The metaphor of the Internet being a form of an ‘ecology’ fits in well with the concepts that have been addressed during this subject. The definition of ‘ecology’ is “The relationship between a living organism and its environment” (Gibbs Kidd 2000). In the case of the Internet the living organism is human beings and the environment is the Internet. Human beings use the Internet as a way of communicating in many different ways. When using the Internet now I have a different perspective from when I first started this subject. The metaphor of an ecology impacts on my thinking in a number of ways. Firstly I see the Internet as a community of human beings that are behaving in another form of environment. The article talks about a number of dimensions in the information world. These dimensions are social, linguistic, no pure information, information is blind, fragility and historical (Capurro 2000). By viewing these dimensions it opens the opportunity to understand the ecology of human beings and the Internet. As a result I now see the Internet as an environment that fosters all types of information in the form of communication. It is not just an information source but it is also a communicator.
How are the concepts ‘information’ and ‘communication’ understood within the framework of an ‘information ecology’?
The concepts information and communication are interrelated within the framework of information ecology. The Internet is a community that fosters information. The communication is how this information is presented within the Internet community. The information being presented and the information seekers are what create the ecology. The Internet is the tool that allows this form of information ecology to happen. Therefore information ecology consists of two main sectors, information and communication. The information is what creates the community. The Internet is a source of many different kinds of information that can relate to just about anybody. By human beings communicating on the Internet they are constantly creating new information and as a result creating an information ecology.
Why don’t we talk of a ‘communication ecology’?
We do not talk of communication ecology because communication is not the end result within the community. As mentioned above communication is how the information makes it to the internet. It is the information that makes it an ecology and the communication enhances the information and fosters the information community.
References
Gibbs Kidd. L. (2000) Wolf source: glossary, retrieved 9 August 2008 from http://www.wolfsource.org/?page_id=63
Capurro. R. (2000). Towards an Information Ecology, retrieved 9 August 2008 from http://www.capurro.de/nordinf.htm
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