[Air-l] A definition of the internet

[Neil Randall]

A definition of the Internet is different from a definition of the activity
of using the Internet - Internetting or whatever verb we decide is useful.
Defining what "the Internet" means is a little like defining what "book"
means; it's technically useful (and necessary for certain professions -
publishers, booksellers, etc.), but most people are interested in the
experience of reading the book (which contains the technical definition),
not in the book itself. 

The Internet itself is really quite simple from a definitional standpoint:
you can see this by what's required, technically, to be *on* the Internet: a
computer with a network interface, an Internet Protocol number, and TCP/IP
protocol. Everything else is an add-on, including the various file transfer
systems (FTP, Web) and email, chat, IM, etc. But as a definition, it's does
nothing to explain the experience of Internetting, of course.

Anyone care to try a definition of Internetting? (There's probably a much
better word for this, I realize.)

Neil Randall





Yes, in my brief phrase "Internet as an agreement(s)"  I think we lead
towards an understanding of this ... it's an agreement around TCP/IP ...
that TCP/IP be a protocol over which we can define additional protocols, and
around peering agreements by which traffic will be carried through networks
held by others.

On 10/17/06, Christian Fuchs <christian.fuchs at sbg.ac.at> wrote:
>
> I think the standard techno-determinist definition of the internet is
> that it is a global network of computer networks operating with TCP/IP.
>
> I think this already neglects the importance of social systems/virtual
> communities which are social internets. Therefore I define the internet
> as a techno-social system consisting
> of a technological structure (network of computer networks, global,
> TCP/IP) storing and distributing knowledge and social systems of
> cognition, communication, and co-operation. The two systems are
> structurally coupled.
>
> I have published a paper on the question of how to define the internet:
>
> Fuchs, Christian (2005) The Internet as a Self-Organizing
> Socio-Technological System. In: Cybernetics & Human Knowing. Vol. 12,
> No. 3. pp. 57-81.
> http://cartoon.iguw.tuwien.ac.at/christian/InternetSelfOrg.pdf
>
> Christian
>
>
>
>
> --
> _____________________________
> Univ.Ass. Dr. Christian Fuchs
> ICT&S Center - Advanced Studies and Research in
> Information and Communication Technologies & Society
> http://www.icts.uni-salzburg.at
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> 5020 Salzburg
> Austria
> christian.fuchs at sbg.ac.at
> Phone +43 662 8044 4823
>   Fax +43 662 6389 4800
> Information-Society-Technology:
> http://cartoon.iguw.tuwien.ac.at/christian/
> Managing Editor of tripleC - open access online journal
> for the foundations of information science:
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>
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