The Arachnet Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture __________________________________________________________________ ISSN 1068-5723 February 28, 1994 Volume 2 Issue 1 EJVCV2N1 CONTENTS This entire issue is available as EJVCV2N1 PACKAGE Table of Contents _______________________ Special Issue: Cultural Dynamics of Virtual Culture Guest Editor: Jay Lemke, CUNY =============== CULTURAL DYNAMICS AND VIRTUAL CULTURE Jay Lemke City University of New York JLLBC@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (Available as LEMKE V2N1, 475 lines) Abstract This introduction to the EJVC special issue _Cultural Dynamics and Virtual Culture_ provides an overview of the purposes and content of the special issue. It also seeks to sketch the broad outlines of a general conceptual approach to the dynamics of computer-mediated communication as a cul- tural subsystem and to the potential role of this subsystem in general processes of cultural change. COMPUTER-SUPPORTED COOPERATIVE WORK AND ACADEMIC CULTURE Leslie Regan Shade shade@Ice.CC.McGill.CA (Available as SHADE V2N1, 395 lines) Abstract [These notes were generously contributed to the special is- sue. They present several directions for further inquiry into the potential changes in academic culture and scholarly practices that may result from new electronic opportunities for collaboration and publication. They were written shortly before the founding of EJVC. JLL] CONTRADICTORY SPACES: PLEASURE AND THE SEDUCTION OF THE CYBORG DISCOURSE P. K. Jamison Indiana University jamisonp@ucs.indiana.edu (Available as JAMISON V2N1, 617 lines) Abstract I provide a brief exploration of the seduction of the cyborg discourse and the expanding integration of living organism and machine found in a variety of settings. The question I ask about cyborgs is, "What tension lies in a discourse that envisions machines as facilitators of pleasure?" The cyborg discourse, seen in relation to the concept of pleasure, is one example of a contradiction that is constructed during inquiry into the "meaning" of social reality. THE PSYCHODYNAMIC EFFECTS OF VIRTUAL REALITY Leslie D. Harris Susquehanna University lharris@einstein.susqu.edu (Available as HARRIS V2N1, 792 lines) Abstract This article explores the potential effects of virtual reality on our subsequent experiences of the world. If, as Daniel Dennet, Jerome Bruner, and others have argued, our past experiences in- fluence subsequent perceptions of the world, then VR experiences can have a profound effect on our conscious beings. Those expe- riences can become part of a perceptual and an emotional back- ground that changes the way we see things. At its best, virtual reality can allow us to transcend our limitations, to expand our emotional lives. At its worst, VR can become a form of torture, in which we subject ourselves to traumatic experiences that scar our emotional and perceptual lives. CYBORGS ARE US Andrew R. J. Yeaman Yeaman & Associates ayeaman@cudnvr.denver.colorado.edu (Available as YEAMAN V2N1, 1409 lines) Abstract Cyborg stories, although imaginary, can be informative. The transition from the machine to the cyborg corresponds to the movement from modern to postmodern society. Cyborgs reflect the reality of people and computers being blurred together. This article shows the aesthetics of criticism can bring about awareness of cyborg fictions as a cultural anaesthetic. Another purpose of this article is to use writing as a way of exploring the social reality of cyborgs. ***** Romancing the interface Joe Amato jAmato@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu fluid etchings of affect from print to post- print hand-to-hand and around or through which a membrane of light without and within an ordeal often of heart-to-heart in passions opposed a forum of homey selves hearing voices in the wild causality itself longing to be orphaned an absence of flesh and of or in blood a discourse punctuated curling about and marked of anonymous neighborhoods of others of various discomforts