I forgot the most important argument: Internet is of course NOTHING without human beings USING it. Internet is an artefact that mediates between the human subject and our objects (that may be various things). As a mediator it changes the activity as a whole. This comes from activity theory, very useful, I find. All the best, Yvonne
To be the devil's advocate (or at least a media historian) is what we are describing a difference in kind or in scale? Most of us on air-l are probably aware of the use of the phone (landline, then mobile) and fax for organizing...and I recall reading about examples of the use of audio cassettes and letters for organizing (though obviously on a different timeline). So as I see it there are three fairly obvious things the internet brings that are different than media before it in this regard: One is the internet's relative instantaneity, another its reach to so many people, and another is the inherent "copy-ability" of internet communication (e.g., the ease of forwarding, posting). Which of these matters most, or are they all equal? And what I'd like to know more than that: Is there something else, something about the internet as a medium, that makes it more than a faster/broader medium in comparison to what has come before it?
Thanks, Sj
-- Yvonne Wærn, Professor em, PhD. Department of Communication Studies, Linköping University SE 581 83 Linköping