Digital culture
In this essay I would like to give a short review of digital culture. What and who creates it and what kind of influences can 'the creation' have to the society?
People use Internet every day. It is quite hard to imagine life without computer, far from Internet. While interacting in the web sharing thoughts, playing games, blogging, learning, listening music and doing more than that people are creating and also taking part of something incredible, which can be called digital culture. Behind every click there is a story - why this particular person is looking for this particular thing, why people interact in web not in real world..
What is digital culture?
It is hard to define it one-for-one, but it can be said that culture is the mix of people learned behavior patterns, attitudes and artifacts. It involves traditions, habits and customs, peoples feelings and interactions. It is like the total sum of the ways of life of people in the Internet[1]. It is like mass collaboration where people together create something big.
I am going to talk about some opportunities in digital culture: using and creating social softwares and networks, blogs, computer games, Second Life and search engines.
Social softwares and networks
Social software is a web-based software systems, where people can upload their pictures, share their information and interact with other people. Now very popular sites Orkut, Flickr, MySpace, Facebook or Rate in Estonia have quite a big influence to the society. Beside the fact that these environments helps to manage friends and show pictures to them, there is also back side. For example in the Estonian news there were recently under consideration a story about the young 14 year old boy, who committed suicide. Young boy's ant has gathered information and is quite sure that there is something to do with Internet pervert, who is manipulating with young boys by asking them to take pictures and show themselves naked in the camera. Afterwards he/she starts to blackmail youngsters until their life is ruined or there is no life any more.. (M. Kärmas, 2008).
Blogs
Blogs or time webs are interactive environments, where a word has the strongest power. The word ‘blog’ which has lately become very popular in Estonian media, was implemented in 1999 September. This word is derived from a phrase ‘logosphere’, which means ‘world of the words’ in creek [2]. For what and to whom are blogs? Blogs are used by people who find it interesting, who wish to share thoughts with others, to advocate some product, service or view of life, to promote business and many other reasons.
But blogging has also its fare share of social affects. Some months ago one girl’s experiences of blogging were discussed through journalism. She opened herself to people not realizing what effect this had to the blog readers. This case took to actual money payments, but bad things gone worse, the money did not fulfill its initial purpose by the opinion of blog readers. It led to the disappointment and accusations of deception. This example shows how readers intrude bloggers personal life, but with their own permission. When writing a blog one should always consider the consequences (D. Lomp, 2008).
Computer Games
Starting from earliest days of networked computers, games have always been part of the culture. A game is a structured activity which is usually undertaken for enjoyment and is often used as an educational tool [3]. The reason why people often play them is that they have some sort of mental stimulation and people can test themselves through the games components (goals, rules, challenges and interactivity), which are also the components of life.
There are many types of computer games: puzzle games, racing games, strategy games, card games, casino games, shooting games and so on.
Games can have very positive influence to the people. Gaming gives lessons which can also be used later on in life: problem solving, thinking skills and skills to know how to loose or win (Gamesworks, 2007).
But games can also have some negative impact - addiction. Addiction is a situation when a person feels obsession or compulsion to do something specific and reduces the interest of outside of the activity. In this case playing video games. There was a panel on game addiction in January 2003 where game addiction problems where discussed quite detailed.
Second life
Second life is a 3-D virtual world, which is created by its residents. Slogan: "Your World. Your imagination. " tells already quite enough. It means that in Second Life there are no limits, one can have there a house, can have business or even marry with some guy, can have anything which exists also in real world, but can own it virtually, at least at first.
Steven Morris is writing in his article about a British couple who are divorcing because man-side had 'second life' in Second Life. Woman told that although it was in virtual world, it impacts to the real world as well (Steven Morris, 2008). This article shows very well that virtual feelings and virtual thoughts can influence real life and change it forever.
Search engines
Web search engines are designed to find information from World Wide Web. Information may be of every description: web pages, images, information, videos, or any other type of files. As search engines have already born, people are used to use them every day and cant imagine their life without them. At least I do. James Thomas wrote an article about his experience not using Google search and any Google service at all. Although it seems impossible to me, it seems he has managed to do so - one just have to get used to the other services ( Yahoo, Msn, Ask).
