The neo-society : realities of new socio-virtual paradigms

Abstract

Thinking of space as a construct is by no means an easy feat. Transpose that concept from a real environment to a virtual space and blocks are not readily discernible. Th is is a world that has been immersed in digital otherness as far back as the early 1990s since the birth of the world wide web (WWW) proposal. Th ere exist two dichotomies: those pertaining to the younger generation and those to the older ones, where the former are aware of the digital fantastic worlds and the latter know the real haptic worlds, one where they can still remember that there was a time when a map was something one sought from a bookshop as against one that prompts one with the name of the street, the direction to turn, an occasional warning of a speed camera… In such a scenario, the older generation would be expected to know the physical world to a high degree and less that related to immersive technology; on the other hand the younger generation with their instant maps and online access would be expected to have a greater knowledge of their surroundings through the same access.