An Introduction to Cybercultures

by David Bell

An Introduction to Cybercultures provides an accessible guide to the major forms, practices and meanings of this rapidly-growing field. From the evolution of hardware and software to the emergence of cyberpunk film and fiction, David Bell introduces readers to the key aspects of cyberculture, including email, the internet, digital imaging technologies, computer games and digital special effects. Each chapter contains `hot links' to key articles in its companion volume, The Cybercultures Reader , suggestions for further reading, and details of relevant websites. Individual chapters · an introduction · Storying cyberspace · Cultural Studies in cyberspace · Community and cyberculture · Identities in cyberculture · Bodies in cyberculture · Cybersubcultures · Researching cybercultures

Genres: Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 15, 2001

Reviews

[chad chrysanthemum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really, I'd like to give this 3.5 stars but that's not an option. I'm quite torn, because I'm very much of two distinct minds of it. Let's start with the book itself --- I think that David Bell introduces the topic well, it's well-structured to make sure you understand the points (introduction + summaries at the end of each chapter), and he provides a very balanced view. It's called an introduction to cybercultures, and it does exactly that. I wasn't familiar with culture studies as a lens through which to view research, so that was interesting too, as it encompasses different ways of approaching and thinking about things than I'm often used to. The chapters that especially stood out to me were the introduction itself, Community, Identity, and Cybersubcultures. I mean, these are the reasons that Anna picked up the book in the first place, so I suppose it's not surprising that they're the parts that captured my interest the most. There's definitely a couple of interesting thoughts that I think I'll keep turning over in my head. I should also note that this book was published in 2001, and so it's quite interesting as a historical artifact as well. I really enjoyed reading about contemporary views of the Internet, how people interface it, and views of cyberspace. That being said, I think the book had a few shortcomings. First of all, I do just think that Bell being an academic in this space who doesn't seem particularly engaged is a little bit of a negative. While he does a great job of capturing and collecting others' thoughts, it's specifically noted in the section on Research in Cyberspace that good researchers should try to be engaged in the community that they write about (with a focus on ethnography), and this book is written by someone who admits they only use a computer for work, do not own one at home, and do not game. It unfortunately just lends a little bit less credence to what he says, although I'm sure he's still an effective researcher, but there isn't quite the same familiarity with the experience of cyberspace itself, although that doesn't affect writings on the storying of cyberspace. Additionally, though I know the aim is for this to be an entrypoint to the subject and companion to The Cyberculture Reader, I still find it to be a little surface-level in some respects. And, yes, this is an unfair criticism for me to make, but goodreads asks me in the writing how much I liked it, and this does affect my enjoyment. As an academic text this is fine --- were I a student in culture studies or sociology or whatever I could use this as a jumping-off point to then read the further reading, understand a bit of the theory behind writings, and go read more articles. However, I'm not that, and as a text itself, this leaves me missing a little bit more depth. The book is very barely 200 pages, and Bell ends it by saying, "I've detained you long enough", which I was absolutely perplexed by! I'm not hoping for a 700-page tome, but there are obvious gaps where he notes there are other interesting things to say on the subject of the chapter and then doesn't! It just left me a bit frustrated. I suppose I'm somewhat comparing this to the other academic texts recently; namely The Feminist Critique of Language and French Erotic Fiction, both of which are probably similar-length texts (300 or so pages), but are packed full of other papers, excerpts, and more direct engagement with the subject matter. And, ok, maybe that's because they're readers, and they also focus on narrower topics that allow them to go slightly more in depth on the topic. So, again, I need to be clear I don't think this is really a criticism of the book itself, which does exactly what it set out to do. But it still was something that hampered my enjoyment a bit.

From a different perspective, I want to look at this book as a hypertextual work. Rather than being a book itself, I'm seeing it as part of a complicated interconnected web, with layers of text above this one. The chapters themselves are packed full of references to other media, websites, and papers. Bell mentions The Lawnmower Man multiple times such that I ended up watching it, and it was fucking awesome. Each chapter ends with links to specific papers in The Cybercultures Reader, further reading, and my favourite of all, webpages to check out. Thank you to Anna for kindly letting me write (in pencil!) on her book, because the webpages listed are littered with notes such as, "dead", "japanese?", "security risk lol", and "korean scam site". Bell himself notes that he can't expect the webpages to stay live, and this kind of moving, changing and altering layer to the text is a lot of fun, even if it was frustrating. For how many now-dead sites there are, almost an equal number were marked, "live and fun!". It was great to find these weird little time capsules of webpages that have survived in some manner for 25 years or more, still carving out their little piece of the Internet. I read a couple of the papers linked, too --- "Trapped by the Body"? Telepresence Technologies and Transgendered Performance in Feminist and Lesbian Rewritings of Cyberpunk Fiction was an especial favourite that was really fascinating on its own (and about a quarter a length of this book, lol). So from this perspective, reading this was a really great experience. It generated a lot of fun conversations, things to read, and odd webpages to explore with my friends. And isn't that what I always want? I would also argue, that this is a better way to actually convey cybercultures than just the written word. This hypertextual experience is vital to understand the complexity and layered cultures of the cyberspace and the stories we tell about it. I just can't quite tell if my enjoying the things linked to the book more than the book itself is a compliment to Bell's ingenuity in creating this experience, or a condemnation of the use of the book itself. So, yeah. Hard to give a number to my experience, really. But lots of thoughts on it seems like a positive thing for my experience, either way.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is quite a temporary review because I sense I will have to reread this book at the very least one more time to understand everything I want to.

I think the topics covered were interesting in of themselves, but often references were hard to understand, especially with specialist language. I figure this is because the book is aimed at students studying culture, as opposed to someone like myself who just is curious about the subject matter.

I think the book also served as an interesting time capsule, being published in 2001 I find it charming and interesting to look back on attitudes at the time, particularly those about what future technology might bring. It's this and materials cited, including papers, but also webpages that make the book most interesting to me and have led to more interesting research and discussions.

[Cassey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very useful.