{"title":"Cmc and the Connection between Virtual Utopias and Actual Realities","authors":"C. Richards","doi":"10.1080/13183222.1999.11008724","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"AbstractPeople are often ambivalent about the potential future roles of new technologies (and the Internet specifically) and their possible effects on human society. There has been a tendency for polarisation between attitudes or perceptions of naive enthusiasm and cynical resistance towards the use of computers and digital networks, and for such related concepts as “the information superhighway,” “cyberspace” and “virtual communities.” The projection of such ambivalent perceptions into naively utopian (or even ironically dystopian) images and narratives might be seen as the latest and uniquely global permutation of a basic function of human culture —that is, to imagine “a better future” or represent “an ideal past.” This article considers the extent to which the kinds of virtual utopias made possible by computer-mediated communication are “connected” to the actual individual and social realities of human participants. In other words, should a distinction be made between the use of virtual utopias (and ut...","PeriodicalId":46298,"journal":{"name":"Javnost-The Public","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"1999-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Javnost-The Public","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13183222.1999.11008724","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"COMMUNICATION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2
Abstract
AbstractPeople are often ambivalent about the potential future roles of new technologies (and the Internet specifically) and their possible effects on human society. There has been a tendency for polarisation between attitudes or perceptions of naive enthusiasm and cynical resistance towards the use of computers and digital networks, and for such related concepts as “the information superhighway,” “cyberspace” and “virtual communities.” The projection of such ambivalent perceptions into naively utopian (or even ironically dystopian) images and narratives might be seen as the latest and uniquely global permutation of a basic function of human culture —that is, to imagine “a better future” or represent “an ideal past.” This article considers the extent to which the kinds of virtual utopias made possible by computer-mediated communication are “connected” to the actual individual and social realities of human participants. In other words, should a distinction be made between the use of virtual utopias (and ut...
期刊介绍:
Javnost - The Public, an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed social and cultural science journal published by the European Institute for Communication and Culture in association with the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, addresses problems of the public sphere on international and interdisciplinary levels. It encourages the development of theory and research, and helps understand differences between cultures. Contributors confront problems of the public, public communication, public opinion, public discourse, publicness, publicity, and public life from a variety of disciplinary and theoretical perspectives.