Friday 15 October 2010

Media and Cyberculture

Media and Cyberculture is a vital contemporary subject to address in modern studies. Both terms are important to define categorically. Media is globally renowned term with a simple definition that “the medium to communicate the message from source to destination” and we used different medium in daily life according to our gratifications however, the “Cyberculture” needs to explore extensively. The most familiar and easy definition of cyberculture can be quoted in following words, “The culture that emerges from the use of computers for communication, entertainment and business” but the phenomenon is not so simple to rely on few ordinary words.

‘Culture is one of the two or three most complicated words in the English language.’ (Williams, 1983:87) Study of cyberculture is still an evolving field. Complex relationship between technology and our use of it is changing the cultural landscape as a result of this complex relationship. ‘To define cyberculture is to engage in obsolescence.’ (Read & Gessler, 1996:306)

Different renowned scholars defined the cyberculture through various aspects.‘The study of various social phenomena associated with the internet and other new forms of network communication. Online communities, online multi-player gaming, the issue of online identity, the sociology and the ethnography of email usage, cell phone usage in various communities; the issues of gender and ethnicity in Internet usage; and so on are the vital examples of different characteristics in cyberculture.’ (Manovich, 2002:16)




The above video portrayed the concept of cyberculture cinematically to understand the actuality between the real and virtual world.

“Significance of cyberculture, no longer distinct from what is implicit to culture in the frame work of post-industrial society. With technology as its supramedium, “cyberculture” is the contemporary and transpicuous paraphrase of what the term, revolving around a new industrial model in the late 19th Century.” (Ricardo, 2009:1) Cybercultre is molding the new ways in technological inceptions, identity, new form of sociability and even people-to-people democracy. The Chronology of computer mediated communication (CMC) is attributed in several phases such as making the virtual world then moving the real into the virtual world and finally integrating the virtual and the real worlds and currently majority of people experienced these phases where such technologies are in access.

These changing technologies greatly impact the ways in which we relate, communicate and socialize with each other and shapes a culture.

Personal identification is another question to address in cyberculture as online persona may be different than the real world. Through cyber means of communication people have relationships they could not have any other way.

Online Identification is another core aspect to evaluate in cybercultre as a person has different masks to identity him/herself online. The use of technology can mask our identities as well as heighten them. There are profound implications and possibilities with the ability to manipulate and present one’s identity online.


 
"Life in the real world is far more interesting, far more important, far richer, than anything you'll ever find on a computer screen”. (Stoll, 1995: 13)

Currently, people around the globe merged in a common culture known as 'cyberculture' and media is core tool for shaping it universally.

References:

--Manovich, L. (2002). The Language of New Media. Cambridge: MIT Press.
--Read, W. D. & Nicholas Gessler, N. (1996). Cyberculture’ in David Levinson   and Melvin Ember (eds.), Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology. New York: Henry Holt and Co.
--Ricardo, F.J. (eds.) (2009). Cyberclture and New Media. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
--Stoll, C. (1995). Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway. New York: Doubleday.
--Williams, R. (1983). Keywords. London: Fontana.






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