|
Printable PDF
Editor’s Note:
Intelligent Networking and Global Media Communication
Richard A. Gershon, Ph.D.
School of Communication
Western Michigan University
International business has been transformed by the power of instantaneous communication. The combination of computer and telecommunications has collapsed the time and distance factors that once separated nations, people and business organizations. This special issue of Global Media Journal will examine the subject of intelligent networking which provides the technology and electronic pathways that makes global communication possible.
When engineers discuss the architecture of a network; they are describing how the physical parts of the network are organized, including: 1) information storage sites (host computers), 2) Information pathways (switching and routing of information) and 3) Terminals (gateways and access points). We start with the assumption that the intelligent network is not one network, but a series of networks designed to enhance worldwide communication for business and individual users alike (Gershon, 2011;Noam, 2001). Second, what gives the network its unique intelligence are the people and users of the system and the value-added contributions they bring to the system via critical gateway points. Intelligent networks, by definition, presuppose permeable boundaries; that is, structured entry points that allow users to access and contribute to the overall system design. The same gateway points also means opening up the system to any number of unwanted influences and outcomes. Accordingly, I refer to this as the permeability predicament (Gershon, 2011).
A third assumption is that intelligent networks do not operate in a vacuum. Rather, the use of intelligent networks are part of a greater human and organizational decision-making process (Monge & Contractor, 2003). A third assumption is that intelligent networks do not operate in a vacuum. Rather, the use of intelligent networks are part of a greater human and organizational decision-making process (Monge & Contractor, 2003). From the U.S. Center for Disease Control to Time Warner Inc., today’s transnational organization relies on the use of advanced information technology as a way to stay globally connected. At the heart of an organization’s worldwide operations is the importance of organizational control which can be described as the need for a system wide method for managing, tracking and evaluating one’s domestic and foreign operations. Organizational control provides senior managers and decision-makers the necessary tools with which to plan, allocate resources and take corrective action in order to meet changing international conditions.
Finally, as intelligent networks grow and evolve, they often exhibit self-learning qualities in what Monge, Heiss & Magolin (2008) describe as network evolution. This is a crucial element in helping us to understand what makes an intelligent network, intelligent.
The Principle of Network Evolution
The principle of network evolution suggests that an intelligent network is a highly dynamic entity whose value and importance increases over time (Gershon, 2011; Monge et. al, 2008). The business of cable television, for example, has moved well beyond its Community Antenna Television (CATV) origins as a purveyor of improved television reception to a modern day broadband delivery system capable of delivering hundreds of video television channels as well as HDTV, high speed Internet access and cable telephony (Parsons, 2008). Likewise, the Internet itself, has grown exponentially over time and has proven greater than the sum of its parts. Consider, for example, the power and networking capability of the Google search engine. The Google search engine’s ever increasing amount of data now generates its own unique networking effect (Autletta, 2009). There is an automatic self-learning quality that is built into the system that facilitates the development of other Google software products (e.g., Google maps, Google Earth, Chrome etc.). The more people use the Google search engine, the more powerful the network becomes. In short, there is a self-learning quality that gives rise to the principle of network evolution.
The Social and Technological Consequences of Intelligent Networking
Today’s knowledge economy involves the full integration of transnational business, nation-states and technologies operating at high speed. It is a global economy that is being driven by free-market capitalism. It stands in marked contrast to many of the basic patterns and assumptions of the industrial age. The once highly centralized business has given way to the transnational organization that operates in multiple countries throughout the world (Gershon, 1997). Instead of time and communication being highly synchronized, the modern day working professional lives in a digital world of asynchronous and virtual communication that allows for the international collaboration of projects regardless of time zones, geographical borders and physical space (Tapscott, 1996). We have entered the era of global virtual teams where work is produced across multiple time zones and geographic spaces.
