Module Five - Discussion on concepts

Information ecologies are defined by the authors as those 'local habitations', such as schools, homes, libraries, hospitals, etc., within which we have various roles and for which we may use information technology.

(Reference: Nardi B A and O'Day V L Information ecologies: using technology with heart. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-14066-7)

With this in mind, I looked at the questions
(1) “how might the metaphor of an ‘Ecology’ impact on the way I think about, understand and use the internet?”

“Information Ecology” is a term we talk about how we use and adapt to computers technology to communicate, learn, develop, and advance. Computers have become so established in society that not understanding some of the metaphor associated with them can disadvantage a person considerably.

Through this course, I become more aware of the wide variety of technologies and tools that are available to me to use and participate in this community, but how fast these technologies and tools are evolving and the need to keep abreast of the changes.

The word ‘ecology’ does seem to sum up and describe how diverse the internet is and how it is made up of many components that interact with each other. The concept surely changes my thoughts about the Internet because I realise how everything is dependant on everything else. I had never thought of it that way. The metaphor does not create a big impact on the way I think of the internet, but it does describe the complexity of the internet.

(2) “How are the concepts information and communication understood within the framework of an “Information Ecology”:

The concepts of information and communication in the framework of information ecology are complex. Information ecology seems to acknowledge the fact that information is what it is because it is created by humans and it will be influenced by and perceived differently when received by the other party at the other end.

Information is what is sent, communication is information sent that makes sense between two or more parties. Information is the knowledge communicated or received concerning some fact or circumstance and, communication is the means of transmitting, imparting, partaking of or receiving information.

Communication in the Information Ecology takes on many forms that have not previously been available to everyone in society. The progress of Web 2.0 with blogging, chat rooms, Facebook and MySpace, along with Wikis etc has broadened the range of vehicles in which the information and technologies can be spread. It has also made technological information and communication easier and more readily available to every levels of society.

(3) "Why don’t we talk of a communication ecology?"

As mentioned above, information and communication are closely interwoven. However it is the information that is the knowledge; communication is purely the means of spreading the knowledge. Communication is not the implied result of exchanged information.

I think the internet is still very young in term of the communication ecology. Some people are still trying to grasps with the basics of the internet (like what is social networking site, a blog and when should one used it); while others have become so absorbed by it that they think of it as tool.


Below are my other researches and studies on Module 5.
Module 5 covers a lot of concepts. Since I have done “Netiquette”, “Communication is not complete upon receipt”, “Threading” & “Privacy and Security” in my Assignment 2, I will not repeat myself here.
Asynchronicity……………………………………………see also Concept 8
Your audience’s use of communication...………...………see also Concept 6
Effective Internet communication combines technical and communicative competence………………………………….………….…see also Concept 7
Reflective Communicative Practice………………………see also Concept 7
The mobility of electronic digital data……………………see also Concept 3
Reading the difference between ‘surface’ metadata and ‘implied’ metadata……………………………………………………see also Concept 11
Netiquette………………………………………………..…see also Concept 3
The invisibility of difference…………………………….…see also Concept 1
Permanent ephemerality………………………… ………see also Concept 28
Automation…………………………… …………………see also Concept 23
The relationship of data to meta-data………………………see also Concept 6
Communication and Information are related………………see also Concept 32
Communication is not complete upon receipt……..………see also Concept 11
Cyberspace is informationally created ‘space’………….…see also Concept 15
Metaphors of use and communication differentiation……..see also Concept 32
Communication & communication management: melding...see also Concept 5
The impact of text-based real-time chat……………...……see also Concept 14
Non-speech communication through text: audience and authors’ responsibilities………………………………………………see also Concept 8
Public and Private………………….………………………see also Concept 22
Active communication generates identity awareness………….……see also Concept 28
Threading………………………………………………..…see also Concept 17
Public space and regulation……………………..…………see also Concept 32
Human-computer interfaces
Client-server two-way interactions…………………..……see also Concept 12
Identity and location…………………………………....…see also Concept 27
Privacy and Security…………………………………..…..see also Concept 28
The persistence of history…………………………..…..…see also Concept 23
The paradox of the World Wide Web……………….……see also Concept 23
The challenge of ‘fast’ data…………………………..……see also Concept 5
Frames: the information-display challenge…………………see also Concept 3
Hypertext: links or structure? ……………………..………see also Concept 28
Virtually a Library? ……………………………...………..see also Concept 16
Information and attention………………………………..…see also Concept 6

The above 33 concepts provide some very good reading materials.

