[Air-l] Quality on the Internet - followup on 'critical mass'

[Denise N. Rall]

Dear AIR'ers -

I lost the email that was specifically referring to
'critical mass' and notions of quality, and wanted to
add this:

'Critical mass' as I understand the concept is part of
the theory of 'network effect' - quite well known by
most on this list, but well worth a quick review. 
Network effect is the exponential effect or multiplier
that works as new technology is added, node by node to
an existing technological development.

Just wanted to say that this specific effect has not
informed quality, as I understand it, without an
appropriate unit of analysis other than mass
popularity (i.e., VHS vs. Beta).  

However, with a unit of analysis in place, this if
PC/Mac monitor - this monitor is of a higher quality
because it has more pixels (pixels being the unit of
analysis). This works qualitatively as well, as in
"this monitors looks better than this one" (yes/no) as
long as there is some notion of a specific guideline
informing the decision.

Saying the internet is of a better quality than other
communciative devices, I would want to know:

1) what is the unit of analysis? (more information,
more images, more etc. does not necessarily indicate a
communication device of any better quality) but
rather, I guess, the ratio of signal/noise

2) how are we measuring this unit that indicates
higher quality?

Just some thoughts from Australia that reach you from
'tommorrow' to your 'today' -  Denise

 

=====
"I want to focus on my salad" (M. Stewart, 2002)
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

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