metaphors for internet security
I was thinking today about what metaphors might be appropriate for internet security. I was considering primarily metaphors based on current technology. If you had to think that the internet security was most like a the security issues surrounding another technology, would you think that it was more like keeping a house secure, or a wallet? a car secure or a toaster secure? thoughts? other ideas?
I was thinking today about what metaphors might be appropriate for internet security. I was considering primarily metaphors based on current technology. If you had to think that the internet security was most like a the security issues surrounding another technology, would you think that it was more like keeping a house secure, or a wallet? a car secure or a toaster secure? thoughts? other ideas?
epidemiological metaphors - the spread of disease, vulnerabilities, 'penetration' of 'susceptible' systems, infestation, worms, parasites, trojan horses, virii, blah blah blah the best metaphor-building technology of all: the human body. elijah
the problem with the body metaphor is that it is quite hard to seize total control of someone's body and mind... but it isn't that hard to take control of a computer, even without any virus, etc. the office or locked drawer metaphor is problematic in that it probably only governs certain interest groups, and does not really consider the harm to others. The office seems to me to be a property metaphor aimed toward privacy, and does not really consider the harm toward others can Distributed Attacks, and trojans can perform. This is why i entered the car metaphor, which has serious implications for harm to others, but then i thought maybe a toaster and its warning labels are more appropriate, because you can (I subscribe to strange news sources) die or serious harm others from misusing a toaster or by not securing a toaster properly. However, a toaster in that regard is not nearly the same sort of thing as other more obviously dangerous implements like knives and guns, which culturally carry their own warning in their design, though yes, that has to be learned, but the toaster looks very much like an appliance, and i think many people have begun to think of the personal computer as an appliance like the toaster.... your thoughts?
<quote who="jeremy hunsinger">
and i think many people have begun to think of the personal computer as an appliance like the toaster....
As an aside to Jeremy's original inquiry, the above statement reminds me of something I just heard at the International Communication Association and thought quite interesting. Robert Larose was making the argument that much of our Internet/technology use is habitual, rather than guided by active choice following uses and gratifications theory (a mass communication theory many of you are probably familiar with). Larose was saying that, i.e., we don't actually choose consciously to check our email in the morning, it's just something that we do automatically because it's part of our routine - like popping two slices of toast into the toaster in the morning (unless you're the corn flakes kind of person, of course, but I'm sure you see the analogy one way or the other). I think this is an interesting perspective and certainly seems true for some of my personal Internet and technology usage. It also goes back to the point Charles Ess brought up on this list just a short time ago when he shared with us that his students don't really exprience the "wow" effect about the Internet and related technology anymore. Some of the people responding to that thread had said that it's probably because younger generations have grown up with the Internet and thus take it for granted. They know no different than the Internet being part of their everday life. Introducing the word "habit" and "habitual use" to describe some of these phenomena may be stating the obvious, but I certainly had never heard it stated quite that openly before and thought I'd share this with you, since Jeremy's statement reminded me of it. Comments? Anyone else encountered this before? Are there theories in other disciplines that address this? Ulla
Dear Ulla & AIR'ers - This is a bit sideways, but this process of habituation - and I think it is a *great* point you are making here - echoes the process of how Ed Hutchins "tames" cognition into "working practices" in his book: _Cognition in the Wild_ (1995). I wrote about it a bit in a paper (1997, unpub.) "Chunking, linking, surfing and mapping: How four different memory modes serve as cognitive artifacts for enhanced human-computer interaction." (not the habituation part, but the cognitive part). Donald Norman wrote about the computer as a "smart appliance" in _the Invisible Computer_ (1999) which may address habituation, it's a book on my shelf that I haven't read yet. I find it interesting when the computer/network moves from the realm of cognitve artifact (yes, my computer/network helps me to THINK) to ordinary. This could happen through entertainment (games), pragmatic use (just a typewriter), or a kind of invisibility (habituation) - which could tie back into the story of the telephone? as it became a habitual technology. Great stuff here! Denise ===== "Stupidity is not just a lack of content; it's also a process" Denise N. Rall, Sustainable Forestry Mentoring Coordinator & PhD student, School of Education, Southern Cross University, PO Box 157, Lismore, NSW, 2480 Australia Phone +61-2-6624-8627 Fax +61-2-6624-8637 Office (Tuesdays) (02) 6620 3577 Mob 0438 233 344 http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/edu/research/deniserall/index.html __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Calendar - Free online calendar with sync to Outlook(TM). http://calendar.yahoo.com
