ASSEMBLAGE

Beginning to write this blog about assemblage, the one thing that kept crossing my mind is how much it relates to everything, not just publishing. When I try to explain assemblage to myself, I think of a car. If you break down, you call the NRMA. They might say your engine is broken. Then they have to look at all the parts of the engine and see which one needs replacing. Then you need the part of the engine to make your car run again.

There are so many ‘actants’ that are needed to fix your car, both human and non human. That’s what makes an assemblage.

Although it is called a “theory”, Actor Network Theory (ANT) does not usually explain “why” or "how" a network takes the form that it does. Rather, ANT is a way of thoroughly exploring the relational ties within a network (which can be a multitude of different things). As Latour notes "explanation does not follow from description; it is description taken that much further." It is not, in other words, a theory "of" anything, but rather a method, or a "how-to book" as Latour puts it.

In the tutorial this week we conducted a task I found very interesting and really got me thinking about the intricate relationships in an assemblage. Our group looked at Apps’ for iPhones, iPads, Androids etc. We listed all the actants we thought needed to build and application:

Designers,

Design software

Apple Inc.

Samsung

Android

Google,

Credit Card (money),

Backflip or any large app production companies

Facebook,

iPhone,

Agencies

Hosting companies

Advertisers 

Im sure the list goes on!

We concluded that the Macro assemblages would be the production agencies such as Backflip, and the Micro assemblages would be things such as code and colour.

We then asked ourselves some questions about apps and how they’ve changed society. Well I guess the simple answer to that is it’s made us lazier. I mean, who needs to go to the bank now? Not me. I’ve got my app. Who needs to play soccer outside when you can play soccer on a game app? The list is endless.

Here’s a scene from the movie ‘Friends with Benefits’ that came to mind. 

It’s interesting to look at how the assemblage of apps changed the relationships between the actants. Apple was the original territorial owner of apps, and iPhone dominated the market. Now we can see that Samsung, it’s main competitor is a large part of the assemblage too. And as consumers, we are completely excluded from the development process, but we are the ones who demand it! Crazy!

What would we do without people to write codes, computers to implement codes, software to develop the app, advertisers to invest in the app, agencies to sell the app, and then Apple or Samsung to buy the app? It’s a mouthful, and that’s just the app assemblage in a very small nut shell.