There's some new and now a bit better structured things on an.org/inet98/,
feel free to check. Comments from friends have been quite encouraging but
I'd definitely need some critique so I added the shouting :)
About global/local:
When we were young we didn't really care about the states. Actually .com,
.edu, .net etc. were (and are) quite often banned on many channels
(talking about irc again) where we are since some people feel that they
are only trouble. A lot of technology and services comes from there but I
don't think we feel dominated or anything.
Nowadays I do have a lot of american friends and have nothing (or not so
much :) against them in general but many of my friends back in Finland
communicate inside the country only, and yes, in Finnish. I'd claim that,
like I stated in the other abstract, we are a bit isolated. I do think and
hope that it's changing now. Joining the European Union was a big issue
and has changed a lot already (I wouldn't be here in Amsterdam otherwise)
and now there's a lot talk about how to deal with globalization.
As I mention in talk-background.html we did have a more global stage
during the development of our net culture. I'd say that both for technical
(irc doesn't work that well globally anymore) and social reasons young
people seem(ed) to think quite locally. I think that many people
especially in the north of Finland see (or used to see few years back from
now) foreign countries - and even southern parts of the country, like the
capital Helsinki - quite remote.
It's lot more fun to make friends with people you see on the streets and
with whom you'll probably live the rest of your life! In Oulu that means
for many the IRC-channel #oulu etc. In this sense the net has become very
real and concrete .. that's something I've been writing quite a lot in
Finnish but haven't included here yet. I mean that those communities are
not virtual but real (this has been recently noted in many projects too,
like www.realcities.com).
It's definitely interesting to be in the middle of this change. While
visiting Finland during christmas holidays I was thinking about this
presentation quite a lot and was talking about it with my friends there.
Perhaps the most interesting talk was with one younger sister of a friend
of mine .. the friend is the guy who got me started back then in the end
of 80's and this sister, who knows absolutely nothing about computers,
became also socially hyperactive on the net some time later. I think she
was about twelve at the time and is about sixteen now. Before the net she
was awfully shy, had very few friends and didn't do much. Now she is
really active, knows unbelievably many people in town and in all of the
country and travels a lot on her own and has spent some time abroad too.
I've been wondering quite often if it really was the net that changed her
or if it would've happened otherwise too. I saw all that really close
'cause I spent a lot of time in their house and was also the "root" of the
school server she started to use, gave her her first net account and
everything. I was 17 or something at the time and probably thinking if the
same had happened to be than I saw happening to her.
It's really quite impossible (and stupid) to try to separate the effect of
the net in one's growing up but still it keeps me wondering. Furthermore
it's hard to say yet which of this is caused by the initial boom (which I
think was last five years) and which is something that's the net itself.
About the girl still: I finally dared to ask her the question directly.
She told that she had been thinking about it sometimes but that she didn't
really know. Actually she didn't remember the beginning really well but
told me she did remember being awfully shy and how it started to change
with her new friends that she got from the net. Actually they were
sometimes in the same room, in the computer class of the school that is ..
so typical Finnish they sometimes say - so chat on irc with the people you
sit next to :)
Perhaps I should try to recall the conversation better or ask her to write
something. I guess she's old enough and everything.
About Tapscott's book: I haven't read it but probably will and presumably
it'll raise many new thoughts and questions later on.
Sorry about the long and messy message, I'm too tired after writing all
day to write short and sharp or anythin :)
And thank you once again.
BTW: is it ok with you if I put this stuff online?
+ an + ~ Toni ~ : (t . !