SOCIALISING ON THE INTERNET

COMPUTER NOWADAYS

When faced with some new possibly bewildering technological change most people react in one of two ways. They either recoil from anything new, claiming that it is unnecessary, or too complicated or that it somehow makes life less than human. Or they learn to adopt to the new invention, and eventually wonder how they could possibly have existed without it. Take computers as an example.

For many of us, they still represent a control to our freedom, and give us a frightening sense of a future in which all decisions will be taken by machines. This may be because they seem mysterious, and difficult to understand. Ask most people what they can use a home computer for, and you usually get vague answers about how "they'll give you information!" In fact, even those of us who are familiar with computers, and use them in our daily work, have very little idea of how they work. But it does not take long to learn how to create a business programme, even if things occasionally go wrong for no apparent reason.

Presumably much the same happened when the telephone and the tele­vision became widespread. What seems to alarm most people is the speed of technological change, rather than change itself. And the objections that are made to new technology may well have a point to them, -since change is not always an improvement. As we discover during power cuts, there is a lot to be said for the oil lamp, the coal fire, and forms of entertainment, such as books or board games, that do not have to be plugged to work.

 

SOCIALISING ON THE INTERNET

When the telephone was new more than a century ago, people didn't know quite well what to make of it. What was it good for?

Not much it seemed. History maybe repeating itself. The Internet is a revolutionary publishing tool, but the net work may have even greater potential as a way for people to connect with each other.

Over the past two decades, as the price of computing has plunged, the per­sonal computer enabled people to be more productive and gain better access to information. Now the PC is making it easier for people to reach each other, too.

Electronic in-boxes are flooded with e-mail. Electronic "chat" and commu­nity participation are on the rise. Chat is a fascinating phenomenon. It takes place in imaginary "rooms", where like-minded people congregate.

Typically, people type messages back and forth, usually to correspondent they've never met in person. Numerous people can communicate with each other simultaneously, and there are no long-distance charges the way there would be with a telephone. Compared to a telephone conversation, the techni­cal quality of chat seems law. But it is ranging success despite its limitations because the human drive to connect with other people is so strong.

Chat moms are filled with all kinds of people who appreciate or need the convenience of socialising from home - easily, safely and without getting dressed up.

People are looking in cyber-space for new avenues of self-expression. Although I don't get spend much time in chat rooms, I know people who do. One is a friend who is passionate about Beanie-Babies-the craze for miniature stuffed animals. She spends an amazing amount of time chatting about them and trading them online.

Chat and other forms of socialisation on the Internet are bound to evolve. I'm intrigued by efforts to create "virtual worlds", imaginary spaces in which participants choose a visual image to represent themselves. Exploration of the

potential of virtual words is just beginning. This kinds of experiments are under way, but even without seeing the full results I have no doubt about what the Internet's good for. It's a social medium, like the telephone. Enriched forms of communication — including virtual worlds — will be a large part of what it offers the real world.