Re-visualizing Cyberspace: Using Quasi Objects for Spatial Definitions

The definition and visualization of cyberspace are an ambiguity. The creator of cyberspace defined cyberspace properties as being a space and a non-space and to appear as a ‘consensual hallucination’. Most understandings of the Cyberspace tend to begin with a particular physical space centrist viewpoint that applies physical space models and expectations of one space to another (physical space to Cyberspace), with assumptions that presuppose the existence of a universal definition and agreement on the Physical space. This paper contests such a view and the traditional philosophical definition of subject-object space by exploring the potential of Latour’s (1991) quasi objects to provide a different spatial definition. Cyberspace is hypothesized to be a collection of quasi objects, and to have the properties of both a Network and an Actor within the confines of the Actor Network Theory. The purpose of this paper is to propose contradictions to current assumptions and to ignite a debate regarding possible multiple solutions to current dilemmas in the definition of cyberspace.