Issue Editorial: Scholarly Ecotones in the Information Landscape

Abstract

Ecotone: A transitional area between ecosystems (e.g., woodland and savannah), often richer in species than the ecosystems on either side. -Ian Whyte, 'A Dictionary of Environmental History' 'Contact zone' is an attempt to invoke the spatial and temporal copresence of subjects previously separated by geographical and historical disjunctures, and whose trajectories now intersect. By using the term 'contact', I aim to foreground the interactive, improvisational dimensions of colonial encounters […] A 'contact' perspective emphasises how subjects are constituted in and by their relations to each other […] often within radically asymmetrical relations of power. -Mary Louise Pratt, 'Imperial Eyes' Contact zones called ecotones, with their edge effects, are where assemblages of biological species form outside their comfort zones. These interdigitating edges are the richest places to look for ecological, evolutionary and historical diversity. -Donna Haraway, 'When Species Meet'