Definition

Technoculture is a neologism, not currently in standard dictionaries, popularized by editors Constance Penley and Andrew Ross in a book of essays bearing that title.. It refers to the interactions between, and politics of, technology and culture.

Academics

The word has currency in academia. It is used by a number of universities to describe subject areas or courses of study; UC Davis

University of California, Davis

The University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...

 has a program of technocultural studies; the University of Western Ontario

University of Western Ontario

The University of Western Ontario is a public research university located in London, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus covers of land, with the Thames River cutting through the eastern portion of the main campus. Western administers its programs through 12 different faculties and...

 offers a degree in Media, Information and Technoculture (which they refer to as MIT, offering an "MIT BA")http://www.fims.uwo.ca/mit/index.htm.

According to its description, the Georgetown University course English/CCT 691 titled Technoculture from Frankenstein to Cyberpunk, covers the "social reception and representation of technology in literature and popular culture from the Romantic era to the present" and includes "all media, including film, TV, and recent video animation and Web 'zines. The course focuses "mainly on American culture and the way in which machines, computers, and the body have been imagined."http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/technoculture/technoculture.html

UC Davis Technocultural studies department focuses on "transdisciplinary approaches to artistic, cultural and scholarly production in contemporary media and digital arts, community media, and mutual concerns of the arts with the scientific and technological disciplines. In contrast to programs which see technology as the primary driving force, we place questions of poetics, aesthetics, history, politics and the environment at the core of our mission. In other words, we emphasize the 'culture' in Technoculture."

The Technocultural studies Major program is an interdisciplinary integration of current research in cultural history and theory with innovative hands-on production in digital media and “low-tech.” It focuses on the fine and performing arts, media arts, community media, literature and cultural studies as they relate to technology and science. Backed by critical perspectives and the latest forms of research and production skills, students enjoy the mobility to explore individual research and expression, project-based collaboration and community engagement.

Technocultural studies is a fairly new major at UC Davis

University of California, Davis

The University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...

 and is considered a division of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies.
More information about the program can be found at http://technoculture.ucdavis.edu/index.php

People

Philip K. Dick

Philip K. Dick

Philip Kindred Dick was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist whose published work is almost entirely in the science fiction genre. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments and altered...

 was an American writer of science fiction.
Marshall McLuhan

Marshall McLuhan

Herbert Marshall McLuhan, CC was a Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar—a professor of English literature, a literary critic, a rhetorician, and a communication theorist...

 is most known for his concepts of a "global village

Global village

Global village may refer to:*Global village , a term commonly used to describe the societal and cultural effects of telecommunications.*Global Village , cultural, entertainment and shopping destination located at Dubailand in Dubai...

". In his book Understanding Media he talks about how media effects society and culture. He also develops a theory about technology being an extension of the body. According to McLuhan, the alphabet is what gave rise to the idea that sight is more important than hearing because in order to communicate one had to be able to see and understand the alphabet.

In her book Technoculture: The Key Concepts, Debra Benita Shaw "outlines the place of science and technology in today's culture" and "explores the power of scientific ideas, their impact on how we understand the natural world and how successive technological developments have influenced our attitudes to work, art, space, language and the human body."

Clay Shirky

Clay Shirky

Clay Shirky is an American writer, consultant and teacher on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies. He has a joint appointment at New York University as a Distinguished Writer in Residence at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and Assistant Arts Professor in the New...

 writes, teaches, and consults on the social and economic effects of the internet, and especially on places where our social and technological networks overlap. He is on the faculty of NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program, and has consulted for Nokia, Procter and Gamble, News Corp., the BBC, the United States Navy and Lego. He is also a regular speaker at technology conferences. .

In his book "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" Walter Benjamin

Walter Benjamin

Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin was a German-Jewish intellectual, who functioned variously as a literary critic, philosopher, sociologist, translator, radio broadcaster and essayist...

attempts to analyze the changed experience of art in modern society. He believes that a reproduction of art lacks presence in time and space and therefore has no aura. Original works of art do have an aura. An aura includes authority, its place in space and time (when it was made), how the piece's physical condition suffered and how it's changed owners over time. An original work of art derives its authenticity from history and what has happened to it over time..