MAPPING NOTIONS OF CYBERSPACE: OPTIMISM, SKEPTICISM, AND THE ISSUES OF IDENTITY AND SPIRITUALITY A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Communication of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Putut Widjanarko June 2005 This thesis entitled MAPPING NOTIONS OF CYBERSPACE: OPTIMISM, SKEPTICISM, AND THE ISSUES OF IDENTITY AND SPIRITUALITY BY PUTUT WIDJANARKO has been approved for the School of Telecommunications and the College of Communication by Drew McDaniel Professor of Telecommunications Greg Shepherd Interim Dean, College of Communication WIDJANARKO, PUTUT. M.A. June 2005. Telecommunications Mapping Notions of Cyberspace: Optimism, Skepticism, and the Issues of Identities and Spirituality (151 pp.) Director of Thesis: Drew McDaniel This is a literature survey on concepts of the Internet and cyberspace and their influence, both on society at large and at the individual level. On society, it discusses the optimistic and skeptic views on the impact of the Internet. At the personal level, it discusses issues of self and identity, and spirituality and religiosity. Except for spirituality and religiosity issues of the Internet, this work chose one author to represent each category: Howard Rheingold for the optimistic view, Clifford Stoll for the skeptic view, and Sherry Turkle for the issues of self and identity. The author’s critiques on those notions are offered in the last chapter. The author argues that the diversity of notions on the Internet can be put in a broader historical and social context. These notions reflect the ever-present questions about the relationship between human and its technologies. Approved: Drew McDaniel Professor of Telecommunications To Elin, Faikar, Hanum and Ranti ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the Worlds. Without His blessing, I would not have been able to finish this thesis. I would like to convey my deepest thanks and sincere appreciation to my academic advisor, Dr. Drew McDaniel, for his guidance, cooperation, expertise, and understanding throughout my study at Ohio University. His encouragement throughout the writing of this thesis has forced me to keep moving forward. I would also like to express my gratitude to the members of my committee, Dr. Don Flournoy and Dr. William Frederick. Dr. Flournoy has inspired me with his insights on the role of new technologies, one of factors that encouraged me to explore this topic. Dr. Frederick’s historical perspectives on Southeast Asia have forever changed my understanding on the history of the region, and history as a field of knowledge in general. I would like to thank the Fulbright Scholarship for funding my studies in the United States. Studying in the United States has broadened my perspectives and horizons. In particular, I would like to thank Mas Piet Hendrardjo (AMINEF) and Brenda Simmons (IIE) for their help and support during the course of my study. Special thanks to Karla Schneider for editing and proof-reading this manuscript. I also owe my thanks to all my Indonesian friends in Athens--you are all like my family to me back in Indonesia. My heartfelt gratitude to my patrons at Mizan Publishing, Pak Abdillah Toha, Pak Anis Hadi, and Mas Haidar Bagir, who have given me the opportunity to study in the United States. Especially to Mas Haidar Bagir, my sincere appreciations for taking over my jobs while I am “on-exile.” I also would like to thank my colleagues at Mizan Publishing for their support. I am greatly indebt to my parents for their love and who kept my family and I, in their prayers. May Allah reward them with the best of rewards and grant them mercy. Also, I would like to thank to my parents in-law whose support have been another source of strength for me and my family. Special thanks to each one of my brothers and sister, as well as my in-laws. There is no doubt that my work would not have been possible without the unconditional love, patience, support, sacrifice and deep understanding of my wife, Elin Driana, and my children, Muhammad Faikar Widjanarko, Thahira Hanum Sekarmewangi, and Tasnima Ranti Weningtyas. They have given me continuous comfort, joy, and happiness. For them I dedicate this thesis. vii Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction …………………………………………………………… 1 Background ………………………………………………………………. 1 Literature Review ………………………………………………………… 6 Objectives ………………………………………………………………… 9 Method of Study ………………………………………………………….. 9 Outline of Discussion……………………………………………………… 11 Chapter 2 Cyberspace and the New Society? The Optimists and the Skeptics …… 15 The Optimist: From the Virtual Community to the Smart Mobs …………. 15 Background …………………………………………………………16 The Virtual Community: Internet and the New Social Engagement . 