Title: Cultures of the Internet
1Cultures of the Internet
- The real self in digiSpacethe digiSelf in
realSpace
2Visual Space and Acoustic Space
- Acoustic space is a resonant sphere whose
centre is everywhere and whose boundaries are
nowhere (TT 76) - The ear favours no particular point of view.
It forms a seamless web around us. We cant
shut out sound automatically. We simply are not
equipped with earlids. Where a visual space is an
organized continuum of a uniformed connected
kind, the ear world is a world of simultaneous
relationships. (MITM 111)
3Four Founding Cultures of the Internet (Castells)
- Academic, ethos of peer recognition
- Hacker, ethos of cooperative sharing,
contribution, recognition/meritocracy - Communities, ethos of mutual assistance,
continuity and viability - Entrepreneur, ethos of profit
4Life on the Screen / Who Am We? (Turkle) On
Multiple Identities
- The experience of playing selves in various
cyber-contexts is a concretization of a way of
thinking about the self, not as unitary but as
multiple. In this view, we move among various
self states, various aspects of self
5McLuhan Says
- Work, however, does not exist in a nonliterate
world. Where the whole man is involved there is
no work. In the computer age we are once more
totally involved in our roles. In the electric
age, the job of work yields to dedication and
commitment, as in the tribe. (UM 138)
6Life on the Screen / Who Am We?On Multiple
Identities The digiSelf
- but if we have lost reality
7Life on the Screen / Who Am We?Changing Our
Mental Model of Computers
- WSOTATOTSU
- Programming was a technical skill that could be
done a right way or a wrong way. This linear,
logical model guided thinking not only about
technology and programming, but about economics,
psychology, and social life.
- WSOTATOTSU
- Todays children are growing up in a computer
culture whose dominant metaphors borrow from
evolution, genetics, and neural networks. This
makes the line between how computers work and how
our minds might work seem far less rigid.
8Life on the Screen / Who Am We?Computers as the
Totem of Postmodernism
- Characterization of postmodernism, the precedence
of surface over depth, of simulation over the
real, of play over seriousness - Turbine, smokestack, pipes and conveyor belts
powerful objects-to-think-with - People use objects to work through powerful
cultural images.
9Life on the Screen / Who Am We?New Computer
Literacy
- This would take the cultural pervasiveness of
simulation as a challenge to develop a new social
criticism. It would take as its goal the
development of simulations that help their users
understand and challenge their model's built-in
assumptions.
10Anatomy of the Electric Crowd(E. McLuhan)
- Electric crowds are para-natural, transcending
time, space and tangible objectives and goals.
Existence or being is not an objective of the
electric crowd rather it is its natural state.
Consequently, the quality of the electric crowd
is simply its quality or modality of being.
11Anatomy of the Electric CrowdAttributes
- Size is replaced by quality of relationships
connections - Extension of self is created, as opposed to the
shedding of individuality (i.e. the ground
shifts) - Infinite mass and zero volume ?Infinite density
- No goal, direction, purpose or externalized
objective - Being-ness necessitates participation
participation necessitates relationships,
connections interaction
12Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace(Lessig)
- What does it mean to live in a world where
problems can be programmed away? And when should
we program problems away? - Who defines acceptable norms and what is
acceptable to regulate, given that these are
conventionally tied to a jurisdiction or culture?
Remember that in cyberspace, who, where and when
become ambiguous.
13Code and Other Laws of CyberspaceExample AOL
- Anonymity suggests freedom of action without
consequence - Total monitoring and limited ability to
demonstrate en masse limits range of actions - Regulation via architecture/code, as opposed to
social norms or judicial processes - Cost to leave is negligible
14Code and Other Laws of CyberspaceExample
Counsel Connect
- Online legal discussion forum in which
participants use real names - Reputation accrues in both realSpace and
digiSpace regulation via social norms as opposed
to architecture / code - Cost to leave is relatively low, but affects
realSpace existence
15Code and Other Laws of CyberspaceExample
LamdaMOO
- Originally regulated through judiciary, and
code later via social norms (with no realSpace
consequences) - When social norms (actions of the majority)
proved inadequate, democracy (vote of the
majority) was imposed - Cost to leave is high characters take
considerable time to build, but only exist in
LambdaMOO
16Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace(Lessig)
- Code is always a regulator in cyberspace
- Non-code regulators have more or less relevance,
depending on the culture (in staying), the cost
(to leave) and the consequences (in either case). - AOL ? Code is most relevant
- Counsel Connect ? Social norms
- LamdaMOO ? Democracy
17- A Rape in Cyberspace
- by Julian Dibbell
- http//www.juliandibbell.com/texts/bungle_vv.html