The Formation of Virtual Environments

Many places that we interact online that were not already built into the Internet when we first started to explore the newly created World Wide web. These websites that have forums and chat functions built in were created after the need for them. Everything created has always come as a result of someone demanding it. As in Webb's article, our website is built as a result of the need and academic value of the Georgia Tech community.

In Webb's article, "Avatar Culture", Webb describes a place of cultural value with the creation of virtual environments. "...issues of cultural value and its formation within virtual worlds. It is noticeable in a variety of critical commentaries how digital technologies are often cut by the knife of value,"(Webb 2) describes the fact that the websites that are out there today are the product of people understanding that there needed to be a place where people can meet and interact virtually, which is the basis of our final project. By combining a site like T-Square, OSCAR, Buzzport, and other Tech-related sites, we are drawing in more and more of the Tech community together in a place where they can interact on a level that is both easy and convenient for all. A lot of people in the Tech community, myself and many others in the group as well, felt that there were no places online for there to conduct meetings effectively in groups or other places easily. Thus, the creation of our final project will fulfill that need. Websites like these, like Webb said, fulfill a need and have a cultural value that is needed and used to create a virtual environment. Yes, there are a lot of sites that are part of the Tech community that provide this kind of service. However, this service is like an aggregate piece of technology that takes all of the fragmented pieces of the community and effectively attaches them to one another to form one large conglomerate of a community.