Week Twelve Culture and Data

According to this week’s reading and lecture notes, Edwards illustrates the terms ‘infrastructural globalism’ and ‘data friction’ which both play a important role in his discussion about the collection and processing of data on a global scale. The key point can be found as data friction and infrastructural globalism. Firstly, data friction can be defined as the process of copying data information gathered from historical data through the years. For this reason, this process is significant in the publication and distribution of data on a global scale which hence shapes perceptions of society. Edwards then describes ‘infrastructural globalism’ to be the collection of global institutions which aid in collection of data and present global ways of thinking (Edwards, 2010). These two terms combine together to demonstrate how society and individuals not only engage with global data but build and add to it, finding new ways to interpret it and new ways to think.

I have chosen Instagram as it is one of my favorite social media applications which is something I view every hour. Another reason why I choose instagram is that it is a interesting and creative form of publishing and which provides a chance for every individuals to produce and publish their own photos or videos without any formality or judgment. In another word, it is a means of expression and aggregates to form a personal archive of memories which can be distributed either privately or publicly depending on the individual. Actually, instagram is not only a form of distribution and aggregation, but also can be used to trace history through the gathering of images or videos to categories data.

Instagram is included in the development of ‘data friction’ and ‘infrastructural globalism’ because it provides useful data in making these data publishing possible while further categorizing data through the use of personal profiles and hashtages. Actually, through using instagram, it is possible for individuals to follow others they are interested in on the application from all over the world and universally and collectively join this aggregation process. Therefore, instagram is a description of how all sorts of data collection from historical political data to personal photographs or videos of a holiday or weekends are now being distributed globally and shaping views to generate a global way of thinking.

rederence:http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/instagram-android-app-debuts-in-google-play-store-223939