Falco 1

Anthony T. Falco
Professor Benjamin Ristow
WRRH: Rhetorical Bytes
Critical Reading Reflection #2 (revised)
March 13, 2015 (midterm portfolio)
Nayar, the introduction chp 1
In order for Pramod K. Nayar to construct the rest of his book he incorporates a
few key concepts right here in the beggining. These terms collectively create what Nayar
defines as cyberspace and cyber culture.
Cyberculture as defined by An Introduction to New Media and Cybercultures, can
be considered to be the electronic environment where various technologies and media
forms converge (Nayar, 2). Basically cyberculture is a term coined by the 21st century, a
century focused on technological advancements that directly effect society as we know
and experience it. Cyberculture is its own part of society, not its own entity but a separate
place or dimension where everyone with the resources necessary can engage and interact
with other people and information being offered by the digital rhetoric provided by the
certain domain, source or portal they travel or experience themselves in. Cyberspace
according to Nayar is the worlds and domains generated by digital information and
communication technologies (ICTs).
The cyberculture can only exist within cyberspace; the two terms coexist with
each other. Its significant to see how Nayar defines cyberculture as being more than one
culture due to the fact that present day they are so normalized, appropriated, altered and
domesticated into our everyday material lives. This definition is completely contextual.

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Nayar even says all technology in this reading is context-bound. Today the access to
cyberspace is almost unlimited; people live through the technology of the modern day,
which has been modified specifically so that the participation in cyberspace is no longer
limited to the desktop computer or the dial up Internet. Designers literally strategically
design technological products to fit the current trend by taking into account the more
significant cultural values. They must consider that users are essentially emotionally
attached to the product. Cell phones, labtops, tablets, all have replaced the old form of
cyberspace and enabled the participation rate almost 10 fold.
Both terms as Nayar argues, have a material dimension, real life material
conditions. They do not exist on their own, they are simple a branch or extension off of
the material world, potentially everything that happens in real life can be translated or
transitioned over into the virtual world offered by cyber space and culture. This means
that just as the material world is subjected to dynamics of race, class, gender, economic
inequalities, governance, and injustice the virtual world is as well.
Within those various technologies, there exist what Nayar terms as avatars, which
is literally how people portray themselves online or in cyberspace. Avatars allow people
to change who they are in the material world for example their physical appeal, beliefs,
ideals, and personality traits. Over time Nayar argues that the avatar will eventually
influence their daily identity. Users consistently work to omit and characterize certain
qualities and attitudes of themselves on social media networks, which directly affects the
people they identify as in real life. By altering who they are in real life to become who
they ideally want to be as an avatar in cyberspace they could easily combine the two; the
virtual and the material world. If living each day building an avatar one might think that

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it could alter the material identity creating that avatar. This is not a bad thought, Nayar
argues that cyberspace does have material consequences and part of that is related to
avatars and the perceptions that could be absorbed from them. The avatar is supposed to
embody a personality, the material personality, but it seems that people are embodying
the personality they feel fit that does not necessarily exist in the material world and
managed to create in accordance with their personal customs.
The avatar is ultimately an extension of the material personality behind the
creation of that specific avatar. This is similar and relatable to what McLuhan argues in
his book, the medium is the Massage. Technology is an extension of the body and avatar
is an extension of the self. Overall the chapter has a lot of powerful insight when
considering the cyber culture and cyberspace that has recently started to dominate the
society with the upcoming of the 21st century. I agree with most of what he has to say
here and appreciate the language he uses to say it. The relatability of the text to the course
and college environment is almost surreal, its good to get the tools I need for him to
analyze the society I am a part of.