Distance in the Internet

Abstract

Distance has been considered as a primal geographical notion for physical space, possibly with some declining importance in the information age. This view will, first, be elaborated on, followed by specific discussions on the possible extension of the notions of distance, distance decay, distanciation, and proximity, for the analysis of the Internet. In Internet surfing, access duration increases with growing physical distance to hosting servers. Such servers may be viewed as centers, with users located around them along increasing physical distance/access time. In website searches via search engines, the order of search results presented on Internet screens is of special significance, since users prefer the first result, which serves, therefore, as a center on the Internet screen, with declining uses of lower ranked results. From yet another dimension, communications and networking permit contacts among Internet users without regard to distance. Still, users, as centers, keep more Internet ties with physically closer people.