internet

Second Life is a unique three-dimensional virtual world that has been constructed by users through modeling tools, a scripting language, and a functioning economy with a virtual real estate market. The developers of Second Life see their user-constructed world as the first step toward fulfilling the vision of Neal Stephenson's Metaverse. Second Life is a space where anyone can create and build avatars and dreamlike places that fulfill their desires--a "real" world that transcends the bounds of flesh and the actual, tangible world.
This article explores historic and current discourses on the construction of real and virtual spaces and selves, and considers the cultural and scientific construct of "virtual reality." It also describes the dream of transcendence derived from limitations of bodies and the "actual world." It places Second Life into the context of the evolution of computer-enabled virtual worlds and analyzes some of the economic, legal, psychological and philosophical implications of user-constructed virtual bodies and spaces within a virtual world supported by ownership, property and tangible "real world" economic value.
User-created virtual worlds enable users to build virtual lives, with virtual bodies, virtual objects and virtual homes, that can have real, tangible value and meaning. Second Life blurs and fragments boundaries and senses of self and place; it also functions as a virtual microcosm for cultural, economic and identity recombination. In these new frontiers, avatars and the spaces they build will continue to challenge our concept of reality and humanity. Read the BBC's coverage of the issue at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/4583924.stm.

As the United States and the rest of world mourned in the wake of September 11th, 2001 and grew incensed by the faceless cowardice of the ensuing Anthrax mailings, few could have suspected the far-reaching impact these terrorist attacks would have on society. Undoubtedly, military, security, and foreign policies would shift dramatically in the weeks and months that followed but the online commerce implications could hardly have been predicted. In a race to prevent further terror attacks, the Department of Justice utilized Carnivore, its controversial email monitoring program, to sort through millions of online communications; science and technology documentation disappeared from public websites sponsored by the U.S. government; and the FBI created an online terrorist tip site which became vital to their investigation (Verton, 2001). Following the attacks, FirstGov, the United States’ government Web portal, was criticized for its poor response to the events and purported violations of privacy by federal agencies also circulated. Further escalating the online implications, the Special Advisor to the President for Cyberspace Security, Richard Clarke, advocated a strategy that would place online government activities on an entirely separate network called GovNet. The events of the past year have thrust the government’s online practices to a new state of public awareness. As a result of the recent flurry of attention on e-government, this paper will examine the effect that heightened sensitivity to terrorism has had on U.S e-government.

The widespread deployment of Internet technologies is dramatically impacting the world’s information infrastructures thereby reducing the planet to a much smaller place. New worldwide connections are made that link individuals from diverse cultures, classes, and socioeconomic backgrounds. While online technologies offer unprecedented communications opportunities, escalating reliance on them is causing a new problem. Cultural segregation, historically a “have – have not” phenomenon, is exacerbated when some cultures have better access to the Internet. Some international development workers are focused on using the Internet as a way to “leapfrog” weaker countries into forward motion and are trying to establish methods for doing so. Development workers in the Cambodian villages of Rovieng are currently addressing this challenge. They feel that by employing the Internet, Rovieng’s economy will benefit from a virtual marketplace and subsequently transfer profits towards the people’s basic needs and physical infrastructure. However, can this be achieved without the fundamental needs of the community being addressed first?