The Economist has a new article relevant to those interested in the role of the Internet in cultural relations. "A cyber-house divided" focuses on two key elements: 1) Humans tend to gravitate toward things they know making online communities predominantly homogenous, and 2) meeting in the physical world is the real killer app.
The Economist appears to be trying to present this as a zero-sum game.
In our 2009 report "Digital Diplomacy," which explored the potential of the Internet for cultural relations (especially around Islam), we recommended that the Obama Administration not view the Internet as a panacea. Rather, we stressed that it should be used as a tool to augment and extend relationships that could be formed in the physical world. We also described how virtual worlds in particular, among the various channels of online communication available, were the most complex engagement platforms extant. And that they were particularly valuable in enabling textured communication around difficult topics.
It's important to note that The Economist article is only talking about web-based (i.e. primarily text) social media, which, while the dominant venue for discourse, is essentially taking a snapshot of one sector of Internet-based discourse.
The Economist: "A cyber-house divided"
2 comments:
First, I believe cultural relations within a digital domain, especially virtual worlds, are not the same as the real world. The ability for someone to choose their avatar and thus their founding reputation is an element much harder to execute in the real but not entirely.
The virtual world acts act as a filter where something is lost, something is gained and much remains the same. Many are still trying to understand what those ramifications are, I know after 5 years in Second Life and a number or projects to determine that more completely, I am still baffled and curious.
If we look at it as if it is a beam of light, it is less like a filter and more like refraction. As light enter water or a crystal it is bent but the beam is much the same. In a virtual world determining the 'real' person.
I have heard a saying in Second Life many times, "In the real world if you are bad, in the virtual world you will be a devil and if your are good you will be a saint." Many who have not experienced the virtual world over a period of time assume that it is about fantasy and lies, people pretending to be something they are not in the real world. I will not argue this point, it may well be true, but it misses the point.
In the virtual world you have the opportunity to be what you might have been if fate, environment or resources had not prevented that development. So you have an environment of dreamers, explorers, might have beens, -creatives who would have not had that chance in the real world.
As an interactive designer, practicing in every corner of the Internet for for 15 years I have never developed he range of friends, acquaintances and colleague that I have developed in Second Life. They are from Australia to Japan, Finland to Tunisia and Turkey to Spain. I find that what people have in common is what creates their tribes, tribes of commonality.
If individuals are grains of sand then cultures are great beaches. The surf that is fate and time washes some up to build the beach and washes others away. How we behave within that cultural interface may not say much about outside culture or maybe it speaks volumes.
I think, in general, we listen far to much to the technical press which seems to exhibit little interest or understanding of the greater issues of the Cultural Interface. This leaves a intellectual vacuum and an assumption among the public, especially in the US, that new technology is always good and more is better. Reports like the Economist wrote and many that see here and in a few other locations show are far more nuanced and complex situation.
For further interest, I wrote this essay the same day as the Economist story, "The Cultural Interface: The Commonality of Tribes" www.zitig.ch
http://bit.ly/95bjVZ
Thanks for your comments, Garrett. I agree with your points. In our research (links in the original post) we highlight the power of virtual world platforms like Second Life to help people understand and explore their identity, which is relevant to your interest in Cultural Interface.
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