Networks

mosque

I like the look of the new mosque on Wolseley Road, particularly now it has the dome in place. It gives the area a completely different look and will certainly provide a hub for the local Muslim community. The emphasis on locality reminded me of deCerteau writing about networks of communication:

"….ethnic ties do not replace economic relations, but they allow them to be developed. In the same way they do not suppress the importance of locality, but reinforce it, with ethnic groups seeking to find a common space by living together in the same neighbourhood or along the same axis of trade or public transportation, whether in the city or the suburbs, depending on the possibilities on offer." (deCerteau, 1997:112)

But locality is only one dimension; he also reminds us how new media can make it possible to break up the "stodginess of local networks and to establish relations with new partners for given projects of common interest". I’m sure this is happening, too.

Meeting a motley group of friends and academics to launch UKLA’s Digital Literacy SIG caused me to reflect on my own networks and how these are part local and part dispersed; part face-to-face, but also heavily mediated by new technology. It seems here that another group may lead to another blog. Maybe it’s time to kill this one off – my only reluctance is that the colour pics look so good on a black template!