A definition of the Internet is different from a definition of the activity of using the Internet - Internetting or whatever verb we decide is useful. Defining what "the Internet" means is a little like defining what "book" means; it's technically useful (and necessary for certain professions - publishers, booksellers, etc.), but most people are interested in the experience of reading the book (which contains the technical definition), not in the book itself. The Internet itself is really quite simple from a definitional standpoint: you can see this by what's required, technically, to be *on* the Internet: a computer with a network interface, an Internet Protocol number, and TCP/IP protocol. Everything else is an add-on, including the various file transfer systems (FTP, Web) and email, chat, IM, etc. But as a definition, it's does nothing to explain the experience of Internetting, of course. Anyone care to try a definition of Internetting? (There's probably a much better word for this, I realize.) Neil Randall Yes, in my brief phrase "Internet as an agreement(s)" I think we lead towards an understanding of this ... it's an agreement around TCP/IP ... that TCP/IP be a protocol over which we can define additional protocols, and around peering agreements by which traffic will be carried through networks held by others. On 10/17/06, Christian Fuchs <christian.fuchs@sbg.ac.at> wrote:
I think the standard techno-determinist definition of the internet is that it is a global network of computer networks operating with TCP/IP.
I think this already neglects the importance of social systems/virtual communities which are social internets. Therefore I define the internet as a techno-social system consisting of a technological structure (network of computer networks, global, TCP/IP) storing and distributing knowledge and social systems of cognition, communication, and co-operation. The two systems are structurally coupled.
I have published a paper on the question of how to define the internet:
Fuchs, Christian (2005) The Internet as a Self-Organizing Socio-Technological System. In: Cybernetics & Human Knowing. Vol. 12, No. 3. pp. 57-81. http://cartoon.iguw.tuwien.ac.at/christian/InternetSelfOrg.pdf
Christian
-- _____________________________ Univ.Ass. Dr. Christian Fuchs ICT&S Center - Advanced Studies and Research in Information and Communication Technologies & Society http://www.icts.uni-salzburg.at University of Salzburg Sigmund Haffner Gasse 18 5020 Salzburg Austria christian.fuchs@sbg.ac.at Phone +43 662 8044 4823 Fax +43 662 6389 4800 Information-Society-Technology: http://cartoon.iguw.tuwien.ac.at/christian/ Managing Editor of tripleC - open access online journal for the foundations of information science: http://triplec.uti.at
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