The word “cyberculture” is used ∈a variety of
ways, often referring to certain cultural products and
practices born of computer and Internet technologies, but
also to specific subcultures that champion
[5] computer-related hobbies, art, and language. In the 1970s,
cyberculture was the exclusive domain of a handful of
technology experts devoted to exchanging and promoting
ideas related to the growing fields of computers and
electronics. But following the commercialization of the
[10] Internet and the World Wide Web ∈ the mid-1990s,
cyberculture took on a new life. In fact, today the Internet
touches many parts of life ∈ advanced industrial societies.
Cyberculture is heralded for breaking down borders
and barriers, not just between nations but also between
[15] groups and individuals separated by physical or by
political and social conditions. As a result, some would
hold that the Internet fosters a more complex tapestry of
relations than ever existed ∈ the physical world.
However, skeptics warned that the Internet wasn’t
[20] eliminating borders as much as shifting their definition and
location. Instead of physical borders separating one people
from another, these critics contend, the Internet establishes
a border between those who use it and those who do not or
cannot go online. This “digital divide” was of increasing
[25] concern to social activists and policy planners, and to
businesses as well, who see the divide as a stopgap to their
future marketing strategies. This rift grows as cyberculture
becomes a force driving social change, economic relations,
political policy, and cultural life. If cyberculture
[30]increasingly sets the agenda ∈ the dominant culture, those
on the “wrong” side of the digital divide will inevitably
find themselves more and more isolated and alienated from
the societies ∈ which they live.
Cyberculture: society, culture, and the Internet. In: Gale Encyclopedia of E-Commerce, 2002. Internet: www.encyclopedia.com (adapted).
According to the text, judge the following item.
The last sentence ∈ the first paragraph can be rewritten as In reality, the Internet is actually connected to many aspects of life ∈ modern world without this changing the meaning of the text.
