With everything going on in the news at the moment have started to think about online “Communities” social communities like facebook and myspace, start to make people wonder what a small world it is, and send them off in the pursuit of old school friends bands, and the ability to stalk the less known.
However looking at the wider picture these sites are arguably, made up of middle class (owning a PC and internet connection being standard) white western society.
This is as far as I have delved into the online “world” and its fragmented “community” sites, but I am intrigued by upcoming phenomenon’s such as second life and habbo hotel, becoming a more and more realistic which endless possibilities to make an income based bizarrely on intangible goods!?
I was reading about Moopf Murray who spent 40 hours developing his $60 Skoopf roller skates and has sold 60,000 pairs in two years. The designer’s other bestselling products include ice skates and vending machines. The twist being? Well he doesn’t exist.
This is a online avatar representing the part-time persona of a Derbyshire software developer in Second Life.
The idea these days that people want to escape is only enabling the success of such online mediums, however this haven’t escaped the corporate money making of today’s real world and people are chasing in on the virtual world.
Ailin Graef became the first dollar millionaire in Second Life after two years of buying and selling virtual real estate through her avatar, Anshe Chung.
It seems now as if little value is placed on the traditional values that a community arose from, I live in a small county village, where community life still exits somewhat from older generations. There are still weekly community meeting in the community hall etc, however arguably this we are starting to know our neighbors less and less, as we become better acquainted with an online forum or second life?
And when the going gets tough and we would rather not deal with the realities of today’s culture and society, are we placing more trust into an online world, and a non existent digital avatar?
However looking at the wider picture these sites are arguably, made up of middle class (owning a PC and internet connection being standard) white western society.
This is as far as I have delved into the online “world” and its fragmented “community” sites, but I am intrigued by upcoming phenomenon’s such as second life and habbo hotel, becoming a more and more realistic which endless possibilities to make an income based bizarrely on intangible goods!?
I was reading about Moopf Murray who spent 40 hours developing his $60 Skoopf roller skates and has sold 60,000 pairs in two years. The designer’s other bestselling products include ice skates and vending machines. The twist being? Well he doesn’t exist.
This is a online avatar representing the part-time persona of a Derbyshire software developer in Second Life.
The idea these days that people want to escape is only enabling the success of such online mediums, however this haven’t escaped the corporate money making of today’s real world and people are chasing in on the virtual world.
Ailin Graef became the first dollar millionaire in Second Life after two years of buying and selling virtual real estate through her avatar, Anshe Chung.
It seems now as if little value is placed on the traditional values that a community arose from, I live in a small county village, where community life still exits somewhat from older generations. There are still weekly community meeting in the community hall etc, however arguably this we are starting to know our neighbors less and less, as we become better acquainted with an online forum or second life?
And when the going gets tough and we would rather not deal with the realities of today’s culture and society, are we placing more trust into an online world, and a non existent digital avatar?
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