Simon Mainwaring's Profile

more universal, broader statements

module 1: community, power, economy and identity

border between offline and online experience has disintegrated gradually

become so much a part of everyday life

Internet has penetrated our work, schools, homes, commuting, banks, government agencies, and shops

ncorporation of the 'online' world with the 'offline,'

ubiquitous (‘everywhere’) nature of the Internet

distinctions start becoming superfluous

the study of the human condition within the humanities

we may come to understand ourselves and the world a little better

there is also the possibility of positive change

cooking at home, walking in the city (de Certeau), the pub, and shopping become possible objects of study

discern the patterns and undercurrents that structure our lives and the rules that people do not question or talk about

everyday rules and patterns are ingrained into our psyches

powerful forces for social control

powerful sources of information about a certain society and culture

Studying these rules tells us much about the way power is distributed at work,

how we identify ourselves

understand the nuts and bolts of how power and control operates

able to recognise ways of improving it

at the level of the unremarkable

operation of power in its most entrenched form

Appreciation of the everyday transforms and unleashes the skills and creativity

unconscious expressions of resistance towards this control

The ‘sickie’ and ‘smoko,’

examining the everyday that we can see how the Internet has made an impact on us

possible to see the role the Internet may play in people’s sense of identity, how groups are formed and sustained, in the economy, and how power is distributed in our society

own personal experiences of the Internet cannot be said to be everyone else’s

The everyday Internet in America would be a bit different from Australia

likewise, from the way it is in Korea, China, Thailand or Indonesia.

would be inaccurate to represent this version of the Internet as one shared across time, space and social strata

it is important in Internet Studies to unearth and study these differences rather than assume that the Internet is the same everywhere

become a commodity with a corresponding exchange value

Information is necessarily blind, i.e., we are responsible for the
information we produce and use

The key
ecological issue concerning the production, storage, accessibility, selection
and use of all kinds of knowledge is then, I believe, the preservation
and increase of its social character

information pollution, as a basic pragmatic concept of an information
ecology

disseminate an
incredible abundance of messages

newspaper articles
criticise TV programmes, TV discussions criticise books, and so on

We can pollute ourselves with
all kinds of utopias, which lead us nowhere

slogan of a paperless society
is an expression of historical pollution in our field

ore specific ways of establishing
the limits of this expanding technology

ook for more humble

ct responsible, conforming
to the possibilities these limits offer

illusion to think of a pure
technological society

pure nature or an ideal communication

illusion to believe

no ideal harmony between
human beings

no possibility of a perfect language for understanding and
action

always confronted with misunderstanding and non-communication

Information technology is not necessarily
a pollution instrument nor it is an ideal artificial limb

If we distribute knowledge through different technical channels,
then we should not forget the right to a general participation in societal
knowledge

the responsibility
that, in designing tools we are designing "ways of being"

information
technology opens us its potentialities if and only if we are able to interrelate
it with the whole of its social dimensions

pportunity for preserving and increasing social understanding

information pollution

gap between information-rich and information-poor
nations

electronic technology has produced a change in the knowledge atmosphere,
creating regions of prosperity

advent of electronic technology
has explicitly provided the question of dominance and accessibility to
written knowledge, and it has made clear that this a key issue for the
economic and cultural development of nations

The
gap between the information-poor and the information-rich

he real information crisis we have to master

consider the whole field
of information

global social perspective

latter viewpoint the ecological
crisis in our field becomes manifest

communication and information capacities, of rural areas
without any technical and/or educational infrastructure

one-sided
commercialisation of information products, of cultural and technical colonialism
through the distribution of information products and channels

acceleration of knowledge production
and of its distribution through electronic means

leads to lost of
competitiveness, exodus of scientists, low level of education

start considering the question
of information pollution particularly from a cultural, political and legal
point of view

he benefits
and threats of the (mis)use of information technologies must become part
of international (ethical and legal) deliberation. 

not how can we get
everyone to use a PC

what
are the most necessary things to do in the information poor countries

how can we help them in order to promote their identity in the fields of
information production, distribution and use

information-poor
countries will probably never be able to pay their information debts

initiative for opening our knowledge stores

mutual giving and receiving
of information

stop the emigration of scientists from information poor-countries
making the gap deeper and deeper

information pollution should be considered as the negative side
of the information balance

Information
is an artificial resource and it is basically social-dependent.