The article I chose is Virtuality and Its Discontents: Searching for Community in Cyberspace (Adapated from Life on the Screen) by Sherry Turkle. This article is all about the communities online that people are using to form bonds that they are not getting in the real world. She begins by describing her experience in Dred’s Bar, a virtual community, where her and a friend ordered drinks, listen the DJ, and hit the dance floor doing the tango and waltz. She explains how places like this seem so real because it is merely another dimension of mediated space, similar to television which we are so used to seeing. Computers are natural to us, we identify with places on the screen. The article goes on further to show the effects this is having on our culture. One thing being that we are retreating further into our homes than ever before. We don’t have leave the house for entertainment, shopping, or even good conversation. Also, with so many things available online, are we losing a sense of the real? Turkle describes how an active, moving robotic or computerized crocodile may be more appealing than a real one that just sleeps all day. Through simulation we are making the fake seem better than the real.
One question that arises with virtual communities is who will govern it? Should there be rules? And if there are who will enforce them? Say someone is sexually assaulted online, what is there to do? This is also the same dilemma if someone murders or steals. If someone kills someone online, then deletes their MUD character, what has the real life person done? Nothing. This raises the debate of civil order in virtual spaces. This was seen in a MUD called Habitat where some felt users should be allowed to have guns and others disagreed. This led to a vote where a sheriff was elected. The MUD users were immersing themselves as citizens of this virtual community, devoting all their free time to it.
We see so many virtual users, so how can affect our real world experiences? A virtual space lets you authenticate yourself. It also allows you to do most anything online, in the safety of your home. Forming a relationship online could become stronger than any real life relationship, and if things don’t work out, you don’t have to worry about running into them in the real world. Turkle sums up by saying that one way to use these virtual communities to enhance our real life is not to reject the screen life we have. We can use the virtual communities to improve our real ones.
I found this entire article very interesting and very true. We all use the internet to get things done. We send an email off to our family instead of going to visit them. We order a new pair of shoes online instead of actually going out to the store. We do so much online that for some that where they spend the majority of their time. Why is this? It could be for the sake of time. Doing your errands online takes a sufficiently smaller amount of time than actually driving around town all afternoon. Also, it could be because of the bonds we form online. It seems as though no one ever has enough time to get things done, yet we all have enough time to get online. So instead of hanging out with our friends or family physically, we will IM them or something.
As far as the governing of virtual communities, I feel that because people are so involved in their virtual communities that they are willing to follow rules, or vote on certain issues. If someone is not complying I suppose others will not treat them with the respect they give to other members of the community. I think virtual communities are really reflecting real life communities. People look online to find hobbies and friends that without the internet they may not have met. Because the lines between virtual and real communities are no longer distinct, I think the rules of the real world are carrying over to virtual spaces and vice versa.
I think I sometimes take for granted how much of my time is spent on a computer. Especially this semsester. But aside from FB, I don't really belong to a virtual community (uh oh, did I just say that? what's a virtual community again? ha ha) But really, it's articles like this and the ones we've read in class that still have my shying away from joining communities. I mean, it's a fine line really. I don't have time or the emotional need for something more that my life is already offering, but I can see how some people would find solace, comfort, and companionship from virtual communities. Risks and regulation are hard to delineate in the Internet realm.
ReplyDeleteThe point about the bonds in an on-line relationship possibly being stronger than one in their real life world is very interesting. You could argue that some people are just not good at interacting with people in person and feel more comfortable forming relationships on-line, but I think it's more that people generally represent themselves more accurately in on-line forums that they are active members off. They feel more comfortable in those forms and therefore some of the relationships they build on-line may be more stronger then some of their real life relationships because perhaps in their real life they feel a need to censor themselves and any relationship based on your censored self can't be as strong.
ReplyDeleteI have evaluated your posts and comments (where applicable) for assignments #5 & #6. Before Tuesday 2/23 I will have written summary comments about the assignments and posted them on the course blog.
ReplyDeleteI think that honestly, cyberspace shouldn't be monitored by "the man", but it is and it will continue to be (even more so than we can imagine). If you think about it, with as much power and money that is currently associated with cyberspace, it's a wonder that we have as much freedom as we do. Wherever there is a lot of potential for complete control, the government usually capitalizes on this. So I think it's safe to assume that they HAVE capitalized on it, and they just haven't let us know about it. So, yeah, the government is monitoring us a alot more than we think.
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