This paper examines the problematization of cultural issues related to
the dual spacization of life. The emergence of the second space of life
over the first place of life combining local and translocal, national and
transnational capacities and challenges. We discuss the capacities and
opportunities occurring through the instant communication industry
which made the spontaneous connection between absence and presence
possible which overcome the domination of place and distance. We will
also elaborate on the challenges and threats facing cultures because of
access to other cultures, subcultures and individuals around the world
without having enough time for nurturing the relationship between
inner cultures and outer cultures as well as facing many abnormalities,
distancing from genuine culture and natural communications.
This article focuses on some of the negative aspects of cyberspace and
cyberculture. First, it offers an examination of the impact of our use of
social media, and Facebook in particular, on our psyches, pointing out that
users of social media can be thought of as audiences. These audiences
and information about them can be sold to marketers and advertisers.
Next, it offers a case study of a widespread social problem in Japan, more
than a million media-obsessed Japanese young men (and some young
women), the hikikomori, who shut themselves off from society for months
or years at a time. This is followed by a discussion of the impact of mobiles,
primarily smartphones, on American adolescents, some of whom text
one hundred messages a day to their friends. The effects of the enormous
amount of face-time young people spend with screens—around ten
hours per day--are also considered. Finally, there is an examination of the
impact that Amazon.com, the leading e-commerce Internet site, has had
on American shopping practices and American culture and society. The
article concludes with a discussion of the work of Hubert Dreyfus about
some negative effects of the Internet and, by implication, cyberspace and
cyberculture, which, he argues, drain life of meaning.
The debate over the contribution of the Internet to democracy is far
from settled. Some point to the empowering effects of online discussion
and fund raising on recent electoral campaigns in the US to argue that
the Internet will restore the public sphere. Others claim that the Internet
is just a virtual mall, a final extension of global capitalism into every
corner of our lives. This paper argues for the democratic thesis with
some qualifications. The most important contribution of the Internet
to democracy is not necessarily its effects on the electoral process but
rather its ability to assemble a public around technical networks that
enroll individuals scattered over wide geographical areas. Medical
patients, video game players, musical performers, and many other
publics have emerged on the Internet with surprising consequences.
The rapid growth of modern long-distance communication technologies
both in term of quality and quantity and the consequent emergence
of cyberspace in parallel with the real world, has led to new forms of
inequality which can be interpreted in three different ways. Using the
three-generation theory of social networks (Oral networks; Longdistance
networks; and, Digital networks), one can make domestic
comparisons, and find countries in which the majority of the population
are within the third category or the digital network. On the other side
of the extreme, are nations who are still under the limited conditions
of the first and second categories of oral and long-distance networking.
This paper presents a chart using a combination of different statistical
indicators to illustrate the inequality in question. The focus of this paper
has been on the two countries of Iran and the United States as its case
study. The conclusion at the end suggests that tackling and reducing the
inequality in question has to do with ‘national will and national facilities’
as well as ‘individual will and individual facilities’.
For over two decades, the ‘information revolution’ in the Middle
East has been framed overwhelmingly in terms of media, more of it,
and in comparisons to mass media – from the advent of any-to-any
communication to ad hoc conceptualizations such as ‘crowd-sourcing’ or
‘citizen journalism’ – that register the multiplication of voices, channels
and eroding boundaries in spheres of communication. The record has
expanded more than conceptualizations of its sociologies in media and
communications studies. It’s time for other questions that elicit additional
and more basic features of Internet practices from choices that shape
individual repertoires and participation to continuities between users
and producers to how actual practices scale up, which actually link micro
and macro processes. To elicit these broader sociologies, and move
beyond the limited social physics of ‘impact’ of the Internet on culture and
lifestyles, I draw on the related sociologies of reference group and network
theory, on Science-Technology-Society studies and sociolinguistics to
bring disruption of existing institutions, on the one hand, and cooptation
by them, on the other, into more unified theory of the play of information
revolution in culture and lifestyles on the Internet.
This paper initially examines theories proposed by Feenberg about
technical systems and alternative modernity, analyzes his thoughts, and
concludes that a framework of values needs to be provided in shaping
technical systems. In a society like Iran, where policy makers are looking for
the realization of Islamic values, this framework of values is derived from
Islam. To explain the relationship between religion and technology, the
concept of concretization has been used up, according to which, all aspects
of civilization, including technical systems must be concretized based on
Islamic values. Virtual space as a part of the technical systems must be
concretized with a holistic approach, based on Islamic values, and for this
purpose, there is no choice but a collective social life based on religious
values. The concluding section of the paper also tries to deal with another
significant issue which predicts the future of concretization at the level of
civilizations which will be offered using the metaphor of the ‘sand desert’.
This paper initially examines theories proposed by Feenberg about
technical systems and alternative modernity, analyzes his thoughts, and
concludes that a framework of values needs to be provided in shaping
technical systems. In a society like Iran, where policy makers are looking for
the realization of Islamic values, this framework of values is derived from
Islam. To explain the relationship between religion and technology, the
concept of concretization has been used up, according to which, all aspects
of civilization, including technical systems must be concretized based on
Islamic values. Virtual space as a part of the technical systems must be
concretized with a holistic approach, based on Islamic values, and for this
purpose, there is no choice but a collective social life based on religious
values. The concluding section of the paper also tries to deal with another
significant issue which predicts the future of concretization at the level of
civilizations which will be offered using the metaphor of the ‘sand desert’.
The Internet and social media have played a significant role in contemporary
political sphere of Indonesia. In particular, they have been widely used
for political activism and discussion; but whether the discussions are
constructive is another issue. Constructive political discussion requires
several preconditions; one of the most important requirements is rational
reasoning. Citizens must be equipped with some degree of political
knowledge and competency to provide reasonable arguments and
justifications in discussions. The primary objective of this paper is to examine
the level of political knowledge of Indonesian Facebookers regarding
corruption which is currently a serious issue in Indonesia. An online survey
was conducted among the most active users of an anti-corruption Facebook
group of Indonesians. The results of the study generally suggested that the
participants were well informed about the current affairs of their society
and showed a high level of political knowledge in terms of the Corruption
Eradication Commission and also the incumbent politicians; however, the
results indicated a low level of knowledge regarding laws and regulations
surrounding corruption as well as the issues related to the former politicians.
