August 05, 2004

Intercontextual or transcontextual??

Ah, the nuances of language! I suppose "inter-" tends to mean "between" or "among" contexts (in this case), whereas "trans-" implies some sense of motion passing between/among contexts. Does it matter?

It does in terms of what's out there alreay. While intercontextual may not have already been put into use, there's a great article on Constructing Social Systems Through Computer Mediated Communication by Barbara Becker and Gloria Mark.

Part of their findings are that internet-mediated communication has created its own system, and that people are able to interact in this technologically-created system even when social structures in the so-called real world may prevent communication (i.e. different social milieus).

The implications for Buddhists and Futurists are that technologically mediated communication, such as the Internet, can be a fantastic resource for the development of new selves because social conventions, "if they exist at all [online]" are more fluid and thereby allow for the play necessary to explore intercontextual, transcontextual, and paradigmatic selves.

Posted by chri1010 at 01:04 AM | Comments (0)
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