This book contains a thoughtful examination of the complexities in relationships between the concepts of culture and the digital environment as it has developed and currently exists. The author seeks to persuade the reader that “digital technologies have had and are having a transformational effect on cultural values” (p. 3). In so doing, he advises us that the title “is light on theoretical baggage” (p. xiii) and that reading his earlier title “Digital information contexts” might help the reader.
Our learning journey starts with the “meaning of culture” and a scholarly dissection of significant contributions to cultural theory over time. This is a tricky concept to unravel since it comes with tensions in its meaning and representations. We then learn about “representations of technology”. It cannot be denied that social practices and cultural values are being influenced by computer technology. But how? And why? Once we read of the pervasive invasion in our daily lives of these new technologies, possible invasions that many of us today take for granted, we begin to see why the author has chosen such an approach. But “does the technology determine culture, or do cultural values determine the kinds of technology that come to be developed?” (p. 22). Here we enter into a minefield of views, and such discourse hopefully will assist us in forming, or re‐forming, our own perspectives on the issues. I was fascinated by the author's example of “‘the most profound technologies are those that disappear’” (where he quotes Weiser (1991, p. 51) and the use of contraception, or in the words of Freud (1930, 2002), p. 32 “extreme restraint in the procreation of children”, as an example. Lest this review be censored, I will leave it to you to read this useful example.
Chapter 4 is on Textuality and traces its development prior to print. Tredinnick wonders about digital cultural objects and their meaning in their own right: they may be culturally meaningful, but are they textually meaningful? There is an excursion into digital acronyms, e.g. LOL (or as I often see it “lol” – now does that mean lots of laughs? Or lots of love?), playful typography and deliberate misspellings. There is commentary on the digital stability (or instability) of digital text and in the next chapter, digital authenticity.
The remainder of the book includes an exploration of the “notions of truth and knowledge in the digital age” (p. 97) in Chapter 6. Power and its perpetuation is debated in Chapter 7. The nature of identity and its liquidity in the digital environment is discussed in Chapter 8; and one dear to my own heart: memory is covered in Chapter 9. This final chapter covers not only digital preservation, it also contemplates a “digital age … that has both forgotten its own past and neglected its own future” (p. 149).
There are a number of satisfying characteristics in this title. The author admits that it is “about more than anything the process of change in the digital age” (p. 167) and the arguments, he admits, are neither final nor closed. It is satisfying because in my own exposure to the digital environment and the issues it presents, I too still seek answers.
Tredinnick has read widely, and rightly so as this is an area of his academic and teaching interests. This is a most useful title and one that should be recommended as a text for units that cover the intersection of culture and technology.
