Space and Virtual Capitalism in the Information Age: Linkbase

Before the dawn of the Information Age, before 40 inch TVs, before computers and databases, before the telephone, the 4-wheel-drive, and even before the two-wheel-ride there was this space out there known as . . . the marketplace. Ah, yes, the marketplace. Here, in the marketplace familiar faces looked up as money, smiles, frowns, ups and downs were exchanged, relationships claimed and customer satisfaction reclaimed. Yes. Here in the marketplace, from sunup 'til sundown, people came and went in leisure pursuit of those items that made their lives.

Now, hundreds of years later, the marketplace has long been obsolete. As a matter of fact, the term market itself no longer carries those same ideologies. In today's world of electronic marketing, "neighborhood" and "familiar faces" isn't exactly what comes to mind. On the contrary, the state of consumerism and commerce is rapidly veering from the just-a-hop-skip-and-a-jump away kind of thinking and moving into the just-click-here kind of manuevering. Where once we did all our business in that familiar space that was on so-and-so street, at this height of the Information Age we've moved our business slowly away from the ground and into the digital ungrounded highways of cyberspace. Take a look at the links in this database to get the full effect of this present state.