"Any sufficiently sophisticated technology is indistinguishable from magic."
Before an understanding of the contents of this work can
be fully appreciated the reader should be familiar with the environment and
area of study in which it is set. This means that the technology must be
understood.
Although the global computer network seems very much a thing of the late 1980s the connections that make up the most popular computer network, the Internet, were formed in the 1960s and early 1970s when the U.S. Department of Defense and several research universities, via DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Program Agency), linked computers. The original military purpose for this was to have a way of keeping information and communication in the event of a nuclear war. However, Arpanet, the resulting network allowed for access to each site's computers not only for communications but for research. Electronic mail was born as a new means of communication. Initially, such mailing was in the post-office form of individual messages sent from person to person.
However, it rapidly became clear that messages were often containing information that could be shared by many users, and thus mailing lists were created. These allowed one item of mail to be distributed among a number of people. The principle was that the mail be sent to a central point from which the mail was then 'bounced' or 'reflected' to all the other users who had subscribed to the mailing list. Eventually, the lists became specialised into particular topics. Bulletin boards came into being, based on this principle, which people could reach by dialling through standard phone lines with a computer modem and linking with another computer. Both bulletin boards and mailing lists acted in much the same way providing news and information to users and were eventually known as 'newsgroups' (see below).
During the 1970s other computer networks appeared, and various software and hardware protocols were developed that enabled them to connect to Arpanet. These various networks finally undertook a kind of morphing process by which they became the Internet thanks to the National Science Foundation's appropriation of advanced computing.
The Internet essentially serves as the main connecting point for many other networks. It is the central point, the 'back-bone' by which the other networks unite. A common estimate is that there are over 30,000 computer networks with over 1.5 million computers connected through the Internet, and the Internet's number of users grows by 10% monthly.
Management of the Internet occurs via NSF. However, no one
group manages it. Instead, a number of groups, such as the Internet Society
and InterNIC, circulate information and resolutions and do research on the
network's needs. (Steven G. Jones, 1995, p. 3-4)
The internet was not originally intended for such public use. It was a system that predominantly existed only in research institutes. However, during the last decade we have seen a sudden and growing interest in the internet to such an extent that today the internet is an integral part of our lives. From humble beginnings to mass media godhood. But where did the popularisation begin? There were three major influences in this: fiction, commercialism and the media.
William Gibson's best-selling book Neuromancer first coined the expression 'cyberspace' and his vision of the 'Net' was true to its origins. In his books, including Count Zero, he developed the Net further. His vision was of a massive network of computers controlled by corporations and the military. There was little or no public access unless it was by a "console cowboy", or hacker.
With the awesome concept of a global computer network many other works of fiction began to include it. Films, too, were making use of this technology. In Jumping Jack Flash we see possibly the first traces of a popularised real-time internet chat as Whoopi Goldberg talks with the mystery man, Jack, over the computer. Films such as Lawnmower Man helped to popularise cyberspace. The plush world of virtual reality seems to have been a strong driving force involved in capturing the public's imagination. The film Wargames helped to really popularise the power of the internet.
Fiction, book and film, was slowly taking a firm and solid hold on the concept of a global computer communications system.
As other networks were growing so the private sector began opening their own networks. Companies such as Compuserve are networks that offer their members access to the benefits of the internet. Originally these companies were set up to offer the internet to businesses. But as other companies sprang into being, so the market turned outwards to the public. Although the internet had always been open to the public there was nothing specifically catered for them apart from pornographic BBS sites offering no end of erotic pictures over the telephone lines.
More popularised subjects for newsgroups and information sites started making their appearances and eventually the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) started looking for a wider market.
As public services started making their appearance, the media jumped on the bandwagon and started heralding the internet as the new frontier of communications. Catchy phrases like "the information superhighway" started emerging and already existing expressions coined by scientists, novelists or films were made even more popular, such as "cyberspace", "virtual reality" and, even, "the internet".
As the glamour and attraction of the internet grew so more
and more people (both private and corporate) started linking up to the world-wide
community. The internet was here to stay.
There are many different functions for the internet but only those that involve communication between peoples really apply here; and of those only one form, real-time, is really looked at in this research paper. However, the reader should be familiar with the different aspects of computer-mediated communication so as to appreciate the scale. Communication-wise this takes on five manifestations the World-Wide Web, E-Mail, Newsgroups, IRC and MUDs.
Most of what is on the WWW is static information which using a client program, known as a Browser, such as Netscape, anyone with a modem and ISP account can access pages and pages of information and download sites for programs, pictures, sound, video, etc., anywhere in the world. Very little so far as personal interaction exists on the Web, but this is changing with more and more projects being developed to make use of the graphical and interactive format of the WWW.
The more personal method of CMC, electronic mail, or e-mail, has been described above in as much detail as is relevant. However, it is important to mention it again as a precursor to newsgroups which, as previously mentioned, were probably the first form of CMC. Newsgroups gather the messages posted by users into a central area and permits interaction with posted messages by the simple means of reply. Lengthy threads are created by individual messages that generate dozens, even hundreds, of replies. The largest manifestation of newsgroups is known as the Usenet, a massive repository of thousands of newsgroups accessible from most any computer with connection to the internet. Much of the study into CMCs have been centred around newsgroups.
However, as far as real-time CMC there are only two real methods. Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is perhaps the most interactive form of communication next to MUDs. They are simply chat rooms where people from all around the world can meet and talk. The rooms are usually themed (a room for talking about philosophy, Star Trek, sex, or a virtual bar atmosphere). You type what you want to say and it appears on the screens of everyone who is connected to that chat-room. People can then talk back virtually instantaneously.
Along a similar vain are Multi-User Dimensions (MUDs) which are the currently existing form of a widely available virtual reality space. It differs from IRC by the fact that is has a number of different rooms, architecture, objects and other things to do than just talk. Computer generated characters with which to interact, objects you can pick up and move around, and so on.
It is MUDs that will be the primary focus this paper
as they are really the most influential side of computer-mediated communication
and community. In creating a greater environment for the user to submerge
themselves in they are bringing the identification with the material world
and, therefore, reality foremost in the user's mind.
The MUD referred to in this work is The Two Towers LpMUD based upon J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. It claims to be the most faithful MUD to his Middle-Earth and boasts players in their hundreds gathered from 50 countries world-wide.
