but a process. A process by which centers of production and consumption of advanced services, and their ancillary local societies, are connected in a global network, while simultaneously downplaying the linkages with their hinterlands, on the basis of information flows.

Manuel Castells

[noosphe-re]

The space of flows is the material organisation of time-sharing social practices that work through flows. By flows I understand purposeful, repetitive, programmable sequences of exchange and interaction between physically disjointed positions held by social actors in the economic, political, and symbolic structures of society. Dominant social practices are those which are embedded in dominant social structures. By dominant structures I understand those arrangements of organisations and institutions whose internal logic plays a strategic role in shaping social practices and social consciousness for society at large.

Manuel Castells

[noosphe-re]

The Information Age is ushering in a new urban form, the informational city. Yet, as the industrial city was not a worldwide replica of Manchester, the emerging informational city will not copy Silicon Valley, let alone Los Angeles. On the other hand, as in the industrial era, in spite of the extraordinary diversity of cultural and physical contexts there are some fundamental common features in the transcultural development of the informational city. I shall argue that, because of the nature of the new society, based upon knowledge, organized around networks, and partly made up of flows, the informational city is not a form but a process, a process characterized by the structural domination of the space of flows.

Manuel Castells

[kolasekota]

Experience, by being related to places, becomes abstracted from power, and meaning is increasingly separated from knowledge.

Manuel Castells, Space of Flows in The Rise of Network Society (2010)

[thisisdigitalartandculture]

It is a fact that technological applications have become an integral part of our lives. As Castells claims, we live in an information age and the use of these new technological devices on a daily basis has changed the way we have been experiencing the world so far.

Technology development has enabled people to communicate at a distance, changing the traditional forms of social interaction. This way, one can be physically present in the real world but in a technologically mediated reality at the same time. This sort of bilocation has been called absent presence.

One of the most popular current technologies that combines these mixed realities and allows an interaction between them are the QR codes which have increasingly been left behind by the so-called augmented reality (considered as an extension of virtual reality).

Augmented reality can be defined as a way to extend the physical world by overlaying computerized information- with displays assistance- with real environments, making those separated times and spaces meet in one and enhancing the world with relevant information.

According to the aforementioned sociologist, one of the most important consequences of the use of this technology is the change of the space-time traditional notion.

In the network society set by Castells, the time is not characterized anymore as a sequential order but a timeless time defined as “the use of new information and communication technologies in a relentless effort to annihilate time.” This can be seen in society’s plight to compress years into seconds and seconds into split seconds.

In virtual or augmented reality the flow of time is different, time can be speeded up and the past can meet the present. In the same way, the space changes and is not anymore a space of places but a space of flows, relating to the notion of absent present, you can claim your private space on a public one just by talking on the mobile phone.

In other hand, the application possibilities of augmented reality are endless. It can be used in almost any domain: industry, everyday life, architecture, navigation, interactive art, entertainment or advertising among others. Some companies will be increasingly more willing to invest money in these applications because of its potential as new advertising forms. As an example of this, we can see the video of the National Geographic channel project developed in a shopping center posted above.

Claudia

[ditigalcity]

The Chief Digital Officer for NYC discusses her hopes for the integration of digital platforms into city life and interactions with city government, while pointing out what NYC.gov has already accomplished.