I'm establishing this blog to remotely monitor and muse about what I have christened the cyber-gentrification of a few northwest Washington D.C. neighborhoods.
I define cyber-gentrification as community building occurring online of a realspace community conducted by new residents in which some residents are excluded by cause of what is known as the digital divide. This phenomenon materializes in listservs, blogs maintained by individuals or groups of people and forums.
My friend, Emma, moved to Petworth and asked me to help her find information regarding her new neighborhood. A google search yielded an outcrop of blogs. This is one of the first entries I encountered produced by a Petworth blogger and I think it illuminates some aspects of what Emma and I are both thinking about when we use the term cyber-gentrification:
Petworth Turning Into One Gigantic Bulletin Board
Light pole ad, originally uploaded by Prince of Petworth.
Let me share a little secret with you all. I’ve heard of this great new Web site. It is called Craig’s List. You can put whatever you want to sell on the site for free! Amazing. It is a virtual world now. You don’t have to bother with scotch tape or printings or anything like that at all. And don’t give me the whole not everyone has a computer song. Everyone has computers! And if you are 80 and don’t have a computer you don’t need a weight bench. Everyone has a computer either at work, or home, or at their local library. Although, I am still looking for a place to unload my unwanted car for $50 cash. Help me please.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 18th, 2007 at 9:49 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Many of these DC bloggers express scorn against posters in their neighborhoods, citing their illegality and what they feel their unsightliness. This particular blogger challenges why don't people who use analog, paper posters to advertise odds and ends use Craigslist; asserting that everybody has access to a computer while implying everybody has knowledge of craigslist. Interestingly, this blogger speculates the age of the person posting this notice influenced his choice to advertise the item in this way.
The reality is that yes, this person has access to a computer -- the sign was obviously computer generated. However, people have different levels of the internet proficiency and use the internet in different ways, whether that be due to age, race, gender, class and/or education level. This person may too have posted the item on craigslist or maybe not. Yet, the poster and how it was interpreted by this blogger suggests there are people in this neighborhood with different relationships to the internet and assumptions are maintained regarding the internet's ubiquitousness universally regardless of race, class, gender, age et al.
In this way, I believe that some are excluded de facto from dialog in the community and some cannot imagine that.
4 comments:
Hola mamita. Creo que la gentrificacion cibera es una problema MAS GRANDE. El classismo y el racismo son las problemas que no se reparar.
is chinatown is too bright? plz share your opinion. i think criminals could use some good lighting.
Yeah, the digital divide is such a drag. Still, the concernes expressed via a lamp pole or craiglist are so far from the American society problems. Like, Brtineys new album (wich is so good whilst she´s a total mess) or Blackwater.
is u friend gentrifying? is that why request google search?
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