[Air-l] Re: first post (An Internet Without Space)

[Paul Bevan]

<snip>
But there does appear to be rebellion afoot if my own class is any
indication. We want numbers to research, we want to look at data - not read
about someones fantasy/ guess in 1990. And I suspect that in order to be
relevant, and I do believe in the need to be relevant in scholastic
endeavour (even though others dont agree), this field of study will turn
more towards real number crunching, rather than worrying about "cyberspace"
and "cyber communities".
<snip>

Eero,

I wouldn't want to get into the ontological differences between
quantitative/qualitative approaches but I think it's worth bearing in mind
that there have been some extremely 'numbers' based Internet research
projects - both inside and outside of Computer Science. One of the most
obvious areas is, in fact, the visualisations of the spatiality of
cyberspace (see Martin Dodge's excellent http\\www.cybergeography.org site).


I wouldn't want to suggest that these are more than performative
'imaginings' of cyberspace(s) but you can't deny - they're based on numbers.


Paul.