Evgeniy G. Tsurkan
Lomonosov Moscow State University
Cultural challenges of the Internet
Abstract. This article analyzes the cultural challenges, which are consequent to the emergence of a new information technology – the Internet. The protocol structure of the Internet has its own logic, which defines certain forms of creative activity that network users can implement. Clarification of the historical context of creation of the Internet protocols is the key to an adequate description of the protocol organization. While some forms of creative activity are encouraged by network users, others have become illiquid in the network space and are going to the periphery of the network. This article aims to analyze the cultural challenges that the logic of network communication bears. The author pursues the following tasks: to clarify the historical context of creating the fundamental Internet protocols; to discover and demonstrate the interconnection between the protocol organization of the network and forms of the network communication; to study the dominant cultural forms specific to the digital space. The current problematic and stable network trends are the following: the free and open access to the information; inability to enforce copyright; dissemination of quantitative criteria used to evaluate the quality of content; replacement of the expert community by the «wisdom of the crowds»; destruction of the established cultural hierarchy, as well as the constant acceleration of information exchange. The article also aims to describe the interdependence between these phenomena. The methodological basis of the research includes the digital method of analyzing the culture of software creation and usage, as well as the content analysis and the media analysis.
Keywords: Internet, software, protocol organization, copyright, nobrow, wisdom of crowds.
DOI: 10.5840/dspl20181450
Acknowledgements
The publication was prepared with the support of the Russian Foun-dation for Basic Research No. 18–011-00980 «“Social evolution” and “progress” as categories of nomothetic cognition».
References:
- Barbrook, R. Internet-revoljutsija [The Internet Revolution]. Moscow: Ad Marginem Press Publ., 2015. 128 pp. (In Russian)
- Baudrillard, J. Simvolicheskij obmen i smert [Symbolic Exchange and Death]. Moscow: Dobrosvet Publ., 2009. 387 pp. (In Russian)
- Bauman, Z. Individualizirovannoe obshhestvo [The Individualized Society]. Moscow: Logos Publ., 2005. 390 pp. (In Russian)
- Castells, M. Galaktika Internet: Razmyshlenie ob internete, biznese i obshhestve [The Internet Galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, Business and Society]. Ekaterinburg: U-Faktorija Publ., 2004. 328 pp. (In Russian)
- Cronenberg, D. Upotrebleno [Consumed]. Moscow: AST: CORPUS Publ., 2015. 416 pp. (In Russian)
- Fisher, M. Kapitalisticheskij realism [Capitalist Realism]. Moscow: Ultrakultura 2.0 Publ., 2010. 144 pp. (In Russian)
- Hagstrom, W. Gift Giving as an Organizing Principle in Science, in: Science in Context: Readings in the Sociology of Science / ed. by B. Barnes, O. David. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1982, pp. 21–34.
- Hardt, M., Negri, A. Mnozhestvo: vojna i demokratija v jepohu imperii [Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire]. Moscow: Kulturnaja revoljutsija Publ., 2006. 559 pp. (In Russian)
- Lanier, J. Vy ne gadzhet. Manifest [You Are Not a Gadget. A Manifesto]. Moscow: Astrel: Corpus Publ., 2011. 320 pp. (In Russian)
- Marx, K. K kritike gegelevskoj filosofii prava. Vvedenie [Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right. Inroduction], in: K. Marx, F. Engels. Collected Writings, 2nd edition. Moscow: State Publishing House of Political Literature, 1955, vol. 1, pp. 414–429. (In Russian)
- McLuhan, M. Ponimanie media: Vneshnie rasshirenija cheloveka [Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man]. Moscow: Kuchkovo pole Publ., 2014. 464 pp. (In Russian)
- Pariser, E. The Filter Bubble: How the New Personalized Web Is Changing What We Read and How We Think. London: Penguin, 2011. 304 pp.
- Raymond, E.S. The Cathedral & the Bazaar. Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary. O’Reilly Media, 2001. 242 pp.
- Seabrook, J. Nobrow: Kultura marketinga. Marketing kultury [Nobrow: The Culture of Marketing, the Marketing of Culture]. Moscow: Ad Marginem Press Publ., 2015. 240 pp. (In Russian)
- Shirky, C. Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age. London: Penguin, 2010. 256 pp.
- Sontag, S. Smotrim na chuzhie stradanija [Regarding the Pain of Others]. Moscow: Ad Marginem Press Publ., 2014. 96 pp. (In Russian)
- Standnig, G. Prekariat: novyj opasnyj klass [The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class]. Moscow: Ad Marginem Press, 2014. 328 pp. (In Russian)
- Surowiecki, J. Mudrost tolpy. Pochemu vmeste my umnee, chem poodinochke, i kak kollektivnyj razum formiruet biznes, jekonomiku, obshhestvo i gosudarstvo [The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations]. Moscow: ООО I.D. Williams Publ., 2007. 304 pp. (In Russian)
- Virno, P. Grammatika mnozhestva: k analizu form sovremennoj zhizni [A Grammar of the Multitude: For an Analysis of Contemporary Forms of Life]. Moscow: Ad Marginem Press Publ., 2015. 144 pp. (In Russian)
- Zittrain, J.L. The Future of the Internet – And How to Stop It. New Haven: Yale University, 2008. 342 pp.