Mohna Khan, “The Digital Age: An Era of Passivity and Egomania,” Northeastern Illinois University Independent (September 28, 2010). http://www.neiuindependent.com/opinions/the-digital-age-1.1652438 (accessed 06/10/2010)
‘The Digital Age: An Era of Passivity and Egomania’ was published in the print journal ‘The Independent’ and it’s online counterpart by Northeastern Illinois University Independent on September 28, 2010. Although the article is probably most accurately classified as a news article, it is decidedly blog-like in style – using a conversational approach, being based heavily in opinion and not relating to any particular event in current affairs.
Khan conveys two key, interrelated concepts in the article. The first is that the virtual world has become a ‘simulation’ (in the sense that Baudrillard used the term) or microcosm of the ‘real world’. The second is that a large part of a generation has become absorbed into that virtual simulacra to such an extent that they have withdrawn from the ‘real world’, becoming reclusive, passive and not interconnected.
The issues raised are of significant relevance to essay topic 7, as they form a background to the issues to be explored. Although the article does not explicitly explain what is missing from real life communities to make individuals withdraw into online communities, it does provide an opinion demonstrating a social phenomenon where virtual communities are beginning to be preferred over ‘real life’ ones. The article also draws a benchmark for comparison, suggesting that online communities are simulations of their ‘real life’ equivalent, meaning that any differences between the two could potentially hold an answer to the question posed. On this basis, as a reference, it would probably be most useful in the early part of the essay, supporting other references and propositions to be made in the crux of the essay.
In terms of critically evaluating the source, the journal is weekly a publication of a reputable University and it’s content does receive limited review before publishing. The frequency of publishing and currency of this article mean it is particularly relevant, a factor that is important when researching anything related to the constantly changing techno-social landscape. It is also a publication that purports to be independent, which assumedly means it is free from any commercial motives.
The main factor against the reliability of the source is that it is not peer reviewed. The ‘About’ page on the journal’s website states that it is ‘completely student run and receives no prior review of its content by anyone other than its student editors’. This is a very limited means of review, since it cannot be expected that said student editors will have expertise in every field on which an article is published. The authority of the author is also uncertain. No information is provided about the author on the online journal, no other articles are published in the journal by the same author, and little can be found on the web at large. For these reasons I would probably deem the authority of the source as limited.
In any case, I found the source interesting because it demonstrates the universality of the theories and social patterns we study in WOMN2205. The article is published in a relatively minor publication in a location geographically removed from our own yet it connects the theories of a French academic (Baudrillard) first published some 30 years ago with current behavioural patterns much the same way this unit tends to.
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