Programming – Flow in the convergence of digital media platforms and television

Abstract

This essay updates Raymond Williams’ flow by defining its contemporary logics – televisible and invisual. The televisible are both media content and visual digital media forms that shape – and are shaped by – interactions with media content through digital media platforms. The invisual are unseen operations of software, algorithms and other processes that configure and manifest the televisible. A case study of Netflix illuminates how this reconceived flow series functions as a framework for understanding the stakes of digital media platforms that both foster possibilities for user interactivity and attenuate users to industrial models for audienceship and programming.