The New Millennium Dictionary of Electronic Psychology

with contributions by
Robert Bischoff, Ph.D.
Yvette Colón, MSW, ACSW
Jeri Fink, DSW, CSWR
Michael Freeny, LCSW
Jayne Gackenback, Ph.D.
Linda Grobman, ACSW, LSW
Mark Griffiths, Ph.D.
John Grohol, Psy.D.
Adam Joinson, Ph.D.
John Suler, Ph.D.

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Preface

Language is alive. It constantly changes, shifts with the human landscape to reflect the ideas, emotions, and spirits of the moment. Some words sustain meaning over time, reflecting concepts that remain unchanged in the human conundrum. Others evolve, along with behavior, ideology and technology. That is the magic of language - its amazing ability to simultaneously adapt and remain consistent - to sit, close to the human soul, and acknowledge all that we, as a species, believe ourselves to be.

Language is our most intimate bedfellow. It shapes how we view ourselves, our cultures, our realities. It gives form to what appears chaotic and art to what appears gruesome and ruthless. Language is the great divide between humans and other earth-bound species. Because with language we learn, we draw symbols and metaphors, and we communicate with one another to change, re-design, and re-evaluate our environments. We're born with the ability to speak the sounds of every language known to humankind - past, present, and future. Human development proceeds by eliminating most of these sounds - focusing on the words that are used in our cultures to enable us to be socialized into the environment to which we were born.

Leo Marx, Professor of American Cultural History at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and author of Does Technology Drive History? maintains that new terms in language emerge when there is a social void. We identify a concept because we need to, whether or not it has existed before that point in history. Thus concepts like computer virus, icebox, electricity and internet were coined at a specific point in time because there was no previous social need to compel its usage.

In this context, the language of a specific discipline is like a blueprint - it sets boundaries, identifies highlights, and shapes prototypes. The language of a specific discipline establishes a unique view of reality, a way to see the world through a lens with its own defined color and angle. And the language of a specific discipline enables us to describe the substance of what it is by categorizing and classifying its content. "Language plays a key role in drawing attention to different aspects of reality," writes Allan G. Johnson, author of The Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology, "and in the process it shapes the reality that you perceive and experience."

The "reality" in electronic psychology is virtual by nature - ideas played out in a space rather than a field with clear, physical parameters. It constitutes a new discipline born from concepts as old as humankind, a displacement that moves us into some very strange, ill-defined geographic dimensions. Our physically-based minds and bodies ask basic questions:

Where is electronic space located?
Who is "I" in cyberspace?
How can we love, live, and play in a space that has no concrete definition?

Future generations will accept the electronic environment as naturally as we accept the "reality" of hollow metal cylinders that fly (airplanes), tiny plastic instruments that talk (cell phones), and glassy surfaces that tell stories (televisions). Past generations intrigued with collections of wood, metal and springs that did work (machines) or carriages that moved without horses (cars) would find it difficult to define exactly what an airplane, cell phone or television does.

Thus we find ourselves at the birth of a new concept, identified because there is a social void - a need to understand how the electronic environment affects human psychology. In some ways, we don't change. In others, our thinking, behavior, and patterns of interaction are unrecognizable - born from a world where virtual, not actual, dominates. Electronic psychology is a discipline demanding a lexicon - a language that will describe and codify human behavior in electronic environments. Commonly used terms such as community, self, and identity take on new meanings when paired with electronic, digital, or cyber. Our roles as individuals, community members, netizens, facilitators, workers, professionals, and students shift with the tenuous digital landscape. The New Millennium Dictionary of Electronic Psychology establishes standards, organizing and systematizing an ever-growing collection of concepts and language in a fundamental framework reflecting both traditional and emerging paradigms in psychology.

It is only the beginning. As the language grows and evolves, as technology changes and improves, as humans adapt, plunging deeper into electronic environments, so will the lexicon.The New Millennium Dictionary is a pioneer: a wooden sloop venturing into uncharted oceans; a lone covered wagon testing the wilderness; a human-designed spacecraft visiting neighboring planets. And the legacy of all pioneers is the same -- to explore, learn, and nurture new and creative human thought.

Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments to Contributors
Preface
Introduction: Questions and Answers about Electronic Psychology
List of Categories
List of Articles
The Dictionary
Who's Who in Electronic Psychology
The Contributors
A Selected Directory
Word Index
Word Index by Category
List of References
List of Online Resources
Appendices
   A: Glossary of Online Acronyms and Abbreviations
   B: Glossary of Smileys, Emoticons and Electronic Graffiti

Want to have your own copy of this exciting,
groundbreaking book? Click here.