Asynchronicity – removes the requirement that partners in a communicative transaction have to be co-existent in time (in the senders and receivers own time).

Your audience's use of communication - think about what receivers will do with information, not just what you have it in mind them to do.

Effective Internet communication combines technical & communicative competence – being a normal good writer does not necessarily mean that you will be good in internet communication. Effective internet communication requires technical and communicative skills.

Reflective Communicative Practice – Experience is the best teacher; instead of just doing the same thing over and over again, a person need to make each experience better by reflecting on past experiences and what could be improved.

The mobility of electronic digital data - It is very easy to send large amounts of data to lots of people electronically, and this can sometimes lead to excessive and not very useful information being received by users.

Reading the difference between 'surface' metadata & 'implied' metadata - The 'surface' metadata and the 'implied' metadata must both be explored if the whole message is to be received correctly.

The invisibility of difference – Everyone has his/her own different systems. When we do not know what other user system is, we will presume that their system is the same as ours.

Permanent emphemerality - Even though the internet sometimes seems impermanent, people should concede that their electronic communications could be easily stored and accessed for future reference thus be aware of the inherit implications.

Automation – Building automated technology is rapidly developing towards a more reliable communication system, devices that control electronic equipment. Power
Line communication has been one of the dreams of the electronics industry, especially for building automation. Now with the popularity of the internet, home/office automation might now see the light of the mass consumers

The relationship of data to meta-data - Meta-data can be used to better understand the data in a message.

Communication and Information are related - Information, in order to be useful to anyone, must be communicated.

Cyberspace is informationally created 'space' - Many sites have 'chat rooms': a created space where people meet and “chat”.

Metaphors of use and communication differentiation – Since the introduction of computers and the internet, metaphors have been used to describe what is new and how it is similar to something we are already aware of. These metaphors are used mainly to introduce people to the advances in technology without them feeling they are too overwhelming.

Communication and communication management: melding - The actual message and the way it was communicated are often expressed as the same thing as though they are the same thing; the fact is that they are two different things.

The impact of text-based real-time chat – Text-based real-time chat has been available on the internet since it introduction in 1988. As the technology has vastly improved, one might expect that this form of communication would have lost popularity, however this is not the case. Millions of people communicate using such tools as ICQ, Microsoft Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, IRC and many more. Chatting in text, in real time retains the advantage of instant two-way communication whilst also allowing you to think through much more thoroughly what you wish to say. This kind of communication allows you to correct what you have written before transmitting.

Non-speech communication through text: audience and authors' responsibilities - Without the benefit of hand gestures, facial expressions or a knowledge of what is going on in the users’ environment and allow for this when communicating electronically --- we need to be aware that messages we send through online communication are done.

Public and Private – Communication carried out on a discussion board with hundreds of users is for general use; any communication of a private nature, involving only two parties, should not appear on a discussion board.

Active communication generates identity awareness – In Internet culture, a lurker is a person who reads discussions on a message board, newsgroup, chat room, file sharing or other interactive system, but rarely if ever posts or participates. Hence, if you are part of a list, in order to get the full benefit of a list, you need to actively communicate with the group so that you will be included in the discussions and get more out of the list.

Public space and regulation - Regulating public space is necessary, it ensures that unnecessary noise is not created and the site does not get disordered.

Human-computer interfaces - Humans communicate with computers in a variety of ways. Early on there were options like the keyboard and the light pen. Over the years a number of human computer interfaces have been developed such as the mouse, the drawling tablet, and speech recognition programs. All of these interfaces require mediation between the human and the computer. This mediator is a hardware device that translates some sort of movement to a binary number that the computer can then process.

Client-server two-way interactions - File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the best example of client-server two-way interactions. Once this FTP is setup, it enables the user to turn their PC into a server. This enables clients to interact directly with this server computer. The client may be allowed, depending on preferences, to upload files as well as download file to the server computer. The server computer can upload information to be viewed by other clients, and can also use the FTP to download from other server’s.

