The Cyber Frontier

Image 1-Mapping the Internet

The Cyber Frontier

The innate desire to explore new and foreign lands is a trait that has manifested itself over and over again through the history of mankind. The invention of the internet has introduced a new kind of explorer, one who spend countless hours stumbling upon new sites, absorbing information and mapping this metaphysical terrain like a modern day Columbus.

I’ve found that Reddit almost directly caters to this innate curiosity. When I first joined find the formatting of the site to be agonising, filled with hard to follow threads, obscure subreddits and links to questionable sites. However, once I adapted to this foreign new world, I was able to explore it fully and enjoyed doing so immensely, I believe that the chaotic layout of the site isn’t due to poor planning, rather designed specifically to allow you to stumble from link to link, learning things that are completely outside of your scope of knowledge and experience. Performance artist Rives, commented on a similar experience except through Wikipedia in his engaging Ted Talk about Reinventing the Encyclopaedia game. When exploring the realm of Reddit, you have the choice to act as a spectator of sorts, observing what others post and enjoying their flamboyant displays that the anonymity of the site encourages. This idea of a faceless wanderer stems from the concepts of flanuerie or someone “adrift in the city, a detached observers strolling through the streets at a leisurely pace.” (Prouty, 2009). Whilst this term was originally coined to describe those who wandered aimlessly through the arcades of 19^th century Paris, the rise of the internet has birthed this idea of the cyber-flanuer, someone who “moves through space and among the people with a viscosity that both enables and privileges visions” (Barnes, 1997). Through these ‘wanderings’ I was able to conceptualize this online space, and I believe these experiences have shaped my behavior and the way I interact on this site (Kuttainen, 2016).

References:

Barnes, G. (1997). Passages of the Cyber-Flanuer. Retrieved 19 August, 2016, from http://www.raynbird.com/essays/Passage_Flaneur.html

Cheswick, R. (2010). Internet Mapping Project: Map gallery[Image]. Retrieved from http://www.cheswick.com/ches/map/gallery/index.html

Kuttainen, V. (2016). BA1002: Our Space, Networks, Narratives, and the Making of Place Lecture 4: Maps

Prouty, R. (2009, 28/10). A Turtle on a Leash. [Weblog]. Retrieved 19 August 2016, from http://www.onewaystreet.typepad.com/one_way_street/2009/10/a-turtle-on-a-leash.html