To sum up it can be said that digital culture is in its own way the same as real culture - same problems, same opportunities, same patterns of actions. One thing that is different is that in digital world it is easier to create content.
There is one great video about Machines are Us/ing Us by Michael Wesch. This video shows how easy it is to create digital content and how everything is connected. The author also points out one important idea about acting in Internet: "We should rethink a few things ... copyright, authorship, identity, ethics, aesthetics, rhetorics, privacy, governance, commerce, love, family ourselves.. " [4].
So one should always consider before the 'click' in the Internet, what are the consequences and does the action influence the digital world.
Who are behind digital culture?
Don Tapscot and Anthony D. Williams has spoke out in "Wikinomics" quite well:
"Blogger and media consultant Jeff Jarvis points out that even a simple act of consumption in this new world is now an act of creation. Small acts like tagging bookmarks, sharing photos on flickr or searching on Google creates collective benefits as much as private and yield a richer Web experience and "the wisdom of crowds" which can help people to discover content and improve search results. He asks: "Who owns that collected wisdom of crowd?" Obviously, the crowd does."
References:
Dagmar Lamp, 2008 -
„Blogi andis mulle pulmakleidi, aga viis ära peigmehe” [http://blog.tr.ee/post/481624]
Tapscott, Don & Williams, D. Anthony, 2008 -
Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
Gamesworks, 2007 -
http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/Games-Improve-Thinking-Skills-Problem-Solving-and-Fun_W0QQugidZ10000000000827899
Steven Morris, 2008 -
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/13/second-life-divorce
James Thomas, May 2007 -
http://www.centernetworks.com/my-life-without-google
Mihkel Kärmas, 2008 -
http://www.ekspress.ee/2008/11/20/eesti-uudised/5446-missi-ajujaht-netiperverdile
[1] - http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/culture
[2] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blogosphere#cite_note-0
[3] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game
[4] - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE
In this essay I would like to give a short review of digital culture. What and who creates it and what kind of influences can 'the creation' have to the society?
People use Internet every day. It is quite hard to imagine life without computer, far from Internet. While interacting in the web sharing thoughts, playing games, blogging, learning, listening music and doing more than that people are creating and also taking part of something incredible, which can be called digital culture. Behind every click there is a story - why this particular person is looking for this particular thing, why people interact in web not in real world..
What is digital culture?
It is hard to define it one-for-one, but it can be said that culture is the mix of people learned behavior patterns, attitudes and artifacts. It involves traditions, habits and customs, peoples feelings and interactions. It is like the total sum of the ways of life of people in the Internet[1]. It is like mass collaboration where people together create something big.
I am going to talk about some opportunities in digital culture: using and creating social softwares and networks, blogs, computer games, Second Life and search engines.
Social softwares and networks
Social software is a web-based software systems, where people can upload their pictures, share their information and interact with other people. Now very popular sites Orkut, Flickr, MySpace, Facebook or Rate in Estonia have quite a big influence to the society. Beside the fact that these environments helps to manage friends and show pictures to them, there is also back side. For example in the Estonian news there were recently under consideration a story about the young 14 year old boy, who committed suicide. Young boy's ant has gathered information and is quite sure that there is something to do with Internet pervert, who is manipulating with young boys by asking them to take pictures and show themselves naked in the camera. Afterwards he/she starts to blackmail youngsters until their life is ruined or there is no life any more.. (M. Kärmas, 2008).
Blogs
Blogs or time webs are interactive environments, where a word has the strongest power. The word ‘blog’ which has lately become very popular in Estonian media, was implemented in 1999 September. This word is derived from a phrase ‘logosphere’, which means ‘world of the words’ in creek [2]. For what and to whom are blogs? Blogs are used by people who find it interesting, who wish to share thoughts with others, to advocate some product, service or view of life, to promote business and many other reasons.
