Internet Studies

There is a lot of reading required for this module. I just finished reading How the Refrigerator Got its Hum and aparently gas refrigerators have been around as long as compression refrigerators have. They are actually a simple machine will less moving parts, easier to maintain and better for the consumer. Even though, the compression (electric) refrigerators took over the market.

A few years ago, we used to work on a very remote island with limited and unreliable source of electricity. Our bosses owned and managed an eco-lodge. They used to charge a set of car batteries every day for a few hours using a portable generator and used these batteries to power the lodge. They were looking into buying a gas refrigerator, which was a very expensive item. Till then, I had no idea gas refrigerators existed. I grew up with our electric refrigerator knowing nothing about better options.

I think, a couple of the last paragraphs summarise the point of the article best:

We have compression, rather than absorption, refrigerators in the United States today not because one was technically better than the other, and not even because consumers preferred one machine (in the abstract) over the other, but because General Electric, General Motors, Kelvinator, and Westinghouse were very large, very powerful, very aggressive, and very resourceful companies, while Servel and SORCO were not. Consumer ‘preference’ can only be expressed for whatever is, in fact, available for purchase, and is always tempered by the price and convenience of the goods that are so available. At no time, in these terms, were refrigerators that ran on gas really competitive with those that ran on electric current.

In an economy such as ours in the United States, the first question that gets asked about a new device is not, Will it be good for the household - or even, Will householders buy it? but, rather, Can we manufacture it and sell it at a profit? Consumers do not get to choose among everything that they might like to have, but only among those things that manufacturers and financiers believe can be sold at a good profit. Profits are always the bottom line, and profits are partly compounded out of sales—but only partly. Profits are also compounded out of how much staff time has to be spent, whether a marketing arrangement is already in place, how easily manufacturing facilities can be converted, how reliably an item can be mass-produced—and similar considerations.

Link: Donald MacKenzie, Judy Wajcman, 1985, How the Refrigerator Got its Hum, The Social Shaping of Technology, Open University Press

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These are a few excerpts from ‘Introducing Cyberspace’ by Rob Kitchin I took as a way for me to summarise the major points I found interesting.

The emerging technologies do more than just electronically simulate traditional forms of communication-they also provide news means of interaction.

An alternative to mailing lists is provided by bulletin boards… the system works in the opposite way to mailing lists. Whereas all mail on the mailing lists is posted to all members of the list, on bulletin boards, all users must go to the board to check for mail.

Cyberspatial technologies are determined to be transformative technologies, changing the way we live our lives…Moreover, these technologies are going to affect the lives of individuals regardless of whether they actively use them or even want to use them…. Cyberspace is helping to transform society into a system fundamentally different from the one that gave rise to high technology.

In relation to culture and society cyberspace is… leading analysts to rethink accepted notions of the body, identity, community and nature… In addition, many analysts have been examining the potential affects of cyberspace upon notions of community. It is well documented that on0line communities are forming; centred on common interests and affinity rather than coincidence of location… Cyberspace thus offers us the opportunity to reclaim public space and recreate the essence and nature of community on-line. Paradoxically, cyberspace is also helping to form off-line community groups… who adopt a technology/new age based life style.

In relation to politics… cyberspace raises a number of issues concerning ownership, regulation and content.

In relation to economics… Cyberspatial technologies are set to revolutionise how we conduct business and alter our patterns of work.

Commentators have focused upon one of three ‘revolutions’ to explain why cyberspatial developments are so significant. Firstly, cyberspace is challenging our traditional ideas concerning mass communication and the form of communication. Secondly, cyberspace is helping to radically transform space-time relations and create new social spaces. Thirdly, cyberspace is leading to a rethinking of concepts such as reality and nature. Although often discussed independently, these three ‘revolutions’ are highly interrelated.

In addition to our writing style, the nature of interaction is also changing… Skilled users can follow these multiple threads and contribute to many of them simultaneously… cyberspace allows people to construct their self-presentation much more carefully and play with their on-line identity…

Slouka’s fear is that we are increasingly ‘seeing’ and understanding the world in isolation staring through glass windows…

Robin’s contends that we must remember that cyberspace is not fundamentally different world. Rather, cyberspace overlies real space in symbiotic relationship. He argues that the changes that cyberspace is predicted to bring about must be placed within the broader context of the social and political upheaval that is taking place in the world today… It should also not be forgotten that Cyberspatial technologies are the children of military-funded inventions, and it will be business and industry that will nurture future developments…

As such, cyberspace is best understood by appreciating that technology is both sociocultural and political-economic construct. Essentially, at the local scale technology is socially produced and mediated through culture.

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