According to a dictionary definition, activism is "the use of direct, often confrontational action, such as a demonstration or strike, in opposition to or support of a cause". And virtual activism is not an exception of activism. When people have a strong opinion towards a particular matter, they have to show in public. And they want more and more people to notice and think of the movement they are trying to move. Chances to be seen will be better if activists take a place in many places. This doesn't matter where it takes place. This can be online, at school, in front of White House, it is very important to be noticeable.
The activist project I chose is Center for Water Studies, and this organization is a group of people who are interested in keeping water clean. Following one of the avatar from this group will take you to many places to see nature like deep into the ocean, and big lakes. The purpose is to make people curious about water, and they want to give us opportunity to be interested in nature.
Many people think we destroy nature since there are many people who do not care about the nature. So, the point is that they want more and more people to know nature is great, and making water dirty kills those cute animals! So, those people are try to provoke our consciousness. People sometimes forget that we are relying on water, so they always want to remind people. Just like we put sticky notes everywhere on the fridge, on agenda, set the alarm with cellphone in order not to forget something important.
These days more and more people use social networking sites such as My Space and Facebook. And those are not too far away from Second Life. Even though the biggest difference is that we know our friends most of the time on social networking sites, but it is easy to create our characters which differ from the real life. I sometimes the image I have towards a friend is different in Facebook. They become more friendly. They also can make communities like groups of fans and they can share their opinion with somebody else, and other can agree with that.
I do not know too many people who do Second Life, but if there are enough people involved, it can affect real world. Just like social networking sites have a big impact on our life now, but nobody could have imagined 10 years ago.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Creating virtual representations of endangered species, both water-dwelling and land dwelling, does not make activism for a cause.
ReplyDeleteIf one really wants to clean up nature, participate in a NYC parks clean up day, or join in the volunteers that work in Central Park to keep its spaces clean, or write to the congressman in your district and tell him or her that you support a clean environment - that he or she should support the passage of clean environment laws.
That is activism.
Perhaps and I'd also argue that scuba diving could increase someone's concern about the world underwater. Could virtual scuba diving have even a slightly similar effect for someone who could not afford to scuba dive, or wouldn't choose to? I find the whale scene oddly beautiful, and though I had seen many images of real whales before, it reminded me about this marine beauty, which is something I hadn't thought or cared about in a long time. If I were suddenly decided between two charities to give my donation to, might I go for the whales? Just a thought.. Also think of the long history in art of humans depicting nature -- can we read the Center for Water Studies as a continuation of this tradition?
ReplyDelete