They Look Like Ants From Up Here

How might the metaphor of an ‘ecology’ impact on the way you think about, understand or use the Internet?

Regarding the Internet as an ecology never really occurred to me before, this idea has changed my view of the Internet, how it works and maybe even how I use it. It is an ecology not unlike and ants nest or beehive. The countless masses going about there separate business, but each forming part of the community and fulfilling a certain role in the ecology. This metaphor has made me understand that the Internet is a living thing, but it depends on people to feed and water it... by supplying and consuming information. Viewed in this way it may even change the way I use the Internet, you are not simply getting information from a source, you are acting as part of an ecology, it gives a more human feel to it, its not about the micro chips anymore. I think the Internet ecology deserves to be treated with more respect, and for its users to behave, ironically, in a more human way.

How are the concepts ‘information’ and ‘communication’ understood within the framework of an ‘information ecology’?

These concepts are the heart of the information ecology, the information could be described as the data that people create and consume in any of the forms, video, text, games, etc. Communication is a more complex concept to me. It is the way the information in transferred, I am not referring to hardware, but the form in which the information is presented. Is it easy to access, is it quality, is it engaging? Just as people in real life are good and bad communicators, so to are people online. They can present information in ways that it is easily consumed, or so that it never understood, so to can the consumers misunderstand information that is presented to them.

Why don’t we talk of a ‘communication ecology’?

I suppose it depends on the company you keep! I presume its because the average person doesn't stop to think about it, they simply go about their business, like worker ants!, ignorant to the fact that they are participating in the communication ecolgy. I think it would make better communicators out of all of us if the did talk about the Internet in these terms, but it isn't going to happen... its more fun to spend the time on youtube or urban dictionary.