A network society may be defined as the formation in which all levels of society are structured in such a way as to enable their interconnectedness as a means of enhancing the production processing and dissemination of information. In a modern network society, individuals communicate through means of wireless mobile technology, and are seen to have the ability to spread the network society to the most remote places and the deepest pores of the world.
Castells states that it might be true that “wireless communication homogenizes space” because of the way it connects people independent from their location. Mackenzie writes “WI-FI connections, intermittent, unstable and uneven as they often are, act as a kind of patch or infill at the edges and gaps in telecommunications and network infrastructure."
In other words, this trend will play a role in further development of wireless internet access. We are now experiencing a competition between UMTS and WI-FI technologies in providing ubiquitous broadband data services. However, WI-FI and UTMS can be also found to complement each other. Wireless networks are faster, better and convenient to users. As long as your location connects properly within the network, connection and communication is therefore easier. There is a specific role that mobile networks play in the use of mobile technology in South Africa, as well as in all parts of the world.
Mobile networks are a form that enhances communication globally. Together with social networks, mobile networks help society “keep in touch” with other people as well as local and international trends. It has become convenient to communicate with people from all corners of the world with the use of new technologies that fall under mobile networks such as phone calls, video calling as well as SMS (short messaging service).
Network providers are, in definition, a company that provides backbone services to an Internet Service Provider(ISP), the company that most web users use for access to the internet. An ISP can purchase a wholesale dial access service from an NSP, which provides dial up connectivity for their customers. Customers then dial into their ISPs network using a local access number, which in turn connects to the backbone of that Internet Providers NSP.
The NSP routes all traffic and basically provides the infrastructure needed for internet connectivity. The NSP builds, maintains and expands their infrastructure as internet traffic demands.
The ISP is responsible for its own network, sales and marketing, and customer service. An ISP can also purchase other services from an NSP that they, in turn provide their customers such as email service, web-based email service, personal web hosting, chat, discussion groups and other end-user applications. All these services are provided under the ISP’s brand name rather than that of the NSP.
Mobile Networks in South Africa vary. Cell c, Vodacom, Mtn, Virgin Mobile and Telkom are the network providers available in South Africa. People using these mobile networks have a specific cellphone number assigned to them in order for people to be able to reach others. The first three digits of the cellphone number determine which network provider one is using.
The first symptoms of the mobile networking technology that impact on a daily life are seen almost everywhere, especially in the countries where the mobile solutions have been integrated into economy, business, governance, and last but not least in a lifestyle. Every day we can see how the online world is being transformed into a universal digit marketplace and social communications agora, full of shopping malls, commercial content, chat forums and learning platforms.
Mobile technology, based on wireless solutions, offers us a possibility to be “always on,” to hear and to be heard regardless of the place where we are. Owing to the “always on” factor the mobile phones ensure a permanent linkage with the members of the community- one can be on the move, one’s friends or collaborators might be on the move as well, yet contacts have not been broken, and thereby our basic need for participation and affiliation is fulfilled.
Nowadays, people no longer have to travel miles to meet up with people, instead they can do it through the phone as well as electronically for example using Skype. Skype works in a video format, which functions on camera phones and other technological devices which are able to connect to the internet. People who communicate through Skype have the ability to see one another from different geographical parts of the world using wireless connectivity.
It is seen that mobile wireless technology is an interconnected tool of communication. Society is now able to socialize more effectively through the use of social media as well as the internet as a whole. This way, it is clear that society is spread throughout the most remote places and the deepest pores of the world, due to new technological innovations and wireless connectivity. It is therefore a privilege for the youth to be able to keep up with their surroundings and follow current affairs in which ever country they want to.
In conclusion, South Africa as a society is a rather unified one, and throughout the years to follow, networking will be the only means of communication, people will prefer to be tapping their screens than going out for lunch and drinks with their circle of friends. Life will be about wireless mobile networking day in, day out.
http://emperors.kucjica.org/spatial-theory-from-network-society-to-net-locality/
Bibliography:
searchnetworking.techtarget.com/definition/network-service-provider
robertoigarza.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/art-mobile-network-society-and-culture-muraszkiewicz-2004.pdf
Http://emperors.kucjica.org/spatial-theory-from-network-society-to-net-locality/
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