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More questions than answers after Internet researchers' conference LAWRENCE, Kan. (September 17, 2000 4:06 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - As the Internet rapidly promotes new communities and new ways to communicate, researchers still are trying to catch up and understand its social costs and benefits. The Association of Internet Researchers' inaugural conference ended Sunday with more questions than answers about the Internet's impact on social interactions and relationships. Does the Internet foster greater face-to-face contact offline, or does it tend to make people more reclusive? Are face-to-face interactions even the ideal means of contact for everyone, including the shy teenager who thrives online? "We know very little," said Manuel Castells, sociology professor at University of California-Berkeley. "We are transforming our world at the fullest speed - blindly," he said. "It could create a backlash from many people saying that for them, the Internet is worsening their lives." While Internet studies are only beginning, time is running out because technology changes rapidly, warned Stephen Jones, president of the association. The researchers' group, with more than 400 members, was formed to bring together sociologists, educators, technologists and other specialists who study the Internet. Despite their efforts, many expressed frustration about how little is known. "There's a lot of rhetoric and a fair amount of pseudo research," said Gary Burnett, a professor of information studies at Florida State University. "If we don't take measures to understand the subtleties of the world we live in, there's the possibility for significant negative consequences." Studies at Stanford University and Carnegie Mellon University have suggested the Internet promotes reclusion or depression. But other studies, including those presented at the conference, found that Internet users communicate more often - online and offline - than people who are unconnected. Many researchers agreed the Internet does foster communities around shared interests. Cancer survivors, gun owners and fans of television shows can all meet online even if they are hundreds of miles apart. "It's changing the mode through which communities emerge," said Andrew Wood, a professor in communications studies at San Jose State University in California. "It's hard to say whether that's good or bad, but it's certainly going to be different." Burnett identified one potential downside of virtual communities: Internet users may develop a large-scale view incompatible with the small, rural settings they live in. Dave Jacobson, an anthropologist at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., found no evidence that people relate to one another any differently online. But then again, he said, individuals can enter or leave a virtual community more easily than they can move from a town they dislike. And some researchers emphasized the difficulties of blaming or crediting the Internet for societal changes. After all, said University of Toronto sociologist Barry Wellman, neighborhood-based communities began declining long ago. "Many of the things we ascribe to computerization had been happening before," Wellman said. By ANICK JESDANUN, Associated Press Copyright 2000 Nando Media http://www.nandotimes.com/ janet paterson 53 now / 44 dx cd / 43 onset cd / 41 dx pd / 37 onset pd tel: 613 256 8340 url: "http://www.geocities.com/janet313/" email: [log in to unmask] smail: POBox 171 Almonte Ontario K0A 1A0 Canada