[Reader-list] Space, Cyberspace, and Cspace

[Raju Mathur]

Interesting write-up, Shuddha.

I'm finding it more and more difficult to move between ``have'' and
``have-not'' modes in cspace or whatever you choose to call it.  For
people like me (Uber-geeks?) the idea of not being able to access
e-mail, the 'net, information, my address book, etc from wherever I am
is getting increasingly repugnant.

No, I don't mean that I suffer withdrawal symptoms when away from my
computer -- it's only when one needs some information which one knows
is a click or two away and is unable to get it that irritation sets
in.

One could say that Information has become a sort of Sixth Sense to
many human beings.  The sense organs are artificial, expensive, kludgy
and slow, but they're improving and our dependence on them is growing
each day.  That they're becoming increasingly more important can be
judged by the fact that I (personally) routinely make decisions and
judgements about people based purely upon information that I have
gathered using this Sixth Sense.  People decide to work with an
organisation or not, to pay someone or not, to sleep with someone or
not, even to marry another person or not based upon what this Sixth
Sense has told them.

As our dependence on Information grows, we will see many issues like
censorship, cracking and false information in a new light.  Censorship
would be equivalent to blinding and cracking to reorganisation of
nerve connections, for example.  And the new Super (Wo)Men will be the
ones whose sense organs work the best: i.e. those who have the
best-integrated, fastest and smoothest connections to each other and
the Repository.

Question for you: How does Free Software translate into this model?

The sense organs themselves?  The Palm Pilots, the Nokia Communicators
and the Simputers of this world are striving to become, as one
incredibly tasteless ad puts it, ``an extension of you''.  I don't see
much besides better miniaturisation happening in making access to
information faster for us Mere Mortals.  Anyone aware of new
developments in this field?

Regards,

-- Raju

P.S. Check out http://www.agendacomputing.com/ for a handheld running
Linux and all Open Source software.

>>>>> "Shuddha" == Shuddhabrata Sengupta <shuddha at sarai.net> writes:

    Shuddha> Dear Folks on the Reader List This is an attempt to think
    Shuddha> about the relations between space and cyberspace. And a
    Shuddha> request for help in attempting to find an adequate word,
    Shuddha> term or expression that can articulate what I am trying
    Shuddha> to talk about.Please intervene.

    Shuddha> In a book called Memory Trade: The Prehistory of
    Shuddha> Cyberspace by Darren Tofts, (a book I have not read, but
    Shuddha> only read about) the author coins a term called "cspace",
    Shuddha> pronounced space , (just as psyche is pronounced syche)
    Shuddha> as a median term between space and cyberspace. Now this
    Shuddha> was criticised at the time that this book came out as a
    Shuddha> vague and indeterminate excercise in term coinage that
    Shuddha> meant nothing quite specific.You were either in space or
    Shuddha> in cyberspace. What on earth did it mean to be somewhere
    Shuddha> in between?

    Shuddha> But, my recent days of mooching around in New York,
    Shuddha> Chicago and London have convinced me that we need again
    Shuddha> to look at the relation between space and cyberspace in a
    Shuddha> more concrete way. methinks that there is something that
    Shuddha> straddles the fjord between space and cyberspace.
    Shuddha> Sometimes this connecting medium, which for want of
    Shuddha> another term I will call 'cspace' is thick and sometimes
    Shuddha> it is thin. It could perhaps be measured like humidity is
    Shuddha> measured. As the relative density of grounded or
    Shuddha> suspended online possibilities in a given unit of
    Shuddha> physical space.

    Shuddha> Let me try and explain what I mean. I would spend long
    Shuddha> hours each day looking for cybercafes that were reliable
    Shuddha> and affordable in New York, Chicago and London. With
    Shuddha> little success. While In New York and Chicago, the Public
    Shuddha> Libraries, (bastions of the public domain, shelters
    Shuddha> against the cold wind and the elements, as well as
    Shuddha> hospitable refuges for reading) did offer some repsite -
    Shuddha> (notwithstanding the long queues to use the computer
    Shuddha> terminals by the indigent and the public spiritied) they
    Shuddha> were not the rough and ready portals into cyberspace that
    Shuddha> I am more used to. One waited, and one waited and one
    Shuddha> waited. ((In London, the spanking new British Library
    Shuddha> building has decided not to offer its public any form of
    Shuddha> internet access for fear that the readership would wisely
    Shuddha> disregard the stipulations of the intellectual property
    Shuddha> rights regime. A true sign of our times - A Public
    Shuddha> Library, built out of taxpayers money, running scared of
    Shuddha> the unmediated public access to knowledge)

