Cyberculture

 

Internet has changed individuals, cultures and the world. Never before have new global cultural forms emerged so quickly. Cyberspace interaction, specifically chatroom communication, bulletin boards and blogs are bringing about a cathartic change in culture globally.

 

SOCIOLOGY INDEX
What is 'cyberculture' and how is it different from culture? Can 'virtual communities' improve 'real communities'? 
  • encouraging consideration of the social construction of cultural difference in new media, cyberspace, and cyberculture; 
  • building a critical approach to cyberculture as more than bits, bytes, chips, wires, and programs;
  • promoting an analytical consideration of the cultures, economies, and discourses that are integral components of the social networks that constitute cyberculture.

Though cyberculture refers to the cultures of on-line communities, it also includes cultural issues relating to other "cyber areas" like cybernetics and digital revolution. Cyberculture may also include associated artistic and cultural movements, such as cyberpunk and transhumanism. Transhumanism is a philosophy that humanity can strive to higher levels, both physically, mentally and socially. Cyberpunk translates to people using technology and information in ways that deviate from the expected norms and mores and laws of society. 

Students of cyberculture study political, philosophical, sociological, and psychological issues thrown up by the networked interactions of human beings.

Syllabus - Cyberculture: A Sociological Analysis for Educator

Professor Robert Runt, University of Lethbridge, Canada
home.uleth.ca/ and www.edu.uleth.ca/~runte/
The topics include
1) The Limits and Possibilities of Innovative Technologies: Hype, Cynicism, and Grounded Projection, The Contradictory Forces Of Democratization and Commodification, The "Information Age", The Virtual Classroom, 2) Cyber Culture: Is There A Cyber Culture?, Cyber Culture And Individual Identity, Cyber Culture And Canadian Identity, Cyber Culture And Society.

From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Virtual Community Discourse and the Dilemma of Modernity 
Sorin Adam Matei, Department of Communication, Purdue University 
Abstract: Virtual communities are discussed as expressions of the modern tension between individuality and community, emphasizing the role that counterculture and its values played in shaping the virtual community project. This article analyzes postings to the WELL conferences and the online groups that served as incubators and testing ground for the term "virtual community," revealing how this concept was culturally shaped by the countercultural ideals of WELL users and how the tension between individualism and communitarian ideals was dealt with. The overarching conclusion is that virtual communities act both as solvent and glue in modern society, being similar to the "small group" movement. 

 

Cyberculture by Pierre Lévy (Translated by Robert Bononno), Publisher: Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press - Pierre Lévy's Cyberculture is a guide to the cultural and philosophical aspects of the digital age, and also the theoretical issues of cyberculture. 

 

Resource Centre for Cyberculture Studies - com.washington.edu/rccs/intro.asp

 

Center for Digital Discourse and Culture - cddc.vt.edu/index2.html

 

Fibreculture is a forum for the exchange of articles, ideas and arguments on Australian IT policy in a broad, cultural context. it concerns the philosophy and politics of new media arts, information and creative industries, national strategies for innovation, research and development, education, and media and culture - fibreculture.org/

 

Cyberculture, Identity and Gender Resources. - fragment.nl/resources

 

CYBER-CULTURE, SOCIOLOGY & ANTHROPOLOGY. - lastplace.com/page200.htm

 

Online Publications Towards Cybersociety and "Vireal" Social Relations Home: - socio.ch/intcom/index_intcom.htm

 

Sarah J. Zupko's Cultural Studies Center. - popcultures.com/subjects/cyberculture.html

 

Articles, features and message boards explore the way the Internet has changed individuals, cultures and the world. -  suite101.com/welcome.cfm/internet_society

 

Internet Identity and Community Cites and Sites of Interest. My dissertation focused on cyberspace interaction, specifically on chatroom communication. - uky.edu/~halbert/research/internet.html


Anthropologists have always been at the cusp of cultural exploration. Never before however have we had the opportunity to watch new global cultural forms emerge so quickly. - carleton.ca/~bgiven/cyberant.htm

 

Cyberstudies page. - acsu.buffalo.edu/~reymers/cyberstudies.html

 

Cyber Anthropology Project: a resource page for an anthropological approach to research on and about the internet. -  casnws.scw.vu.nl/cap/links.htm

 

What happens to democratic space when it is cyber? Author: Carol Reid University of Western Sydney. -  ultibase.rmit.edu.au/Articles/online/reid1.htm

 

Felix Stalder is Associate Director of Probe, the think thank of the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology. -  mrf.hu/digid

 

Ieva Cepulkauskaite Digital "third world" and its borders Internet is a world-wide mean of translation, enabling transmission of information, co-operation and interaction among individuals. - sociumas.lt/Eng/Nr18/third.asp

 

The impact of net culture on mainstream societies: a global analysis - 

in.arxiv.org/abs/cs.CY/9903013

 

Negotiating the Global and the Local: How Thai Culture Co-opts the Internet. This paper argues that the relation between computer-mediated communication technologies and local cultures is characterized neither by a homogenizing effect, nor by an erecting of barriers. - firstmonday.dk/issues/issue5_8/hongladarom

 

iStuff: The Next Generation of Popular Culture. The Internet is creating a new form of Popular Culture: talksonline.com/

 

University of Michigan Law School - Law 897: The Law in Cyberspace - personal.umich.edu/~jdlitman/classes/cyber.htm