Dear all Thursday, March 23, 2006, 8:58:49 PM, Nathaniel Poor wrote:
until the day the net is beamed directly into our brains like in the Matrix or Ghost in the Shell, I vote a happy yes!
I think two thing should be done: 1) Empirical and theoretical research into non-English 'internets'. Gradually, this occurs. "Internationalizing Internet Studies" workshop and edited collection can serve an example. (See for detail: http://www.capstrans.edu.au/resources/conferences/2006/conferences-2006-inet...) This can provide insights into how the Internet is adopted, appropriated, used and interpreted in various cultural contexts. 2) Translation of the studies about linguistically and culturally specific 'internets' written in national languages into English (perhaps with commentaries on some obscure terms and realities). This could help to integrate non-English Internet scholarship into the common (English-language) framework of Internet research and to introduce ideas, concepts and approaches that might be quite original/weird. This, in turn, could help to get rid of overgeneralisations found in English-language Internet/cyberculture studies and give lots of food for though. However, both (1) and (2) require some institutional framework and funding. I think it can be a good idea to establish an organization or a programme dealing specifically with the issues of the 'other' Internet. The English language would remain lingua franca for Internet research but other languages and cultures would be covered and integrated rather that ignored. Eugene Gorny PhD candidate Goldsmiths college, University of London http://www.zhurnal.ru/staff/gorny/