The authenticity of culture: Second Life

(Week 4)

When you create a profile or "Avatar" on Second Life (SL) they are completely unrelated to ones authentic self. This is seen to contrast the ideology laid down by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, that "you have one identity.. having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity"(McNeil, 2012, p.104). However in both Social Networking Systems (SNS) it is clear that individuals alter their identities by "self improvement through narrative" (McNeil, 2012, p.104). 

 Mundane individuality or profanity are very evident on SL especially in the self image consumer culture. There are specific locations dedicated to religious groups and activities which in a sense do reflect Durkheim's ideas of a dichotomy between the sacred and profane (Our Space, 2013a). However after considering the depth of Australian indigenous peoples "earthbound philosophy" notions of SL containing meaningful sacred elements appear comical (Chatwin, 1987, p. 11). Further, I agree with the lecture and tutorial material that suggests a division of sacred and profane space is western construct. The Aboriginal connection of 'body' 'mind' and 'spirit' and the divining of intentions and reality through dreaming exhibits how all of life in its holistic form is sacred (Stanner, 1979, pp. 25-27).

 The First Community Church hosts gospel every Sunday

SL embraces diversity in its facilitation of language and culture. Public chat within the world allows people to chat in their native languages by supporting many written languages with translation capacities as well as audio. There are numerous religious and cultural centres on SL, such as the Buddha centre and the Kannonji Zen Retreat. Various real world religious organisations have opened virtual meeting places within SL. Drawing on week fives podcast these groups can be seen to be exposing and promoting their beliefs in the form of narrative rhetoric as a way of illuminating ideas or convincing people in potentially new less threatening virtual environments (Our Space, 2013b).

One example of a religious group which established itself on SL is The First Unitarian Universalist Congregation. The group comments; "It is no game but a technologically effective way for people world wide to meet and exchange ideas".

See their link for more information! http://www.fuucsl.org/wp/

I think if you mapped network usage the distributions would be focused in more developed countries due to the need for quality computer hardware and fast internet speeds. I also consider having substantial leisure time as a prerequisite to use this virtual Network. This, I argue is far less prevalent in less developed countries, where the focus is on daily survival in the world of reality. Thus the majority of network users could be seen to come from a higher economic sector of global society. 

References

Chatwin, B. (1987). Chapter 3, in Songlines (pp.11-15). London, England: Jonathon Cape.

No Auth. (2013a). BA1002: Our Space; Networks Narratives and the making of space, week 4      notes. [mp4]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au

No Auth. (2013b). BA1002: Our Space; Networks Narratives and the making of space, week 5      notes. [mp4]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au

Stanner, W> E. H (1979). The dreaming (1953), in White man got no dreaming: Essays 1938- 1973     (pp. 23- 30). Canberra, Australia: Australian National University Press.