On Tue, Jun 6, 1995 2:59 PM EDT Jeff Moebus wrote (in part):
>I've been screwing around with this medium for close to a >year now and am
on
>the verge of being convinced that we who play in these >cyberrealms have
sold
>ourselves that
>a "virtual community" is in reality the same thing as a real >community and
>neighborhood of flesh and blood people, warts and farts and >all.
>I don't know whether the Internet will ever evolve into an >effective tool
for
>social, political, economic, or ecological action and activism. >Such tools
>work only in the real world, not the virtually concocted >facsimile thereof.
>Such tools work only when weilded by real people who know >how to
communicate
>with other real people.
--------------
I think your points are well taken, but I would add some additional
observations. There are many people who see the Internet as a conduit to,
rather than a replacement for, real communites with real people. I for one
have been led to people right here in my own city who are actively involved
in political and social change efforts in which I too can participate. I
won't say that I couldn't have found these communities _without_ the Internet
-- I probably could have. But the fact remains that I found them on the Net.
And although I did not reproduce your comments on the issue of elitism, I
sadly must agree that the community called the Internet is now limited to the
world of academics and the economically advantaged. I am hopeful (perhaps
naively so) that this will change in the next decade. Until it does,
accessing real communities via the electronic highway will be limited to
those who are finanically able. (By the way, some public libraries are
initiating free online time to any community cardholder; at least a step in
the right direction.)
I see the Internet primarily as a _communication tool_, and not in itself an
activist tool for change. I can use the _information_ I receive via the Net
in my efforts to assist change, but I remain the "tool." In this regard, I
think the Net is working: I receive leglislation information much faster than
I would through traditional media sources, and I have the luxury of reading
many more points of view than I would ever have time to cultivate through
those same traditional sources. So while I would agree that "such tools only
work when wielded by real people," I would argue that the real people are
already wielding them.
Thanks for listening.
--Katharine English
Writer at Large
San Francisco
