6.7.1 According to Howard Innis, the Internet's bias towards time marks it as the latest is a series of mechanical developments arising from the demands of industry of time. (Innis, 1951, pg. 74) It is part of the process that has intruded into everyday life, into the social, that demands efficiency and results in fragmentation and what Innis coined as obsession with present-mindedness, circa 1950's (Innis, pg.87) and what Jeremy Rifkin calls the new "nanosecond culture." (1987)

6.7.2 Steven Jones, a social historian of communication technologies, argues that "A particular interest of the Internet is its bias towards time, and not space; though the most popular definition of it is cyberspace." (Jones, 1997, pg. 12) He believes that the Internet does in its way have a bias towards space too, but in a laissez-faire bias, not one that structures space so much as one that entirely obliterates it as a sense-able construct and so renders it absurd. I would not necessarily disagree, but I take it a step further and put forward that time is space, and, if we are to gain an understanding of how networked environments may be best worked with, it is necessary to consider time not as separate from space. Cyber-space alludes to a place that is inherently artificial; time-space, on the other hand, leaves behind the fictitious qualities of an imaginary space and accepts it as such. Information demands time; relationships demand time. How do we approach social environments in which relationships are built on information exchange and where physical presence is not necessary?

6.7.3 In "distance" learning projects as in corporate community building, attention is spent on how we may deliver a more effective, realistic, face-to-face environment. It is no wonder that these approaches are slow to take off. Frequently blamed on lack of funds, it is really a case of simple resistance from the consumers who are already overwhelmed; unless they are obligated, they will not spend time on communicating in such a manner. E-mail, however, has been phenomenally successful, precisely because it does not require synchronisation of time and place. [top]