Language In and Of Networks ...

I remember a clear feeling about what an educational experience it had been after I finished translating a Lexicon about terms in / for a networked age for Constellation W.

Constellation W introduces the Lexicon with a statement about the importance of helping to create clarity and a sound base from which to operate during periods of confusion and growth in language.

There's an inherent tension between "correctly or precisely defined" in the first paragraph below, and  (at least in the sense of how we understand or judge correctness (usually validation by experts), and the concluding paragraph ...  "you can participate in further refining the definitions in this glossary by sending us your suggestions and comments."

Lexicon

The knowledge-based society is a relatively new area or domain of exploration and study, and as such it is natural to to find therein numerous words and terms which are not correctly or precisely defined, as well as any number of tangentially related terms. In addition, many of these buzz words are appearing first in English, and many people (French, Spanish speaking… ) are abusing them without really knowing what they mean or signify.

These new concepts are important because they are signs of the tangible evolution of our current situations : they will not become true tools unless the choice and use of these terms are better defined with respect to this new environment which we are calling the post-industrial society. Actually, language is betraying our difficulties in understanding these real and present socio-economic and technological ruptures.

As actors in this new environment, you can participate in further refining the definitions in this glossary by sending us your suggestions and comments.

A
agents, research (intelligent agent, information agent, robot, bot, spiders, wanderers, Web worm)
An electronic assistant that can be calibrated, and so can be personalized. Research agents are softwares which accomplish a certain number of repetitive tasks based on functional rules that define its architecture. They can watch themes through different filters and from different sources, communicate with other agents, observe environments which the watcher tells it to explore, etc. Several levels of research exist :

• General research – a first pass at looking for things ;
• Advanced research – a more refined observation ;
• Research into specialized sectors ;
• Alerts-driven research : searching for new things.

alliance
(see mega-corporations)

americanization
The process by which the American culture tends to make more uniform its competitors, by holding down the power of information and technology.

alter-globalization
A social movement which demands that democracy, the autonomy of peoples, fundamental human rights, environmental protection and economic justice are essential components of the economic model rather than the reign of the free market. It requires a globalization which is mastered and operates in solidarity, its slogan being « Another world is possible ».
attention economy
Putting into place the means necessary to attract or capture the attention of Internet users, which is constrained by the flows of information which move more quickly than the time which is available to attend to them, and the development of strategies to discover, retain and use what is pertinent.

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