Social Media
Tools that allow people to post and repost media and commentary. Each social media platform has its own culture, often with many subcultures that correspond to different communities or channels. It is also no exaggeration to say that social media greatly influences all modern culture such as the culture of nations.
Filter Bubbles
Filter bubbles is a term for technologies that effectively isolate people by helping them to consume media and interact with people that strictly align to their worldview. This can cause people to disconnect from those with whom they disagree thus creating polarization, division and a sense of anomie.
Surveillance
The ability for governments, firms and individuals to easily monitor others using relatively inexpensive sensors and computational resources. This could lead to significant self censorship whereby people are constantly working to improve their ranking amongst the systems watching them. For example, this can be seen in the way that people modify their behavior to improve their credit scores.
Games
The shared experience of video games. For example, the norms and shared meaning that emerges amongst players of a massively multiplayer online game whereby people on a global basis explore, interact and compete in a virtual world.
Remote Work
The corporate culture that emerges in remote work environments. Generally speaking, physical working environments are understood to create a stronger sense of shared identity and purpose.
Remote Schooling
The impact of remote classes on the culture of a school. School is more than a process of absorbing knowledge but is an important avenue for socialization and the development of cultural capital.
Pervasive Games
Pervasive games are games that mix digital and real world entities. This can involve people interacting in the real world with game experiences that include digital entities.
Immersive Experiences
Immersive experiences are simulated environments that surround the participant such that they feel real. For example, art that you step into and interact with.
Virtual Presence
The ability to feel and act as if you are in a remote location when you aren't actually physically there. For example, sending a robot to an event on your behalf and then controlling that robot in an immersive experience. This would allow for instant travel and may greatly accelerate cultural interaction and globalization.
Translation
The potential for instant translation of language that breaks down the barriers between people with different natural languages.
Robots
Robots are machines with autonomic capabilities such that they can respond to the world in dynamic ways. These take many forms but are often constructed in a more or less human form. It is likely that people will increasingly interact with robots and find ways to integrate them into society and culture.
Bots
The ability to automate intangible and tangible tasks. For example, a software bot that does most of your shopping by going out into the market and fighting for good value at all hours of the day.
Cyborgs
Culture is a means for shaping technology, economics and politics to benefit the human experience. This involves a large number of ethical and practical questions as to what constitutions a benefit and the potential unintended consequences of technological change that may have a detrimental effect on quality of life. One important question of digital culture is to what extent and for what purpose humans and machines can be integrated.
Digital Twin
A digital twin is a digital representation of a real life thing. For example, a hologram of an animal at a zoo that can be pulled up in real time in a classroom. Digital twins are likely to change the way we learn and work. For example, physical work that is done from home on a digital twin such as an aircraft mechanic who assembles a jet engine from their home office.
Mono no Aware
Mono no aware is a Japanese aesthetic or emotion that can be translated "an empathy for things." For example, a feeling of melancholy when you finally have to throw out a favorite old sweater. This is only likely to increase as things become talkative or personable as common products become artificial intelligences.
Engagement
Digital entertainment, media and environments are constantly automatically optimized to be more engaging. From a personal and societal perspective this resembles addiction. For example, the common experience of engaging in a quick task in a digital environment and falling down a rabbit hole that consumes hours of your time.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the ability of machines to learn. This typically involves building and optimizing statistical models that can be used to predict cause and effect. AI allows humans and machines to interact at higher levels such as verbal conversations. The ability of artificial intelligence to quickly improve may cause significant economic and social disruption.
Ghost in the Machine
Ghost in the machine is the question of what it means to be a living being. Is life mere computational intelligence or does it have intangible qualities that will forever elude machines?
Grey Goo
Digital technologies can create risks to quality of life that can occur and escalate very quickly. For example, grey goo is the theory that all resources on the Earth could suddenly be consumed by small self replicating machines that collectively resemble a grey goo. This might take several hours or days and occur as a black swan event.
Creator Culture
Digital applications and networks that allow people to create, share and commercialize things in areas once dominated by professionals. This began with media such as music, entertainment and news but may eventually extend into every industry. For example, a future app that allows people to develop medications with the app ensuring that outputs are scientifically sound, tested using simulations and quality controlled.
Personal Devices
The proliferation of relatively inexpensive personal devices. This has led to a situation where people enjoy things alone that were once enjoyed as groups. For example, a family where members watch streaming media alone as opposed to watching things together on a television or in a cinema. This potentially creates a sense of anomie.
Affective Computing
Affective computing is the design of machines to be pleasing to human emotions. Where current user interfaces commonly require humans to bend to machines, this is likely to change whereby using machines is extremely calming and satisfying. For example, a smart home that develops an understanding of your character, goals, moods and preferences to do delightful things such as creating an misty mood with the morning light in your kitchen.
Online Community
The internet allows people to connect to people who have similar interests. This creates subculture at a global level.
| Overview: Digital Culture | ||
Type | ||
Definition | Culture that emerges with a process of shared experience in digital environments. | |
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