Hello, thx for your appreciation and question Let me clarify what I meant by saying that the term "digital society" is "theoretically disembedded". As I see it> When compared to its use during 70s and 80s, the semantic field of the original term "information society" transformed during 90s. There were many other terms (and respective authors) fighting for their place in the sun of understanding what society are we heading to - postindustrial and digital being the main competitors when taking seriously technology development as a part of/element in macro-social change. However, "postindustrial" was understood as a thing of the past (even Bell jumped out of the train) and "digital" had no strong author in academia to fight for it (Negroponte? tss..). It was Manuel Castells and his influential work (both textually and institutionally) that brought the term "information society" to the top of political agendas and professional disputes (see his citation index and influence). So, according to me, in the nineties, the term "digital society" had its meaning partly fixed in the debates about the appropriateness of the term "information society" and because the term "information society" won the race, something like "digital society" have got disembedded from being theoretically rooted - free to use for anyone willing to pick it up (in spite of the fact Manuel Castells' using of the term frequently in Communication Power 2009 - but with no reasoning). At least I do not see any author creating theoretical framework for the term and defending it against other terms :) I hope I explained understandably why I used the term and I hope that the discussion will pick up the thread of my first question and not this answer Excuse my weak English, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Petr Lupac M.A. Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague Celetná 20, Praha 1, 116 42, the Czech Republic Tel> (00420)736163866 e-mail> petr.lupac--at--gmail.com Office hours Mo 12:30-14:00, Celetná 20, room nr. 114, or by appointment. -----Original Message----- From: Charles Ess [mailto:charles.ess@gmail.com] Sent: Saturday, March 19, 2011 2:20 PM To: Petr Lupac; Air list Subject: Re: [Air-L] digital society instead of info soc? great questions, and i'll be eager to see responses - but can't resist commenting on: On 3/19/11 12:36 PM, "Petr Lupac" <petr.lupac@gmail.com> wrote:
Or is it just using the new, theoretically disembedded term so they can defend themselves by broad scope of interpretation possibilities?
Both as a cynic (in the popular sense) and something of a philosopher - is there such a thing as a theoretically disembedded term? I'm not trying to be snide here - but just genuinely curious. Thanks! - charles ess Institut for Informations- og Medievidenskab Helsingforsgade 14 8200 Aarhus N. Denmark mail: <imvce@hum.au.dk> tel: (+45) 8942 9250 Professor, Philosophy and Religion Drury University, Springfield, Missouri 65802 USA Exemplary persons seek harmony, not sameness. -- Analects 13.23