Absolutist Concept of Space

The discoveries of Euclid, i.e. Euclidean geometry, serve as the basis of both the absolutist and the relativist concepts of space.

Differing from the relativist concept of space, in the absolutist notion of space a unified concept of space, superordinate to all persons, things and processes, is defined. Due to its unity and stability this concept is often described as a "container space” in sociology.
It surrounds its source object, offering the presentation of space a partially restricted/partially unrestricted stage relating to place, territory, and action.
Over the course of time in the sociology of space, different treatises of this theory of space came into being, which nevertheless remain, by and large, marked by the "container room.”

The following examples show greatly reduced, catchword-like statements relating to the constitution of space:

space = give, existent, concrete – a priori space = designed and produced by people in their conception space = no actual object space = restricted, the center forms the earth space = a stage for acts, it is produced through action space = a closed territory which can be divided into zones space = an independent object, an ineffective form – a container space = learned/experienced in sociological processes space = defined through Euclidean geometry space = an inherited notion

Aristoteles describes space as a restricted geocentric space that surrounds "everything.” Comparable to a container, with the earth as the point of source (geocentric view of the world).
His view of the world was predominant until the 17th century.

>>

Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727)
Newton’s laws of nature about space and time were pioneering in the constituting of space at that time.
His space-time model is based upon a homogeneous, fixed spatial structure, which, for the first time, emancipates itself from the body and is unrestricted (the universe).
Einer der Begründer der modernen Wissenschaften, Isaac Newton, bezeichnete das Universum als einen absoluten Raum, der ohne Bezug auf irgendeinen Gegenstand existiert. Genauso betrachtete Newton die absolute Zeit im absoluten Raum. Die Zeit ist unbeeinflusst von Gegenständen und deren Bewegung. Die Zeit vergeht überall im Universum gleich schnell. Nach Newtons Vorstellung sind innerhalb des absoluten Raumes bewegliche Teile enthalten, die er als relative Räume bezeichnete.
http://members.vol.at/roemer/1999/roe_9936.htm

With the realization that alongside Euclidean geometry – described through the axes in space x, y,z - further theories of space were mathematically investigated and proven in the 20th century, even the "classical notion” of absolute space changed.

Albert Einstein proves in his theory of relativity that parallel systems stand in relation to one another, with time and space behaving in a different manner according to their respective systems.
Er wird durch die Verteilung von Masse und Energie im Universum beeinflußt. Die Grundidee der Allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie ist: Die Materie bestimmt die Krümmung des Raumes, und der Raum bestimmt die Bewegung der Materie. Sterne und Galaxien rufen eine Krümmung der Raumzeit hervor; Licht und Materie sind gezwungen, durch den so verzerrten Raum zu laufen und der Krümmung zu folgen. Dies erweckt den Anschein einer anziehenden Kraft (eben der Schwerkraft). Da sich alle Massen in Bewegung befinden, ändert sich die Geometrie der Raumzeit ständig. John A. Wheeler prägte daher den Namen Geometrodynamik für die Allgemeine Relativitätstheorie.
www.geo600.uni-hannover.de/physikjahr/geometrodynamik.html

Further theorists concerned with the subject of space-time (absolutist and relativist images of space) are: Anthony Giddens, Georg Simmel, Hamm, Emanuel Kant, Max Verworn, Wilhelm F. Oswald, Leibnitz, Johann G. Herder, Paul Virilio, etc…

<<

Relativist Concept of Space

In the relativist notion of space there are no longer any superordinate spaces. There is a dissociation from superordinate space in favor of a notion of space in which individual "island rooms” exist parallel and stand in relation to one another. Here we move in the direction of the "relativist concept of space”: space is formed by the relation of "bodies” to one another.

A stabile idea of space is no longer present, wherefore in sociology even a "spatial” breakdown is pursued. The absolutist notion of space splits into many individual fragments, which are placed in relation among diverse source systems. It then involves a process that forms itself upon the relation of continuously new linked elements and overlapping spaces. (Noller/Ronnenberger)

These tendencies of fragmentation are evoked through technological developments of the railroad, automobile and airplane, but also through the Internet, which has created an equally independent, new relationship of space with the coming in of "virtual reality” and "cyberspace”:

- spaces no longer have to be "here”: cf. telephone, television,… - the simultaneous naming of different spaces is possible - through interlinking national borders are lifted - many spaces exist simultaneously

With this access to virtual spaces and the constantly changing space and standards of time, the stable notion of space shifts into individual, co-existing, flexible, virtual parallel spaces on all sides of the spatial structure.

In sociological studies of children and youth it can already be proven that the absolutist notion of time has lost meaning for them. (Zeiler/Zeiler)
On the contrary, youth experience structures of space as isolated, independent spheres that are linked to one another. On their part they search for short-lived, unrestricted spaces, and find this in clubbing and the virtual rooms of the Internet.

IP-III

- The geographical data of the online-user are transferred into cyberspace.

- Space forms itself from the presence of the online-user.

Out of the progressive absolutist and, as the case may be, relativist reflections on space, as well as from the examination of technology such as the internet/cyberspace, the concept for the present work IP-III derives itself from the following thoughts on space.

Unfortunately, this moving from place to place in the Internet is mostly based upon the cartography of the earth’s surface. The real locality of the online-user is translated as 1:1 in the electronic data space.

On the basis of this space-typecast of the World Wide Web the following consideration for the paper IP-III resulted:

Attached to the absolutist concept of space, the idea of cyberspace remains a superordinate, unrestricted, container space in which further processes of space take place.
Through the presence of the online-user, coordinates in space are internally formed in opposition to this absolutist notion of space.
In the case of the work IP-III, the fixing of the internet location is done not in the form of a geographical transfer (represented through a city), but instead in relation to the coding of the IP address.
This process of spatial origin can be interpreted in a relativist sense, in which individually divided bodies in space are set here in relation to one another.

In this manner one receives a dynamic framework of space that is responsive and reacts to the behavior of the online-user.
Due to the fact that the coordinate points are formed in real time, set in relation to each another and are placed (connected) chronologically and successively with one other, a space is formed which corresponds to the nature of the Internet.
In the sense of a relativist formation of space, as well as in the sense of an absolutist concept, through the action/presence of the online-user in a superordinate container in cyberspace.

Number and Coordinate Systems

The human race has always been concerned with number codes and systems. Numbers and special number relationships played a fundamental role in the finding of cosmic harmony for the Creeks, Celts, and Egyptians. The Mayans, with their numerically based calculation of time, also provide an impressive example.
Today we are surrounded by more codes than we have ever been before.
Nevertheless number codes are more likely to be seen in a technological, rather than mythological, context.
The number system of today is characterized by the binary code!

10101101001011010101010000110101

10010010100010101000101010001010

01011010101010010110101010101111

IP-III

[ visualisierung ]

für die visualisierung der raumstruktur kommt folgender visualisierungsmodus zum einsatz.

1.
durch die umcodierung der ip-adressen werden raumkoordinaten definiert.
je nach anzahl der online-user auf der bezugswebsite, wird eine grössere oder kleinere menge von raumpunkten abgebildet:

2.
die raumpunkte der ausgewerteten ip-adressen werden je nach ihrem zeitlichen 'erscheinen' auf der website linear zu dreiecken zusammengefasst. jeder neu erscheinende koordinatenwert verbindet sich mit den zwei zuletzt gereihten ip-koordinaten. das sorauf entstehende ‘netzobjekt’ wird in einer feinen fächerstruktur dargestellt.

3.
der raum ist durch permanentes ein- und auswählen der online-user ständig in bewegung und dynamisch mit dem userverhalten verbunden.

giv_animation

IP Addresses

For every internet-node (regardless of whether it is a super server, host, router, etc.) there is a clearly identifiable address (an IP address) assigned in this entire network, which can be compared to a telephone number.
An IP address is basically a 32-bit information, meaning that in this case it concerns a 32-digit binary number that bases itself upon the numerical values of 0 and 1:

01100001011110111101000011110100

For easier readability the IP address will be shown as four numbers separated by decimal points:
8bit. 8bit. 8bit. 8bit :

min.: 0.0.0.0
max: 255.255.255.255

According the work IP-III each IP address in the network appears only once, and each user represents him/herself through only one coordinate point, a definite placement in the space is given.

01 - x
10 - y
11 - z
00 - - (verdoppelung)

Internet - Networking - Internet statistics

In a matter of seconds, independent of time and location, every internet user can be at the disposal of the stored knowledge of the World Wide Web in the same manner and with the same image - here information is distributed among countless servers by means of central nodes, routers, and hosts.
More routing possibilities guarantee that the data sent arrives in a reliable fashion.
The huge dimension of technology, which is necessary in order to ensure such global networking prozesses, is invisble for the individual user at the endterminal.

Every computer is clearly identifiable in the internet through its IP-address.

These IP-numbers can be used in order to analyze the behavior of internet users in the World Wide Web.
Specially developed programs place visualization tools at the disposal of the user.
The programs serve as a tool to graphically depict the surfing of the World Wide Web.

