Week 3 Class and Reading Reflection

Week three’s reading, Open Publishing, Open Technologies by Graham Meikle, raised the issue of open source software and open publishing forums in relation to Independent Media Centres (IMCs). After learning about open source software in the lecture I thought it was something associated only with things such as Linux and free software on the Internet, however, the reading introduced me to the phenomenon of open publishing, which I believe possesses very similar characteristics of a blog. Aside from the Internet activism of political virtual communities I thought it was interesting because of its connection with DIY culture, innovation, horizontal structures and allowing people to become active participants rather than passive readers. IMCs’ use of dispersed networks and decentralised organisation links back to the basis of the lecture in terms of the network society and open source communities. The other reading, The Culture of the Internet by Manuel Castells, was really enlightening! and it raised the issues surrounding the culture of the Internet. The reading focused upon the four-layer structure of Internet culture (as covered in the lecture) – techno-meritocratic culture, hacker culture, virtual communitarian culture and entrepreneurial culture. After reading all 25 pages I realised that Castells summarised it beautifully in the last paragraph:
“The culture of the Internet is a culture made up of a technocratic belief in the progress of humans through technology, enacted by communities of hackers thriving on free and open technological creativity, embedded in virtual networks aimed at reinventing society, and materialised by money-driven entrepreneurs into the workings of the new economy.”

The lab session this week introduced me to mailing lists and virtual communities. First we established what a ‘community’ is and that it involves interaction, sharing of an interest, regular commitment and perhaps membership. I found what I believe to be a virtual community. It is called Cybertown and it is literally a virtual community based upon the real world. I’m looking forward to exploring it a bit more. I was also introduced to Yahoo Groups which is a plethora of mailing lists. I joined the mailing list called The Da Vinci Code Forum. I think it will be good because I will get a daily digest of what is said through the mailing list. I think mailing lists are great. There are so many of them with so many different topics. Learning about mailing lists was useful for me because I can see how they could be useful to use in other study or work related areas to gather information.