Term Paper: What Virtual Culture and the Information Revolution

¶ … Virtual Cultures in Today's Information-oriented Society

In Macionis' article entitled, "Virtual Culture: Is It Good For Us?" he discussed the implications that changes in culture have brought to American society as it became more information-oriented with the advent of the Information Revolution. In the article, he posited that the Information Revolution has developed a culture that is artificial and unreal, a culture that is derived from the created 'heroes' and 'heroines' of multimedia and multinational companies.

However, in extending this argument in the article, it is vital to identify two important concepts dominantly mentioned in the article. The first concept discussed was the emergence and development of Information Revolution in American society and in general, to all societies that have a relatively advanced computer and Internet technologies. In the context of the article, Information Revolution was described as the creation of a changed society wherein innovations in computer, Internet, multimedia and other similarly related technologies have resulted to increased and improved conceptualization of ideas. These ideas, in turn, become depictions of reality, e.g., creation of 'realistic animation' of characters through 3-D animation, or computer-operated avatars that can talk and think logically like humans.

Related to the creation and development of Information Revolution is "virtual culture," loosely defined in the article as "images that spring from the minds of contemporary culture makers and that reach them through television, movie, or computer screen...Some of these cultural icons embody values that shape our way of life." Virtual cultures are composed of beliefs, values, traditions, and experiences that have "no historical reality," ideas that are merely products of popularized propaganda by the… [END OF PREVIEW]