19 Arguments for Virtual Community ………………………… 22 Disinformocracy: The Dark Side of Virtual Community ……25 Rethinking Virtual Community …………………………….. 27 Smart Mobs: Mobile Internet and the Future of Society……………. 32 Smart Mob Technologies …………………………………….33 Cooperation and Reputation: Smart Mobs Institution ……….39 The Dark Sides of Smart Mob ……………………………..…41 The Skeptic: From the Cuckoo’s Egg to the High-Tech Heretic …………… 44 Background ………………………………………………………….. 43 False Promises of Over-hyped Internet ……………………………… 49 viii Internet, Computers, Classroom and Education …………………….. 57 Chapter 3 Cyberspace, Identity, and Religiosity …………………………………….. 60 Identity: From the Second Self to the Life on the Screen ……………………. 60 Background …………………………………………………………… 61 Computers and the Second Self ………………………………………. 65 Identity and the Life on the Screen …………………………………… 69 Cyber-Spirituality: The Latest Expression of Eternal Yearnings of Human Soul? …………………………………………………………………. 77 The Divinity and the Technology: Historical Context ……………...... 79 The Metaphysics of Cyberspace ……………………………………… 81 New Spirituality on the Net ………………………………………....... 86 Religious Cyber-Experience of the Devotees ………………………… 95 Judaism ……………………………………………………….. 95 Islam ………………………………………………………….. 97 Christianity …………………………………………………… 98 Chapter 4 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………… 100 On the Optimists ………………………………………………………………102 On the Skeptics ………………………………………………………………. 105 Utopian and Dystopian Views on Technology ………………………………. 109 On Self and Identity ………………………………………………………….. 113 On Spirituality ……………………………………………………………….. 115 ix Two Other Approaches to Cyberspace ………………………………………. 121 Cyberspace in the Perspectives of the Other ………………………………… 127 Final Remarks ………………………………………………………………... 129 List of References ……………………………………………………………………. 131 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Background The Internet has quickly become a communication technology used by many people in the world, illustrated by the fact that the number of Internet users worldwide has grown tremendously since it was introduced to the public. Nielsen/NetRating has estimated that that the worldwide Internet population in 2002 was about 580 million people; meanwhile the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) estimated 655 million Internet users worldwide in 2002, 27% of whom live in the USA. By 2004, eMarketer estimates that there will be 709 million Internet users; and the Computer Industry Almanac estimation for the same year is 945 million users (Population Explosion, 2003). Some 45% of Internet users in the U.S. say that the Internet has played a crucial or important role in at least one of the major events, moments, or decisions in their lives, such as choosing a school or college, changing jobs, getting more education or training for their careers, helping a loved one deal with an illness, or making major financial or investment decisions (Kommers and Rainie, 2002). Furthermore, the late 1990s and the beginning of 2000s have been characterized by the domestication of the Internet, or a shift from using personal computers and Internet in a work setting to that in a more domestic settings, for more personal and household purposes (Cummings and Kraut, 2001). This is because the number of Internet users has grown so significantly that people can use the Internet to keep in touch with a larger proportion of their friends and family they otherwise are not able to reach. 2 Moreover, new services and content, like instant messaging and Internet telephony, make the Internet increasingly attractive for personal users. In sum, the Internet has further abolished and de-coupled the time and space, something that has been started by another previous telecommunication technologies such as telegraph, telephone, radio and television. Unsurprisingly, the potency of the Internet in changing the nature of the society has encouraged many scholars and commentators to figure out and elucidate these new circumstances in a variety of different angles and aspects. Many scholarly publications have been published on this subject, as well as popular books that have been on the bestseller lists and widely read. In the growingly extensive, burgeoning and, in many cases, divergent and oppositional literature on this topic, scholars and commentators acknowledge that there is something different, for better or worse, in the current society as a result of Internet use. The Internet has become a fabric of life in modern society, which is vastly different from the pre-Internet society. Scholars and commentators are remarkably diverse in the interpretations of many aspect of the influence of the Internet on society. However, explicitly or implicitly, they agree with McLuhan’s (1964) contention that media is the extension of man, the Internet