Date: Fri, 07 Mar 1997 17:39:42 -0500
From: Pei-Chi Chung <pechung-AT-indiana.edu>
Subject: Re: heloo?:-)


Hi, there,

	Sorry about the silence. :)  I have been thinking about some of the issues
that Radhika raised in her previous postings.  So just let me extend the
discussion by throwing out some related questions first...

	I do most of my works related to cyber diaspora in the Taiwanese
communities.  However, as I read more literature in this area, I find
myself difficult to define the term "diaspora" in both the real and also
the virtual sense.  To what degree, is the diasporic community a virtual
representation?  And to what degree, can I count cyber diaspora a real life
phenomenon?  What are the characteristics that intermingle identity
politics with technology in shaping today's imagined virtual communities?  

	Most of the questions are related to and can be answered in Radhika's
paper on the Cyborg Diaspora in the SAWNET. But I also have to concur with
Radhika that the methodological issue is thorny in terms of carrying out
ethnographic studies on the virtual space.  How does the "interrupted
cyborgethnography" deal with the issue of "multiple identities" that one
"real" person can have several "virtual" accounts/identities in cyberspace?
 How do we carry out the ethnographic technoques such as member checking
with the gatekeeper, or the fieldworker's presence in the non-place
setting, in our studies?  

	Anybody wants to circulate good ideas around??

Cheers,

Pei-Chi

         

At 01:04 PM 3/7/97 -0500, you wrote:
>I have been having a "conversation" with Enok and we were wondering about
>the silence on this list so far.
>
>I think both Enok's interests and Pei-Chi's work are very relevant to this
>list. Also, I've been looking at vprakash's architecture site and it looks
>very interesting and relevant too. 
>the address for his project is -
>
>http://weber.u.washington.edu/~vprakash/arch504/
>
>My paper is up at 
>http://www.pitt.edu/~gajjala/sanov.html
>
>
>thanks,
>Radhika
>
>********************************************************
>homepage::  http://www.pitt.edu/~gajjala/
>
>********************************************************
>
>
>