Match.com.
Video conferencing.
Avatars.
Smart phones.
Chatroulette.
Facebook.
How has technology affected the way we interact with one another?
The proponents would say that it has opened up new doors, expanded possibilities. On the other hand, critics would claim that new technology and interconnectivity is negatively distorting the way people socialize. On occasion, I’ve stopped and wondered whether we make relationships less significant when our primary means of interactivity is a collection of Facebook messages.
Thus, if technology is mutating our relationships, how has it affected our definitions of community?
Already, we see the expansion of communities online that are defined, not by geographic proximity or traditional social groupings, but by participation in chat rooms, tweeting, and wall posts. The definition of community is morphing from neighborhood gatherings to encompass these web exchanges and, consequently, poses interesting challenges and opportunities for those using art in community development.
John Ewing’s 24/7 Interaction: Brookline – Roxbury, which opened this past Friday, demonstrates that, while technology is changing the way we interact, an inspired artist can harness new methods of communication to not only build community, but build community between geographically defined neighborhoods.
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