Hi all, I agree with Denis here about the interesting points and I would like to take this a bit further. Habituation process or embeding the technology/technology application to your everyday life can also be described with R. Silverstone's domestication of technology theories, as he sees as the result of the successful domestication of the artefact to be invisibility. It would be very interesting to broaden this notion of domestication also to the technological applications of for what we use the thechnology (like e-mail). But coming from somewhat younger genereation, who has had Internet in her life more than one third of it, I have a question about the uses and gratifications part. Why rule that out? why think that if a technological application becomes habitual in its use, that then we have no use and/or gratification to it? Correct me if I am wrong, but it seems to me, that technology can become habitual only if we find the appropriate uses and gratifications to it? and Playing along with ideas on Bourdieu, different logic of practices makes uses and gratifications (and therefore domestication) easier for some people rather than others. It is very interesting thread for me as I try, in my research, to doexactly the thing - look at what kind of people, with what kind of cultural, economic and social capital, use and gratify interent in which ways. As I really feel that it is very important to openly start avoiding notion of singular internet use and start looking through prisms of different types of uses and users and gratifications. I hope some of this interesting discussion gets me further on this road. Pille Vengerfeldt PhD studnet in University of Tartu, Marie Curie Fellow in Dublin City University
Hi everyone, I am still going on habituation. I am thinking of the book _Home_ by someone like Witvald Rybenscki (whew, I will have to mail in later with the cite as I cannot remember it). Who talked about 'home' (I am taking off from 'habitas' here - on the arrival of the culture of the home) - and I hope not to mean Martha Stewart here, but she plans her role in the 21st century home, I guess. This author (mispelled above) said the culture of home came from the Brits, and more specifically, Jane Austen, in the sense of the comfortable or cozy home, the domesticity that we often think of today. I was also thinking to further tie these concepts of home use in with habitual use, there would also be some level of consumption centered around the internet in the home. "home consumption" and that the home moved, in England, from the center of production to the center of consumption. I was exactly thinking of domestication and Silverstone, thanks to another writer - but also that domestication - the Scandanavians have done a lot of work on that, how technology is included in the home as a domestic practice. Don't have anything too specific in mind here, there are many later anthologies, this is the only one I had kicking around in Endnotes: Women, work and computerisation: Forming new alliances.(1989) K. Tijdens and e. al. Amsterdam, North-Holland: 153-160. There's tons more work here to be done on this. Denise ===== "Stupidity is not just a lack of content; it's also a process" Denise N. Rall, Sustainable Forestry Mentoring Coordinator & PhD student, School of Education, Southern Cross University, PO Box 157, Lismore, NSW, 2480 Australia Phone +61-2-6624-8627 Fax +61-2-6624-8637 Office (Tuesdays) (02) 6620 3577 Mob 0438 233 344 http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/edu/research/deniserall/index.html __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Calendar - Free online calendar with sync to Outlook(TM). http://calendar.yahoo.com
Hi Everybody, I've just joined the list and thought I'd say hi to all out there. My name is Paul Fitzpatrick, I am currently studying (nearly finished) for my Masters of Internet Studies (design major) through Curtin University. At the moment I am studying externally and living on the North Coast of NSW doing some part time web development work. I may (hopefully) be doing a PhD next year, so will be studying aspects of the Internet for a while yet :). I am quite a habitual user of the Internet and enjoy thinking about the many techno-sociological effects of the net. It is moving so darned quickly and changing how we communicate and associate to such an extent - pretty fascinating. btw - I must admit I am somewhat a closet techno-utopian, I'm hoping the Internet will help us better understand each other on a personal level and global level - ideally, the Internet will continue to be a beneficial resource for humanity (not just a new market place for the information rich). Running on from that I'm interested in concepts such as Free Software, the survival of digital commons, a decentralized Internet and Libertarian aspects (I like ideas/thoughts of Richard Stallman, Eric Raymond, Lawrence Lesig, Baudrillard etc.) I hope to enjoy discussing some interestoing topics with you all. :) Cheers, Paul ------------------------------ Paul Fitzpatrick my email - pfitz@dodo.com.au <mailto:pfitz@dodo.com.au> my msn: pfitzp101@hotmail.com <mailto:pfitzp101@hotmail.com> my ICQ: 113148008 ---------------------------------------------- "I have done that", says my memory. "I cannot have done that", says my pride, and remains inexorable. Eventually-memory yields" - Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil.
