BYTE MARKS
Web sites help us ponder existence
By Burt LUm
Culture and technology form the backdrop for stimulating thought. Not a day goes by in which the Internet does not play a major role in our lives. We surf the Web, check e-mails, interact with communities, create content or look for great deals. The Internet has woven itself into everyday life. It has become part of our culture.
What this exercise has motivated me to do is not to look at the Internet, but to try to better understand the nature of culture.
In the end, the Internet is just another tool, much like the telephone.
Culture is all-encompassing. If you look up the definition of "culture" in this context, according to Webster, it's the "characteristic features and behavior typical of a group or civilization."
Whether we are talking about Hawaiian culture, Navajo culture, American culture, Chinese culture, etc., these all seem understandable from an ethnic perspective.
Then you have modern culture, tech culture and Internet culture.
How do these cultures mesh into the ethnic cultures? And in the end, what cultures do you ascribe to?
After much internal wrestling, the answer I realized was simple: all of the above.
While I searched for answers, I came upon a site called Frame: Journal of Culture and Technology, at trace.ntu.ac.uk/frame.
Like many of the sites I've written about, Frame is not superficial. You can go as deep as you want to.
It is based in England but gets submissions from all over the world.
I found myself poring over "Kind of Blue" by Scott Rettberg. It's an e-mail novel collaboration among several writers.
Another entry to ponder is "Biological Time Clock." This piece at a subconscious level speaks to my moment of consternation.
At the end of the day, I realized that your culture is what you make of it.
It is all of the above and more, whether it is being deeply immersed in an e-mail novel or sharing a cup of 'awa. It is who you are.
You define and contribute to that which is culture. ;-)
Reach Burt Lum through www.brouhaha.net.