For many companies it is financially crucial to comprehend how many online visitors per day/month/year will be connecting to their website and where these people are respectively coming from.
In most instances a localizing occurs here in a geographical sense.
It is worth noting that the IP-address itself doesn’t involve any geographical information.
A geographical placement of IP addresses is only possible because the address of the registered person is necessary with the distribution and registration of the IP numbers.

cyberspace - virtual environments

The concept of cyberspace is used here as the "space”-forming communication structure of an Internet community, which not only is formed by the action and communication of the online-users, but also especially through their presence.

„In Abgrenzung zum Begriff VR wird unter Cyberspace kein Hardware- oder Softwaresystem verstanden, sondern vielmehr das Eintauchen in eine virtuelle Entwicklungsumgebung und dies insbesondere dann, wenn mehrer Personen gleichzeitig miteinander interagieren können."
Achim Bühl: Forum Wissenschaft 1/95

Such places of communication and exchange of thoughts are among other basic programs such as bulletin boards, chat-rooms, mud.s and mod.s.
For those who still have not had experience with mud.s/mod.s, let it be briefly explained that here it involves multi-user-dungeons. These are online-adventure games, and each online-user can take part in a community game in real-time after registering and (partially) choosing an avatar (= game figure such as a warrior, princess, minstrel, dragon, …).

"identity is the first thing you create in a MUD. You have to decice the name of your alternate identity – what MUDders call your charakter. And you have to describe who this character is, for the benefit of the other people who inhabit the same MUS. By creatinf your identity, you help create a world. Your xharacter.s role ant the roles of the others who play with are part of the architecture of belief that upholds for everybody in the MUD the illusion of being a wizard in a castle or a naigator abroad a starsip: the roles give people new stages on which to exercise new identities, and their new identities affirm the reality of the scenario.…..A MUD is a communication soup in real time, with a flavour of improvisary theater. Unlike computer conferencing systems or bulletin boards, people.s social interactions are in different varieties or real-time chat mode, not the kind of bulletin-board style communication you can find on BBSs or places like the WELL. MUD.s are very much about who is in the place at the same time and how they interact. It.s more of a hangout than a publication, more like a game board than a bulletin board."
Howard Rheingold: Chapter Five: Multi-User Dungeons and Alternate Identities

beispiele solcher muds sind: http://www.cybergeography.org/atlas/muds_vw.html http://mappa.mundi.net/maps/maps_005/ http://www.mudconnector.com

>>

The greater part of these game-forums runs in a written mode. I.e., the place, plot, and states of mind are passed on verbally. Text fields form the interfaces, in which one can respectively follow the action "here” and influence.
Next to these virtual perceptions of space (which can be modulated in the Internet), there are a large number of other visualization tools that show even more information characters. It then involves the so-called trace-routing tools, which graphically display the currents of movement in real time.
With the help of these tools, both one’s own "surf-routers”, as well as those of another online-user in the global network of the World Wide Web, can be followed.

http://www.cybergeography.org/atlas/routes.html

A utility called traceroute probes the paths that data packets take through the Internet, recording all the "hops" (routers) along the way. The original traceroute was written by Van Jacobson at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in USA. It is an important tool for exploring and mapping the structure of the global Internet:

geographical traceroute utilities - VisualRoute - Tracemap - Sarangworld Traceroute Project - GeoBoy - WhatRoute - Xtraceroute

<<

list of reference | books

Ulrich Beck: Was ist Globalisierung, Suhrkamp 1997

Achim Bühl:Die virtuelle Gesellschaft. Ökonomie, Politik und Kultur im Zeichen des Cyberspace.
Cybercpace und Virtaul Reality.
Sozialwissenschaftlicher Forschungsbedarf (Forum Wissenschaft 1/95)

Mike Davis: City of Quartz, Berlin/Göttingen 1994

V. Flusser: Die Revolution der Bilder.

W. Gibson: Neuromancer, München 1987

M. Löw: Raumsoziologie, Frankfurt/Main 2001

Nikolas Luhmann: Die Gesellschaft der Gesellschaft, 1997

M. McLuhan: The Global Village – Der Weg der Mediengesellschaft in das 21.Jhd.
Der Flusser-Reader zu Kommunikation, Medien und Design, Mannheim 1995

W. Mitchell: City of Bits – Leben in der Stadt des 21.Jhd., Berlin 1996

Howard Rheingold: Chapter Five: Multi-User Dungeons and Alternate Identities

Florian Rötzer:Telepolis – Das Magazin der Netzkultur
Stadt im Netz ansichten von Telepolis, Mannheim 1996

Saskia Sassen: Metropolen des Weltmarktes. Die neue Rolle der Global Cities

Neal Stephanson: Snow Crash, München 1994

Martin Dodge & Rob Kitchin: Mapping Cyberspace / Atlas of Cyberspaces