Internet, Knowledge, and Know-How
Modern technologies related to the development of the Internet and the cyberspace have significantly transformed global and local socio-cultural spheres with regards to knowledge, know-how and their transmission. These questions are central to the discipline of anthropology. Studies on the Internet have raised two types of reactions. The first celebrates this innovation as opening a new era by universalizing human knowledge which will be accessible to all and everyone. The second questions the revolutionary pretences attributed to the Internet by showing the limits of its tools. On a more ethnographical level, studies conducted, particularly on discussion, forums, show the diversity of knowledge and know-how transmitted (expert, popular and experiential) and their role in providing access to information and technical competencies. The pedagogical contribution of Internet to the field of anthropology is also underlined, as well as the limits with regards to the integration of the study of these medias in the theoretical and methodological curriculum of university students in this discipline.