Central to any discussion on intelligent networking are the social and technological consequences of intelligent networks on people and organizations. As Berners-Lee (1999) points out, the Internet is as much a social creation as it is a technical one. Nowhere is this more evident than in the creation of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. In previous research, I have developed what I call the Information & Telecommunications Systems (ITS) model as a way to explain both the internal structures and processes of intelligent networks as well as their external consequences (See Figure 1.) I use the ITS model as a way to describe what I consider to be the eight social and technological consequences of intelligent networks on people and organizations. They include: 1) Decentralization. 2) Immediacy 3) Interactivity, 4) Personalization, 5) Mobility, 6) Convergence, 7) Virtual Communication and 8) Artificial Intelligence.
Figure 1.
The Information & Telecommunications Systems Model
Internal Structure and System Processes
Network Holism
Hierarchical Ordering – Interdependency – Exchange
Equifinality – Redundancy – Adaptation
_________________ Permeability _________________
Decentralization – Immediacy – Interactivity – Personalization
Mobility – Convergence
Virtual Communication
Artificial Intelligence
Source: R. Gershon, 2011
The significance of this special issue of Global Media Journal lies in its revelations concerning how intelligent networks are used by people and organizations. It is incumbent upon today’s media scholars to understand the very network platforms that make such communication technologies as Smart phones, Geographic Information Systems, E-commerce and Internet social networking sites possible. At the same time, we need to understand some of the intended and unintended consequences of intelligent networks in terms of such things as information gathering, marketing, privacy invasion, Internet fraud, cyberterrorism and so forth. There is no going backwards. The knowledge economy has become a society of networks. We don’t talk with people; we network with them (Noam, 2001).
References
Auletta, K. (2009). Googled: The end of the world as we know it. New York: Penguin Press.
Berners-Lee, T. (1999). Weaving the web. New York: Harper Collins.
Gershon, R. (2011). Intelligent networks and international business communication: A systems theory interpretation. Media Markets Monographs. No. 12. Universidad de Navarra Press, Pamplona, Spain.
Gershon, R. (1997). The transnational media corporation: Global messages and free market competition. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Monge, P. & Contractor, N. (2003). Theories of Communication Networks. New York: Oxford Press.
Monge, P., Heiss, B. & Magolin, D. (2008). Communication network evolution in organizational communities. Communication Theory, (18)4, 449-477.
Noam, E.M. (2001). Interconnecting the network of networks. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Parsons, P. (2008). Blue skies: A history of cable television. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Tapscott, (1996). The digital economy: Promise and peril in the age of networked intelligence. New York: McGraw-Hill.
About This Issue
I have had the good fortune and privilege of working with Dr. Lawrence Wood who has served as both the Associate and Graduate Editor for this special issue. In the competitive papers section, we have three interesting but highly diverse set of papers. Two of the three papers focus on the importance of convergence. The first such paper was written by Dr. Gracie, Lawson-Borders, University of Wyoming and is entitled: Making the Connection: Digital Media and Intelligent Networking. Dr. Lawson-Borders has written extensively over the years in the area of media convergence. This paper examines intelligent networking through the lens of media convergence with a special emphasis given to the importance of social media. In this paper, she considers several important questions, including what types of social networking delivery channels are being used by media organizations to connect and deliver information.
The second paper appearing in the competitive section was written by Dr. Laurie Thomas-Lee, University of Nebraska. The paper is entitled: Location-Based Communication Systems: A Look at Intelligent Networking and Privacy Concerns. This paper is a logical extension of Dr. Thomas-Lee’s previous work in the area of privacy. Specifically, this paper examines the nature of location-based systems in the context of intelligent networking, where various technologies, pathways, and information repositories operate in a decentralized environment for the purpose of providing location-specific communication and information. Different types of technologies, routes, and databases are described and discussed. Privacy issues are of particular concern, given that the advanced features of an intelligent network make it easy and economically compelling to track individual locations without the person’s knowledge or consent.
The third paper appearing in the competitive section was written by Dr. Nabyla Daidj, Institute Telecom, Telecom Business School, France and is entitled: Media Convergence and Business Ecosystems. Dr. Nabyla Daidj is a specialist in the area of business strategy. This paper also examines the importance of media convergence with a special emphasis given to the role of value chains in helping to define the “new media” sector. The goal of this paper is to look at how convergence has impacted the business strategy of such companies as Apple, Google and Microsoft.
