The invention of (cyber)culture: virtualization, aura and post-traditional etnographic pratices in the cyberspace

Abstract

This paper raises some questions about the epistemology and the ontology of cyberspace, relating it to the realization of post-traditional ethnographies in virtual worlds. Related to this issue the author argues that Walter Benjamin`s concept of “aura” is still appropriate to analyse the links between virtualization and old technologies as an example of the general problems discussed in this paper.