I tend to treat the internet like just an extension of the real world, and I’m not alone in this approach. The net is just a virtual suburb of real time. It has its own main roads, corporate areas, civilian suburbs, secret “black project” workshops, factories, military sections, news and data sources, entertainment areas, as well as assorted government webs (representing those useful illusions known as “nations” and “states” online).
To give you a good image to tickle your imagination, here’s a visual “map” from about 1994/95 of the different online computers controlling just the Corporate (Consumer) Layer of the Internet.
Another interesting read, to help you get your mind around this new country that has been formed, is Lost in Cyberspace: A Cultural Geography.
If you’re curious about the behaviour and thinking of human beings in cyberspace — as we have all experienced people behaving in ways completely at odds with their “real”, offline personas — take a slow, thoughtful read through an online book called The Psychology of Cyberspace.
And for those into it, here’s a paper on trying to work out just how the hell to “map” this ever-enlarging digital land in which that many of us spend increasing amounts of time. Read (or just look at the pictures) at Mapping the Unmappable: Visual Representations of the Net as Social Constructions.
To look at the internet via different kinds of maps, using different criteria, browse through the contents at An Atlas of Cyberspace. And pause by the somewhat dated maps at the section called Conceptual Maps of Cyberspace.
Hopefully you haven’t been scared off yet. Here’s a step-by-step, simple tutorial about the different layers and foundations of what makes up this digital land. You’ll notice the “web” or “www” stuff only appears in lesson number 23. There are many layers behind and underneath what you might have thought is “the internet”. Read Road Map Internet Tutorial.
As I said at the start, the net is made up of suburbs, virtual neighbours next to each other, with virtual “town halls” and online communities everywhere, each overlapping the other. This allowing the netizens to meet and chat, formulate ideas, argue, debate and present their digital selves to others, and share common interests.
Now, let me help you find an online community that you might enjoy. There’re different ways to do this, and many different kinds of communities available. Just for the heck of it, to show you that e-mail alone can supply you with a lot of entertainment and info, and pull you into a community of shared interests, let’s look at what are called “mailing lists”.
There are online groups that you can join, where you can either read what others say online or have everyone in the group’s e-mails delivered to you and, in turn, your e-mails are auto-delivered to everyone else. It’s all done automatically, and apart from the initial signing up, there’s no real effort required. (First, to avoid any newbie stress, read What Is a Mailing List and Some Basic Information about E-Mail Lists, as well as E-Mail Discussion Lists.)
In these days of spam frenzy, it’s worth taking the time to read A Guide to Staying Off Junk E-Mail Lists.
To help you avoid falling prey to spammers and marketers, get yourself a free online e-mail address, such as those available at Yahoo Mail.
To give you an idea of how widespread the subjects are, here’s a small “list of lists” of some e-mail groups dedicated, for instance, to Women’s Issues.
Again, to reinforce the simple steps to sign up to a list (and, just as easily, sign off a list), see Listserv List Help.
Read another example of the frighteningly diverse yet precise areas of discussion (scroll down to see them) in Classical Music E-Mail Discussion Groups Lists.
If you’re interested in specific countries’ news and current affairs, browse the rather large Indymedia Mailing Lists.
There’s a large online index of groups, listed by subject, for you to search through, at Yahoo Groups. (As you’ll notice, you can read Yahoo Groups online, or have the mail sent at you, for lots of offline reading.)
Another example of a specific mailing list. Got a dog? You name it, there’s an e-mail discussion group relating to whatever dog or dog-related problem you might have. Scroll down for it at The Complete List of Dog-Related E-Mail Lists.
The usual way in which e-mail is organised to create these online communities is by a thing called a “listserv” — which you might not have heard of before. Don’t be frightened. To become a proud learner geek, read Webopedia’s very simple, one-paragraph explanation.
Now you know the word, here’s firstly a helpful explanation about Using the Web to Participate in Listserv Discussion Groups. And here’s the same university’s list of its hosted Discussion Group Subjects.
Here’s a very useful search engine, where you can go a hunting for groups dedicated to the subjects that you like: List Search.
And here’s another site with quantities of e-mail groups available: browse through Topica E-Mail List Directory.
The above links ought to provide enough material (and letters pouring into your inbox) to demonstrate that the internet is much more than just web pages. Have fun finding other folks who enjoy the same things that you do.
Until the next time, if my appalling choices for column themes don’t get me.
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