7.8.1 At this time there are very few efforts in visualising and mapping the communication patterns in online communities. Judith Donath from the Media Lab at MIT has made the first steps in this direction with her Visual Who project, a map of social patterns of an electronic community. She is directing the Sociable Media Group as well, which further explores new forms of social interaction on the net. Together with Fernanda B. Viegas, Donath is developing Chat Circles, an abstract interface to real-time conversations on the Internet. The colour, size, and location of the circles are used to represent the structure and dynamics of the conversations. [12] Another example worthy of mention is the Population Information Terrains (PITS), a visualisation technique being developed by Dave Snowdon and his colleagues at University of Nottingham. PITS is an advanced VR system that allows multiple participants to interact with information and collaborate with each other. [13]

7.8.2 One should recognise that there are problems with mapping and creating geographies. This has been addressed by Harraway in the realm of mapping the human and most recently by Terry Harpold, who considers the problem not only with physical geography mapping but also recognises and critiques some of the Internet "metageography" efforts described above. Harpold's particular critique is that network development reflects politics, for instance the general lack of telecommunication resources in Africa effects its erasure from maps. Although there are arguments that wireless technologies will augment this lack, he points out that wireless technologies are dependent on wired technologies. (Harpold, 1992) Even in this context, one may recall the earlier description of Gaia theory, in which the inanimate and animate are interdependent. But, without the visual maps documenting telecommunication use in Africa, Harpold would not have easy access to information that he could analyse and critique network topologies. No matter how we may read the information, visual representation is certainly helpful when attempting to process large amounts of data quickly. Maps are becoming the staple of analysis in our fast-driven world in finance, product distribution, population, and various social codes. The producers of the maps are now becoming aware of their own mapping, our own genetic information. Deleuze and Guattari speak of maps as being subject to constant modification, adaptable, and are being constantly reworked. Numerous authors from Neil Postman to Manuela DeLanda have noted the problem of the Engineering World View in relation to the social and cultural realm. [14] [top]