[Air-l] we need a new word?

[aoir.z3z at danah.org]

To complicate this matter a little more, what about mobility?  How can i 
describe SMSing as CMC?  Yet, why on earth would i put it under a 
different category than IMing?  And is SMSing Internet?  Not by any 
mainstream understanding.

All too often our definitions are driven by the technologies, the 
infrastructure and not the practices.  And then when technology changes we 
go uh oh.  I really liked Genevieve Bell's discussion of how what some 
countries call a mobile phone, others call a cell phone and still others 
call a hand phone.  Finally, some countries are starting to talk about 
phones (i.e. the mobile) and landlines.  Think about those different 
approaches.  And why should it not surprise anyone that the only country 
that talks about cell towers is the US (and the US annex ::wink:: Barry)?

That said what interests me most about definitional questions is how it 
sends everyone into a tizzy.  I live between three worlds who are 
determined to out-termify each other: social computing, social software, 
CMC/groupware.  It's honestly hysterical.  I've decided to stop throwing 
hissy fits that the terms they are using are problematic and actually 
really consider how the developments that each claim as their own are 
actually different.  Not surprisingly, the answer is not technology but 
practice (both in design and usage).

If we want to talk terms, perhaps we should actually think about the 
practices instead of the technology or infrastructure because they're 
going to change more in 10 years than the dominant practices.

danah


On Sat, 19 Mar 2005, Ulf-Dietrich Reips wrote:

> Hi Barry, all,
> imho we shouldn't attempt to find *one* new word for a conglomerate of 
> different services, concepts, and psycho-socio-technological spheres. The 
> (Inter)net/media/cmc/it world grew out of its formerly somewhat clearly 
> definable pot and became a landscape of interwoven plants and other 
> organisms. Only we're still used to being able to talk about it in terms of 
> "the pot". It is the increasing frequency of moments of experiences like 
> Barry's that suddenly yet steadily make us aware of a changing paradigm...
>
> Let's differentiate, identify, and regroup our terminological entities!
>
> Greetings from Zurich, --u
>
> At 10:44 Uhr -0500 19.3.2005, Barry Wellman wrote:
>> I was speaking at a seminar for non-techies at MIT yesterday (not a
>> contradiction, as these were community development folks from across the
>> USofA).
>> 
>> And I found myself saying -- and my PPTs reading -- "Internet" -- but then
>> verbally qualifying by saying, "well I really don't mean the traditional
>> email Internet, but also IM, chat, lists, video, etc." (add your favorite
>> including Usenet and BBS).
>> 
>> What to call it? "Computer mediated communication" is a mouthful, jargony
>> and chews up PPT space. "New media" is too indistinct and PoMo: moreover,
>> is email "new media" any more? We should focus on the affordances of
>> the media and not on the newness.
>> 
>> So what to call it. My first thought at the breakfast table was "e-media",
>> but I am open to other suggestions. I also am putting it on the list,
>> because I am confident that others have had similar dilemmas, and that it
>> would be best if we had a standard word.
>> 
>>  Barry
>>  _____________________________________________________________________
>> 
>>   Barry Wellman         Professor of Sociology        NetLab Director
>>   wellman at chass.utoronto.ca  http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman
>> 
>>   Centre for Urban & Community Studies          University of Toronto
>>   455 Spadina Avenue    Toronto Canada M5S 2G8    fax:+1-416-978-7162
>> 	     To network is to live; to live is to network
>>  _____________________________________________________________________
>> 
>> 
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>

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and in the face of the great farce of the nuclear age
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(ani difranco | danah.org/ani)                      .. musings ..
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