Proposed by Alan Kirby
Focus on digital technologies’ impact on culture
Emphasises user-generated content and interactivity
Blurs lines between producer and consumer...
Technological Influence: Digimodernism is driven by digital technology, emphasising interactive media like computers and mobile phones, whereas postmodernism focused on textual play and irony.
Textuality: Digimodernism features an ongoing, participatory creation process, contrasting with postmodernism’s fixed texts and self-referential irony.
Cultural Approach: While postmodernism juxtaposed high and low culture ironically, digimodernism sincerely embraces populism and the everyday.
Reality Perception: Postmodernism questions reality as a construct; digimodernism presents the “apparently real,” focusing on direct engagement with the world.
Digimodernism addresses the role of technology in culture by emphasising:
Driven by computerisation and digital media.
Alters cultural forms, creating new ones.
Emphasises ephemeral and rapidly changing texts.
Introduces new forms of textuality.
Focuses on onwardness and haphazardness.
Destabilises traditional text structures.
Shifts cultural paradigms beyond postmodernism.
Reflects unbridled consumerism influenced by technology.
Encourages participatory and interactive content creation.
Challenges traditional roles of academics as mediators.
Necessitates new strategies for knowledge generation and teaching.
Highlights the need for critical media consumption skills.
Decentralisation of Authority: The internet and digital media reduce reliance on traditional cultural authorities, allowing more voices to participate in cultural creation.
Ephemeral Texts: Cultural expressions become transient and rapidly evolving, challenging the permanence of traditional cultural dominance.
Plural Authorship: Digimodernism embraces multiple authorship, disrupting singular narratives and promoting diverse perspectives.
Consumerism Influence: Reflects unbridled consumerism, impacting how cultural values are shaped and disseminated.
Interactive Engagement: Encourages participatory culture, where audiences actively shape cultural narratives.
Erosion of Expertise: With widespread access to information, the role of experts is undermined, leading to a potential devaluation of specialised knowledge.
Cultural Dominance: The emphasis on digital media can lead to ephemeral and superficial cultural expressions, challenging traditional cultural hierarchies.
Solipsism and Isolation: The focus on individual digital interaction may foster solipsistic behaviours, reducing genuine social engagement.
Authenticity and Truth: The prevalence of user-generated content raises questions about authenticity and the reliability of information.
Ethical Consumption: The rapid pace of digital content creation and consumption necessitates new ethical frameworks for media literacy and critical engagement
Alan Kirby: Coined the term “digimodernism”
Explores cultural impact of digitisation
Describes new textuality: evanescence, onwardness, haphazardness
Focuses on shifts in authorship and reading
Critiques consumerism and digital populism
Intersection of digitisation with cultural forms
Disruption of traditional textual structures
Emphasis on participatory and interactive media
Influence on diverse fields: art, literature, film, TV
Challenges traditional cultural dominance
Lars von Trier: Films like “The Boss of it All”
Antony Gormley: “One & Other” installation in Trafalgar Square
Reality and interactive TV programming
Video games as examples of digimodernist texts
Digital art reflecting digimodernist traits
Alan Kirby’s concept of digimodernism and Robert Samuels’ automodernism both explore the impact of technology on culture, but they differ in key ways:
Technological Perspective:
Digimodernism: Focuses on the cultural impact of digitisation, highlighting how digital texts are open-ended and participatory, leading to a fragmented cultural landscape.
Automodernism: Emphasises the autonomy granted by technology, viewing it as potentially positive for individual empowerment and democratic engagement.
Cultural Impact:
Digimodernism: Critiques the rise of a “dumbed-down” populism and solipsistic subjectivity, seeing technology as fostering superficial cultural expressions.
Automodernism: Sees technology as enabling new forms of self-expression and community, highlighting its potential for positive social change.
Authorship and Textuality:
Digimodernism: Describes a shift towards anonymous, multiple authorship, disrupting traditional notions of authorship and fixed narratives.
Automodernism: Focuses on how technology allows individuals to craft personal narratives, enhancing self-expression and identity formation.
Overall, while both concepts acknowledge the transformative power of technology, digimodernism is more critical of its cultural implications, whereas automodernism is more optimistic about its potential benefits.