Denise, I'm not certain that this is in line with what you are thinking, but the work that comes to mind for me is: Cowan, R. S. (1983). More Work for Mother: the Ironies of Household Technology from the Open Hearth to the Microwave. New York: Basic Books, Inc. -Pam ____________________________________________ Pam Hassebroek, Ph.D. Student Information and Communications Policy School of Public Policy Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 30332-0345, U.S.A. http://www.spp.gatech.edu/people/students/phassebroek.html -----Original Message----- From: air-l-admin@aoir.org [mailto:air-l-admin@aoir.org]On Behalf Of Denise N. Rall Sent: Friday, June 06, 2003 1:48 AM To: air-l@aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-l] Internet = toaster = habitual use Hi everyone, I am still going on habituation. I am thinking of the book _Home_ by someone like Witvald Rybenscki (whew, I will have to mail in later with the cite as I cannot remember it). Who talked about 'home' (I am taking off from 'habitas' here - on the arrival of the culture of the home) - and I hope not to mean Martha Stewart here, but she plans her role in the 21st century home, I guess. This author (mispelled above) said the culture of home came from the Brits, and more specifically, Jane Austen, in the sense of the comfortable or cozy home, the domesticity that we often think of today. I was also thinking to further tie these concepts of home use in with habitual use, there would also be some level of consumption centered around the internet in the home. "home consumption" and that the home moved, in England, from the center of production to the center of consumption. I was exactly thinking of domestication and Silverstone, thanks to another writer - but also that domestication - the Scandanavians have done a lot of work on that, how technology is included in the home as a domestic practice. Don't have anything too specific in mind here, there are many later anthologies, this is the only one I had kicking around in Endnotes: Women, work and computerisation: Forming new alliances.(1989) K. Tijdens and e. al. Amsterdam, North-Holland: 153-160. There's tons more work here to be done on this. Denise ===== "Stupidity is not just a lack of content; it's also a process" Denise N. Rall, Sustainable Forestry Mentoring Coordinator & PhD student, School of Education, Southern Cross University, PO Box 157, Lismore, NSW, 2480 Australia Phone +61-2-6624-8627 Fax +61-2-6624-8637 Office (Tuesdays) (02) 6620 3577 Mob 0438 233 344 http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/edu/research/deniserall/index.html __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Calendar - Free online calendar with sync to Outlook(TM). http://calendar.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l@aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l
This is a really interesting thread. Ulla I like your explication of the habituation and ICTs. I agree that we unconsciously incorporate technology into our daily routines as a matter of habit. I would add that, generally speaking, we are encouraged to do to - to not look too critically at the technologies that surround us. I have encountered this in Greg Wise's book about Technology and Social Space, as well as an article he wrote published in Cultural Studies (see below for citations). In my own research I connect this idea of habituation with Bourdieu's notion of habitus (and Dewey's ideas on habit and education, for good measure). I term this the habit@online, and try to use it to describe the general enculturation and habituation processes you talk about: "The habit@online is the digital habitus: the ways in which people are encouraged to use technology, based on informal learning structures and the formation of habits associated with technology use. In the habit@online, communication habits are socially constructed, mediated, and transmitted through learned behaviour and emulation." [reference] Also, Denise's point about "a kind of invisibility (habituation) - which could tie back into the story of the telephone? as it became a habitual technology" is also interesting. I think we are very nearly at the point of the computer becoming transparent (until such time as they crash, anyway). I would be interested to hear thoughts on how we can cultuivate the kind of critical awareness we are speaking around here, in terms of circumventing habituation (though this is at least partially necessary). At what point do we encourage/discourage habituation? I see part of habituation as being necessary when we are dealing with the amelioration of digital divides and the necessaity to engage people with ICT who might not otherwise be inclined or able to do so. But, as Wise (and Dewey) point out, the danger is when habits slip from active, critical view. This slippage can be easy when we are encouraged to enter the habitué of the wired world and take up the technologies that promise us convenience. If convenience is our dieu du jour, then it is a sometimes faustian bargain we settle on, I think. Up until now I have looked at the habit@online with a critical eye towards discourses of desire and affect that congrue with current technologies (web portals, mobile phones). But now I am contrasting this with the community construction of online portals, and the necessity to encourage, as I said, those in using ICT as we try and work towards a broader conception of digital literacy. Specifically I am looking at the enculturation processes invovled in constructing a community learning network, and how a community organization is seeking to encourage its constiuents to use ICT, and what tools they are making available for them (a portal - hence my contrast with the commercial portal). Robert If anyone is interested, I have a couple of articles here: habit@online: web portals as purchasing ideology (a version of which was delivered at AoIR 2.0) The Phoneur: Mobile Commerce and the Digital Pedagogies of the Wireless Web You can also view the "Coles Notes" version here: "Dial In, Sell Out" http://www.shift.com/content/9.2/84/1.html Signal Event Context: Trace Technologies of the habit@online (they're all bits of my thesis - I would welcome any criticisms) Wise, J. M. 1997. Exploring technology and social space. London and New Delhi: Sage. Wise, J. M. 2000. Home: Territory and identity. Cultural Studies 142: 295-310. Ulla Bunz wrote:
<quote who="jeremy hunsinger">
and i think many people have begun to think of the personal computer as an appliance like the toaster....
