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Follow us on twitterA Politics for Open Networks
30th June 2012 18:01 by Loz Kaye
Networks – Connections
The essence of a network is its connections and, indeed, the multiplicity of those connections. While there are many ways of networking (putting up a card in the newsagent’s window still works fine!) we can not avoid at this point of the 21st century that the network of networks is the Internet.
The joy of the world wide web is its very… webbyness.
Instead of straight lines many co-joining and splitting filaments, this is inherent in not only its architecture but also in the way we use it.
To me, this is inherently political because this idea of openness and the re-routing round the gatekeepers flattens hierarchies, promotes the exchange of ideas and culture without a specific elite to tell us whether it is good for us or not, or how much to pay for it.
These connections can dissolve space, can turn conventional relationships on their head. The potential is there for a 10 year old girl in Paraguay with a 10 dollar laptop to be the next thought leader, political inciter or business innovator.
But these connections are under threat.