Role of Information Technology in the Formation of Social Networks

Social Change in a Network Society The Role of Information Technology in the

Formation of Social Networks

Contemporary society has built itself around new networks, both social and physical, which allow for more and more information technology to facilitate interaction. How will society instigate social change in a world where networks shape how we interact and the technology driving these networks is shaped and controlled by a specific group in society. The fact is, communication is increasingly dependent on information technology, which has been monopolized by a relatively few, largely american corporations. More and more information is produced and distributed at a global level, by means of new forms of communications and media technologies. The social bonds linking people together have been horizontally expanded dramatically by the emmergence of a telecommunications infrastructure, and this not only produces social networks, it fuses communication with technology. Information technology has made networks a feasible form of organization, and they have steadily replaced traditional forms of organization.

In researching this topic I examined the role of technology in the formation of social networks, who controls it, and how it will affect cycles of social change. Language is an essential component to social change, and it's role has been transformed by information technology. Words are now digitized along will many other forms of language, and this has changed the way contemporary humans view the world. Technology has certainly aided individuals and organizations setting out to create social change, but the question must be asked, how much of our current social condition is part of the structural networks that links u...

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...een in perspective as the ideology in media is diguised in the narrative.

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