As an aside to Jeremy's original inquiry, the above statement reminds me of something I just heard at the International Communication Association and thought quite interesting. Robert Larose was making the argument that much of our Internet/technology use is habitual, rather than guided by active choice following uses and gratifications theory (a mass communication theory many of you are probably familiar with). Larose was saying that, i.e., we don't actually choose consciously to check our email in the morning, it's just something that we do automatically because it's part of our routine - like popping two slices of toast into the toaster in the morning (unless you're the corn flakes kind of person, of course, but I'm sure you see the analogy one way or the other).
I think this is an interesting perspective and certainly seems true for some of my personal Internet and technology usage. It also goes back to the point Charles Ess brought up on this list just a short time ago when he shared with us that his students don't really exprience the "wow" effect about the Internet and related technology anymore. Some of the people responding to that thread had said that it's probably because younger generations have grown up with the Internet and thus take it for granted. They know no different than the Internet being part of their everday life. Introducing the word "habit" and "habitual use" to describe some of these phenomena may be stating the obvious, but I certainly had never heard it stated quite that openly before and thought I'd share this with you, since Jeremy's statement reminded me of it.
Comments? Anyone else encountered this before? Are there theories in other disciplines that address this? Ulla
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Internet security is like kissing your girlfriend through a screen door (you're just never quite sure what is getting through). Paul:) jeremy hunsinger wrote:
I was thinking today about what metaphors might be appropriate for internet security. I was considering primarily metaphors based on current technology. If you had to think that the internet security was most like a the security issues surrounding another technology, would you think that it was more like keeping a house secure, or a wallet? a car secure or a toaster secure? thoughts? other ideas?
_______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l@aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l
From: "jeremy hunsinger" <jhuns@vt.edu> I was thinking today about what metaphors might be appropriate for internet security. I was considering primarily metaphors based on current technology. If you had to think that the internet security was most like a the security issues surrounding another technology, would you think that it was more like keeping a house secure, or a wallet? a car secure or a toaster secure? thoughts? other ideas?
i enjoyed thinking about this jeremy - i'd had a difficult day today and this injected a light note !!- i got to thinking how keeping my internet access secure is like keeping my car secure - it's personal - the driving seat, mirrors, steering column etc are set up just for me like my internet settings - i only let people whom i know and trust drive it/my family always ask permission before using my internet access - it has an alarm to deter people breaking in/like my firewall - it has an immobilisor to stop people driving it without permission/i use content advisor to monitor my son - it's part of my social life and i need it to get to work/ditto my internet access - it needs servicing at regular intervals/reformatting the hard drive that usually takes six times as long as it ought to denise Denise Maia Carter, CASS, University of Hull, Hull , HU6 7RX Email: denisecarter@denisecarter.net Web: http://www.denisecarter.net
participants (10)
-
Denise Carter -
Denise N. Rall -
elijah wright -
jeremy hunsinger -
Pam Hassebroek -
Paul Chenoweth -
Paul Fitz -
Pille Vengerfeldt -
Robert Luke -
Ulla Bunz