Telecom/1996-04-telecom-walnutcreek.iso/book.reviews/virtual.commty-rheingold

Text File | 1995-01-01 | 4KB | 80 lines

From: Rob Slade <[e-mail]>
Subject: Book Review: "The Virtual Community" by Rheingold
Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 05:00:00 GMT


BKVRTCOM.RVW  940411

Addison-Wesley Publishing Company
Heather Rignanesi, Marketing, x340, [e-mail]
P.O. Box 520   26 Prince Andrew Place
Don Mills, Ontario   M3C 2T8
416-447-5101  fax: [phone]
or
Tiffany Moore, Publicity  [e-mail]
Bob Donegon  [e-mail]
John Wait, Editor, Corporate and Professional Publishing [e-mail]
Tom Stone, Editor, Higher Education Division  [e-mail]
Philip Sutherland, Schulman Series [e-mail]
1 Jacob Way
Reading, MA   01867-9984
800-822-6339  617-944-3700
Fax: [phone]
5851 Guion Road
Indianapolis, IN   46254
800-447-2226
"The Virtual Community", Rheingold, 1993, 0-201-60870-7, U$22.95/C$29.95
[e-mail]

In the dust jacket blurbs, Mitch Kapor is quoted as calling this, "A
Magic Mystery Tour of the human side of cyberspace."  Although the
points of some passages are mysterious, this book definitely
concentrates on the human face of computer mediated communications.
Tom Peters calls it "riveting".  Now the personal aspects of net
communication are important, and too often get lost in the technology.
Rheingold's "stream of anecdote" style is also pretty much guaranteed
to keep your attention.  But Rheingold's view of the nets is limited,
lopsided and even somewhat distorted.

A "Nonsequitor" cartoon shows a long line of people in business dress
waiting their turn at a table.  Standing before the table, with their
backs to a wall, they pick up a dart and throw it over their shoulder
at the wall.  At the top of the wall, large bold letters state, "Today
I am an Expert In ... "  The remainder of the wall is covered with
small pieces of paper with topics written on them.  The title reads,
"How Journalists Start Their Day."  It is possibly important to bear
in mind that this is more or less what Rheingold boasts of doing in
his work (page 59).

Rheingold appears to be paddling at the shores of the cyberspace sea,
calling our attention to oddities in the tidal pools of Prestel,
Minitel, CIX, TWICS, Compuserve, and his home puddle at the WELL.
While not completely unaware of the Internet ocean before him, he
seems to prefer to ignore it (most often referring to it by the
historical name of ARPANET).  In a sense, this does not really matter:
since there is no attempt at any sort of analysis, what does it hurt
if the stories are limited?

Instructive is the fact that whole chapters are devoted to MUD
(Multi-User Domains) and IRC (Internet Relay Chat).  Virtual
communities on the net are rapidly evolving ones, with fast growth
(the Interpedia discussion reached 30,000 members within a month of
its creation), high turnover in membership, and sometimes an equally
rapid demise.  IRC, however, is the ultimate in ephemericity.  MUDs,
on the other hand, are almost antithetical to the idea of community.
Not only are they virtual, but completely unreal, with the permitted;
nay, encouraged; use of false personae.

For those who know the nets, this can be an amusing and entertaining
diversion.  For those who do not, please do not base your judgments on
this.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994   BKVRTCOM.RVW  940411. Distribution
permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated newsgroups/mailing lists.

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