ABSTRACT
Nobody will deny that this is an age of connectedness, in horizontal terms, with simultaneity of time and the borders of space erased. How are we to avoid being swamped by an overload of connections, a homogenising mass? How do we establish meaningful connections in the general soup of signs in which the modern individual swims? In an internet world, story links to story, windows open on new stories, and no overall authority establishes priority. James Lull poses the question succinctly:
The challenge for people today is to navigate and combine an unprecedented range of cultural territories and resources, ranging from relatively unfamiliar terrains imported to the self through technological mediations and human migrations of various types, to territory that is far more familiar and stable, such as that offered by religion, nation and family, in order to invent combinations that satisfy individuals’ changing needs and preferences.1
