May I suggest another term? Cyberslang. I don't know who invented the term, but probably someone thought of it 20 years before me. To avoid confusion, here is how I define/explain it, and I'm open to other interpretations: To me, cyberslang is the language that comes out of written electronic communication. It started with lol, or IMHO, as abbreviations. Other examples are ppl (for people), or txt msg (for text message), or cul8r (for see you later). This last one in particular I consider a prime example of cyberslang. These are written examples. But there are also words that are created through or about electronic communication, such as IMing (sending an instant message) that are then used both in written interaction, and in spoken interaction. To me, that is slang that has to do with the cyber environment, thus, cyberslang. Just another thought. Ulla ---------------------------------------------------- Ulla Bunz Assistant Professor Department of Communication Rutgers University 4 Huntington Street New Brunswick, NJ 08901 Email: bunz@scils.rutgers.edu ---------------------------------------------------- -----Original Message----- From: air-l-admin@aoir.org [mailto:air-l-admin@aoir.org] On Behalf Of Denise Carter Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2003 11:50 AM To: air-l@aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-l] key terms/concepts for understanding the web i think a whole new vocabulary is opening up within the sociology/anthropology field - and i spend hours pondering on terms like:- cyberplace cybercommunity cyberethnography reality place and space how about explaining how you 'meet' ppl maybe also 'nicknames' need to be in there too my glossary contains words like - avatar, browser, cookie, emoticon, hacker, hardware, software, html, jpeg, virus, protocol, pixel, RAM, ROM, search engine, shortcut, surf etc denise Denise Maia Carter, School of Comparative and Applied Social Science, University of Hull, UK http://www.denisecarter.net denisecarter@denisecarter.net _______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l@aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l