Mark Deuze
Within media theory the worldwide shift from a 19th century print culture
via a 20th century electronic culture to a 21st century digital culture is well
documented. In this essay the emergence of a digital culture as amplified and
accelerated by the popularity of networked computers, multiple-user software
and Internet is investigated in terms of its principal components. A digital
culture as an undetermined praxis is conceptualized as consisting of participation,
remediation and bricolage. Using the literature on presumably ‘typical’
Internet phenomena such as the worldwide proliferation of Independent Media
Centres (Indymedia) linked with (radical) online journalism practices and the
popularity of (individual and group) weblogging, the various meanings and implications
of this particular understanding of digital culture are explored. In the context
of this essay digital culture can be seen as an emerging set of values, practices
and expectations regarding the way people (should) act and interact within the
contemporary network society. This digital culture has emergent properties with
roots both in online and offline phenomena, with links to trends and developments
pre-dating the World Wide Web, yet having an immediate impact and particularly
changing the ways in which we use and give meaning to living in an increasingly
interconnected, always on(line) environment.