A GEOGRAPHICAL INTERPRETATION OF CYBERSPACE Preliminary Analysis on the Scaling Tendency of Information Spaces

Rapid development of information and communication technologies over the last two decades has brought a significant impact upon many aspects of our societal and economic activities. With an estimate of over 120 000 000 host computers and 300 000 000 users from round the world (ISC 2001), the Internet has grown to conceive, within its own network, electronically generated information spaces collectively referred to as cyberspace. The variety exhibited by such information spaces ranges from the telecommunication network of satellites and fibre -optics to the metaphorical space of the World Wide Web and further to a full 3D virtual environment. Each space has its own structure and distinctive functionality yet is closely linked to one another to comprise cyberspace as a whole, and its rapid growth is indeed beginning to generate a new geography within the wider structure of our societal and economic grounds (Batty 1993).