Digital media culture

Welcome back,

We are discussing the new digital world that we find ourselves in. The internet is inescapable for our generation and those to come. We socialize, work, research, and study here in this cyber world. To name a few of the many things we accomplish via the world wide web.Although, we certainty are no where near what our grandparents assumed technologically . We don't have flying cars or robots cooking our dinners every night.However, we do have this magnificent resource sitting in our living room. Is this knew digital culture an Utopian society that will bring about a revolution, or is there  a darker side yet to be examined? Lets take a look at how it is a Utopian or a dystopian.

First lets examine three good things the web had given us.  We now have free speech that reaches all over the wold. With a single click of " publish post" and our voice/ opinions can be downloaded. This is without the control of the government or armed forces. Telling us we're out of line or throwing us in jail for disrupting the peace. We are connected to other cultures and places we might never experience without Googles assistance. 

Now lets take a quick look at the dark side of the world wide web. Since, most people are not being monitored by an outside legitimate source people are free to write any thing that pops into their head. Everyone becomes an expert in this world. Even if we want to admit it or not we are being monitored by someone. Take Facebook or myspace Tom gets to see everyones comments and pictures. If he doesn't like something we post he has the power to take it down. Also, the major web browsers (yahoo, Google, etc.) are really controlling where we go and what we see. Through, paid advertisement we are propelled by these big sites towards different website they want us to visit.  Barker, states in Cultural studies theory and practice (pg 356) " By building huge information portals and having an interest in a range of online activities including news, e-mail, chat rooms, and video streams, the big players can direct traffic through the web. We might think we are surfing freely through the web but actually we are being channeled into the limited options chosen by powerful commercial interest." This may not come as a surprise to many of us, but for those of us who have not thought through these knew cultural issues we should continue to look at both sides.