2 May 2011

Day 6

The Web Culture

The Web has changed our habits, expectations and norms, we have come to view the internet as the information universe and it has become part of our culture. From what I am experiencing every day, it is obvious to see that the web technology has not only changed the tools we use in daily life—it is changing our social habits, behavioral norms and expectations. Similar to the fashion industry, a currently popular style or practice, a product of the modern age and anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person. It is a culture which has a huge impact on what a group of people wear. Similarly to the web, how we interact with it, which has become part of our culture. With the reduced barriers, users and creators take every opportunity to participate in the community and these explicitly users make contributes to build up the site or implicitly user activities on the site are used for adapting its content. Examples such as Wiki, Amazons, Blogs, Facebook and other sources. According to the reader, Feenberg & Bakardjieva identified that web 2.0 allowed communities to develop beyond their existing professional networks and offer a social space for people, strangers and almost strangers with diverse backgrounds to come together as equals, as generators of ideas, to deliberate and act collectively (Feenberg & Bakardjieva 2004, p. 38).

It seems that the internet is a new world where everything looks unique and original. Well, think at the specialization and the extent that the internet has reached, nowadays we have almost every imaginable kind of service available online. For example, as a make-up artist and stylist, I have the need to create a portfolio which I can use services such as Flickr, Behance and others not only to create it but also to promote it. For example, if you want to make money from your portfolio or work, Apple and its app store for the iPhone is a really good example. The only thin to worry is creating a nice app, which is quite expensive! But I think it is worth to try, and the rest such as hosting and selling will be done for you. All these services which the web provides have a main goal to allow the users to focus on their own potentials to able to evolve and improve their own activity and productivity. I found this quote is very relevant to what we have been participated in, said from Adam Smith “In civilized society he stands at all times in need of the cooperation and assistance of great multitudes, while his whole life is scarce sufficient to gain the friendship of a few persons.”

As a summary, we expect to use the web to buy, sell, learn, communicate and entertain. Using these services to access to information, as well as communication, is assumed to be instantly accessible. Our choices for what, when, and how we access information are almost unlimited. Web technologies have not only changed the tools we use in everyday life, it is mostly changing social habits, behavioral norms, expectations and I view this phenomena is a culture.


References: 
The web culture explained by Adam Smith

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