The invited papers section contains a special paper written by my colleague Dr. Lawrence Wood, Ohio University, that examines the importance of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The paper is entitled: Locating People, Places, and Things: Situating GIS in the Intelligent Network Landscape. This paper began as a conversation between Woody and myself as we discussed the sometimes underappreciated aspect of GIS which is at the heart of everything from Google maps to Disaster relief plans for a local community and its citizens. In this paper, Dr. Wood examines some of the fundamental characteristics that help define the field of geographic information systems. The paper considers the importance of GIS within the larger context of intelligent network service providers like Google, The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Geological Survey team.
The graduate section of this special issue on Intelligent networking features three highly diverse but interesting research projects. The first paper is co-authored by Nicole L. Weber, Dr. Simone C. O. Conceição, and M. Julia Baldor from the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. The paper is entitled: Closing the Gap: Using a Series of Social Networking Environments to Collapse Time and Space by Giving and Receiving Social Support. Their research examines the importance of social networking and features open-ended interviews and a content analysis of social network usage among 16 Brazilians who have relocated to the U.S. Their findings indicate that participation in social networks appear to support Wenger’s (1998) three dimensions of communities of practice: mutual engagement, joint enterprise, and shared repertoire.
The second paper appearing in the graduate section was written by Jason Weimer, Ohio University and is entitled: Privacy Costs of User-Generated Content. This paper examines the potential loss of privacy as a result of user generated content (UGC). This study supports previous findings that creators of UGC are willing to pay privacy costs such as unsolicited marketing communications, and unwanted advances from acquaintances for the gains in social capital made possible by creating personally identifiable UGC online.
The third and final paper appearing in this section is a co-authored piece written by Qingmei Qing, University of Georgia, and Dr. Tayo Oyedeji, Mediareach OMD, Nigeria. The paper is entitled: Credibility Perceptions of Different Types of Weblogs among Young Adults. In recent years, blog credibility has become a popular and somewhat controversial research topic given the fact that personal and institutional blogs have come to challenge traditional media and other types of online sources as an important source of information. The present study explores young adults’ perceptions on the relative credibility of institutional blogs versus personal blogs. The results of their study show that young adults don’t perceive institutional blogs to be any more credible than personal blogs. In addition, the findings suggest that young adults view news information on the Internet and cable television as being equally credible.
I invite you to join Dr. Wood and myself in exploring the special and unique world of intelligent network design.
Richard A. Gershon, Ph.D., Senior Editor
School of Communication
Western Michigan University
Lawrence Wood, Ph.D., Associate & Graduate Editor
School of Media Arts & Studies
Ohio University
About The Editors
Senior Editor
Richard A. Gershon, Ph.D., (Ohio University) is Professor and Co-Director of the Telecommunications & Information Management program at Western Michigan University. He is the author of Telecommunications & Business Strategy (2009) and The Transnational Media Corporation: Global Messages and Free Market Competition, winner of the 1998 book of the year sponsored by the National Cable Television Center. Dr. Gershon has twice been selected for national teaching honors including the Steven H. Coltrin Professor of the Year Award (2000) by the IRTS and the Barry Sherman Award for Teaching Excellence (2001) by the Management & Economics division of the AEJMC. Dr. Gershon is a founding member of the International Telecommunications Education & Research Association (ITERA) and served as the organization’s first President.
Website: http://homepages.wmich.edu/~gershon/
Associate and Graduate Editor
Lawrence Wood, Ph.D. (Pennsylvania State University) is an Associate Professor in the School of Media Arts and Studies at Ohio University. He currently serves as the Interim Director of the graduate program in Communication and Development Studies. Dr. Wood received his Ph.D. in Geography from Penn. State University, where he also earned a Master's degrees in Geography and in Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Economics. He has also published GIS-based research in peer-reviewed journals that include Telecommunications Policy.
Website: http://www.tcomschool.ohiou.edu/faculty/wood.html
|