reworked through words a rehash of histories exchanging presencing and organs archived in seemingly omniscient sites to lurk witnessing to pay homage to what may be or merely seen but substance marks of such stuff a style always verging on di- and transgression a medium divided against itself failing to transfer of what absent necessity must always be becoming and in this failure thereof hope in lacking of deceptive permanences a bluff called of hardcopy that of what is meant is said and means simply a self transfixed or in the midst of that past that cannot presently be altered hence and of whereby this divergence may no pedantic simulation be locating but the sites of nor that is and not in these places to perform but to shimmer with the promise of their own failings their own ambiguities their own merging recitations going forth excepting without a why or how in hand then unequivocably why or how either or hand feeling death across time zones a way negotiating among public spaces until flair familiarities and connections distinguish of an ideological backdrop even these places modulated against lack of tenure publication name hidden variables even children what is missing to be used to incite toward love honesty recapitulation rejection cruelty here all might and yet an occasion too of against for peace brutalilties of faith buffer bits of fact conjoined for the sake of exposition purging a community its practices mysteriously to question or and launching toward high adventure economies of need [END] electronic transfer Michael Dickel dicke001@maroon.tc.umn.edu I WATCH YOUR STORY FLY BY ON THE UPLOAD FROM HERE TO THAT TEXT MACHINE OVER THERE SOMEWHERE, THE DISJOINT NATURE OF THE WORLD BECOMING EVER MORE INCOHERENT, LOST IN BYTE-SIZE MODULES ALONG TELEPHONE-WIRE STRINGS ATTACHED TO ALL THAT WE SAY BETWEEN US. AMONG THE LINSEED OIL FUMES AND THE IDIOSYNCRATIC REPRESENTATION OF SELF WE CALL ART-FULNESS THE DESCENDING LINE TRIPS THE METERED FOOT AND, MY HEAD SPINNING, I THINK: ALL THAT WHITE SPACE BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS AN AFFECTED STYLISTIC TREND, BETWEEN LINES A CRITICAL LIFE-LINE FOR CAREERS, BETWEEN LETTERS A LINGUISTIC ODDITY, BETWEEN US FOREVER HOLDS THE EMPTINESS THAT HAS DRAINED FROM MEANING. NO MATTER HOW MUCH CONCRETE YOU POUR INTO THE MOLD, THESE ARE STILL ONLY A FEW DARK SCRATCHES OF SENSE IN AN ELECTRO-MAGNETIC FIELD, ********* MUSHy poem Michael Dickel dicke001@maroon.tc.umn.edu Connect me ******* You stand in a textual world looking for another. contents: You Her :hug Her You hug Her. She HUGS!! You. She says, "I missed You. It's been a long time." "I have never seen you to touch you You say, "I have never seen you to touch you." She puts her arm around your waist. She says, "Can't you feel me now?" look Her She stands in front of You, airy nothingness on the screen words glyphs icons through a conduit of electrons and photons You, airy nothingess on Her screen. words glyphs icons "I feel you. In here..." You say, "I feel you. In here..." She kisses You. :kiss Her. You kiss Her. :put arms around Her and pull Her closer. You put arms around Her and pull Her closer through the screen into your life untouched unknown possible woman possible man possible lover changing everything you touch everything you touch changing Her You never touching go Home [END] The VIRTUAL SQUARE ================== edited by James Shimabukuro (jamess@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu) The Virtual Square is devoted to non-refereed opinion columns and essays. THE RATE OF CHANGE OF THE RATE OF CHANGE UseNet Indicators Are 7 Times As High in Jan, 1994 as Jan, 1993 7215703 Jan94 >> 1142783 Jan93 by Michael Hart (Available as SQARV2N1 HART, 373 lines) The CYBERSPACE MONITOR ====================== (Available as EJVCV2N1 MONITOR, 4,201 lines) ///////////////////// / TABLE OF CONTENTS / ///////////////////// SPECIAL INTERNET CONNECTIONS Scott Yanoff INFORMATION SOURCES John A. December INTERNET SERVICES FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Version 