Chapters: 2,3,9,21 Questions of Control

 As we have learned, cyberspace is a meeting place for doing things but, there is so much more to it. Norbert Wiener realized in medical school that there is feedback in all interactivity. This concept of a feedback loop suggests that body parts project themselves into devices in order to allow for feedback. The example in the book made a lot of sense to me. It says that when a person drives a sedan rather then the sports car, one can so-called, “feel” the difference. This is because the sports car responds faster to the person, resulting in responding with higher feedback. In addition, I found the section of “who should control cyberspace?” to be interesting. As I was reading the passage it said, that the first citizens of cyberspace made their own rules with little control. The word that caught my eye was “citizens.” This suggests that cyberspace does not just contain physical things like the computer itself but its part of a bigger picture. The idea of citizens is another way of saying a community or system in which relationships emerge and there is a sense of togetherness. Even though this is true, the system has much vulnerability. On page 63, the passage said that in order to affect millions of people, we can publish an article but, since it is not directly personal, the effects are weak. I look forward to seeing if these vulnerabilities will change within time.

Chp. 1 and 4

6/13-strate 1, 4, 10

William Gibson originally coined cyberspace in 1984. It was used as a science fiction scenario where people can directly connect their nervous systems to a global computer, otherwise known as a virtual reality. Furthermore, Rosanne Stone suggests a different view of cyberspace. She said that it could only exist through social interaction with “communal agreement” between all parties. I also agree with Stone that in order for cyberspace to exist, both sides need to be involved. Since cyberspace functions as a substitute for public spaces, it impacts privacy and social interaction. A great example the book provides is the one of computer programmer David Alsberg. After he passed away not only did is family and friends come together in the physical world, but his online friends came together to form an online wake to mourn his passing. This shows the impact cyberspace has on people’s communication and social life. The friendships formed through these mediums seem to be just as valuable as face-to-face relationships. Chapter four as well as class discussion, shows the issues of metaphors in relation to cyberspace. I found it interesting that the book suggests that the “information  super highway” is a negative prediction of the Internet because, it suggests that information may not be free in the future. The metaphor is understood that way, but cyberspace is supposed to be a place where both user and viewer are in agreement and give feedback to one another. As a result this metaphor is not used that often to give people an idea of what cyberspace is actually about. Moreover I found the digital divide discussed in chapter ten to be very interesting. The statistics taken in 2000 said that 304 million people were online. Even though that’s a huge number, it is compared to the 6.1 billion people in the world. As a result, it is important to remember that everyone is not part of this virtual reality known as cyberspace and may never become part of this reality.