Summary: Week 1
Not too many tweets for the first week so I will have to fill in the gaps a bit…
We’ve been discussing two films this week over twitter and in a synchtube session based loosely on the subject of digital culture. But interestingly it seems that the dominant theme has been the idea of a digital space being a kind of alternate reality or other place that we go to. The same is true of the many tweeted film nominations being suggested. So do people think of digital culture as somehow unreal, or perhaps even escapist? I think there is definitely an element of other-worldliness to the way in which we interact digitally, but for me at least, it’s not about the decorations in the room, but the people at the party and what they are saying to one another. This motivated me to nominate a sample of the The Visions of Students Today project for our film festival (lifestream: 23.09.2011 #2). Anything that Mike Wesch and his students produce is always fascinating, but VOST2011 seems like it will be particularly appropriate to this course, given the medium of sharing and the collaboration that is taking place. From my personal perspective, a culture is nothing if it is not shared; indeed it can not even exist without some forms of interaction. Experiencing something virtual on ones own is not a cultural event, but the sharing of that experience, synchronously or asynchronously, in real time or after the fact is what makes it important.
I like the way you talk here about notions of space and place alongside your perspective on the meaning of culture. The emphasis you place on communication gets me thinking about the ways in which we define, demarcate and classify digital, or virtual ‘sites’. Rather than focussing on the technologies or services that merely facilitate our contact through premeditated design, perhaps one way to reconsider digital ‘space’ is via the modes and conventions of participant interaction. Virtual domains themselves would then be constructed through action and involvement, rather than being predetermined…interesting perspectives for the first film festival theme! Thanks Daniel.
Thanks for your comments Jeremy!
Good point about the separation of virtual sites. Its interesting how we all do that so fluidly nowadays, presenting different faces to different groups. Of course we also do that in the real world, but online one needs to assume everything is public, so maybe its even a little paradoxical to try to present different faces in different spaces.
I like the idea of a domain evolving out of the actions of its members… perhaps the conventions which we share help to define us more as a cultural groups than the underlying ideas. Cheers!