    Shuddha> Outside the public library system in New York, there were
    Shuddha> a few shady dives in Greenwich village and around the
    Shuddha> spots where backpackers backpack. Here, typically the
    Shuddha> connection would be erratic, and the lights dim. Or else,
    Shuddha> there was the cash guzzling monster of the Kinko's
    Shuddha> outlets (with padlocked photocopiers and computer
    Shuddha> terminals that had a CD drive, a floppy drive and a
    Shuddha> credit card drive). Kinkos terminals regularly digested
    Shuddha> my meagre dollars and cents at amazing speed. They had a
    Shuddha> big appetite for my money. Here I could surf for 3 US
    Shuddha> Dollars (120 Rupees) for seven minutes or so. They called
    Shuddha> this cheap.

    Shuddha> In London, there was the gigantic collection of rabbit
    Shuddha> warrens called "Easyeverything" which too guzzled my
    Shuddha> cash. At 2 Pounds (140 rupees) for twenty minutes, this
    Shuddha> experience, and the abruptness with which the computer
    Shuddha> said to me "Your Time is Up. Pay to Continue !" was
    Shuddha> scary.

    Shuddha> Coming back to Delhi, I was reassured to find that as
    Shuddha> usual, the Cybercafes were five minutes walk away in
    Shuddha> either direction at most places in the city. And that I
    Shuddha> could surf at the comfortable rate of 10 Rupees for every
    Shuddha> half an hour.(I coud surf twice, sometimes thrice as much
    Shuddha> by paying twelvetimes less than I could in New York or
    Shuddha> London, and it wouldn't take me long to find my fix).

    Shuddha> The air in Delhi is thick with smog and with
    Shuddha> connectivity.There are power cuts, but then there are
    Shuddha> improvised solutions like computers hooked on to car
    Shuddha> batteries. I know there is a digital divide. I know the
    Shuddha> figures of per capita computer usage and access in India
    Shuddha> and how dismal they are. I know how bad the lines and
    Shuddha> what a waste of time VSNL is. But still, Delhi as an
    Shuddha> online cspace, is friendlier than cities that have more
    Shuddha> computers to the square mile. (How I wish that Offline
    Shuddha> Delhi were even half as friendly, or considerate as
    Shuddha> Online Delhi is).

    Shuddha> The public nature of computing culture in Delhi (which is
    Shuddha> predicated on ease, affordability, sociability and
    Shuddha> conviviality) suggests that the quality and possibility
    Shuddha> of being online can be very different in different
    Shuddha> places. In some ways I felt the pinch of the 'digital
    Shuddha> divide' much more sharply in the cspace of New York and
    Shuddha> London, than I do in Delhi.

    Shuddha> On the other hand, it is now possible to get messages on
    Shuddha> your mobile phone, if you are, say in the middle of Times
    Shuddha> Square in New York, telling you what you could buy in the
    Shuddha> radius of a fifty metres. Of course you could also go
    Shuddha> online. This suggests that in New York, if you have your
    Shuddha> own private handheld device, you can be thickly enmeshed
    Shuddha> in cspace. If you dont, cspace is a thin membrane that
    Shuddha> tears around you. Welcome to the First World Digital
    Shuddha> Divide. if you need a quick leak or need to look at your
    Shuddha> e mail, you'd better not be in a public space. Stay at
    Shuddha> home, or in your office, or carry your WAP and your WC
    Shuddha> with you

    Shuddha> Now, isn't that strange.What is one to do when the urge
    Shuddha> hits. When you have got to go, you have got to go. Online
    Shuddha> or Offline. And what do you do when you have no 'cspace'
    Shuddha> to step into'. Where do you get off? I know what to do in
    Shuddha> Delhi. I have found my cspace. But I am still lost in New
    Shuddha> York, Chicago and London.

    Shuddha> Now, how about some other accounts of Cspace Travel?


    Shuddha> Shuddhabrata Sengupta SARAI: The New Media Initiative
    Shuddha> Centre for the Study of Developing Societies 29, Rajpur
    Shuddha> Road, Delhi 110 052, India www.sarai.net


    Shuddha> _______________________________________________
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    Shuddha> http://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list


-- 
Raju Mathur          raju at kandalaya.org           http://kandalaya.org/