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Digital Culture and Sociology

Digital Culture and Sociology. Cyberspace myths: cyberpunk. about today. Representation, meaning, stories , myths Storying Cyberspace , by David Bell Cyberpunk (Cavallaro, Gibson). part 1. break. part 2. theories of representation.

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Digital Culture and Sociology

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  1. Digital Culture and Sociology Cyberspace myths: cyberpunk DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 5 – Susana Tosca

  2. about today • Representation,meaning, stories, myths • Storying Cyberspace, by David Bell • Cyberpunk (Cavallaro, Gibson) part 1 break part 2 DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 5 – Susana Tosca

  3. theories of representation • Reflective. Meaning lies in the real world and language is a mirror. Mimesis. (what about fiction?) • Intentional. Speaker imposes meaning through language. (all private?) • Constructionist. Things don’t mean, we construct meaning through representational systems. (Hall, Fornäs, Bell) DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 5 – Susana Tosca

  4. saussure Language is a system of signs Signifier: form  sign Signified: concept related points:-union signifier-signified not fixed (i.e. Black)-importance of sign relations-language has two parts: langue and parole-problems: no pragmatics, too formal, not about how we construct relationship DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 5 – Susana Tosca

  5. from linguistics to semiotics • Mythologies, Barthes. Ex. “The Picture of the Young Black Soldier”, what does it mean? From signifier to signified to myth • Lévi-Strauss. Primitive people in Brazil. What messages do their practices tell about their culture? • Foucault: Discourse as larger units than texts, (i.e. Sexuality). Appear historically and change. Power, the Body. Subject as produced within discourse. DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 5 – Susana Tosca

  6. what does this mean? • Advert for laptops: • Signifier • Signified • Myth (cultural themes) • Power structures • The Subject / Identity? DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 5 – Susana Tosca

  7. stories • Narrative to make sense of the world • Lyotard: The Postmodern Condition (distrust of metanarratives, like the history of human progress, however narratives everywhere, also in science) • Psychological use of narrative (ex. McLeod: Narrative and Psychotherapy) • Cultural studies: stories of everyday encounters with culture (Mike Michael) DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 5 – Susana Tosca

  8. everything is narrative Marie Laure Ryan DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 5 – Susana Tosca

  9. myth • “a story that people have made up in the past in order to explain how the world and mankind began or to justify religious beliefs and social customs” • “an untrue idea or explanation; often showed using disapproval” • Other: • Campbell • Barthes • Stefik • Urban myths • Something wonderful (an actress) • Modern myths? Collins dictionary DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 5 – Susana Tosca

  10. DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 5 – Susana Tosca

  11. framing the chapter David Bell • He looks at representation: stories we tell about cyberspace • What do these stories mean? • Three kinds of stories about technology (Bell/Hayles): • Material (what they are) • Symbolic (what they mean) • Experiential (what they do) • His understanding of myth • Barlovian cyberspace: “a way of naming and describing the ways we experience computers and the Internet, in recognition that our experiences sit at the intersection of material and symbolic understandings”. (28) DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 5 – Susana Tosca

  12. cyberspace stories David Bell • Material (Computer, Internet, VR, political economy, social characteristics of cyberspace) • Symbolic (cyberpunk, pop culture / mainstream) Do these kind of stories blend together (also with our experiential stories)? Let´s do parallels DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 5 – Susana Tosca

  13. cyberpunk DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 5 – Susana Tosca

  14. cyberpunk • Definition • Historical account • Themes • Roots: literary & technological/scientific • Ideology: resistance, street culture • Relation to virtuality DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 5 – Susana Tosca

  15. complementary bibliography • BARTHES, R. 1967. The Elements of Semiology. London: Cape. • BARTHES, R. 1972. Mythologies. London: Cape. There is an online version of “Myth Today”, where he introduces his main ideas in: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~DRBR/myth.html • FOUCAULT, M. 1972. The Archaeology of Knowledge. London, Tavistock. • FOUCAULT, M. 1980. Power/Knowledge. Brighton: Harvester. • HALL, S. (ed). 1997. Representation. Cultural Representation and Signifying Practices. London: Sage. • RYAN, Marie Laure. 2003. “On Defining Narrative Media” Abstract available at: http://www.imageandnarrative.be/mediumtheory/marielaureryan.htm • SAUSSURE, F. 1960. Course in General Linguistics. London: Peter Owen. • STEFIK, Mark. 1996. Internet Dreams. Archetypes, Myths and Metaphors. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 5 – Susana Tosca

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