This essay (draft) uses applied knowing (knowing through doing) to demonstrate the network literacy I have acquired throughout the RMIT University course Network Media.

I will then talk about the repercussions that the radically changing cycle of media as we know it will have on my role as a professional media-maker and influencer.

I believe the key components to participating as a peer in the network are:

• finding
• understanding, and 
• collating.

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To successfully participate in networks, we need to develop the skills to find the information we need to create meaning. For me, finding means knowing how to create pathways between information. Online, this means clicking between webpages and media items until I arrive at the platform which houses the information I think I need. It is here that I then move on to processing data and contextualise this information in order to understand it.

This model of finding does not just apply to the Internet network, but also other types of networks as well (such as using a map and reading street signs to find information pertaining to the road network). After all, networks are simply a system of parts that have some kind of relation to each other. Watts tell us that “a network is nothing more than a collection of objects connected to each other in some fashion” (2003).

There are problems and hurdles that can occur when finding information, such as issues with privacy, access, copyright. There are also gatekeepers of information who can make it more difficult to find what you’re looking for. To be network literate is to understand these hurdles and know appropriate strategies for how to overcome them.

In my professional practice as a media maker, I foresee this issue affecting me the most, as I want work as a journalist. Gatekeepers will be thick and fast in my industry, and may include governments, corporations, celebrities, sports teams, and individuals who only want to present selected information. It will be my role to uncover the whole truth of the information in order to produce investigative journalism. I will be tasked with finding information in almost all of my media endeavours.

The web has become an egalitarian space. We’re all talking to each other, rather than previous models of top-down communication which were autocratic and hierarchical (such as Laswell’s model of communication). With these changes that empower audiences to be active, rather than passive, come new methods of interacting with each other. This can be proven by the rise in prominence of platforms like Twitter which connect users with their followers in a way that provides equal access to talking to each other. An example is that I can easily tweet to local politicians, which is a kind of communication that previously could only have happened by writing a letter or placing phone calls to an MP’s offices. Similarly, I can weigh in on debates by tweeting to journalists and news publications, whereas previously I would have been limited to writing a letter to the editor. Adapting to these new methods of communication show that I have the capacity to embrace change and utilise new affordances.

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Understanding is another important part of participating within networks. It is imperative to contextualise the data we receive and turn it into information with significance. It is within the relationships between multiple pieces of information that meaning creation happens.

A big part of understanding happens by reading widely and engaging in critical thinking. I also believe it involves using interdisciplinary learning discourse from other schools of thought.

For me personally, this happens online by using alternative websites to fact check and confirm information I receive. For instance, when I read a breaking story on a news publications website, I will cross-check with other reputable news sources to ensure they are publishing the same information.

In offline networks, this can happen in similar ways too. Using the example from above if I were to be using a map and street signs to find information about the road network, I could use outside knowledge such as anecdotal evidence from previous journeys I had made, directions given from a friend, or suggestions from an external application/source which tells me to expect delays and disruptions to influence how I understood the information I found.

I think understanding is being able to take information and think about it with your own brain to come to the conclusions that make the most sense to you. It’s also about being open to wide and diverse sources of information. It is about trusting yourself to contextualise the information you make yourself available to.

What does this mean for me professionally? Well, if I am to become a journalist I will be required to sort through large volumes of information very quickly, and synthesise information into digestible outputs. I will need to be a very quick learner, and utilise skills of close listening and close reading. I must be open to diverse opinions from people across social, age, and cultural boundaries, and refrain from judgement.

I think developing my participation in the network has well prepared me for these challenges. My ability to be flexible, adapt to changing circumstances and demonstrate initiative is one of my strengths. I thrive on new challenges and pressure, and can channel this into motivating myself and those around me to identify opportunities and achieve innovative results.

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Collation is the act of gathering information you have found (and understood), and combining it into a system or systems make up of parts.

In our contemporary media environment of convergence, collation brings along many challenges. Copyright and intellectual property laws mean that media-makers must be conscious of correctly using and attributing material which they do not own. A fascinating area within the online network is the area of creative commons, of which Lawrence Lessig is a great proponent. Here, licenses are provided which enable the flow and distribution of information, without having to continually grant permission for usage of the copyrighted content. This has bred an incredibly interesting culture of ‘remixing’, which theorists such as Lessig and Yochai Benkler discuss at length.

Read/Write culture is one where a reciprocal relationship between the producer and the consumer exists. A prominent example which we have been practicing within during Network Media is blogs. Comments and linking are imperative features of blogs which facilitate dialogue. Tagging and categories are techniques to facilitate the blogging ecosystem as well.

Because blogging is a system of collation, there is a strong emphasis placed on the importance of reputation within the blogosphere. Bourdieu’s notion of capital (1986) provides an interesting perspective for viewing the activity of the digital age. He theorises that cultural capital, financial capital and social capital culminate to ascertain how much power and agency individuals can wield. This becomes interesting in the online network, as our profiles and web activities can become mouthpieces for displaying our cultural, financial and social capital.

However, contemporary sociologists and media theorists are beginning to thinking about a new emerging form of capital: that of digital capital. This is the kind of capital which is incredibly important in the digital realm. For example, there is a community of content creators on YouTube who are changing the landscape of media traditional celebrity because of their ‘digital capital’ and markers of success.

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In conclusion, Network Media has opened my eyes as to how I can be the most efficient and productive member of the online network, by increasing my network literacy, making me comfortable with change, and encouraging me to think about how I will be a media maker and influencer in the future.