An external boundary; a circuit.

[gair dunlop]

Title: An external boundary; a circuit.

the above being a definition of "ambit" the idea of being "entrenched in cyberculture" takes on interesting connotations. I wonder if it's worth thinking about who ambit people are? who amongst us is embedded deeply in a network of different lists, boards, groups etc? And if we are, what are the downsides of this: we think we're getting a diversity of viewpoints but they are a self re-inforcing circuit. If we get touchy about things being forwarded that "everybody knows/has seen already" then we're making a lot of assumptions about who "we" are and become a self-perpetuating elite... >Date: Sat, 5 Jul 2003 21:26:34 -0700 (PDT) >From: Amy Alexander <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Re: <nettime> Google's Weapons of Mass Destruction > >i understand how it can be annoying if the same joke arrives in one's >inbox repeatedly, but i think we shouldn't overlook the power of a >meme as a form of political resistance. i've received this one from >people who don't usually seem to question the war; it seems to be >hitting a nerve beyond the "preaching to the converted" crowd. > >the meme is quickly moving beyond email circles into mainstream media >- reuters et al are now reporting it... search now for weapons of >mass destruction... >http://news.google.com/news?q=weapons+of+mass+destruction > >as to whether the redundant forwarding is a symptom of info- or >cyber-dependency: the interesting thing is that each time someone >forwards it, it means that the sender has just received the message >for the first time - in most cases, the people who receive something >like this repeatedly are cyber-veterans with large >cyber-social-networks, whereas the senders are not very entrenched in >cyberculture (otherwise, they'd realize it was redundant and not send >it.) > >so, whatever one's feelings on the dark humor, this seems to be >something that a lot of people from outside the usual net-active and >politically-active circles are hooking into. there's a lot of social >discomfort in the states about anti-war discussions since one can be >shunned by one's peers as a traitor. so memes and dark humor can be >icebreakers for a lot of people to start discussing these issues, and >that really needs to happen... > >- -@ > > >On Fri, 4 Jul 2003, Bill Spornitz wrote: > >> Co-Info-Dependents; >> >> I have enjoyed the e-rhythm washing ashore as this little info-fluff >> has arrived in my inbox about twice a day since it first came out on >> metafilter, or slashdot, or al-jazeera, or whatever, about 6 days ago. > <...> gair dunlop www.gairspace.org.uk Cumbernauld: Town for Tomorrow www.cumbernauld.nu