John Perry Barlow (b. 1947) is a long-time writer and speaker about electronic technologies and their social implications; co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit civil liberties organization; and member of the board of directors of the WELL (Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link), an online community organization. He contributes to magazines and journals such as Communications of the ACM, Microtimes, Mondo 2000, and Wired. This article first appeared in 1995 in the Utne Reader, a magazine aimed at people on the political left. As Barlow mentions in the article, he is a former lyricist for The Grateful Dead rock band and was a Wyoming cattle rancher for 17 years.
"Is There a There in Cyberspace?" (Composing Cyberspace p. 164) is not available online.
1. What social forces are creating the lack of real-life community that Barlow describes as "Generica"? From your own experience, do you agree that the majority of Americans live in "neither communities nor homes" (¶ 5)?
2. What aspects of the Deadheads conference on the WELL made Barlow feel he'd "found the new locale of human community" (¶ 11)? What's missing from cyber-communities, according to Barlow? Construct a working definition of community using as many of Barlow's criteria as you can.
3. Overall, based on this article, would you describe Barlow as more pessimistic or more optimistic about the potential for virtual community? Why?
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