<nettime> Gurstein's comments

[cisler <cisler@pobox.com>]

[Clarification: That was a mini-digest of 3 separate messages, one of
 which was Mike Gurstein forwarding his own remarks from the get-real
 list. My apologies for the ambiguous format.  -T]

Andreas forwarded some well-aimed Canadian sentiments from Mike Gurstein:

=1. "Technologies are not neutral...  They have biases"...yup...and among
=the greatest and most commonly commented upon (beyond Waikiki) bias is
=language.  The fact that the Internet is 85% or so English in many parts
=of the world this is not something to be commented upon and then passed
=over for the next incidental observation...this is fundamental to the
=survival of languages and cultures and peoples.  Its the subject of
=emergency studies, and special commissions, and even (god forbid)
=legislation...
=
=
=2. "The net is revolutionary but not Utopian"... Yup... And one of the
=most revolutionary aspects of the Net is the way in which is brings the
=rest of the world into your attention space almost effortlessly.  In this
=the net is truly revolutionary (and subversive) most profoundly I would
=say the more distant culturally and geographically is the user from the
=Golden Gates...

Cultural Survival Quarterly recently posted the articles from the past 
issue on Indigenous groups and the Internet. I did the intro to the 
issue, but most of the pieces are about the many challenges and struggles 
that other cultures are having with the Net. www.cs.org/csq/csqinternet.html  
(It's a single 145 kb page.)


Steve Cisler  - 4415 Tilbury Drive - San Jose, CA 95130
cisler@pobox.com        http://home.inreach.com/cisler
(408) 379 9076
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