Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2006, Page 72

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INTERNET CHATTING IN THE FAROE ISLANDS
intemet is characterised by non-hierarchical
collective forms of communication. In pop-
ular cultural communication “the whole
process takes place in the ‘collective’, there
is an immediate and direct connection be-
tween ‘sender’ and ‘receivers’ [...] and all
communication in this ‘collective’ is based
on immediate feedback” (Andreassen, 1992:
285). Dance and festival traditions are typ-
ical examples of popular culture in the pre-
modern peasant community. All the in-
volved persons take part in the creation and
communication of the culture, and “the pop-
ular ‘collective’ creates its own art/culture”
(Andreassen, 1992: 120)
Naturally, the communication in the old
peasant community was not identical with
the internet communication of the latemod-
ern society. Chat communication is not
physical, it goes on through advanced com-
puter technologies, i.e. you are dependent
on a computer to be able to chat. Many other
limitations are at play in chat communica-
tion, where you use text and cannot observe
the people you communicate with (except
when you use a webcam). Internet is, any-
way, a much more “popular” medium than
television and radio, which communicate
culture in a structured style and context and
which is communication “taken out of the
hands of people and handed over to profes-
sionals” (Andreassen, 1992: 15). The inter-
net is not centrally directed and profession-
als are not controlling the interaction. The
informal forum where people gathered to
make community-related decisions was
maybe starting to disappear when television
and video were introduced to the Faroe Is-
lands, but they flourish today on the inter-
net, not least regarding the chat communi-
cation of children and young people in the
Faroe Islands.
Literature
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