Chapter 6. The Sociosemantic Web


Man's achievements rest upon
the use of symbols.

Alfred Korzybski

In 1988, sociologist Susan Leigh Star coined the term "boundary object" to describe artifacts or ideas that are shared but understood differently by multiple communities. Though each group attaches a different meaning to the boundary object, it serves as a common point of reference and a means of translation. A dead bird may be the catalyst for communication between amateur bird watchers and professional epidemiologists. A vision of sustainable development may inspire politicians, environmentalists, builders, and business leaders to engage in negotiation and collaboration. The magic of the boundary object lies in its ability to build shared understanding across social categories.

In the 1990s, the Internet emerged as a powerful boundary object, uniting early adopters in a global conversation about the future of information, communication, and commerce. Back in the text-only days of Gopher and WAIS , the Internet was a special club. Only a few belonged. Most of the world had never heard of the Internet, and many who did casually dismissed it as a playground for geeks. This rejection only strengthened the bonds of the inspired. We were amazed by the Internet. We could download software from Berkeley, send email to Moscow, and retrieve documents from Sydney. We wanted to learn everything about the Internet: where it came from, how it worked, and what it could do. We imagined the future of the Internet and its potential to change the world.

It was small club, and yet the only cost of membership was interest. In the tradition of the true believer, we wanted the club to grow. Ask a question, show sincere interest, and you're in: a bona fide member of the Internet society. It was a small club, and yet its membership expanded across all geographic, political, ethnic, sexual, religious, ideological, disciplinary, and professional lines, as Figure 6-1 suggests. We were academics, practitioners, programmers, architects, librarians, and designers. Our diversity went largely unnoticed, as we rarely met in person, but when it did surface, it was often viewed as a positive. It was cool to learn that a distinguished journalist, an elderly politician, or a young Lithuanian woman had joined the club. Every addition validated the vision.

Figure 6-1. The famous Internet cartoon by Peter Steiner from the July 5, 1993 issue of The New Yorker (© The New Yorker Collection 1993 Peter Steiner from cartoonbank.com. All rights reserved.)


And then in 1993, NCSA Mosaic and its multimedia version of the World Wide Web launched cyberspace into mainstream consciousness. Those were heady days, as the first Internet stories appeared in major newspapers, magazines, and television newscasts. I still recall the contagious enthusiasm of the early Internet World conferences, during which tens of thousands gathered to learn about and celebrate this global network of networks. Milestone followed milestone: Netscape, Yahoo!, eBay, Google. It was an exciting time, but it was also the beginning of the end for the Internet society. Commercialism supplanted idealism, and the club grew so big that membership lost its privileges.

Today, the society is fragmented into myriad communities of practice, and the Internet's power to serve as boundary object is diminished. Professional specialization has led to a divergence of vision and vocabulary. Narrowly circumscribed groups develop coded languages that optimize communication between insiders at the expense of transparency for outsiders. And when these groups interact, they often talk past one another without doing the hard work necessary to translate, understand, and cooperate. This insularity can be disheartening, and yet it presents great opportunity for boundary spanners who are willing to serve as a bridge by linking ideas and people across divided networks.




Ambient Findability
Ambient Findability: What We Find Changes Who We Become
ISBN: 0596007655
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 87

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