Internet review

Citation

Crowston, K. (2001), "Internet review", Information Technology & People, Vol. 14 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/itp.2001.16114dag.001

Internet review

The articles in this issue offer a range of topics, but in this column I will focus on only two of them having to do with presentation of self or of a culture.

Alvarez discusses strategies for face work by I/S professionals. Those looking for a brief introduction to Goffman's work on face and presentation of self may be interested in a 1994 article by Adam Barnhart, entitled "Erving Goffman: the presentation of self in everyday life" (http://www.cfmc.com/adamb/writings/goffman.htm). Goffman is also discussed in Mathieu Deflem's review of sociological theory (http://www.sla.purdue.edu/people/soc/mdeflem/zClassics2.html).

While face was originally conceptualized in the context of face-to-face interactions, the Internet provides a new channel for communications and thus a new medium for face work. The potential impact of the Internet on social interactions has been discussed from early in its history, as evidenced by Kenneth Simon's 1991 article, A Study of Computer-Mediated Social Life, (available from http://www.eff.org/Netculture/Cyborg_anthropology/computer_mediated_social_life.article, and numerous other mirror sites). More recently, Hillary Bays discussed framing and face in Internet exchanges via Internet Relay Chat (IRC) (http://viadrina.euv-frankfurt-o.de/~wjournal/bays.htm), and Hugh Miller and Russell Mather, the presentation of self in WWW home pages (http://www.sosig.ac.uk/iriss/papers/paper21.htm).

Turning to culture, Little and Holmes suggest that the Internet can be used to preserve and present cultural identities. A brief search of the Internet reveals a number of fascinating examples of this practice. In some cases, the culture in question is national. For example, the République Française, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication has a Web site (http://www.culture.gouv.fr/, in French only, of course) presenting the cultural heritage of France.

Such presentations may be particularly important for newly independent countries or ones that are in some way forming or reforming their identity. For example, the Slovene Archives (http://www.pokarh-mb.si/home.html) provides pointers to various archives in Slovenia. Similarly, the National Heritage Cultural Studies Centre at University of Fort Hare (http://www.si.umich.edu/fort-hare/archives.htm) has archives related to the South African liberation movement. The Singapore Archives and Artefacts On-Line (http://www.a2o.com.sg/) is part of the Heritage Hub of the National Archives of Singapore (http://www.heritagehub.com.sg/start.htm). It's motto is "100 per cent pure heritage. The new element in you".

In other cases, the culture presented is that of a smaller group, who might see the Internet as a way to preserve their identity. For example, the Greenland National Museum and Archives (http://www.torrak.gl/natmus/en/nka/nka.html) is the central institution for research- and documentation of the Greenland cultural history. It is also the central archival institution for public archives and offices. The Alaska Native Knowledge Network (http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/) is "designed to serve as a resource for compiling and exchanging information related to Alaska Native knowledge systems and ways of knowing". Even the South Dakota State Historical Society/Office of History, Department of Education & Cultural Affairs has a Web site (http://www.sdhistory.org/). Of particular topical interest is the Hazarah Cultural & Historical Archives (http://members.tripod.com/~ismat/), with information on origins, language, current, events, religion, political parties, history and population of this Afghani group.

Other groups transcend national borders, such as the Bassa of Africa. The Bassa Homepage (http://www.ie-inc.com/vkarmo/bassa.htm) present information about the language and history of the Bassa, Similarly, the American Hungarian Foundation (http://www.ahfoundation.org/index.htm) is devoted to furthering the understanding and appreciation of the Hungarian cultural and historical heritage in the USA. The Easter Island Foundation Island Heritage site (http://www.islandheritage.org/) provides extensive and detailed information about contemporary, historic, and prehistoric Easter Island. The Easter Island Foundation promotes conservation and protection of the fragile cultural heritage of Easter Island and other Polynesian islands.

Finally, at a global level, the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites is available on the Web (http://www.unesco.org/whc/heritage.htm). Each of the 690 sites (529 cultural, 138 natural and 23 mixed from 122 countries) is briefly described, some with links to other sites.

Cultural preservation has become a concern on the Internet. The National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage (NINCH) (http://www-ninch.cni.org/) is a nonprofit coalition of arts, humanities and social science organizations created "to assure leadership from the cultural community in the evolution of the digital environment". The Initiative provides information about preservation of digital information and sponsors a working group on best practices in networking cultural heritage. The IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) provides a page of resources (http://www.ifla.org/II/diglib.htm), which includes a bibliography of articles on preservation. IFLA is an international body "representing the interests of library and information services and their users".

Finally, some research has been done on the use of the Internet by diverse groups. For example, Jon W. Anderson presented a paper entitled "Cybernauts of the Arab Diaspora: Electronic Mediation in Transnational Cultural Identities"at a Symposium on Postmodern Culture, Global Capitalism And Democratic Action, University of Maryland. The Cyber-Anthropology Project (http://casnws.scw.vu.nl/cap/) is an initiative of Dutch students and scholars of the Department of Cultural Anthropology of the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam. Their site includes a page of links to ethnographies, discussions of ethics and research, and research on identity and community (http://casnws.scw.vu.nl/cap/links.htm).

I hope you find these links an interesting start to your exploration of identity on the Web. As always, you can avoid retyping these links by starting from the on-line version of this column, at http://crowston.syr.edu/itp/.

Kevin Crowston