From daemon Mon Jun 12 11:55 EDT 1995 Received: from chuma.cas.usf.edu (chuma.cas.usf.edu [131.247.31.3]) by town.hall.org (8.6.12/941123.08ccg) with ESMTP id LAA02721 for ; Mon, 12 Jun 1995 11:53:06 -0400 Received: (surfus@localhost) by chuma.cas.usf.edu (8.6.11/8.6.5) id LAA12309; Mon, 12 Jun 1995 11:55:20 -0400 Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 11:55:19 -0400 (EDT) From: "Bonnie Surfus (ENG)" X-Sender: surfus@chuma To: jec@town.hall.org Subject: 21st C. Economy Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Length: 4190 Status: RO In respose to the call for interenet communication regarding the changing economy, particulary as we move into the 21st C., I must offer cautionary remarks based upon my experience on the internet. So much talk of "freedom." Most of what I've said and done here has been highly scrutinized, whether on a literary reading list, a writing instructor's reading list, or just a poetry list in a MOO (a role-playing forum.) Healthy debate in this "democratic" forum can be downright frightening. I wonder what the militias do on the interet, or in a MOO (I'd bet it's more than don a breast plate and emOOte, or "smile," "giggle," and "blow kisses.") It's not that I can't take some criticism. As a scholar, it's part of my life, as I'm sure it is for politicians. But the power dynamics bring an altogether different kind of criticism in internet communication--and yes, that's in addition to the blatant sexism that everyone tries to cover up and hide as more and more rhetoric is generated in attempts to reiterate that pesky "freedom" that the internet is supposed to be all about. Let me say that as far as language goes, the internet can be liberating. In addition, the labyrithine nature of publication is made simpler by increasing the opportunities for discourse amongst scholars working on their respective projects sans the temporal and spatial constraints of land-mail and same-time communication. Only two weeks following brain surgery last August, I was sending an article I'd been working on (prior to the surgery) out for publication and it was before my eyes nearly a month or two later--unheard of before the internet possibilities advanced my project. I have two more articles poised for publication only a few months following the first. My ability to generate and publish scholarly work, often essay that concern themselves with literature, thought, language, and culture via contemporary chaos theory, that healthy stepchild of the "information age," has increased in ways unimaginable. For me, obviously an advantage. But hopefully, as is the nature of my ideas, the work can have material effects in the lives of students and scholars, encouraging new ways of thinking about langauge and texts that may prove a positive new paradigm. I imagine that politicians feel similarly about their respective projects. Either way, good or bad, my purpose here is to reinforce a note of caution being heard around the world. The internet can be an incredibly useful tool and it offers a means of communication never before imagined. This said, it seems obvious that financial motivations deem necessary the colonization and exploitation of the internet. Relative to my thoughts on chaos theory, the nature of information, and even the ethical dilemmas inherent in a communicative flow that is tolerant of abhorent speech and behavior, I must nontheless caution you as you advance your studies. Highly influential rhetoric polishes the rough edges and advances a notion of "democracy" that recalls many similar motivations in our problematic history. Many will talk of the chaotic nature of this democracy. The work to regulate is already underway. I have no absolute statements regarding where to go or what to do in order to proceed with your project. I simply ask that you spend time searching the internet. Study the practices of those who spend so much time and energy here. Continue to encourage a public discourse regarding your questions and concerns. Never has democracy SEEMED easier. But by the same token, never have we been so readily provided with a means by which to craft our arguments in silence, in anonymity, and seemingly without consequence. I write everything I do knowing that it can be read by anyone smart enough to figure it out. Freedom? [in the previous paragraph, last sentence,the word "chaotic" is used relevant to the traditional notions of chaos as "bad," not in its contemporary orientation as full of possibilities, as a kind of order.] Bonnie Lenore Surfus University of South Florida Department of English Composition and Rhetoric surfus@chuma.cas.usf.edu