[Air-l] key terms/concepts for understanding the web

[Charles Ess]

I've tried to review all the excellent and helpful contributions before
throwing in my 2 cents - apologies if I overlooked something.
While it may be implicit in the references to ethnographic approaches to
online research, I haven't seen

CULTURE 

as a candidate - the meaning of which, of course, is wildly ambiguous and
multiple.  But it seems clear to me - and a growing number of others (e.g.,
Gitte Stald and Thomas Tufte, _Global Encounters: Media and Cultural
Transformation_ [Luton: Luton University Press, 2002]) - that precisely
because the Web has something of a global reach (this reach has to be
carefully qualified, both in terms of available infrastructure _and_ access
as mediated by culture, not computers - smile), it becomes the vehicle of
and site for a vast range of cross-cultural and intercultural communications
that require careful attention to both culture and communication in
encompassing senses.

Relatedly (because cultures entail moral values and ethical principles), as
the very proud chair of the AoIR ethics working committee - I'd lose my job
if I didn't mention ETHICS as a candidate as well?
Narrowly, Internet research ethics - broadly: what the are ethics of
cross-cultural / intercultural communication as mediated by the Web?

Hope this is helpful - and good luck!

cheers,

Charles Ess
Distinguished Research Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies
Drury University
900 N. Benton Ave.                          Voice: 417-873-7230
Springfield, MO  65802  USA            FAX: 417-873-7435
Home page:  http://www.drury.edu/ess/ess.html
Co-chair, CATaC 2002: http://www.it.murdoch.edu.au/~sudweeks/catac02/

Exemplary persons seek harmony, not sameness. -- Analects 13.23

> From: "swiss at uiowa" <thomas-swiss at uiowa.edu>
> Reply-To: air-l at aoir.org
> Date: 30 Jan 2003 01:26:12 -0600
> To: <air-l at aoir.org>
> Subject: [Air-l] key terms/concepts for understanding the web
> 
> 
> Hi, all,
> 
> Am considering a new edition of a book I edited a few years ago for NYU Press:
> UNSPUN.  
> The book looked at key terms/concepts/tropes in re: the web.
> In chapters written specifically for this text, the authors explored the key
> terms and concepts -- gender, community, and so on -- that help shape our
> understanding of the World Wide Web and its wide-ranging influence on
> contemporary culture.
> Each chapter highlighted for students both continuities and conflicts in the
> meanings of the Web by focusing on the language surrounding key terms.  In
> doing so, the book  asked: what are we talking about when we talk about the
> Web?  
> 
> Below: the TOC. What I'm wondering about is this: what key terms do you all
> see as missing from this list? Clearly there are many. But developing such a
> list would be helpful to me, and I'd appreciate your feedback on what terms
> should be added, along with essays of about 20 pages on the terms?
> 
> thanks for yr help. Contact me at <thomas-swiss at uiowa.edu>
> 
> best, Thom
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------
> TABLE OF CONTENTS
> 
> 
> 
> Introduction:  Unspun: The Web, Language, and Society
> 
> 
> 
> 1.  Community
> Jodi Dean   
> 2.  Identity
> Jay Bolter 
> 3.  Gender
> Cynthia Fuchs
> 4.  Race
> Lisa Nakamura
> 5.  Political Economy
> Vincent Mosco
> 6.  Cyberspace
> Rob Shields
> 7. Governance
> Timothy Luke
> 8.  Ideology 
> John Sloop
> 9.  Performance
> Dawn Dietrich
> 
> 10.  Hypertext
> Matthew Kirschenbaum
> 11. Narrative
> Joseph Tabbi
> 12. Authorship
> Russell Potter
> 13.  Multimedia
> Sean Cubitt
> 
> 
> 
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