Information Ecology

how might the metaphor of an ‘ecology’ impact on the way you think about, understand or use the Internet?
Thinking of the internet in terms of an ‘ecology’ opens my mind to the many facets of the ever evolving Internet. As stated in Towards an Information Ecology written by Rafael Capurro there are many dimensions within the Internet. He goes on to state these such as “The Social Dimension”, “The Linguistic Dimension” and “The Historical Dimension” to name a few. The thought of the Internet in terms of “information ecology” allows me to understand the internet as a technological revolution without limitations and full of evolving dimensions.

how are the concepts ‘information’ and ‘communication’ understood within the framework of an ‘information ecology’?
Information and communication in relation to information ecology are flows of ongoing information and communication for the evolution of new media. Suggested in Information Ecology written by Felix Stalder an “Information ecology aims at understanding the properties of this environment in order to use its potential, avoid its dangers and influence its development positively.” He also goes on to describe Information ecology in terms of communication and explains that “to communicate among people, to control processes across time and distances, to check and re-evaluate existing information, and to produce more information.” Information ecology can be understood as a combination of information and communication flows.

why don’t we talk of a ‘communication ecology’?
It would appear that we don’t talk about “communication ecology’ purely because it is a component of something larger, which would be “information ecology”. Information ecology consists of two components – both information and communication which assists technological revolution.