In this chapter we explain some of the basic concepts of cyberspace. In looking at the technology we can begin to see that it is not something separate from the rest of our lives, but is already intrinsically woven into the fabric of our society: the ways we live and the way we think. Digital communications have thrown open new worlds of experience, virtual worlds in which we are dealing with new forms of reality. Digital information has characteristics which change the way we think, for instance, our sense of space - geographical location is no longer important - and our notions of truth. We conclude that the sheer scale of cyberspace, its impact and growth, present us with challenges which we need to understand in order to tackle them.
Cyberspace! The word was coined by William Gibson, in a classic (albeit rather depressing) science fiction novel, Neuromancer (1984). We take 'cyberspace' as our principal theme, rather than 'computers' or 'information technology' or 'the Internet', partly because it is so evocative. It suggests that the computer world now supports a new and real social 'space' - one that raises more questions about people than about technology.
So, what does cyberspace mean to us? Cyberspace is worldwide and respects no nation's frontiers: it reaches from the recesses of Mongolia to the many-varied cultures of California; it includes Benedictine monks and the Mullahs in Iraq; it gives people everywhere access to digitized images of the rare treasures in the Louvre and the British Library; it gives people in inner London guided tours of dinosaur museums in Canada. Our children are using it to do their school projects on the lives of sperm whales off the coast of New Zealand. We can see the latest Hubble telescope pictures of space.
In short, much of human life is represented in cyberspace. On a personal level the impact is profound. People meet in cyberspace, work in it, play in it, learn things and discover things in it. Increasingly, people's relationships, jobs and money will take place in cyberspace, and that makes it important.
The impact on society is perhaps already larger than many have had opportunity to appreciate. Here is a simple example. London tea trading started 300 years ago, and the auction rooms were a place where people could come together. Now, the Internet has enabled producers in countries like Kenya and Sri Lanka to set up their own auctions, without involving London. One community has been destroyed, and power has shifted, in this case, from the London centre to the producing countries themselves.
Cyberspace is far from the first example of the way in which a technological change can have profound personal and social impact. To give an historical example, railways were seen as 'just machinery' until people realized that you no longer needed lots of local factories; instead you could have one centralized factory, and transport the goods it made by rail. That in turn led to more railways, and greater opportunity to centralize the production of goods, and to decide where they were located. The railway system was more than the mechanics of the railway, and more than the mechanisms of running a railway. It transformed the notion of distance. Cyberspace is having a similar transforming effect, and it is happening right before our eyes.
The really important issues, then, are to do with people. But to grapple with them we first need to describe the bricks and mortar that support cyberspace and its developments. This chapter explores what cyberspace is, and some of the ways in which it changes our thinking.