How do technologies become cultural technologies?

In present society, when the term technology is stated, most people probably think of the internet as their first example of what it encompasses. Yet most would not think about the network structure, convergence, connectivity or any of the ways that the internet connects us as a whole. In reality, that is what the internet is, a very large scale network that does in many ways act as its own culture. And within the network, many other tiny communities exist, most of which are a result of web 2.0. However these communities can act in very different ways from those that are formed through relationships based on people that we see face-to-face each day while working, studying and communicating through other social activities. In other words, virtual communities could almost be described as fiction, as we cannot be necessarily sure that these profiles have any sense of truth in them at all. For example, many children are using social networking tools including Myspace, Facebook and Bebo, even though there is minimum age of 13 years old on most of these social community websites. Perhaps the developers of these technologies thought that children were too naive about using the internet and that was the reason for implying age limits. This is not surprising, as security and identity fraud is a major issue surrounding the internet. However, cultural technologies are not just social websites. In fact, the whole internet experience could be described as a cultural technology.

Terry Flew speaks of re-purposing in terms of how media content can be reused and manipulated to fit with new emerging technologies (2005, 37-38). This is very much how technologies can be seen as a cultural experience. For example, when the internet was starting to emerge as a necessary technology for people to use in the 1990's, the internet was probably seen by most users as a separate function from other media sources such as newspapers and television. Yet in the current web 2.0 environment citizen journalism is thriving and in many instances convergence is apparent. One obvious example is newspapers using the internet as a popular platform of delivery. Therefore, cultural technologies are a result of how technology can alter people's lives.

Many would agree that the internet has improved our lives for the better. Certainly in western society this would be the case. In fact, I doubt that most businesses in western society would lack an email account. Having said that, email could be described as its own cultural technology. It is a breakthrough in communication and has just as much ability for communication with the rest of the world as a traditional telephone. However one is text based and one is voice based and the telephone costs more money. Although VOIP is beginning to break the barriers by allowing for a cheaper alternative to the phone.

References

Flew, T. 2005. New Media: An Introduction. 2nd ed. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.