Interesting to incorporate Giddens' structuration...it seems sometimes that we are under-emphasizing the contributions of the 'infrastructure'...depending on the environment (e.g. asynchronous/synchronous, use of avatars, etc.) the end-user experience can shift, thus the way in which people interact, communicate and envision that interaction can shift as well...an interesting question is to what degree does structure, or in this case infrastructure, impact human action/consciousness/communication/etc. -->community...I would extend this infrastructure to include all that affects the end-user experience (e.g. bandwidth, processor speed, type of content, etc.) would need to be considered... Steve ________________________________ From: air-l-admin@aoir.org on behalf of Kevin Tharp Sent: Sun 2/8/2004 1:18 PM To: air-l@aoir.org Subject: [Air-l] structuration I suggested:
Similar to the concept of community (dare I use such word in educated company), it is not the infrastructure that makes the community, it is the people that make the community. The community is then supported by the infrastructure.
To Which Jonathon Marshall replied:
I'd suggest that the infrastructure is not quite that passive. The infra structure allows certain types of community to form, and is in turn shaped by the politics of that community and may reinforce those politics. The more permanent the structure the more it enstructures. But even a permanent shifting structure enables certain behaviours more than others.
I Absolutely agree! This is much in the vein of Giddens structuration, which is a balance between determinism and social shaping. I still stand by my conviction that it is not the infrastructure that makes the community it is the people. Without the people, there is no community. Perhaps it would have been better stated, "the community is then supported and shaped by the interaction of the people and the infrastructure." Regards, Kevin W. Tharp _______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l@aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l