The Exploit

At about 9:45 Thursday night a fire broke out in the electrical room at NBC5's 3900 Barnett Street Studios in Fort Worth. The fire spread and became serious enough that the building was evacuated and the entire station lost power in the middle of the ten o'clock newscast. The ramifications of this fire extend beyond two canceled newscasts (Telemundo 39 is located in the same building) in the DFW area. Telemundo in Fort Worth provides news to other stations in the southwest region. Plus, thousands of dollars were lost because commercials were not broadcast. Since this occurred during a sweeps period, the lost viewership numbers could implicate what can be charged in the future. (Nielsen Media Research will most likely remove that night when determining NBC 5 and T 39's audience average) The Fort Worth studios also house the local news graphics hub. This means that when the building was evacuated, all the NBC-owned affiliates from WNBC in New York to KNBC in LA did not receive graphics for their newscasts. There was no one to create them. The moment the station lost power, important network connections were lost, the news producer's wire feeds, their connections to the graphics hub, the links to the NBC news video feeds, the links to the commercial hub in Atlanta, and the e-mail server based in New York and supported in India. NBC/Universal is a highly connected corporation and has used the power of networks to create efficiencies, by centralizing or "hubbing" certain duties. There is a balance of risk and reward in making these networked entities. A hub can reduce head count and maximize efficiencies, but it leaves workflow vulnerable if part of the network breaks down. The events at NBC 5 do not have the widespread repercussions of the SARS virus or an internet worm. But it does follow some of the characteristics of network behavior according to this week's reading. In The Exploit: A Theory of Networks, Alexander R. Galloway and Eugene Thacker say:

". . . it is in the nature of networks to transgress boundaries of all kinds--institutional, disciplinary, national, technical and ideological. As illustrated previously, a single entity such as computer worm or pouch of powdered anthrax immediately draws together a range of network nodes. . ." (p.97)

An electrical fire in one building affected the institution that is NBC 5/T 39, spread to other related institutions (WNBC, KNBC, etc..) it effected the the local Nielsen process and its network of sample households, and of course it effected the community of viewers who saw the stations abruptly go to black. Galloway and Thacker say:

"While networks can be individuated and identified quite easily, networks are also always "more than one." Networks are multiplicities, not because they are constructed of numerous parts but because they are organized around the principle of perpetual inclusion." (p.60)

Because of the network structures in place, it is impossible for there to be an "isolated incident". The only way to prevent this would be to break up the very structure that makes the institution viable.

The problem is the networks we enjoy and require for so much of life are also the means through which things like disease or computer viruses easily spread. And seemingly separate networks can effect each other. As Galloway and Thacker point out when talking about SARS:

"But SARS is also much more than just a biological network-- it brings together other networks together such as transportation, institutional, and communications networks." (p.89)

The efficiency of the world's transportation networks led to the virus spreading internationally. On the other hand, the increased connectivity and collaboration of scientists led to a quick identification, isolation and treatment. Do networks fail when a virus is spread? Galloway and Thacker believe;

"There are as many lessons to be learned from the "failures" of networks as there are from the successes. Perhaps we can note that a network fails only when it works too well, when it provides too little room for change within its grand robustness, as the example of the computer virus illustrates. . . If a network contains its own failure, then is also contains its own transgression of borders." (p. 96-97)

In this way, networks fail only when they succeed. Networks cultivate the flood, but the flood is what can take down the network." (p. 96)

Galloway and Thacker assert that the best way to navigate this interconnected world is to "scale up, not unplug. Then during the passage of technology into the this injured, engorged, and unguarded condition, it will be sculpted into something better, something in closer agreement with the real wants and desires of its users."

This seems to be a very optimistic view of networks, but it seems we don't have a choice, the networks will grow and we will continue to be more connected.

The incident at NBC 5 probably won't effect NBC/Universal's use of network resources to create efficiencies. There are more divisions to be hubbed. (I hear accounting and finance are next. . .)