Race in cyberspace: An introduction

Cyberspace is an environment comprised entirely of O’s and l’s: simple binary switches that are either off or on. No in-between. No halfway. No shades of gray. All too often, when it comes to virtual culture, the subject of race seems to be one of those binary switches: either it’s completely “off�? (i.e., race is an invisible concept because it’s simultaneously unmarked and undiscussed), or it’s completely “on�? (i.e., it’s a controversial flashpoint for angry debate and overheated rhetoric). While there are similar patterns of silence about race when it comes to interpersonal interaction in “the real world,�? the presence of visual and aural markers of race (no matter how inaccurate those may be) means that race is rarely (if ever) as invisible offline as it is in cyberspace.