In The City

This weeks readings made me ponder as to the ways in which technology has been incorporated in society and culture. While reading Potts and Murphies introduction for there book “Culture and Technology”, I was continuously reminded of the image of “the city” and the way in which it is a perfect collage of incorporated technologies which define its culture. Consider the motherboard of your computer, I wouldn’t be the first to make the observation that it reminiscent of the layout of a city. The is the central processor, being the CBD of the city, with small wires branching off in various directions to smaller nodes which carry out the complicated processes of the computer. Obviously this is a relatively primitive understanding of the finer workings of a motherboard, however the comparison serves as an interesting metaphor as to the way cities structure people, society and consequently, culture. Melbourne, like many other cities around the world, is structured on a grid, it has been designed in such a way that we might move freely in and around it as well as positioning its various districts for maximum convenience. Bright lights, video billboards, trains, trams, automated announcements all direct us and provide color and diversity in the artificial environment we as humans have designed and expanded ourselves. City culture is entirely dependent on technologies, and would not exist without technology in the broadest sense of the word. In saying this however, I would not argue that technology defines culture, but rather shapes and influences it in such a way that it has become wholly integrated in it.

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