[Air-l] Origin of the term "Internet" ?

[Bonnie Nardi]

I capitalize the Internet because it seems like the Force ("the Force 
be with you") or God or Satori -- cultural constructs that 
fundamentally, ineffably change human life. All are conventionally 
capitalized.
It just happens that technology is at play here -- but our becoming a 
global species is possible, in my opinion, because of the Internet. 
Maybe it's not Satori, but it's something worth capitalizing.


On Mar 30, 2007, at 6:58 AM, Jeremy Hunsinger wrote:

>
> On Mar 30, 2007, at 10:51 AM, James Whyte wrote:
>
>> This discussion clearly exposes the power of ontological commitment
>> which leads to sanctioned inferences. A process that is benign in
>> casual conversation but dangerous in scholarly discourse.
>
> the capitalization issue of no import, nor is it dangerous to
> scholarly discourse.
>>
>>   I assume that OII did so in the interest of scholarship and is
>> (more) correct in so doing.
>
> I assume OII did it because at the time it was founded that was the
> fashion, and that it is still the fashion in some institutions, which
> is fine, however that something is the mode of operation does not
> imply any normative frame.
>>
>>   Parallel to this (small I) issue, is the definitional problem
>> that allows the term itself to be used outside the formal definition.
>
> there is no specified formal definition, there are just a series of
> scholarly, popular, and dictionary definitions
>>
>>   In the end, for the purpose of scholarship, the Internet is a
>> network of networks with a cap I. Everything else is sociologically
>> bound and is not the Internet.
>
> in the end there is no internet without the sociologically bound.
>
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Bonnie A. Nardi
School of Information and Computer Sciences
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697-3440
(949) 824-6534
www.artifex.org/~bonnie/