The internet as a social entity

The internet is a social entity insofar as it is controlled and operated by and for humans. Granted technology does drive and orientate the way in which people are able to use it (i.e. it is structured and designed in a certain way, for a particular purpose, by a specific community of people).  The way I see it computers are nothing without people. Computers are just an extension of our bodies and minds. The internet helps us to organize, synthesize and network information. That’s not to say we as consumers choose how the products we consume are designed. We pay someone else to do all the technical engineering and ergonomic planning. But do not have a direct influence on the product. 

Even if products are made with restrictions and limitations, humans appropriate and adapt them to suite their own needs. A product might be made to fulfil a certain purpose, however an innovative individual might come along modify or re-interpret the product so as to re-invent it for their own unique requirements. The internet seems to personify this trend because of its de-centralized nature. Technological artefacts are flexible, and there meanings are constantly negotiated by people. However the way in which they interact with technology is loosely structured by the product’s intended purpose. This delimits meaningful use and therefore also influences the possibilities we have to manipulate it.  

~ by jem8 on January 22, 2007.