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METAFORIX MAIL Volume 2, Issue 5 October 12, 2001 Sites and
insights for the Information Age Whatever
meanings we previously assigned to the phrase Information Age,
its significance has been forever transformed in the wake of the September
11 attacks. All of us have experienced the inconceivably treacherous potential
of information technologies and have seen, simultaneously, the power of
these technologies to support bravery, heroism, and love. Thanks for reading. CONTENTS AT A GLANCE
ON MY MIND: Tehnology Now
ON MY MIND [From the Editor] Infotech Post-9/11 In the old days, the Twin Towers assured the geographically challenged that they were headed toward Wall Street, not the George Washington Bridge. And infomavens like me freely adopted a variety of postures with respect to the daily impact of information technologies -- everything from voicemail to camcorders, e-mail to cell phones.We could report the trends, advocate infopolicies of various stripes, posit the need for new forms of etiquette, parse the emerging language and customs of cyberspace, muse on the social/cultural/psychological/political/economic/fill-in-the-blank ramifications of the Internet. We could do any or all of these, continually or sequentially, with consuming passion or intellectual distance. I've probably assumed most of those stances at one time or another since I started publishing Metaforix Mail. But in a single hour on September 11 and in every moment since, we have been forced to experience technological realities in all their awesome power for evil and for good. In this new world, information technologies demand to be engaged with passion. In this moment, to make them a subject of abstract theorizing is disrespectful, nearly obscene. Consider cell phones, perhaps the most prominent example. Pre-9/11, these ubiquitous gadgets had dramatically altered our notions of public space, personal boundaries, distance, and trust. These alterations were not always for the better. Who would have predicted the role of cell phones in the heroism of the hijacked, doomed passengers? Their poignant facilitation of intimate farewells? Their central place in the historical record of events? Or, for that matter, the cynical taunting they allowed the hijackers to inflict during their victims' last hours? What about voicemail? Pre-9/11, social scientists at MIT and elsewhere had already begun to study "electronic remains" such as e-mails and answering machine messages, as Joel Garreau discussed last June in a fascinating Washington Post essay. This week, The New York Times reports on a collaborative effort among National Public Radio, its affiliate station WNYC, and Verizon Telecommunications to create a "Sonic Monument" to the World Trade Center. The group is collecting voicemails, answering machine tapes, and other recorded sound fragments that document Twin Towers life before and during the 9/11 attacks. And, lest we forget, videotape. The reality of the attacks -- appearing at first to be a spectacular exercise in cinematic special effects -- sinks in as the tape is run and run and rerun on the air. The city and country are calmed, to the extent possible, by repeated airings of mayoral briefings and presidential statements. And then: A charismatic, fanatical terrorist icon emerges from his cave to record a message of undistilled hatred and venom. His minions deliver the tape in full confidence that the media will convey it to the world. It is broadcast worldwide. Its text is translated and published in myriad languages. These are among the oldest information technologies, contorted to serve unimaginable ends. No, these considerations are hardly abstract -- nor can they be simply examined and categorized in succinct moral terms. Post-9/11, the very personal and life-altering potential of information technologies is impossible to ignore. Technophobia is not an option. Scientific sophistication is not necessary. Passionate engagement with the meanings and consequences of the new Information Age is an essential part of being human. Cordially, Lois C. Ambash
Access previous issues of Metaforix Mail by date by visiting our archives. Or use the search box on any page of the Metaforix site (www.metaforix.com) to search by keywords.
INFORMATICON Ellen
Goodman on Facing
History and Ourselves "Conversations about identity and ostracism. Conversations about dangers of dogma and how to walk in someone else's shoes while honing your own sense of right and wrong. Conversations that don't lend themselves to multiple-choice answers. " 'How to be human,' says [Facing History's co-founder Margot Stern] Strom, 'is a day-to-day task.' "
POST - 9/11 NEW SITES AND PAGES
Citizens
of Cyberspace Respond
Since
September 11, a wave of new web sites and new pages on old sites have sprung
up in response to the tragedies. Their variety is staggering and their numbers
seem to grow daily.
Learn how Metaforix can help you and your business take a byte of the Information Age. See what we have to offer at www.metaforix.com. CYBERSPEAK
What Was That About Cell Phones? In
our previous issue, we cited "Word
Spy" in talking about language changes post-9/11. So it's interesting,
in context of the role of cell phones during the terrorist attacks, that
last week "Word Spy" featured the term yell phone.
GIVING: Learning from Our Misfortunes Coping With Tragedy Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medine are asking for help. They have constructed a secure online survey to record how people are responding and coping in the wake of the terrorist attacks.Studies of this nature will ultimately improve the psychological and psychiatric interventions available for helping people recover from trauma. Fifteen to twenty minutes of your time -- regardless of how directly or indirectly you may have been touched by the events of September 11 -- can be a valuable contribution to behavioral science research. The researchers promise to respect your privacy and keep your responses completely confidential. To participate in the study or to learn more about it, go to Coping With the Stress of the Terrorist Attacks.
Please note that the links contained in Metaforix Mail are current as of the time of publication. Some of them may no longer be operative at the time you access past issues. To
Volume 2, Issue 4 September 24, 2001 |
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