Assoc. of Internet Researchers, to those attending the conference in Minneapolis (mpls). i was going to wait to write but will soon be shipping my computer so i could not wait for a more appropriate time to post this message regarding internet research. thus, my apologies if it is off-base for larger issues. i have tried (2x i believe) to have my work presented in the conferences but did not make the cut. my work is not of the traditional academic approach, dissecting 'the Internet' from its other factors, but rather looking at the things preceding the Internet, in basic research. for example, i believe it is a limit to focus on 'the Internet' as a foci of study, when it is an extension of a system 15 billion years old, if it were openly debated and could be reasoned this way in public. but such is not the case, it seems. i am interested in finding those who will be in MPLS, like i, during the conference who would be interested in meeting and discussing work outside the conference. i grew up in Minneapolis and will send a short list of some unique places one could visit to understand the local environment and some of its jewels. but first, i am interested in networking with those from Montréal, Québec, Canada, whom are approaching this subject and are open to exploring it in detail, outside of current paradigms. my work, as most others, began in a displicanary construct. architecture, for me, as a way of under- standing, describing, defining. architecture is and has always been a discipline allowing a broad/general approach, general and specific, which can get a big- picture view of a discrete event, such as the Internet. logically, the Internet is an extenstion of much of the electrification of our societies over the last 200 years. without it, no Internet. but more, further back, without the science of batteries, static elect- ricity, back to Thales 2500 years ago, and further, to the concepts of religion and the 'charge' often associated with these, such as the gods of lightening and thunder, Zeus and Thor. further back, into the reigning cosmology, that the electromagnetic big- bang, theoretical as it is, still offers a direct lineage from the Big Bang to the Internet which transverses the progession of electromagnetism from realms of the natural, to artifice of the tools and technologies of power, media which are at the foundation of the current network, most have began using in the last 5+ years, dealing mostly with its 'virtual' aspects, and defining it in traditional terms of traditional disciplines, another brick in the wall of the previous paradigm. yet, it is this compartmentalization of the Internet from issues it is directly related to, such as the power plant and pollution, and its connection to global warming and war, nuclear even, to economic devastation should these systems fail (california), and great inefficiency which underlies 'the Internet' that i do not find in any of the speakers or sessions in your conference. thus, i can see why such work may not fit into an academic approach to something beyond the scope of any one discipline. one reason for this, i believe, is that 'the Internet' has become the focus of disciplines, each adding its own vantage on its interpretation. and, in conferences such as AoIR 2, that the whole view is supposedly to be found in bringing these separate views together. i disagree. and will explain why... the way things are, in research today, focusses on the discipline as the organizer of content, and its expertise in dealing with content, the content, in this case 'the Internet', added onto the heap of things each discipline, economic or social, pursues. it is like McLuhan's 'the medium is the message', where messaging ideas about 'the Internet' is by default, assumed meaningful, as it describes/defines the medium. but the medium, the computer networks and power plugs, do not end at the socket and plug. nor do there impacts. an alternative to this type of approach would be to focus on the 'the Internet' as the meaning, which seems to be done, but what is 'the Interent' if it is not its grand design, its grand infrastructure, science, technology, and cosmology? i no longer wonder about this. thus, my work focusses on 'electromagnetic studies', and educating citizens about the basics of this, and its ramifications, and its connections to current events, such as is the electronic internetwork. if EM studies were the center, not the part, and the discplines approached it together, instead of at a conference, but as its own entity, it would be closer to the large world picture that the Internet is yet but one more extension of. for example, fascinating it would be to see a researcher look at the evolution of economics from shells to e-cash. a military historian from spears to EMP bombs. an artist, from paint to painting software. an architectural researcher from building pre- and post- electrification. a political scientist, from oral debates to online debates. a writer, from text to word- processing. some of which has been done, but not around a common theme. so too, with physics, with cosmology, with archaeology, geology, medical science, amongst myriad other things. focussing on 'the Internet' as the center of study, and research, is akin to looking at the foot of an elephant and trying to describe the whole. common sense, it has no place in the expertise, if 'the Internet' is as far as the logic can go. and this seems to be the manufacturing of knowledge about what is going on, where it is limited by a para- digm, a way of seeing/perceiving an event, as discrete, seperated, dissectable from a larger, much more complex, but also much more simple who. a GUT feeling, if you will. the basic public R&D i have worked on started off with architecture, for its generalist view- point, trying to grapple with the Internet, yet getting into its interconnections with other things, on the whole unacknowledged.... the architectural of electricity http://www.electronetwork.org/works/ae/ recently, i published a more detailed account for the everyday citizen, still in an archi- tectural language, but one which allows for these larger connections with other events, such as war, pollution, inefficiency, and goals for action (multidiscplinary electro- networking around electromagnetic knowledge). Seeing Cyberspace: the electrical infrastructure is architecture http://www.electronetwork.org/works/seeing/ i can find no support for this work in my current environment, and would like to meet those from Montréal, in Universities, as i desire to base my work there, given that the cultural aspects of research are supported much moreso, it seems, that the years of failure for pursuing this different approach to the ideas. for example, the University you hold your conference at censored my work in the early 1990s, which was dealing with the Internet at this time. more info can be found at: http://www.electronetwork.org/works/automadness/ my goals are public education, for everyday citizens, about understanding, at least comprehending that there are cultural aspects to electromagnetism, both artisitic and scientific, and to make a resource for these works. this project, the Electronetwork, can be seen at: http://www.electronetwork.org/ please be in contact, on or off-list, as i would like to meet those from Universities in MTL and to discuss opportunities there to share this basic research work, and to work with others to approch 'the Internet' in its larger context, through an educational lens, but outside of traditioinal disciplinarian constructs, based on the past, and making 'the Internet' fit into the pre- existing puzzle of expertise and certainty. i will be in south MPLS and could meet near the University or at one of the great locations around the city. i hope you explore the unique aspects of the City, which may not be in the tour guides for what makes this city so beautiful. -- .. . . . . . .. .. . . . . .... .. .. ... . . . . . . . brian thomas carroll the_electromagnetic_internetwork electromagnetic researcher matter, energy, and in-formation human@electronetwork.org http://www.electronetwork.org/