Category: Cyberculture

Virtual communities and self-expression

Habbo screenshot
A populated room on Habbo. (Screenshot from Virtual Worlds For Teens)

Aside from providing a plethora of information, the Internet’s rise in popularity can also be credited to what it allowed users to do socially.

Communication with a far-away relative was made easy with e-mail, and meeting a new friend halfway across the world could be done from your own living room while browsing a forum. This advanced connectivity introduced a fascinating experience previously unavailable to the world and changed the way we interact. Beyond the typical e-mail and instant messaging programs, one thing that took online socialization to a new level was virtual world games. Continue reading “Virtual communities and self-expression”

Sounds of cyberspace: How the internet has influenced music

If there are any two things that are constantly changing with the times, it is music and the internet. Good things happen when one meets the other. The internet has had a helping hand in bringing musicians and fans together in ways once impossible, but the internet’s influence on the actual sound of music raises questions.

How can one take the merely visual internet, and associate it with sounds? Can the internet make a sound? And how do we come to the unanimous decision regarding what defines the “noise of the net”? Musicians of the 21st century have found ways to bring aspects of the internet into not only their visual aesthetic, but also into their styles. Continue reading “Sounds of cyberspace: How the internet has influenced music”