===Definition===
Decentralized networking is '[t]he disembodiment of the communication from the communicant, of information from the informant...’ In the developed world new communications media create a social structure in which communications are facilitated by electronic connections. ‘People are no longer members of social networks according to proximity alone.' (Green & Guinery, 1994, P. 163-4)
===Significance===
Sabbah best articulates the existence and significance of decentralized networks in the Information Society:
'In sum, the new media determine a segmented, differentiated audience that, although massive in terms of numbers, is no longer a mass audience in terms of simultaneity and uniformity of the message it receives. The new media are no longer mass media in the traditional sense of sending a limited number of messages to a homogeneous mass audience. Because of the multiplicity of messages and sources, the audience itself becomes more selective. The targeted audience tends to choose its messages, so deepening its segmentation, enhancing the individual relationship between sender and receiver.' (Sabbah in Castels, 1985, P.219)
Sabbah describes the information society as one made up of many individuals who disseminate information at a phenomenal rate without any formal organization by relationships, geography or economy. Thus the information society is decentralized.
===History===
The diversification of mass media and technologies available have led to the growing reliance on - and value of - information in advanced economies. These technologies have also facilitated the convergence of many traditionally separate mediums - such as print media and the internet - and increased the ability for individuals to exchange information outside the realms of formal reporting.
===Example===
Civic journalism is an example of decentralized networking in the information society as news is collected and exchanged by many individuals often without and connections (Social, geographical or otherwise) other than the medium they use (most often the internet.)
Decentralized networking when used in civic journalism ‘…takes the traditional five W's of journalism—who, what, when, where, why—and expands them—to ask why is this story important to me and to the community in which I live?’ (Fouhy, 1996)This is significant as it allows people through the information society to become more individualistic rather than a homogeneous mass.
===References===
Fouhy, E. (1996) Civic Journalism: Rebuilding the foundations of democracy, CPN, http://www.cpn.org/topics/communication/civicjourn.html
Sabbah, F. (1985) The New Media, in Castels, M. (ed) High Technology, Space and Society, Beverly Hills: Sage Publications. ISBN 0803924151
Green, L & Guinery, R. (1994) Framing Technology Allen & Unwin: NSW Australia. ISBN 1863735259
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Kristin Huddleston 01:07, 28 Oct 2005 (EST)
