Premium
The information society: permanent crisis through the (dis)ordering of networks
Author(s) -
MARSHALL JONATHAN PAUL
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
global networks
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.685
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1471-0374
pISSN - 1470-2266
DOI - 10.1111/glob.12023
Subject(s) - misinformation , order (exchange) , information society , computer science , software , information networks , internet privacy , sociology , business , computer security , political science , knowledge management , law , finance , programming language
People often assume that computerized networks are relatively stable and well connected. This implies that the network society, or information society, is also relatively stable, well ordered and adaptive. However, computer software and networks repeatedly fail or prove inadequate, so we cannot assume that network society is stable. Similarly, misinformation is as expected and socially important as information. By taking this disorder seriously, it becomes possible to observe data that paradigms that primarily seek order exclude and to reveal some of the fundamental paradoxes of the information society that simultaneously both undermine and establish that society. By means of these informational paradoxes, I consider and elucidate some network and software failures from January 2011.