Urban Dictionary - Collaborative Creativity by New Media

The rise of Information Age dawns after the advent of the Internet. What follows the invention is not merely the surge of factual data but also the influx of creative texts. Indisputably, Internet is a space for netizens to express themselves. And very often, it involves plenty of collaborations and participations among the community.

 

Having the same editing mechanism as in Wikipedia, Urban Dictionary is a good example in showing how new media facilitates creative flows. Don't be fooled by its name, Urban Dictionary is never a formal teaching tool for any kind of schools; it is a dictionary "defining" (you will see why I double-quoted it if you read further) an ever-expanding amount of slang words and phrases. Perhaps for the academia, Urban Dictionary does not have much linguistic value for reference, but as long as new media writing is concerned, this website has a high research value.

Urban Dictionary sheds light on the part where new media writing is often collaborative and interactive. Apart from searching slangs through its search bar, people can add new entries (valid email address required), edit existing texts and delete posts which are against the Dictionary's guidelines. Such functions construct the website as a whole. And to add a bit of the interactivity to the Dictionary, the webpage designer has allowed people to "thumb-up" or "thumb-down" entries, to determine how nicely- and poorly-written they are. The more thumb-ups the entry has, the higher its rank and more likely for it to be read. Needless to say, people can share their favourite posts via Facebook and Twitter. Collaboration and interaction are what keep this website operating.

 

People can vote on whether the definition should be published.

 

At this point, you may ask, "How about the entries' quality control?" Well, Urban Dictionary doesn't seem to fuss over this issue. Regardless of the word "Dictionary" suggests, this website isn't for education but fun; it provides little useful information. Indeed, it needn't to because it is a platform for Internet users to bring forth their creativity. It is a wall for graffiti lovers to express their perspectives and appreciate or criticize others' works. Besides, the democratic thumb-up/thumb-down and add/edit/delete entries functions are fair enough to monitor the quality of the posts. Just like Wikipedia, the improvement of entries is made among Internet users but not by authority. Because of the absence of hierarchical website management structure, Urban Dictionary encourages people to express their creativity.

Being a slang library, it also encourages the creation and spread of the casual language. A number of new entries are posted every day. The entries first inform others of the existence of the expressions. People may then pick up those words or phrases which they see cool to use, making them become popular. As long as communication doesn't cease, new slangs will be formed, and the processes keep going on as long as people put the expressions onto the Dictionary. What Urban Dictionary does is to speed up the process of meaning formation and public recognition.

 

A humble recommendation: Next time when you have nothing to do in front of the computer, find some leisure readings from Urban Dictionary (explicit descriptions alert!)