Dalla cibernetica alla cybersocialità: reti civiche, reticoli relazionali

The debate about the diffusion of the new network-communication technologies has pointed out how a new technology and a new way of communication can change the society. On the contrary, the experience of people has been underestimated. By this way, the dynamics of the cyberspace is considered from a "cybernetic" point of view, focusing more on the tools than on the real dynamics of interaction. The hope and the utopia, which have gone along with the development of the first telecommunication nets, should not take our attention away from a simple fact: the democratic participation and the involvement of the citizens in the government do not immediately increase because of the use of an on-line forum. Cabling a town is not enough to make intelligent a close and conservative community. In this sense I think that a "cyber-social" approach should be adopted, considering first the passion and the liveliness, and the inter-subjective relationships in the net, and then the tool and the technological infrastructure. The cyberspace and the net get valued only when they are inhabited by people. We are in a view synergic between technological infrastructures and social behaviour, but through the cyber-social approach I’d like to point out this change of prospective that puts the social relationship in the focal point of the system. The case of the cabled town of Parthenay in France shows these dynamics well.

Federico Casalegno, Dalla cibernetica alla cybersocialità: reti civiche, reticoli relazionali in "SOCIOLOGIA DELLA COMUNICAZIONE " 30/2000, pp , DOI: