According to this week’s readings, Assemblages are a combination of elements that allow for an interaction on (in the case of publishing and publics) a social and technological level (Wikipedia, 2012). There are two particular theories of Assemblages that help us to understand the concept better. 1. The Actor Network Theory is a clearer way of looking at assemblages and proposes that a number of actants (both material and semiotic) can come together and work in a network towards a positive outcome (Wikipedia, 2012). It is a flat ontology which means that every actant is equally important (Wikipedia, 2012). 2. ANPS - also occurs in a flat ontology where every actant is of equal importance, however each actant has is composed of a number of different qualities, each with a different role. These roles include; Material, expressive, aesthetic, territorial, deterritorial and linguistic/coding (Wikipedia, 2012).
Particularly in relation to media ethnography, Assemblages and the Actor Network Theory are important tools in researching levels of society that are in between the individual (micro) and the mass public (macro).
Image.
Using the weeks readings and some of last years blogs for inspiration, I have chosen to portray a basic diagram of my local newspaper and some of the major actants that come together to form this newspaper publication that informs much of the Blue Mountains (Blue Mountains Gazette, 2012).
Even this newspaper, relatively basic in comparison to mass produced papers throughout Australia and the world, has an online viewership, which extends the list of actants considerably (Blue Mountains Gazette, 2012).
- NOTE: It is also important to acknowledge that this is a rough diagram and the nature of assemblages is transcendent in that there are always smaller actants within actants, and so on.
Bibliography:
‘Actor Network Theory’, Wikipedia,<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actor-network_theory> (very short, very useful summary of Latour)
‘Actor Network Rochambeau’, any-space-whatever blog, <http://www.anyspacewhatever.com/actor-network-rochambeau/> , November 14, 2010
‘A New Philosophy of Society: Assemblage Theory and Social Complexity’, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_New_Philosophy_of_Society:_Assemblage_Theory_and_Social_Complexity>
Blue Mountains Gazette (2012) About Us, Fairfax media, 16/03/2012
<http://www.bluemountainsgazette.com.au/contact.aspx>
<http://www.sixfoot.com/images/media/gazette2002_resized.jpg>
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