It's not a trivial question. And whether people understand just what it is has very important consequences. I've got my own answer - somewhat abstract - that it is essentially an agreement or set of agreements ... but rather than offer my quasi formal definition, I'd like to draw your attention to another approach ... I've been asking people to describe rather than to define the Internet as a part of my Chicago Internet interviews for "One Web Day" ... there are perhaps 20 interviews on YouTube ... and a few more I havent put online yet... (I intend to do some more). If you go to YouTube and search for "owd" you will come upon some of the videos. -MM -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Executive Director, CTCNet Chicago Chapter Co-Founder, Chicago Digital Access Alliance Co-Chair, Illinois Community Technology Coalition President, Association For Community Networking Support the efforts of the Chicago Digital Access Alliance: http://www.digitalaccessalliance.org