This study examines the dynamics of critical Internet culture after the medium opened to a broader audience in the mid 1990s. The core of the research consists of four case studies of non-profit networks: the Amsterdam community provider, The Digital City (DDS); the early years of the nettime mailinglist community; a history of the European new media arts network Syndicate; and an analysis of the streaming media network Xchange. The research describes the search for sustainable community network models in a climate of hyper growth and increased tensions and conflict concerning moderation and ownership of online communities.

This dissertation takes the approach of a qualitative case study whose primary subject is Alhaji Papa Susso, a distinct and compelling representative of griot culture, who was born in The Gambia, but who now resides in the U.S., yet maintains his griot identity. The findings from this research provide evidence that the griot, in his quest to support himself abroad while honoring the traditions of his heritage, is actively participating in the purposeful dissemination of griot culture in the U.S. and beyond. Though he may be cultivating genuine interest in his skills and in the oral canon of histories and epic tales that he maintains, he cannot control reception and appropriation of his culture. Further, the findings suggest there is a crosscutting backlash where the influence of technology is concerned, in that, while it provides a means for recording and preserving the griot’s performative art, it also distracts West African youth and diminishes their interest in acquiring and maintaining the tools and instrumentation of their caste-born heritage. The main conclusions drawn from this study suggest the griot feels compelled in many ways to spread his culture beyond the limits of his original, regional seat in order to preserve and promote it, but in doing so, he is changing his culture, and exposing it to audiences who are not sufficiently encultured to apprehend fully its depth and meaning. Furthermore, technology may be a useful tool in preserving the griot’s art in West Africa and abroad, but the static nature of recording robs the griot’s performance of its dynamic, flexible and culturally reflective power. Ultimately, it is the goal of this dissertation to actualize Stake’s (1995) assertion that “the function of research is not necessarily to map and conquer the world but to sophisticate the beholding of it” (p. 43); it is the goal of this dissertation to illuminate and understand, to bear careful witness to a facet of cultural expansion, to a contemporary phenomenon, to a particular, unique and valuable human experience.

Final thesis titled Visual Literacy in the Digital Era is primarily focused on understanding image in the context of contemporary digital era, which is characterized particularly by abundance of visual images. Using analysis of principles of New Media and Surface Aesthetics, which is based on visual communication strategies, it tries to define new demands on viewers' perceptional capabilities and emerging consequences for their cognitive functions. Farther there are applied findings of contemporary cognitive psychology and neurobiology on artistic movements of 20th and 21st century and general artistic tendencies. In dependence on the analysis and application of gained findings there is in conclusion reassessed Visual Literacy in its existing definition, which is not sufficient for new demands that has arisen and do not take account of current level of viewers' literacy.