Re: metaphors for cyberspace

Anna Cicognani (anna@arch.su.edu.au)
Wed, 12 Jun 1996 11:34:07 +1000 (EST)

> A metaphor is a substitution where one thing IS something else.
> If a GUI desktop is a metaphor, then we don't make things that are
> LIKE a desktop... we make something that IS a desktop. We put

I agree with this.
I wouldn't deny the value of metaphor as entity.
But, which entities are legitimate in cyberspace? We know that language is
metaphorical. And cyberspace is language. Therefore metaphorical (?) <---
I am not too sure about this, because I see cyberspace as another spatial
expression (constructed). We cannot think about cyberspace beyond space.
Cyberspace IS, as space is. And cyberspace is a linguistic space.
Cultural, I would say. Metaphorically, cyberspace stands for space, but at
the same time, as language does, it *is*: "it does be".
But I think that still we do not have enough understanding of the
cyberspace metaphor(s) apart from linguistic contructions. And I suppose
that here we go back to space as the result of design: is not-designed
space legitimate to consider? Or shall we refer only to the space of
design, which is supported culturally?