[Air-L] What is web culture?

[Jeremy Hunsinger]

are they 'new'  or are they another version of older forms?  can you  
point to an example of the completely new?  is web culture the same  
as  web-based cultures, iow, is the web an intrinsic relation or an  
extrinsic one in relation to the specific culture.

in regards to the toolshed...., I've been in many and interacted with  
them, none I should note were my own.   merely knowing that you have a  
toolshed is of cultural importance semiologically and as soon as you  
said that on the conceptual level, i've started interacting with it  
and placing you in relation to it, even if.... said toolshed doesn't  
exist.  It is very much like web-culture in that respect, i suppose.

On Jan 18, 2008, at 1:51 AM, Mary-Helen Ward wrote:

> Hmmm. I disagree with this. I think there are human interactions on  
> the web
> that have created new aspects of human interaction: new artefacts, new
> rituals, new relationships, new shared expressions of language, new
> viewpoints and ways of doing things. And I'm not talking about  
> LOLcats.
> There are cultures on the Web that I am and have been part of that  
> have no
> offline parallel in their reach and complexity, because it is the  
> sharing of
> people from different cultures in a space of common interest that  
> creates
> new... well ... cultures. (Sorry, but I don't have another word for  
> what has
> been created).
>
> If I had a toolshed it wouldn't have any people interacting in it;  
> the web
> does.
>
> M-H
>
>
> On 18/1/08 6:38 PM, "Greg Williams" <greg at lexiphanic.com> wrote:
>
>> I'm more of a lurker here but I thought I might try to weigh in on
>> this "web culture" thing. Pardon any incoherence, it's been a long
>> week and this is mostly stream of consciousness.
>>
>> As I understand it, "web culture" is a misnomer. The term seems to
>> have been created to describe that slightly different way things seem
>> to occur online when compared to related offline experiences, but I
>> think this is all barking up the wrong tree.
>>
>> Cyberspace (in this instance, AKA the Web, the Internet) is a virtual
>> world extension; it's an extension of our real world. Saying that
>> there is a unique culture in cyberspace is the same as claiming that
>> there is a unique culture in your toolshed.
>>
>> Culture is something produced, carried, consumed, displayed, etc, by
>> the people that occupy a space, not the space itself. Therefore,  
>> there
>> isn't a "Web culture", but the cultures of the people interacting  
>> with
>> one another within the Web. They may have different tools available  
>> to
>> communicate and share that culture, but I don't think that those  
>> tools
>> beget a culture in their own right.
>>
>> e.g. "Web culture" didn't produce LOLcats, "bored teen culture" (or
>> something like that) did. The ease of sharing LOLcats online is what
>> made them popular.
>>
>> Hope this helps...
>>
>>
>>
>> Greg Williams
>> e-: greg at lexiphanic.com
>>
>> P.S. Apologies if I'm on the wrong track! :)
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jeremy hunsinger
Information Ethics Fellow, Center for Information Policy Research,  
School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (www.cipr.uwm.edu 
)

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