But blogging has also its fare share of social affects. Some months ago one girl’s experiences of blogging were discussed through journalism. She opened herself to people not realizing what effect this had to the blog readers. This case took to actual money payments, but bad things gone worse, the money did not fulfill its initial purpose by the opinion of blog readers. It led to the disappointment and accusations of deception. This example shows how readers intrude bloggers personal life, but with their own permission. When writing a blog one should always consider the consequences (D. Lomp, 2008).
Computer Games
Starting from earliest days of networked computers, games have always been part of the culture. A game is a structured activity which is usually undertaken for enjoyment and is often used as an educational tool [3]. The reason why people often play them is that they have some sort of mental stimulation and people can test themselves through the games components (goals, rules, challenges and interactivity), which are also the components of life.
There are many types of computer games: puzzle games, racing games, strategy games, card games, casino games, shooting games and so on.
Games can have very positive influence to the people. Gaming gives lessons which can also be used later on in life: problem solving, thinking skills and skills to know how to loose or win (Gamesworks, 2007).
But games can also have some negative impact - addiction. Addiction is a situation when a person feels obsession or compulsion to do something specific and reduces the interest of outside of the activity. In this case playing video games. There was a panel on game addiction in January 2003 where game addiction problems where discussed quite detailed.
Second life
Second life is a 3-D virtual world, which is created by its residents. Slogan: "Your World. Your imagination. " tells already quite enough. It means that in Second Life there are no limits, one can have there a house, can have business or even marry with some guy, can have anything which exists also in real world, but can own it virtually, at least at first.
Steven Morris is writing in his article about a British couple who are divorcing because man-side had 'second life' in Second Life. Woman told that although it was in virtual world, it impacts to the real world as well (Steven Morris, 2008). This article shows very well that virtual feelings and virtual thoughts can influence real life and change it forever.
Search engines
Web search engines are designed to find information from World Wide Web. Information may be of every description: web pages, images, information, videos, or any other type of files. As search engines have already born, people are used to use them every day and cant imagine their life without them. At least I do. James Thomas wrote an article about his experience not using Google search and any Google service at all. Although it seems impossible to me, it seems he has managed to do so - one just have to get used to the other services ( Yahoo, Msn, Ask).
To sum up it can be said that digital culture is in its own way the same as real culture - same problems, same opportunities, same patterns of actions. One thing that is different is that in digital world it is easier to create content.
There is one great video about Machines are Us/ing Us by Michael Wesch. This video shows how easy it is to create digital content and how everything is connected. The author also points out one important idea about acting in Internet: "We should rethink a few things ... copyright, authorship, identity, ethics, aesthetics, rhetorics, privacy, governance, commerce, love, family ourselves.. " [4].
So one should always consider before the 'click' in the Internet, what are the consequences and does the action influence the digital world.
Who are behind digital culture?
Don Tapscot and Anthony D. Williams has spoke out in "Wikinomics" quite well:
"Blogger and media consultant Jeff Jarvis points out that even a simple act of consumption in this new world is now an act of creation. Small acts like tagging bookmarks, sharing photos on flickr or searching on Google creates collective benefits as much as private and yield a richer Web experience and "the wisdom of crowds" which can help people to discover content and improve search results. He asks: "Who owns that collected wisdom of crowd?" Obviously, the crowd does."
References:
Dagmar Lamp, 2008 -
„Blogi andis mulle pulmakleidi, aga viis ära peigmehe” [http://blog.tr.ee/post/481624]
Tapscott, Don & Williams, D. Anthony, 2008 -
Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
Gamesworks, 2007 -
http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/Games-Improve-Thinking-Skills-Problem-Solving-and-Fun_W0QQugidZ10000000000827899
Steven Morris, 2008 -
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/13/second-life-divorce
James Thomas, May 2007 -
http://www.centernetworks.com/my-life-without-google
Mihkel Kärmas, 2008 -
http://www.ekspress.ee/2008/11/20/eesti-uudised/5446-missi-ajujaht-netiperverdile
[1] - http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/culture
[2] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blogosphere#cite_note-0
[3] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game
[4] - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE
