According to some discussions concerning new
information technologies and technologically enhanced
communication, we are now in a revolution as profound as the
printing press. The Internet is creating new kinds of meetingplaces
and work areas and the possibilities of new types of relationships
across time and space. This article reports on some ways that
the Internet is shaping language practices in the Deaf community,
with an interest in how new tools mediate and influence human
behavior, including language and the organization of interaction.
This includes the development and manipulation of a
computer-mediated image of self and other, creativity and
problem-solving in new communicative spaces, creating reciprocal
perspectives, new participation frameworks, and specifics of
language change. For the first time, deaf people can communicate
using manual visual language, in many cases their native language,
across space and time zones. This groundbreaking situation makes
the Deaf community a particularly productive site for research
into relationships between technological innovations and new
communicative practices.