Relation Between the Cyberspace and Generalism in Internet Users Among the Staff of the National Library and Archives of Iran

On the basis of the viewpoints of Marshall McLuhan, Søren Kierkegaard, Gilles Deleuze, Manuel Castells, Hubert Dreyfus and other philosophers and sociologists and scientists of information and communication studies, a conceptual model based on three types of historical structures of the mind and the description of features of each and the role of modern network technologies in changing the nature of human mind is presented. This model may be used in futuristic studies for understanding the effects of the networking space in the generalism of users and the reduction of individualistic tendencies among them.Design/Methodology/ Approach: On the basis of the viewpoints of the abovementioned experts, a number of indicators were defined for generalism and individuality. Based on these indicators, some questions were extracted for evaluating the viewpoints. The final questionnaire assessed the history, quantity and quality of the presence of the study population in the internet. It also evaluated their individualistic and generalistic tendencies based on Likert scale. The amount of exposure to the World Wide Web affects the increase of generalism against individualism. However, this affect does not show a considerable intensity. Several factors affect the generalism and individualism of individuals and the development of a networking environment is one of the most important of them. In addition to the effects that the content of these networks have, a portion of this effect is due to the fundamental structure and nature of networks. Modern information networks endorse the famous theory of McLuhan that "The medium is the message".