Rob Furr wrote:
On the other hand, I guess I don't believe that my experiences, or, honestly, any of the semi-legendary events I've seen, are really any more worthy of being made part of a canon of net history than any other, equally instructive story.
I don't think it's so much a matter of what's "worthy" of being part of a canon -- what's interesting to me is what things do pop up repeatedly for whatever reason. For instance, how many times have you seen the "male psychologist pretends to be disabled woman" story? I don't tend to use that story in classes (unless I'm using a reading that discusses it), because I have other masquerade stories, but I would certainly say it's part of the history of the Internet "canon." Another example is the rec.pets.cats invasion, which I do discuss in classes (and in print). Yes there are other stories of the destruction of online social spaces, but rec.pets.cats is also instructive concerning changes in online demographics, the expansion of the Internet, and gender issues online. Some of the other stories I use: hostility towards AOL users when AOL first connected to the Internet (especially on Usenet); and AOL's introduction of a list of forbidden words (especially the word "breast"). That's all I can think of at the moment in terms of "events" online. _________________________________ Lori Kendall Assistant Professor of Sociology Purchase College-SUNY lori.kendall@purchase.edu