Subject: CYBERIANS CULTURE AND ARHCITECUTE

From: [email-masked] (yangli)
Date: Mon, 01 Jul 1996 06:16:17 GMT

CYBERIANS CULTURE
A Study into Cyber Technology, its culture and Its Impact on Man in
the Turn of the Millennium

The reason for the urge to do this topic was due to the unease and
ignorance of the Internet. As much as I have used the computer since I
was thirteen, I felt a lack in something. The feeling has been
constantly increasing when I saw the show 'The Net' and many other
movies. The newspaper's computer column always ends the last sentence
with something like the Website http://www.asia1.sg.

By then, I was still using the computer just as a word processor and
drafting tool. So what was the internet?

After asking around, it is something like the BBS as i recalled using
it in my junior college days. My first modemn was only 1200bps which
was already one of the fastest compared to the 400bps one. I did
something like ring the sys op and then chat to him or her.

That was then, but now, the modemn is already on the antique shelve
and my beloved Apple II+ computer somewhere in recycled coca-cola
cans. In my trip to California recently, there was a news by CNN that
reported about the new invention from Stamford University that is like
a micro wave oven. Well, it is not as what I though. The ' Micro wave
oven'  is actually a 3-D scanner or fax machine. A little statue of a
buddha was placed inside and throught the internet, the data was
sent to another location which has a plastic moulding machine. Within
a few minutes, an identical plastic buddha was being replicated!

Turning on the television, there were advertisements like those of TV
Media back at home, but some of them were very interesting that we do
not get here. Nope, not those selling Hypersex pills but advertisement
on how to set up a home office and earn big bucks. As the United
States is going through a period of zero economic growth and a high
percentage of umemployment, many of the people who wants to work but
was not lucky enough had to sought for means to survive. This
advertisement is to teach people how to make money through the
internet. Through selling bits in the cyberspace. There were some of
these people who attended the seminar and were successful who got on
to TV to recommend the seminar. Each one of them without fail
would be sitting on a chair in front of the computer. Beside the
computer is a stick protruding out and for some a baseball like object
on the monitor. These are actually video cameras. I was amazed that
they are actually so small when I saw it at the Cybercafe@BoatQuay
when I attended a Cyberians users' meet from the Singapore Internet
Community.

When I asked my friends about where is the SinterComm, they said that
it is a only virtual community and it exist only in some bytes on a
hard disk in a computer somewhere, of which nobody actually bothers to
find out. During the users' meet, I met a regular user, when I asked
him about his job, he said that he will be setting up a firm with
another two of the regular users. They are working on marketing the
internet and designing home pages for their clients. So I asked
them whether they need any help in designing the new office, they
replied,"A virtual office!"

The society is rapidly changing. Technology is so advanced that there
is something new everyday. Yet, when a local architect designs a
building. The mind frame is still of our father's generation. Take an
example of the younger generation nowadays, the perception of the
spaces is much different. A living room was the most important space
for entertaining guests for my father's generation but when my friends
come to my house, my room with the computer and the TV room with the
Lase Disc player seemed more important than the dull and dead living
room with some antique furniture, family portraits and paintings.

Mega office blocks will be obsolete one day when most people can work
at home and just E-mail or ftp (File Transfer Protocol) to the other
party. Singapore Press Holdings need not occupy a 7-storey building,
what is neccessary is just the printing room.

Therefore, in order to catch up with the trend of the society, we have
to understand the culture and lifestyle of the cyberians. A culture
that is rapidly spreading........

p.s. I am writing my dissertation on a Cyberian's home. Specifically
in relation to architecture. I you could give a some thinkers, I would
greatly appreciate it. Don't forget the website add and your E-mail!