Daniel Kaplan - Portail documentaire du Ministère de l'Ecologie

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The potential substitution ability that virtual
systems or interactive computer applications have is
concentrated on issues related to leisure and
information collection. The idea of substitution
relates to human behaviour and existence, not to the
instrumental factors (Fernback 1997: 37; Jones
1995: 16). It is most questionable to think of
cyberspatial encounters, Internet chat or threedimensional
multi-player games as substitutes for
reality. They are more like competing forms of
spending leisure time – it is hard to imagine
something as cyberspace presented by Gibson
(1984) when the actual task performance occurs in
the real-world substance. Every human action has a
spatial dimension, and in cyberspace this dimension
would be diminished (Mitchell 1995: 5–15;
Benedikt 1991: 123). The hype created over
informational technologies praising their holy
power to free us from the restrictions of distance
tends to be a climax achievement by the film
industry, massive marketing power and media
broadcasting. The technology is a means to improve
efficiency or enlarge various contact surfaces, but
ideas of substitution are extravagant.
The mental and social aspects (see Lefebvre
1991: 30–40; Simonsen 1996: 495; Harvey 1989:
220–222) are clearly the strongest ones in the
question of substitution. A largely debated aspect of
the Internet is that it makes possible large-scale
communication in real time and therefore creates
new possibilities to expand and select social connections.
The substitution discussion is strongly related
to the social transformation of human interaction
through the net. Therefore, the mental experiences
Dr Tommi Inkinen
of these new kinds of social flows are also of great
importance.
These interviewed clearly indicated that the
social sphere created in the net is only temporary. If
more enduring connections are to be established, a
face to face meeting must be arranged. In this light,
the social aspect is also controversial. The substitutive
power that networks have could be evaluated
as being concentrated on small talk or short-term
relations and not on enduring and long-term
relations. There is also a connection to the mental
experience of place. In this case, the substitution
takes places when information is being gathered. It
also seems that the only replacing that takes place is
that the Internet and other IT-systems are
replacing/enchanting the traditional channels of
broadcasting information. The issues of mental and
social experiences are naturally interwoven and they
should not be thought of as separate entities.
The information society, whether regarded as a
society of technology or a society of knowledge, has
a complex and an intriguing connection to the
everyday life. In this paper the focus has been on the
contextuality of urban experiencing. Public –
private, time of work – time of leisure, modernity –
post-modernity are some dichotomous or dualistic
phrases that compromise the core essence of
ongoing debates. The usage of public spaces,
interpreted here in straightforward manner as
spaces of free access, can be argued to be changeable
via the technological advancements but their significance
is not declining.