Just to add another element to this interesting discussion thread--Langdon Winner's "Do Artifacts have Politics?" talks about how the pure "function" model of technology supports the argument that hardware/infrastructure is "just a tool --or 'just a delivery system'--and it is only in the uses to which it's put--or content/messages that are created--that we can discern social or political impact." His discussion of technological systems that embody in their design power and authority that favor certain interests and modes of social order is enlightening. Sarah Stein Associate Professor, Dept of Communication Chair, Teaching, Learning & Technology Roundtable (TLTR) N.C. State University Raleigh, NC 27695-8104
elw@stderr.org wrote:
there are certainly a lot of layers to this.
some packets [s/packets/communicative acts] are, by their very existence, messages. (e.g., ping packets or ICMP packets or syn/ack packets...)
Quite literally! The computer scientists conceive the whole internet as a layered entity (the physical layer, data link layer, network layer, transportation layer, etc.). Is it possible that we in internet research need to likewise formulate a layered conception of "medium?"
In a sense, there are many who only see the hardware, not differentiating between, for example, web surfing or IMing -- it's all just "stuff on the computer." For others, finer distinctions become important. Etc. Perhaps our difficulty in determining where the "medium" exists is our confusion over which layer of the thing on which we ought to focus??? -- Mark D. Johns, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Communication Studies Luther College, Decorah, Iowa http://academic.luther.edu/~johnsmar/ ----------------------------------------------- "Get the facts first. You can distort them later." ---Mark Twain _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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-- Sarah Stein, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Dept of Communication Chair, Teaching, Learning & Technology Roundtable (TLTR) Box 8104, N.C. State University Raleigh, NC 27695-8104 Ph: 919-515-9740; Fax 919-515-9456