COLLEGE STATION - Non-computer buffs may think of the Internet as a whole other world. According to a Texas A&M University professor, they're right. "I think it's a parallel world and it takes its place among a lot of other parallel worlds," says Paul Adams, an assistant professor of geography in the College of Geosciences who studies cyberspace as a "real" place. "We can look at space in terms of a map - that's a very fixed and static image," he says. "We can also map the movement and the flow of information and interactions, which is essentially what happens on the Internet. Information moves and people interact."
Adams says those other "parallel worlds" include the so-called "global village" created by television and the even earlier "Gutenberg Galaxy" after the invention of movable type allowed the mass-production of books. What makes the Internet different from books and television, however, is its interactive nature. "TV boxed us up in our houses, had us all separated. With the Internet, you've got the opportunity to join a community," he says.
And that's just what computer users do, every time they sign an online petition, send an e-mail, book an airline flight or join a discussion in a "chat room."
"Interaction and experience are the two ways we form a community and get a sense of who we are," says Paul Adams. "That's what we do on the Internet; we interact and we share an experience."
Even the language associated with Internet use suggests an actual space: Users "surf" the "information superhighway," "visit" "sites" and chat in "rooms."
"These kind of careless metaphors actually have a lot of validity," Adams says. "Why do we call it a 'chat room'? Because a room is sort of the archetypal space for gathering. By its very design, a room is a place with a specific function: It brings people together in a confined area which almost forces interaction." At the same time, he says, the absence of physical contact online offers a freedom not found in traditional forms of interaction. "I think a lot of people are getting a kick out of the anonymity and the ability to be something different," he says.
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Contact Gerard Farrell, (409) 845-4645; via e-mail, [email protected]
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