In his essay, "Illuminations", Benjamin defines an "aura” as the very thing that a replica or copy of an original source or work of art lacks: "its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be" (Benjamin 220). Applying this definition to cyberspace appears to be an impractical task because the Internet largely comprises of the reproductions or recasts of millions of original sources. YouTube, for example, plays a huge role in this aspect of the Internet. Viewers can find hundreds of thousands of videos of news episodes, live concerts, hardcore skateboarding bails, and video bloggers, all of which are mere "reproductions" or recasts of a particular, original source. Sharing pictures on Facebook follows the same nature; what friends or other viewers see is not a first-person experience, but rather an image, a visual recreation of the particular event. So then, how could aura possibly exist in cyberspace?
Going back to the previous example, to define aura in cyberspace, one must look at YouTube as website rather than a "source of reproductions." YouTube itself was founded several years ago and has grown exponentially to the point it has become today, a multi-billion dollar, massive company that was started by three average men. In this case YouTube itself is a unique "work of art" (in Benjamin's words). Thousands of websites have been created, modeled after it as well hundreds of different software engines aimed at emulating that of YouTube's. I say this from my own experience in trying to start up my own project of similar nature. So to define the “aura” of cyberspace, one could not use Benjamin’s definition as something like YouTube is not actually a work of art in the real world, but a virtual creation and thus, its “unique existence” could not possibly exist. Therefore I define the “CyberAura” as the unique “idea” behind a virtual creation and/or system in the cyber world. The creation, the website itself, and the system, perhaps an engine the website runs on, are both things that can be recreated (albeit in a different manner to avoid copyright issues) but to do so is to void the unique idea, the “aura” behind the original website. Anyone with adequate scripting knowledge can reproduce a website of similar nature to YouTube (e.g. PetTube), but it is impossible to reproduce the unique “idea” of allowing any user with Internet access simple ways to view and upload videos from all over the world, just like it is impossible for an artist to repaint another “unique” Mona Lisa.
Similarly in the realm of the cyber world, there is the media industry, or the “cyber industry.” This is a term simply defined by Adorno as an industry designed to strive through standardization and mass production in accordance to the “needs of the consumers” (Adorno 95). While this may have been an application to the real world, the same concept exists in cyberspace. Ads on Facebook change depending on the content of the page the viewer. Amazon offers recommendations on products based on what has already been searched on and what other buyers tend to buy after searching the particular product. Google has an entire system known as AdSense that any web owner can place on their website to generate ads based on certain common keywords on their site. All of these systems serve two functions: to adhere to the need of the consumers, and to make a profit.
Benjamin, Walter. Illuminations. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” New York: Schocken Books, 1968. Print.
Adorno, Theodor W. and Max Horkheimer. Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments. “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception.” Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2002. Print.
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