Re: Infrastructure and the Net … Infrastructure need not be physical. An idea that I’ve been playing with (see the text I sent you yesterday) is that while the Net serves as infrastructure it also rests on infrastructure, much of it banally corporeal. A quote from what I wrote:

“… the internet has emerged as the primary infrastructure of the aggregation, dispersal, and utilization of knowledge; of scientific, commercial and social interaction; and of the management of technology, processes, and systems essential to the resources and security on which our futures depend… The speed and ease with which the internet rose and achieved ubiquity was very much a function of the ad hoc nature of the infrastructure that carries it. In part, the infrastructure of the internet is immaterial, a set of mutually accepted protocols and agreements. For the rest, however, the infrastructure of the internet is purely physical and tangential — a decentralized aggregation of an infinite number of computers interconnected through cables and fibers originally emplaced for other purposes and accessible through the marketing interfaces and billing systems of companies and institutions with their prime interests and focuses in other areas.”

Looking forward to discussing this further,

SL

Unfortunately, I think that too many people have difficulty understanding abstract concepts. This includes policymakers. This makes it very difficult to understand the difference between the World Wide Web and the Internet. If you don’t understand something it becomes quite difficult to regulate it.

Wait a second, we live in the United States. This type of thing happens all the time.

http://pass-ed.blogspot.com/