1.7 4 February 1994 Kevin Savetz NOTE: Permission has been granted to publish these files in the "Cyberspace Monitor" of the _Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture_. _____ Articles and Sections of this issue of the _Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture_ may be retrieved via anonymous ftp to byrd.mu.wvnet.edu or via e-mail message addressed to LISTSERV@KENTVM or LISTSERV@KENTVM.KENT.EDU (instructions below) Papers may be submitted at anytime by email or send/file to: Ermel Stepp - Editor-in-Chief, _Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture_ M034050@MARSHALL.WVNET.EDU _________________________________ *Copyright Declaration* Copyright of articles published by Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture is held by the author of a given article. If an article is re-published elsewhere it must include a statement that it was originally published by Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture. The EJVC Editors reserve the right to maintain permanent archival copies of all submissions and to provide print copies to appropriate indexing services for for indexing and microforming. _________________________________ _THE ELECTRONIC JOURNAL ON VIRTUAL CULTURE_ ISSN 1068-5327 EDITORIAL BORAD EJVC Founders Ermel Stepp, Marshall University, Editor-in-Chief M034050@Marshall.wvnet.edu Diane (Di) Kovacs, Kent State University, Co-Editor DKOVACS@Kentvm.Kent.edu A. Ralph Papakhian, Indiana University, Consulting Editor PAPAKHI@@IUBVM Editor, _The Cyberspace Monitor_ Algirdas Pakstas, Institute of Mathematics and Informatics a.pakstas@sedcs.mii2.Lt Editors, _Virtual Square_ Diane (Di) Kovacs, Kent State University DKOVACS@Kentvm.Kent.edu James Shimabukuro, University of Hawaii jamess@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu Consulting Editors Anne Balsamo, Georgia Institute of Technology ab45@prism.gatech.edu Patrick (Pat) Conner, West Virginia University u47c2@WVNVM.WVNET.EDU Skip Coppola, Applied Technology, Inc. skip%aptech@bagend.atl.ga.us Cynthia J. Fuchs, George Mason University cfuchs@gmuvax.bitnet Stevan Harnad, Princeton University harnad@Princeton.EDU Edward M. (Ted) Jennings, University at Albany, SUNY EMJ69@ALBNYVMS Michael Joyce, Vassar MIJOYCE@vaxsar.vassar.edu or USERTFSG@UMICHUM Jay Lemke, City University of New York JLLBC@CUNYVM.BITNET Carl Eugene Loeffler, Carnegie Mellon University cel+@andrew.cmu.edu Willard McCarty, University of Toronto editor@EPAS.UTORONTO.CA James (Jim) Milles, Saint Louis University millesjg@sluvca.slu.edu Algirdas Pakstas, Institute of Mathematics and Informatics a.pakstas@sedcs.mii2.Lt A. Ralph Papakhian, Indiana University PAPAKHI@@IUBVM Bernie Sloan, University of Illinois, Champaign AXPBBGS@UICVMC.BITNET or b-sloan@uiuc.edu Allucquere Roseanne Stone, University of Texas, Austin success@emc.cc.utexas.edu Kali Tal, Viet Nam Generation kali@access.digex.com Associate Editors Robert J. (Bob) Beebe, Youngstown State University ad219@yfn.ysu.edu David W. Brown, Ball State University 01dwbrown@LEO.BSUVC.BSU.EDU Kathleen Burnett, Rutgers University BURNET@zodiac.rutgers.edu G. Phillip Cartwight, University of California, Davis PCARTWRI@KENTVM Paulo A. Dasilva, Military Institute of Engineering, Brazil S9PAULO@IMERJ.BITNET Jill Ellsworth, Southwest Texas State University je01@swtexas Jan George Frajkor, Carleton University, Canada gfrajkor@ccs.carleton.ca Dave Gomberg, University of California, San Francisco GOMBERG@UCFSVM Lee Hancock, The University of Kansas Medical Center Le07144@ukanvm Mary Hocks, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaigne mhocks@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu Steven Hodas, HORSE HORSE LION LION hhll@u.washington.edu Nancy Kaplan, University of Texas, Dallas NKaplan@utdallas.bitnet Brendan Kehoe, Cygnus Support bk@well.sf.ca.us Joan Korenman, University of Maryland, Baltimore County korenman@umbc2.umbc.edu or korenman@umbc Steven D. 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