Being connected

Wow I swear this is harder then writing an essay! Ok, so our last lecture was about being connected as an interstitial node. Il try and explain what it all means and what I think about it.

We looked at becoming an interstitial node. What this means is how do we know each other, how do we link ourselves to one another in a way we can relate. Well, to give some help explaining Il delve into a bit of history. Modernism and Post Modernism.


From what I understood in the lecture, Modernism is an ordered, linear way of understanding things. It’s a way of thinking in which everything is correct and in the right place if thought about when using one method. Up until the renaissance, modernism was the primary way of how we saw things. At that time, from the late 1800's to the mid 1900's, Christianity and classical science were the most domineering ways of seeing things. These things were art, literature, architecture and music.
Post modernism on the other hand is different. Simply put, it means there are a lot of different ways in which we can observe and understand something. Instead of having just one way of thinking, such as religion, it has multiple ideas coming from different areas, for example, modern science.


Since we now live in a Post Modernist world (well, Modernism is still around but not as much) everyone has their own voice, their own way of thinking. So how can we link all these ideas up? How do we each become an interstitial node?


A quote that will make this clearer:

"Cultural codes rather than individual voices"

It is basically saying that to become connected and to be able to understand each other we must speak a cultural code. If everyone has an individual voice, then no one will understand or link together what has been said, this is where my next quote comes in:



"There is one common language, the language of the hypertext [the culture of real virtuality]. Cultural expressions left out of the hypertext are purely individual experiences. The hypertext is the vehicle of communication, thus the provider of shared cultural codes" (Manuel Castells)

In our modern society this hypertext is a way of linking our ideas together from person to person. If you are able to speak it, use it and manipulate it, then you will be able to get your "individual voice" and your ideas across using this common language (also referred to as culture code in the first quote). You can therefore become and interstitial node. However is also says "Cultural expressions left out of the hypertext are purely individual experiences". So how do you get these cultural expressions and ideas into the hypertext and onto the cultural code highway.

To explain how you can link ideas from one to another I will use a basic story. Let’s say your name is A and you’ve met someone called C. C can talk to you and respond to you. However, there is an idea you have, a new way of thinking; you’ve come to this new thing by the influences and experiences you have had. C has not had these influences and experiences and can therefore not understand your new idea. You are both using cultural codes so can understand each other and you are using this common language as a tool for getting C to understand A. However there is a piece missing, a link in between the two which will bridge the gap. This is where B comes in. B has had the influences and experiences of both A and C. He can therefore link the two together by describing A's new idea to C in a way that he will understand.

That’s what I think is meant by becoming an interstitial node. By networking and growing these networks, making more and more links between the different nodes is how you project your ideas across. One example of a network/node like system is a rhizome. This plant has no beginning or end, instead it grows by sending out roots/shoots from its nodes in any direction, linking them up for more strength.




Another quote from the lecture:


"According to Armin Medosch, in an interconnected environment, individuality or expression are neither important. What's important are the new forms of sharing, spreading and planning the digital work. With collective actions this cultural domain progresses in its entirety, because sharing and collaborating mean learning from each other."

This is trying to explain the finer points of progression and development in digital work. It is saying that by combining and sharing ideas, we are able to make new and better things. Evermore reason for having lots of interstitial nodes. By sharing with other people in these networks of nodes you are able to bring your own "cultural expressions" (from the second quote) and mix them with the current nodes to make something new.

Here is one last bit to add to all this reflection about being connected. I’ve taken this from the lecture itself.


“Weblogs: Content Is King
Weblogs have shifted the focus away from personal presentations of content to personal collections of shared meaning.”

This is an example of how our sharing and combining of ideas has created something new. Our weblogs could be total tosh and completely irrelevant to anything. However fortunately we’ve come to understand that by picking and choosing parts of a network (which for us is the internet) that they will link our personal ideas to the rest of the network.

Anywho, that was fun, but it also took about 2 hours to get my head around. At least it’s much much clearer in my mind now. Happy days!