private/public
Sassen (1999) quoted in the Bell article explains: ‘powerful corporate actors and high-performance networks are strenghtening the role of private electronic space and altering the structure of public electrnic space.’
I wonder in how far the boundaries between private and public spaces are distinguishable? Even the open tabs on my computer screen are a mash-up, with me switchning between private/public, although the private spaces are mediated via corporate servers (in my case Virgin Media)
from Poster’s article (pp 148)
Joshua Meyrowitz (1985) raised the issue of blurring boundaries between the public and the private (TV), as does Lynn Spiegel (1992). Individuals losing their private realms, and with it, disappears the ethical individual. Individuals lose a sense of separateness from objects and events outside themselves, lose cultural distance that is essential to autonomous, ethical judgement.
Through the internet, inter-activity is greatly encouraged, and spaces in which we behave are interchangeable.