Stoll excoriates "cyberpunks," virtual vandals who abuse the openness of
scientific computing environments. Their unsportsmanlike conduct spoils the
information game, necessitating cumbersome restrictions on the free flow of
data.
Orthodox McLuhanite doctrine holds that "every form,
pushed to the limit of its potential, reverses its characteristics" (Laws of
Media viii).
Electronic information, as Stoll sees it, lies in strict analogy with material
and private property.
The telos of the electronic society-of-text is anarchy in its true sense: local
autonomy based on consensus, limited by a relentless disintegration of global
authority. Since information is now virtually an equivalent of capital, and
since textuality is our most powerful way of shaping information, it follows
that Xanadu might indeed change the world.
Who decides what information "belongs" to whom? Stoll's "popular elite" is
restricted to academic scientists, a version of "the people" as
nomenklatura, those whose need to know is defined by
their professional affiliation.
"Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced
daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation... A graphic
representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human
system" (Gibson 51).
The vision of Xanadu as cyberspatial New Jerusalem is conceivable and perhaps
eligible, but by no stretch of the imagination is it inevitable.
But it seems equally possible that our engagement with interactive media will
follow the path of reaction, not revolution
Putnam defined social capital as the "features of social organization, such as
trust, norms and networks, that can improve the efficiency of society by
facilitating coordinated actions
, civic engagement is a function of communication among members via their social
networks, and as civic engagement increases, so does quality of life in the
community. Thus, communities with vibrant communication networks are likely to
have a preferable quality of life.
. Dimmick, Patterson, and Sikand (1996) argued for the role of the traditional
telephone in developing and maintaining strong interpersonal communication
patterns in the local community.
examination of the role of interactive media in building social capital.
Several scholars viewed the computer network of the Internet as especially well
suited to communication activities that lead to community building, virtual or
otherwise (Jones, 1994; Rheingold, 2000; Wellman, 1997).
Male players were significantly more likely to be driven by the Achievement and Manipulation factors, while female players were significantly more likely to be driven by the Relationship factor. Also, the data indicated that users derived meaningful relationships and salient emotional experiences, as well as real-life leadership skills from these virtual environments. MMORPGs are not simply a pastime for teenagers, but a valuable research venue and platform where millions of users interact and collaborate using real-time 3D
avatars on a daily basis.
I just got called to speak in church on Sunday about "my family's good name." I found this talk, but any other ideas would be helpful---I just don't know what to do with it!
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