Good series of questions. I guess the interesting thing to me is why the hell people need to construct using the Internet as a spatial thing in the first place? We don't talk of 'phone space' or 'TV space'. So if I can cheat here, I'd say Cyber'space' is affected by the intersection of at least four factors. Firstly, by the use of offline space Secondly, by the use of the 'locale' for the reduction of communicative ambiguity. Thirdly, by the structures of communication employed online and Fourthly, by the use of space metaphors as a topos for persuasion, Offline space effects online space in that it gives the routes for wires, and the relevant social boundaries which affect the composition of the different types of offline groups (ethnic, class, politcal or subcultural, etc) which influences the composition of online groups, and the ways that people interpret each others messages. These offline space factors determine ease of access, delay, time of day people are online etc and therefore also affects the population composition of online groups which in turn gives the sense of the group's space through the emails or message they emit. (ie this is a way of saying onine groups develop cultures, and these cultures are not independent of the offline world) Offline the 'locale' often gives indications of expected behaviour, (ie bank, public park, person's home etc) which allows interpretation of communication, and a similar idea becomes important in the construction of Cyberspace, as is the distinction made between locales of public and private action - and the behaviour allowed and expected there. The ambiguities which arise are part of the dynamics of onlilne life. Online 'space' is also created by the structures of communication (ie whether the online forum is a Mailing List, MOO, Newsgroup etc) and the patterns of naming and exchange which eventuate. For example, people on a List define list locale by the volume and style of their posts and this might be quite different from other lists - giving it a sense of place and hence (to us) a sense of space. The involvement of communicative organization in the construction of space means that List space differs from MOO space and from Web space and has consequences for the kinds of social action and conflict which can easily eventuate. Online social space in many ways revitalizes the metaphorical similarity between topic and place which features in the rhetoric of Aristotle (ok :). Topos determines the method of persuasion, or poetic figuration which determines the nature of place which in turn determines topos. Topos (topic) is a tool of persuasion in rhetoric theory. People making political arguments about the Internet, or commercial organisations trying to exploit the Internet, often try to define it as a particular type of place to mobilize the persuasive topos associated with that locale. ie whether it should be free or controlled, or how people should behave. For example I was on a list once where people were arguing whether the list was like a lounge room or a pub, in order to say what kind of behaviour was appropriate or allowable. to self promote. I wrote about this at length in: "Cyber-space or Cyber-topos: the Creation of Online Space", Social Analysis, Special Issue on the Cultures of Cyberspace, No. 45(1), pp81-102. which may be completely irrelevant :) jon UTS CRICOS Provider Code: 00099F DISCLAIMER ======================================================================== This email message and any accompanying attachments may contain confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use, disseminate, distribute or copy this message or attachments. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete this message. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the sender expressly, and with authority, states them to be the views the University of Technology Sydney. Before opening any attachments, please check them for viruses and defects. ========================================================================