Cyberspace

Remember: Theories, terms and concepts are ideas that we use to make sense of the world around us, to understand and predict how the world works, and to help us decide how we can and should act in the world. They are socially constructed but they often have a real effect on how we perceive and define our world.

Yesterday we talked about how the concepts of participatory journalism and crowdsourcing can be applied to similar, or even identical phenomena and yet each may encourage us to understand those phenomena in different ways. The example I used in class: If we think of OhMyNews using participatory journalism as a primary concept for understanding, we may tend to focus on its potential to enhance democracy by creating opportunities for non-professionals to engage in journalism as a civic act. However, if we look at the same site using crowdsourcing as our primary concept, we may focus more on the attempt of a business to gain profits in the business of journalism by using individual contributors as free or cheap sources of labor.

Cyberspace is another concept that is frequently applied to new information technologies. As Rob Shields writes (“Cyberspace”, Unspun) cyberspace is, “A metaphor that conjures up an image or an idea of the potential of information and telecommunication networks.” (66)

Consider some of the imagery Shields raises: Cyberspace:

• “is a self-fulfilling prophecy.” (67)
• “is a bioelectric environment… inhabited by knowledge… existing in electronic form.” (67)
• “is a new universe… entered equally from a basement in Vancouver, a garage in Texas City, an apartment in Rome…” (67)
• “is a consensual hallucination” (from William Gibson, Neuromancer)(69)
• “(is) socially created sense of space… a social construction” (70)
• “both a material product of human imagination and labor and a medium of social actions, because they structure and define the limits for subsequent activities.” (70)
• “appears for the most part to be a space not of assembly but of assemblage, whereby individuals are interrelated (in global, mega-audiences) without ever forming a mass.” (71)
• “if cyberspace is the new equivalent of a city, it has its urban elite, as well as its homeless and poor. Cyberspace remains accessible only to the most wealthy and connected, most of whom live in the developed countries of the world.” (72)

Consider each of the statements above. Shields’ point in this article is not just to introduce us to the concept of cyberspace, but to show us how the concept of cyberspace (like other concepts) is both a product of social engagement within the real world, and how it structures our understanding of that world.

For discussion and an individual weblog entry (due Monday 2 July) do you think of any of your experiences online in terms of ’space’? If so, describe that experience. If not, how do you experience your participation online?