MetaFace, MetaNet

In her 1991 work "A Cyborg Manifesto," Donna Harraway makes the claim "we are all chimeras [...]; in short, we are all cyborgs." While this may very well be true given a (not so?) broad definition of the term "cybernetic organism," the statement in many ways renders stale and neutralizes the term. As tool-using animals, humans have therefore been cyborgs from the first time they picked up a stick to wave it menacingly in the presence of a black obelisk; similarly, would chimpanzees using sticks to scrape termites from a tree limb also be cyborgs? Better still, is that otter cracking clams open on the rock on his belly a cyborg? The specifics of what is meant by "machine" may be at the root of this debatable definition.

From the late 1980s through the mid-1990s, the prefix "cyber-" became a ubiquitous signifier of computer-related activities or equipment. Similarly, the prefixes "e-" and "i-" have gained the same role, and have in fact supplanted "cyber-". Meanwhile, "cyber-" has become increasingly limited to referring to only one computer-related interaction: virtual sexual intimacy. Certainly, this passage out of use is partly due to familiarity of the alternatives. The "e-" in question is an abbreviation of "electronic," a much more familiar term than "cybernetic." We don't check our "c-mail" or participate in "c-Commerce," or have a "cyber-résumé" for good reason.

The abbreviated "i-" is an interesting evolution. "Inter-" is one obvious prefix for which "i-" fills in, as is "Internet." The "i-" is also potentially short for "intelligent," but it also does double semiotic duty by reinscribing the first person singular pronoun "I." Apple Computer launched its iMac computers in 1998. Within a year, they were also offering iBooks, a takeoff of their PowerBook laptop line. The colorful PCs were available in a range of 5 colors, and then later several additional colors were added. The computers were marketed to appeal to a sense of individuality and creativity, as something different than the bland gray or beige of other computers. The "i-" prefix reinforced this appeal to individuality.

At the same time, McDonald's launched an ad campaign called "MyMcDonald's." Yahoo and Netscape, among other software companies, likewise added "My-" as a prefix to their corporate name to appeal to a sense of "customizability." Recently, the Bank One Platinum Visa® Card has been made available in five colors, with several "customizable" features, such as user-chosen payment due dates. While many of these features might be available with other credit cards, Bank One has started an advertising campaign capitalizing on the personalized features of the card, particularly the color and payment date. Many other products have become available in iMac-esque translucent cases in a variety of colors as well. In fact, the meme is fairly well played out, as Apple has even abandoned the colored iMacs in favor of more ergonomic design features and a stark white case. But their product line now includes the hardware iPod and the software suite iLife, featuring iPhoto, iTunes, iDVD, and iMovie.

The focus on “my” and “I” points to one of the major aspects of Internet communiction. The media (there are several involved) lend themselves to and beg for identity construction. From the simple exercise of picking a screen name or alias to the more elaborate construction of a profile or “description,” Internet channels from email to instant messaging to IRC to weblogging encourage and enable users to develop and mediate subjective assertions of their own identities. Choices like iMac colors, cell phone faceplates, desktop pictures or wallpaper, bank card color, custom billing dates, and personalized weblog URLs all embody this appeal to individuality. All are ways that users talk about themselves or construct themselves in order to portray an identity in the channel.

We spend a great deal of our computing and telecommunication time talking about ourselves, building these identities, customizing our hardware, down- loading skins for our software, and discussing technological advances. Many things we purchase and use online or on the computer are most interesting or most popular not because of the end result or desired outcome, but because the task or function performed is interesting or intriguing in and of itself. For example, many users download far more mp3s than they would ever choose to listen to, but the fact that they can download music coupled with the ongoing debate about copyright protection and file-sharing has fetishized the process.

This fetishization of function and the discussions surrounding said functions is a type of meta-commentary upon (and meta-usage of) computer technology. The identity construction mentioned previously is another type of meta- commentary, but upon the self. The computer itself is really a meta-tool, capable of performing a number of tasks, ranging from multimedia production to desktop publishing to word processing to communication across numerous channels. The Web itself, rather than being just one medium, is a set of multimedia; in many ways the computer embodies meta-media, in which traditional channels are mediated by digitization.

Roughly the last fifty years have arguably been the “postmodern era,” and one of the most prominent characteristics of postmodern literature and media is meta- commentary. An obvious outgrowth of the fragmentation of Modernism and the pastiche- filled coalescence of Postmodernism is the need to mediate the construction of self as part of the mediation of the conflict between the Romantic ideal of subjective Truth vs. the Modern ideal of objective Truth. The networked personal computer is the ultimate postmodern tool, the meta-tool for use with meta-media.

Rather than clinging to the (outmoded by Harraway’s manifesto) prefix “cyber-” or the practical prefix “e” or the commercialized prefix “i,” perhaps the most appropriate usage would be replacing these prefixess with “meta-.” Rather than interfacing with networks connected to the Internet, we meta-face with the meta-net using our meta-tools. We send meta-mail via our aliased identity, we meta-chat with other meta-identities via another alias, and in turn, our identities meta-morphose from simple meat and psyche into a digitally mediated cybernetic, electronic, individualized persona. Widespread use of “meta-” in this way may not be practical or likely, but it is one way to shape our attitudes and notions about the computer, the Internet, and how our relationships with both impact our sense of identity and our relationships with other human beings.