Digital cultures are social formations produced exclusively through engagement with information and communication technologies (ICTs). Also referred to as cybercultures, virtual communities, online communities, or Internet communities, they encompass a wide array of cultural interests and practices in different types of forums that are accessible only by a computer or other device with Internet connectivity. At the heart of any digital culture are social interaction and a network of relationships; communication scholars have an abiding interest in studying issues of identity, community, and access in relation to them.

These terms can be traced back to and continue to be informed by the concept of cyberspace. In the early 1980s, William Gibson coined the term in his cyberpunk novel, Neuromancer. Bodies are described as mere “meat” that is discarded when the characters “jack in” to their computers to immerse themselves in a virtual reality. In the early 1990s, scholarly and popular accounts of ICTs borrowed Gibson’s term to imagine a spatial context for computer-mediated communication. The majority of these accounts were celebratory, emphasizing the advantages of leaving behind the body and its problematic identities (e.g., race and gender). Cyberspace was seen as having the potential to revitalize the public sphere politically and socially and forge new connections and commonalities among disparate groups.

Littlejohn, Stephen W and Karen A.Floss. (2009). Encyclopedia of Communication Theory.USA:SAGE.378

Penanggungjawab naskah :

Gayes Mahestu
Edwina Ayu Kustiawan