Cyberculture
cy·ber·cul·ture Pronunciation (sbr-klchr) n. The culture arising from the use of computer networks, as for communication, entertainment, work, and business.
I've written before that Jamaica doesn't have a cyberculture. It is my belief that within Jamaica's borders, access to information infrastructure will be confined to a specific demographic that can afford to pay the fees charged by Cable and Wireless. Naturally, the voices coming out of Jamaica will be confined to a single social group. This may or may not be a good thing.
Telephony services in Jamaica are expensive for people who earn a relatively low income and who cannot supplement their incomes with remittances from overseas. This is the reality, that Jamaica is not a wealthy nation.
So it's understandable when people who live in Jamaica and can afford to access the internet on a regular basis feel that they have "arrived", for want of a better word. Their relative position to the rest of the population may give them a (distorted) sense of entitlement.
Jamaica's population is estimated at 2,731,832 (July 2005 est.) , and statistics from 2002 say that about 600,000 people there are using the internet.
Take a relative of mine for example. I was enjoying a lazy month outside of my country of residence when she sent me a missive about enjoying vacations. Why? Two months earlier, I had said I was going to do x project in y country. I wasn't sure what her problem was, given that I was a grown woman. But later, I realised that the root of this issue was sibling rivalry. Her sister, who was living in the same house, wasn't helping to pay internet fees and didn't own her own computer. My relative wanted to show that she could quarrel with me even though I was far away.
What do you call it when a person assumes authority and attempts to influence others? The woman with the computer workstation at UWI is the closest I've come to describing that attitude.
But, I'll get to my point.
I'll briefly discuss my understanding of "formal authority in cyberspace". First, Internet architecture is inherently non-centralised, so no single authority 'runs' the Internet. Therefore, there is a sense of "anarchy" that is associated with the internet. This is used in a political sense to signal the absence of direct or coercive authority. I will define the verb coerce as "causing to do through pressure by moral or intellectual means". As a recent example, Tobi coerces users all the time on the Jamaica Star Forum because she is it's moderator.
John Perry Barlow claims that the Internet is inherently a lawless 'electronic frontier' such that existing authority based on nation-states is undermined by the Internet. For me, this means that even cultural authority can be undermined. No one has the "right" to represent a particular culture or to impose one sociocultural perspective on an audience that has no reference point to begin with.
Who has the "right" to represent Jamaican culture? Rather, who has the right to approve or disapprove of what is said about our culture? The way I see it, people in the wide world will make up their own minds about what Jamaica means to them. Most people I know use music to relate to Jamaican culture. They study the lyrics, buy the CDs and go to the concerts. Others use Rastafarianism as their reference points. They read, they discuss their impressions and they ask further questions. These things are not necessarily Jamaican culture, but are rather products of it.
With the vague execption of people who advocate gay rights and ban our singers from visiting their countries, no-one has been appointed regulator of the "message" that is Jamaican culture.
I think that a lot more has to be done so that we can understand the belief systems that give birth to our cultural products.
Finally, an opinion isn't valid just because we agree with it, and we can't exclude an opinion just because it's not what we want to hear.
Every story comes together to give a complete picture, and that's just the way it should be.
I've written before that Jamaica doesn't have a cyberculture. It is my belief that within Jamaica's borders, access to information infrastructure will be confined to a specific demographic that can afford to pay the fees charged by Cable and Wireless. Naturally, the voices coming out of Jamaica will be confined to a single social group. This may or may not be a good thing.
Telephony services in Jamaica are expensive for people who earn a relatively low income and who cannot supplement their incomes with remittances from overseas. This is the reality, that Jamaica is not a wealthy nation.
So it's understandable when people who live in Jamaica and can afford to access the internet on a regular basis feel that they have "arrived", for want of a better word. Their relative position to the rest of the population may give them a (distorted) sense of entitlement.
Jamaica's population is estimated at 2,731,832 (July 2005 est.) , and statistics from 2002 say that about 600,000 people there are using the internet.
Take a relative of mine for example. I was enjoying a lazy month outside of my country of residence when she sent me a missive about enjoying vacations. Why? Two months earlier, I had said I was going to do x project in y country. I wasn't sure what her problem was, given that I was a grown woman. But later, I realised that the root of this issue was sibling rivalry. Her sister, who was living in the same house, wasn't helping to pay internet fees and didn't own her own computer. My relative wanted to show that she could quarrel with me even though I was far away.
What do you call it when a person assumes authority and attempts to influence others? The woman with the computer workstation at UWI is the closest I've come to describing that attitude.
But, I'll get to my point.
I'll briefly discuss my understanding of "formal authority in cyberspace". First, Internet architecture is inherently non-centralised, so no single authority 'runs' the Internet. Therefore, there is a sense of "anarchy" that is associated with the internet. This is used in a political sense to signal the absence of direct or coercive authority. I will define the verb coerce as "causing to do through pressure by moral or intellectual means". As a recent example, Tobi coerces users all the time on the Jamaica Star Forum because she is it's moderator.
John Perry Barlow claims that the Internet is inherently a lawless 'electronic frontier' such that existing authority based on nation-states is undermined by the Internet. For me, this means that even cultural authority can be undermined. No one has the "right" to represent a particular culture or to impose one sociocultural perspective on an audience that has no reference point to begin with.
Who has the "right" to represent Jamaican culture? Rather, who has the right to approve or disapprove of what is said about our culture? The way I see it, people in the wide world will make up their own minds about what Jamaica means to them. Most people I know use music to relate to Jamaican culture. They study the lyrics, buy the CDs and go to the concerts. Others use Rastafarianism as their reference points. They read, they discuss their impressions and they ask further questions. These things are not necessarily Jamaican culture, but are rather products of it.
With the vague execption of people who advocate gay rights and ban our singers from visiting their countries, no-one has been appointed regulator of the "message" that is Jamaican culture.
I think that a lot more has to be done so that we can understand the belief systems that give birth to our cultural products.
Finally, an opinion isn't valid just because we agree with it, and we can't exclude an opinion just because it's not what we want to hear.
Every story comes together to give a complete picture, and that's just the way it should be.
Blogged by Shaggy's girl at 19:59
1 Comments:
Hey SG MadBull sent a bunch of us over here to check you out.
I am afraid that Reggae and Rasta are the two prime exports of Jamaican "Culture" now, hence all the foriegners consume it thinking they have tasted most of what Ja has to offer. As you know even our beloved Tourist Board has bowed down to pushing the Reggae-Rasta theme, and it is going to get worse once Sunsplash is resurrected again come July 2006.
We must note though that, (myself included), once Jamaicans migrate to "greener" pastures they tend to hold much tighter onto their homeland culture than ever before, and frankly Reggae is more often than not that piece of the culture that is always easily within reach. And MAN de music has REALLY improved for the 2005!!
Post a Comment
<< Home