Eero, I don't want to reiterate some of the responses to your posts though much of what others have posted since your reply to me are arguments that I would agree with. However, I wanted to add the following. I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "hallucinating about cyberspace," but *because* my official affiliation is that of a Communication Scholar I would agree that communication is about "speaking/writing clearly" though that is not always the same as "simply." Even more so I would say that communication is about creating meaning, shared meaning if possible, and to me, this thread is about exactly that. As a matter of fact, you initiation of this discussion shows a desire to talk about questions like, "What is the Internet? Where does it come from? Where is it going?" So, that apparently makes you the only one among your fellow graduate students who is interested in these issues. You expressed a vision about the future of the Internet. Would that then qualify as "hallucinating about cyberspace" with a futuristic rather than a past orientation? 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 Eero Tarik Sent: Monday, February 09, 2004 12:40 AM To: air-l@aoir.org Subject: [Air-l] re:-my first post(reply to Ulla) Hi Ulla, you wrote... "Michele (and others) - out of curiosity, do you have an alternative suggestion? You reject "space" and "place" and much of the terminology and research that is connected to those meanings." Ulla, I note you are an Assistant Professor in the Dept of Communications. We are talking about the internet.Six hundred million people, apparently, use it regularly these days. It is possible that only a few percent of those people have any idea what the term cyberspace means. When they go on the internet they "do things". They sit in the real world, have real world problems running through their heads and bang away on their keyboards. They send emails, lurk or thrash around in a few forums, look at some porn, have a bet on tomorrows NBA game or communicate with friends and relatives anywhere around the world. Their experiences are simple - and we can describe them in simple terms that ALL of those internet users can understand, and by doing so we are communicating effectively. And there is a very good chance that non internet users can also understand our description of those simple internet experiences. If we want to study the internet and, therefore, all the activities of internet users, we can study how/why and when these people use the internet. We can study people from different groups and cultures. The opportunities to study internet habits are endless. Apart from this we can also study "social" problems connected with the internet - the so called Digital Divide as well as other social issues. Doesnt this give us enough to research and study without hallucinating about cyberspace? Must we have so much "cyber jargon" to describe what are very simple processes and for most users merely a convenient communications tool? Communication is all about speaking/writing clearly and simply. The greater the number of people who can understand you, the greater your ability to communicate. I dont understand how "cyber jargon" and hallucinating about cyberspace makes the world a better place or enriches humankind - or how it makes one a greater communicator. :-) see ya Eero Tarik Adelaide _______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l@aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l