Opening: The Network Is The Message
The title used for the preface or introductory text is called "Opening" and the name given to this Opening is "The Network is the Message". It is a mimicry of Marshall McLuhan's famous slogan "The medium is the message". By substituting network for medium, Castells reinforces McLuhan's message that, in this case, it is the network which is important not the content. The opening may then be seen to be an invitation to explore the meaning of network via the content of the book. The word network itself is of ambiguous interpretation: infrastructure or society? Both interpretations are at play in the book. Since Castells is by profession a sociologist, then one expects a focus on network as society.
Read more about this topic: The Internet Galaxy
Famous quotes containing the words network and/or message:
“How have I been able to live so long outside Nature without identifying myself with it? Everything lives, moves, everything corresponds; the magnetic rays, emanating either from myself or from others, cross the limitless chain of created things unimpeded; it is a transparent network that covers the world, and its slender threads communicate themselves by degrees to the planets and stars. Captive now upon earth, I commune with the chorus of the stars who share in my joys and sorrows.”
—Gérard De Nerval (1808–1855)
“Christina Bailey: I was just thinking how much you can tell about a person from such simple things. Your car, for instance.
Mike Hammer: Now what kind of message does it send you?
Christina: You have only one real, lasting love.
Mike: Now who could that be?
Christina: You. You’re one of those self-indulgent males who thinks about nothing but his clothes, his car, himself. I’ll bet you do push-ups every morning just to keep your belly hard.”
—A.I. (Albert Isaac)