[Air-l] A definition of the internet

[Neil Randall]

An overall definition of Internetting would include a technical definition
of the Internet; in fact, it must do so (I was trying to suggest that in my
first message). But a technical definition of the Internet has a different
purpose and a different audience. 

Neil





I don't agree to separate internet and internetting, a technical structure
and human activity.

If there were no human beings organized in social groups, there wouldn't be
an internet and the internet wouldn't develop. Without meaningful human
knowledge and social activity the internet is a dead block, useless. Hence I
argue that one shouldn't separate the term internet from social activity,
but to integrate social activity into definitions of the internet in the
first place. Common definitions such as the one of the Federal Networking
Council simply neglect the central role of social activity on the net, they
are techno-centristic.

Best
Christian


Am 17.10.2006 16:20 Uhr schrieb "Neil Randall" unter
<nrandall at watarts.uwaterloo.ca>:

> 
> 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
>> University of Salzburg
>> Sigmund Haffner Gasse 18
>> 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:
>> http://triplec.uti.at
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> The air-l at listserv.aoir.org mailing list
>> is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org
>> Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at:
>> http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
>> 
>> Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
>> http://www.aoir.org/
>> 
> 
> 

_______________________________________________
The air-l at listserv.aoir.org mailing list
is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org
Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at:
http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org

Join the Association of Internet Researchers: 
http://www.aoir.org/