From the myth of cyberspace to the political economy of computer communication

Abstract

The development of computer communication in the 1980s and 90s gave a new impetus to the set of myths connecting information technologies to the end of space, the end of time, the end of politcs and the end of history. Based on the Political Economy perspective, this article challenges the foundations of this symbolic construct and explains its unsustainability. Along these lines, it will be argued that cyberspace results from the mutual constitution of digitalization and commodification. Due to its potential to combine universial language with customized products, digitalization expands the commodification of content by expanding opportunities to measure and monitor, package and repackage entertainment and information. Mythic cyberspace might therefore might be little more than an highly commercialized space with scarce room for diversity and debate.