A Packaged Utopia

I am taking Writing 39B with the theme of utopia and dystopia and one of the readings talk about the cyberspace as a utopia. I found it interesting how this article parallels everything that we discuss in this class.

It describes how cyberspaces “are model worlds, small universes.” In some parts it hyperbolizes the idea that cyberspace as a new found land, where it is another “dimensional home for the consciousness.” This land is based on the belief that all is one, which ties into how the Internet is a collective space as described in “World Wide Mush.” It is where people gather and form a community with whatever their interests may be. It describes how people are given “masks” which parallel the idea of avatars. It hits one of many key points, as described in many of our other readings, on how even with an avatar people are more likely to just play themselves, in this new community and space.

However, later on, the reading expands upon the idea of cyberspace isn’t really a “new land.” It acts more of a parallel to the world that we are living in now. The reading describes how “software designers have repackaged the world.” It stresses the idea of commercialism and how this electronic place still has its “limited gestures.” There are still rules that people involuntarily follow, because cyberspace has its own norms. For example, as explained in the Lambda-moo readings, it is a norm to acknowledge when you leave verses disconnecting without notice. Whether the space is visual or purely textual there are always certain ways on how people conduct themselves and sometimes that behavior is heavily regulated (if one person is out of the loop they can be marked as spam, flamed, or consequently banned.)

With this standardization of graphic interface, the reading stresses how “the net whittles the vastness of the planet into something neat and manageable.” I thought this was an interesting point because I did not care much about the interface. However, how we navigate is limited to how certain browsers and web pages are formatted. I guess you can say its an equalizer because to utilize the Internet, we all have to type, click, and move around through organized information all in the same way. No matter who you are the cyberspace is still the same environment in the sense that, for the most part, anyone can access any public site.

This idea on how the world of cyberspace is the actual world in a “repackaged” form definitely ties into how all these domains are intersecting. Not only do they intersect, but also prove to transcend into new spaces like it did in cyberspace. It definitely stresses how culture is everywhere, and defines how we view these worlds.

http://www.fundacion.telefonica.com/at/redux.html