Identity and location – www.dnsstuff.com is a valuable website. It provides DNS and networking tools. There are a number of free tools which are very helpful. It provides tools for testing domain names, IP’s and hostnames. The site and tools are particular useful for the trace route and ping task, it can be used for verifying whether a mail server is part of a spam database; checking for problems in regards to sending mail to a user or verifying who owns a domain or IP address. The HTML validator can also be used to validate websites, such as the Volcano Web.

It can assist people to locate servers or IP addresses. It enables people to trace route to a particular path to check for speed or delays with that particular service. This can be important when selecting and ISP or web server.

The dnnstuff.com website can also be linked with the Privacy and Security concept, as there are tools there to assist with checking suspicious IP addresses and suspicious emails. This can protect a user from unwanted emails and possible hacking.

The persistence of history - History enables us to have a better understanding of the past and present and gives an idea of where we can go in the future. Although the Internet is only half a century old, there has been a fantastic growth in the number of uses and the purposes for which the Internet is used. The Internet was not developed for the sake of machines or simply as a technological achievement. The Internet developed for the visionary purpose of facilitating the sharing of information amongst scientific and military researchers.

The paradox of the World Wide Web - The World Wide Web has two faces: a fun and easy presentation interface, and a complex and evolving technical underpinning.
The challenge of ‘fast’ data - Fast data is not always the best data, we need to ensure that our data comes from a reliable source.

Frames: the information-display challenge - Frames were introduced in the last century as a method of displaying information in a more convenient manner. The benefits of frames include the ability to display multiple things at once. There are so many issues with frames that makes it totally non feasible to use them as a base for a standard web page. Frames can make it difficult to hyperlink a website that uses frames. Frames can also cause difficulty with printing and searching. Overlooking this, there are some uses for frames – google image search uses frames to indicate the original location of the image and give the user an option to see the image in its original context.

Hypertext: links or structure? - Hypertext while in it's main definition is mainly concerned with structure; it is used to describe links in and between documents termed as "hyperlinks".

Virtually a Library? – No. The internet is not a library. It is a more like a “catalogue” where we can easily search and gain access to the information we require: the internet can return unwanted results and results of opinion.

Information and attention - With millions of websites online around the world at any one time, it’s first and foremost tasks is to have relevant metadata and links within the site so that it reaches the users in the first couple of seconds from a search engine when users search for a specific phrase.

We must be aware, when presenting information on the internet, that users are impatient and want information quickly and easily; they do not want to have to search for it, they want it displayed in front of them straight away. If it is not, the site will loose their attention, and is useless. What is the use of having the greatest site in the world, if users that are looking for your type of website could not locate it.


What the future of the internet might entail and how our understandings of ‘advanced internet use’ might change

This is the 21st Century; people will naturally want to go further into wireless technology usage: such as mobile phones, PDA phones and laptops just to name a few. Basically, communication wise, people just want to stay connected to other people via the internet links. No one wants to sit in front of a monitor all the time. That is why mobile units will always be popular. Mobile technology is the way of the future. Internet-enabled devices will always be popular. Whatever devices help to streamline the process of getting information from and to the internet will catch the eyes of the consumers.

Nowadays, young people seems to have more pocket money than ever. They will be the first to own these instruments. This is where the internet is headed.

As the technology becomes available to connect globally, we will become even less tied to location and more mobile. This will have a significant effect on the way we work and how we communicate with family and friends. At a local level, a technology called Bluetooth is designed to connect all our household and business devices together to allow seamless information sharing. So in a business meeting, electronic business cards can be swapped and diaries scanned for a suitable next meeting. And in the home, the TV could download schedules from the PC's Internet connection.

Wireless has already taken off in the form of `WiFi' (or 802.11a/b/g) devices, which have a medium range of around 20m, and are mainly used to connect PCs, laptops or PDAs to a broadband link...

The possibilities are limitless once the basic connections are in place, and most of these technologies are here already in some form or another; though it may be a few years before integration allow them to be mass-produced cheaply enough to become ubiquitous.