essay

The idea of the internet as cyberspace has been a part of our contemporary culture for some time, particularly in the popular medium of film. But is the concept of cyberspace still relevant to our contemporary society? Discuss with reference to your own experience of contemporary media.


Introduction
The word "cyberspace" is credited to William Gibson, who used it in his book, Neuromancer, written in 1984. Gibson defines cyberspace as "a consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts (Accardi J, 2004). During 25 years, the word has been known by almost everyone around the word. Because of the easy communication function of the cyberspace, the contemporary culture has been change. (Laura Robinson,2008) For example, the most convenient communication of 21st country is email, however before the invention of the internet, people communicated by hand write letters. Moreover, information has been spread in more then newspaper or television. There are other way of information spread, such as internet and Mobile phone. Next, the living style has been strong influenced by cyberspace. In the past, the majority of people were shopping by going to the shop or market, but in the present day, customers can sit before the computers and click some buttons to order commodity. As a result, cyberspace has a strong influent on contemporary society and culture.

Body
Cyberspace and individual
In this essay, it is going to explore how the cyberspace or internet relevant to our contemporary society. The cyberspace and internet have influenced the daily live of individual. (Simi P, Futrell R, 2006) They are strongly affecting individual thinking and behaviors, and human’s satisfactions. Firstly the living style has change because the changing of individual thinking, like judgment of some thing or some events, and values. For example, people like to download music and movies from the internet. But, they do not feel guilty on download. Moreover, the changing of humans’ behaviors also has strong effect on their daily live. The most popular example is that reading emails, many people had addict to check email everyday, and spend a lot of hours on the internet. (Cabrera Paz, José and Schwartz, 2009) That is because internet makes communication easier, and gets information more convenient. Next, the internet has also changed how individual satisfy human needs. At the present day, because of the rapid change of the information on the internet, people need to learn more and get more information. As a result, people have to use internet more offer. The daily live of individual has change dramatically.

Cyberspace and culture
The Internet has had an effect on culture because it has led groups to think differently, since it allows individuals in groups to make collective decisions in new ways. This arises because groups have more cognitive resources, members are dispersed, and the time span for decision-making is more flexible.(David J, 2005)
Firstly, groups have more measures to get information when they are making decisions. For example, it is easy for a group to publish knowledge or opinions online to influence other groups. This occurred in South Korea's year 2000 election where "the internet was used to bypass a timid mainstream media and publish what proved to be damning and crucial information (Wai-ming Ng,2007)," Additionally, one group can find out information about others easily online, which can impact groups’ decision-making. As a result, these cognitive resources have changed the way groups think, changing group culture. (Shubert, Irwin Gerald, 1994) Moreover, because of the internet, contacting people on the other side of the world is easy and cheap, and this makes the world smaller. Tele-commuting uses the internet to allow decision making to happen amongst employees who are widely separated. Gates say that "Knowledge workers" can be hired from anywhere. Dispersal of decision-making has changed group culture.
Secondly, because of the changing of groups’ behaviors and the changing of groups’ formation, the internet also had a strong effect on the culture (Nils Zurawski, 1998). Because the length of the distance is not a factor for a group, group formation has changed. The invention of internet and cyberspace give the opportunities to people contact with others, so the community location form across wide distances in a business context. Large companies can connect with employees, suppliers, and partners around the globe, and small businesses can find their customers anywhere in the world. Because of the internet, groups have formed that never could have existed before.
Another reason, group behavior changes on the internet is because membership in groups which is usually disposable, meaning that people can create new identities at will, and abandons them just as quickly. That make people are not shy any more, this make a great change on the patterns of communication.

Conclusion
Culture, "the patterns of behavior and thinking that people living in social groups learn, create, and share,"( Dodge M, Kitchin R, 2001) has been greatly changed in groups, because of changes to group thinking and group behavior made possible by the internet. Group thanking has changed because of new cognitive resources, the presence of geographically dispersed members, and by the different communication time spans associated with new methods of communicating on the internet. In addition, group behavior has been affected by changes to the way groups form, and the anonymous and disposable natures of online identities. (Xiang Zhou,2008) The internet has also changed daily living by changing the thinking and behavior of individuals and by changing the way basic needs can be satisfied. We can expect change to group cultures and daily living to continue as the internet becomes even more wide-spread.






reference
Cabrera Paz, José and Schwartz, translated by Margaret, 2009 Techno-Cultural Convergence: Wanting to Say Everything, Wanting to Watch Everything’, Popular Communication, 7:3,130 — 139

David J Gunkel
Journalism & Mass Communication Educator; winter 2005; 59, 4; Academic Research Library

Dodge M, Kitchin R, Atlas of cyberspace, Pearson Education, Harlow, 2001. pg. 416

Shubert, Irwin Gerald, M.A., Simon Fraser University (Canada), 1994 , 104 pages; AAT MM01111

Internet's History As Tracked By Codrescu, Anonymous. All Things Considered. Washington, D.C.: Sep 2, 2009

Joe Accardi. Library Journal. New York: Jun 15, 2004. Vol. 129, Iss. 11; pg. 89, 1 pgs
Laura Robinson. Journal of Communication. New York: Dec 2007. Vol. 57, Iss. 4; pg. 808

Nils Zurawski 1998. Culture, Identity and the Internet
http://www.uni-muenster.de/PeaCon/zurawski/Identity.htm

Pete Simi; Robert Futrell
Journal of Political and Military Sociology; summer 2006; 34, 1; Academic Research Library pg. 115

Wai-ming Ng. Comparative Sociology. Leiden: 2005. Vol. 4, Iss. 1/2; pg. 250


Xiang Zhou. The International Communication Gazette. Deventer: Apr 2008. Vol. 70, Iss. 2; pg. 117

Essay Topic For Week 12

2. The idea of the internet as cyberspace has been a part of our contemporary culture for some time, particularly in the popular medium of film. But is the concept of cyberspace still relevant to our contemporary society? Discuss with reference to your own experience of contemporary media.