The concept of flow, as it is stated in the text, is used as a metaphor for postmodern culture. The concept’s origins began in television, describing the flow of media from the television with commercials described as ‘interruptions’ of televisions flow. Around the 1970s, as the digital age took on a larger cultural role, the word’s usage shifted to encapsulate the circulation of information, infrastructure, and capital moving through digital networks. Unlike assemblage, which has a focus on the elements within an organised structure, the concept of flow focuses entirely on movement of such a structure. Social media platforms and consumer markets rely on user-generated flow. This is the data, funding, and user interaction that keeps media and financial systems ‘flowing.’ Specifically with media platforms, whether this be social media, streaming services, or television, data is collected from users and is then sent back into the ‘global information flow.’ Flow slightly reminds me of infrastructure, as both systems rely heavily on users to function and maintain movement.
2 thoughts on “flow-chloe whelan”
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The idea you raised about the streaming services and social media looking at data collected from users about flow allowed me to think about the way that Instagram and other social media apps track the times you get on the app, the types of videos you interact with, and what type of videos that cause you to leave the app. I believe this information is very important to social media platforms and the flow that they try to maintain because they try to limit the number of things that cause you to leave the app so they can have as much usage as possible.
I like how you discuss the origin of the flow and how it has changed since then, and I agree that it relies heavily on the user to function and maintain the movement like infrastructure. It reminds me of games I play on my phone. It will record the time I spent playing the game, and every hour it will remind me to take a ten-minute break. On top of that, if I don’t play for a long time, it sends a notification all the time. When you enter the game again, it will tell you how long it’s been since you played the game and give you some gifts in game that encourage you to continue to play. These notification and records are flows that rely on my activities and information. Flow need more interaction between humans and the internet compare to before.