Week 12 Essay: Cyberspace

In today's world, Internet has been constructed in order to decide the fate of the various groups of tools in people's cultural horizons. No doubt, it has also become the key to the definition of the current social and culture. In network world, it seems to interfere with the organization and the "decentralized" features, so that the definition of contemporary culture has an "uncertainty." Then, with the network-based computer applications and practice, what the cyberspace culture should be?
“Cyberspace” was created by William Gibson in his science fiction “Neuromancer” in 1984. Cyberspace designates the imaginary place where virtual objects exist. Its basic meaning refers to it is created by computers and modern communications technologies, and the true real space or a different Internet virtual space. Cyberspace or virtual space is a huge "artificial world" which consists of images, sounds, words, symbols, etc. It is created and supported by computers around of the world, and communications network. (Trend, D 2001,p5-15)
With the global emergence of the Internet, cyberspace is not a science fiction term any more, but as a profound effect on the phenomenon of contemporary life into the everyday experience, media and academic horizon. This suggests that we are asking on the network, spatial concepts, in order to explain the contemporary media culture as effectively as possible to seek perspective.
In this paper, it is argued that cyberspace still relevant to our contemporary society including mass Medias, such as networks and film, and Virtual Space Teleconferencing System.
Gibson’s "cyberspace" tells us that a computer screen has another real space; people cannot see this space, but they know it's there ... ... It is a true activity field, and almost like a landscape. This space not only contains the people’s thinking, but also includes a variety of human-made systems, such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality systems, etc.
With the development of film, the film technology is also in leap. The definition of the film is developing in the unusual close link between the film and modern science and technology. More and more films began to appear cyberspace applications. Whatever the virtual people, the virtual scene, or the live image which impossible to appear in the film. The cyberspace’s application riches the manifestation of the film lens, and increases audience interesting of viewing.
A film called “The Lawnmower Man” is the first film based on cyberspace. This film demonstrates the use of virtual technology as a boundless imagination to show a rich fantasy world. This is an innovation of the film; this is a manifestation of application of cyberspace is for further perfecting the film art. Just as the film from black and white to color, and from sound to silence, it is a turning of film development. Because of this turning and the continuous development of cyberspace, we can enter into the multi-element film world. (Xiaoyan Hu 2007, p35-53)

At first, Gibson’s inspiration of creating the word "cyberspace" came from the image of young people fascinated by the large-scale video game as well as the "real space" behind computer screen of sensory stimulation. However, Gibson didn’t quite know the computer technology; but he believed that there is an existence of "some real space" behind those video games on the computer screen. When people immerse in the computer-generated 3D virtual world of time, they enter and immersed in the "cyberspace". (Jia Yan 2oo7, p 1-3)
The virtual world is not realistic, but the effect on the sensory experience is "true", therefore, cyberspace is virtual and also real. Virtual is relative to the real three-dimensional space, and the truth is relative to the feelings in terms of our senses. We can enter into this particular "virtual reality space," and interact with it, in which the physical and geographical sense, through time and space, and even through the history and reality, past and future. Modern computer games turn this "virtual reality space’ into a reality as an example. (http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/cybspace.html)
In a virtual space which is created by the computer network, information disseminators and information recipients are expected to become truly equal partners in communication. Virtual Space Teleconferencing System (VST) is a concept that Proposed in recent years. It is a combination product of multimedia conferencing systems and virtual reality technology; it is called "Ultimate Teleconferencing System ".
In ordinary television conference system, participants can hear each other's voices or see images. As for group communication, participants’ talking atmosphere, direction of the speaker’s attention, and eye contact, etc. are all for the strengthening of mutual trust, mutual understanding and to fully express their views are crucial. But these elements only cyberspace is possible. VST has great potential advantages. It would be widely used in military, business meeting, medical, aerospace and other fields, and include people's daily lives, and even changes people's way of life. It can bring our real lives to cyberspace, so that make people’s communication more natural and enriched. (Frank Biocca,Mark R. Levy 1995, p15-37)
To sum up, cyberspace is not a literary metaphor, but a real live structure. Cyberspace has a profound impact on the construction of contemporary society in the world. It is influencing and changing our surrounding environment including film art, network, and new technology VST. In the object of technical aspects, cyberspaces is a communications field, and have a digital description of the world; in subjectivity consciousness aspect, the network space is a perceptual field. As a semantic field, cyberspace has the symbol of social interaction. So it constitutes a trinity of “3I” structure: Internet (Web) / Interface (UI) / Interaction. Cyberspace has the biggest potential advantage is that the interactions between people can be more natural and vivid. It extensively used in military, office meetings, medical, aerospace and other fields, but also people's daily lives, and even change people's way of life.




Reference

Xiaoyan Hu 2007, Virtual Technological Impact on Development of Film, East China University Press, Liao Ning.

Jia Yan 2007, Culture & Representations, Commercial Press, Beijing.

David Trend (ed.) 2001, Reading Digital Culture, Blackwell Publishing Press, UK.

Frank Biocca & Mark R. Levy 1995, Communication in the age of virtual reality, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Press, Hillsdale.

Heylighen 1994, ‘Cyberspace’, Principia Cybernetica Web, viewed 16 October 2009, http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/cybspace.html