[Air-l] Internet vs. WWW - Softalk!

[Bernie Hogan]

Hmm...
'Media' doesn't cut it, cause Barry's talking about all the two way media.
Which is more like 'communication'. Just saying media actually includes too
much. 

Digital doesn't cut it, because cell phones are usually digital. Neither
does social, since ALL media are social (including one-way media such as a
static web-page). 

Internet gets us back where we started. So my vote is with "online
communication" 

Regarding the meta-issue of whether we would benefit from such a word, I
think it is fair to say we will. I think the goal is to discuss a situation
where many people are using computers (loosely defined) to interface with
other people. Unlike a telephone, the social affordances of a computer are
not clearly defined (except perhaps, that it affords text communication
given the big keyboard which comes standard with every computer).

The relevance of this discussion becomes clear when we assert that there is
something qualitatively different about two-way communication over TCP/IP.
Or perhaps something qualitatively different about communication that is
mediated by software design in addition to hardware.

TCP/IP is not the raison d'etre of the Internet, only the current necessary
condition. If it was magically switched tomorrow, there are millions of
people who would not notice the difference. Furthermore, in the short period
of time where I tried a Vonage VOIP phone, I didn't consider it Internet
communication, even if it was communication over the internet. There was no
software component. So, it seems that software, that is really at the heart
of this issue (at least for me).

So now, having asserted that its the fact that its software, and we are
referring to online 'two-way' communication, I propose the eminently silly
word 'softalk' - pronounced 'soff-tok', if you want something a little more
exciting than 'online communication'. (or perhaps we reasert social
software?) 

Take Care,
BERNiE

Bernie Hogan
Ph.D. Student 
Department of Sociology
[NetLab, Knowledge Media Design Institute]
University of Toronto
--
Reply to Bernie.Hogan at Utoronto.Ca