Formation of Digital Culture

Locke and Poster discuss two drastically different movements of media; however, both can be seen as the basis for digital culture and what it is today. Digital culture is the radically new idea about the ways in which we think about and view info. Digital culture is three dimensional and goes against the structured idea of the grid by revealing it to readers. This culture changes the ways in which people view an author, perceive time and space, and distinguish design. Digital culture is ever changing, and is significantly different than the enlightenment ideas about print media.

Locke’s article, “Of Ideas,” discusses the revolutionary idea that knowledge comes from experience. He explains that there are two parts to the idea of experience. First is sensation, or the ways in which we take in qualities and interact with the world. “When I say the senses convey into the mind, I mean, they form external objects convey into the mind what produces there those perceptions” (186). Locke explains sensation as the main source for all of our ideas. The second part of experience is reflection, or the way we step back and think about all of our sensations in order to create broader ideas. Reflection established the space of learning and is how we build upon experience and knowledge. This explains the basis for why publishing exists. People wrote down information in order for others to gain knowledge and learn from their ideas. Locke’s description of publishing and the sharing of ideas can be seen as the base from where digital culture grew.

Poster’s article, “Authors Analogue and Digital,” discusses the emergence of digital culture as a change from print to computer writing. He explains this transformation in media as a shift in the way that people think about information. “The shift in the material form of the sign from print to computer writing may be approached initially as a change from analogue to digital” (79). Poster describes analogue as the relation of similarity or comparing like things. Analogue was about making copies that looked identical to the original. Poster explains the radically new idea of digital culture however, as the way we create copies that are not similar. We are no longer bound to making identical copies. The idea of digital has changed the ways in which readers trust authors, perceive time and space, and distinguish design.