Cyberspace as American Culture

Examples are endless. Students going off to college can more easily maintain ties to their old lives back home, and this can be good or bad depending on the particulars of the case. Natural barriers that once made the uses of personal information somewhat predictable are replaced by electronic interconnections whose workings are arbitrary or counterintuitive. The local chapters of a political organization can conduct their routine logistical work by electronic mail rather than call so many meetings; they can maintain lateral connections with other chapters, thereby changing the role of the national office, and they can more easily involve themselves in national and global issues, often to the detriment of local ones. Industrial companies that integrate their supply chains electronically can reduce their inventories by forcing their suppliers to manage the financial risk that inventories create. Job candidates preparing for interviews can do more homework, investors can pool their research efforts, complex business relationships can be managed with fewer phone calls, and fraud artists can work a gold mine of new angles.