In this analysis the concept of global information flows will be examined and observed and how this idea has a massive contribution to the past, present, and future networks of media.
Looking at global information flows it is imperative to discuss how the Internet started as this is the root cause of global information flows. In accordance with Cerf, V and R. Kahn the history of the Internet first started in 1962 with J.C.R Licklider predicted that a global interconnection of computers would become a common trend around the world. The Internet back then was a system of networking and still is to this day, showing that even the Internet back in the 1960s had the same visions as the modern-day Internet. Constant information flows are a key idea for the Internet. This is also explained by F. Stalder. Someone can create versions of the same material which can be rebranded and recreated around the world in a concept of exchanging. This not only explains the history of the Internet but also discusses the current flow of global information and communication within a paradigm of media consumption.
An explosion of communication is highly relevant with global information. As messages are communicated, they become increasingly spread and this has become a recent development within the Internet. What is local information could become global in a matter of minutes based off the patterns of flowage and is a key trend within today’s information flows. This explosion of communication development can be linked with the concept of ‘always on’ by M.Gregg. Whether we are not physically online, information is flowing around the world, either about individuals or corporations which are used to engage with networks once they are being used by a person. This global information flow industrialises material transmission and how it is processed. Ultimately, the way users engage and use the Internet and media through this ‘always on’ idea becomes an industry as corporations use the flow of information as a means of commercialisation. For instance, a simple message to a local friend about a concert overseas becomes a key part of that person’s information flow in their digital and online footprint, this then explains the concept of global information flows. The global information flow is crucial for messages to flow and become processed from one online mode to another, whether this is from a laptop to a tablet to a phone.
A current Internet development is social media and how these platforms cause a global information flow. The main social media’s, seen from the acronym coined by T. Mitew as FAANG, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google are all key players within these flows. R. Reeve explains that the more global a brand comes, the more it changes its business model. This idea is also intertwined with global flows of information. Our social lives are hand in hand with technology, another key point from R. Reeve. A key example of a global flow is Facebook. Facebook has changed its functions from simply just a social media site to a place to sell items and organise events. The global flow from a simple like has led to the overall enhancement of a current Internet development of social media to become a vast part of people’s lives without them even realising, through new communication nodes and flows. Therefore, as social media develops as a social media it continues to grow and shape global information flows. The more that flow, the more changes and features social media websites add which is in conjunction with global information flows.
Another key feature global information flows are that they require low network transaction costs. This explains how the more modes that are connected, the more it scales as a transaction cost. Knowledge continues to be a main force of production. What global information flows know about users in turn shapes the way that these flows interact and coordinate content to their users. T. Mitew explains that the larger and more centralised a network the higher its transaction costs. Therefore, a global information flow does not consist of one mode, but of numerous modes of intertwined webs of connectivity. This includes the likes of Amazon and Ebay, as they have one distinct product. Connectivity. Ultimately, a present feature also includes the low network transaction costs that global information flows possess. They not only work together but link together through the knowledge of production and data to create global information flows.
A future implication of global information flows is the emphasis on ‘attention’. Attention is a current paradigm and according to L. Kane is a whole new ‘economy’ within an Internet realm. M. H. Goldhaber wrote that the global interaction flows are shifting from a material-based economy to one based on the capacity of attention. K. Kelly indicates that this new economy is based on intangible things. As attention is so intangible, so do ideas, information, and relationships as they all become interlinked. For global information to flow, it must be attentive to a wider audience and spread in a free-flowing way. Although information is easily accessible and has no value, it wants to have a value. This value will all have to do with the attention of an audience as a future implication of global information flows. All in all, attention is a current implication and a future one in terms of the global flow of information. Attention has become an economy and ultimately shapes how information is transferrable from a local audience to a global audience.
Conclusively, global information flows have stemmed from the early stages of the Internet to the present tense of social media and low transaction costs. These have key features of an explosion of communication and attention. These key features will be integral to the future directions of global information flows and how they remain constant and consistent throughout the growth of the Internet. Global information flows are a key technique and practise within future networks which will continue to be present in the future as well as in the present.
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Mavro Productions 