7.2.4 Communications Technology

Are people becoming more alike because of globalization?


Communication Revolution: In the past, when a person wanted to get a message to someone, he would write a letter on paper and send it by a horseman, a boatman, or someone on foot. Messages could take days or even months to reach their destinations. This meant that people's connections with each other were weak and easily broken. People did not know about political events or natural disasters in other parts of the world often for months after they occurred. Misunderstandings occurred frequently. Political and economic disagreements were not easily resolved.

Today, technology has revolutionized the way in which people around the world can communicate with each other.

Communications technology brings us closer. Today, we can communicate in seconds with someone on the top of Mount Everest or even in space. We can find out what is happening in the research labs of the world by phone or Internet. In seconds by live video feeds, we can find out what is happening in a war zone. We can share ideas and opinions as never before.

This has produced an information explosion and huge advances in scientific knowledge.

©Phil Schmeister/National Geographic Stock

Courtesy of Ian Coad
Courtesy of Dawna Bates

Watch


Watch this short video that shows us how technology is shaping the way we think, live, and share ideas. Think about its message.



[ Michael Wesch, Digital Ethnography, Kansas State University]

Communications technology blurs the line between public and private space. A generation ago, a telephone call was a private event. Now, you can receive a call or text message anywhere from a city street to an aisle in the supermarket. From the privacy of your own home using the Internet, you can create your own identity through
social networking software
the use of computer software or websites that enable people to communicate, connect, or collaborate

Examples include

  • MySpace
  • MSN
  • Facebook
  • Nexopia
social networks. You can live in a virtual community of real people. This community can consist of people you know face-to-face or people from all over the world with their own perspectives and cultures — or a combination of real and virtual people!

In the past, people wrote diaries and journals that were private. Today,
blog
an online journal or diary with new entries appearing as they are written, usually dealing with personal reflections or opinions

Often, blog entries are hyperlinked to other websites or blog entries.

Example: Blogger (http://www.blogger.com/start)
blogs are both public and anonymous, allowing people to share their thoughts with others around the world. Movies at one time required a great deal of financial investment and time and were shown publicly. Now, movies are made by individuals and shown privately over the Internet on websites such as YouTube, which opens a whole new world so we can see, hear, and experience the
global village
a term coined by Marshall McLuhan  to describe how electronic mass media reduces and eliminates space and time barriers and enables people from throughout the world to interact and have a sense of community similar to that expected in a village
global village in a whole new way.

Connective knowledge: Some people talk about the knowledge we obtain today as connective knowledge, as knowledge that connects us in ways that were impossible until recently. We can learn from the knowledge of others and contribute to the global knowledge network through
wiki
a collaborative website that can be edited by anyone with access to it

Example: Wikipedia
wikis and other forms of information sharing.

Reality: Many studies show that the world we see on TV or in the movies is not reality. Minorities, women, and young people are not well represented. Families rarely are shown as they really are. Furthermore, much of what is broadcast, especially over cable and satellite, is produced in the United States. It does not show the life of most people around the world.

If television does not portray accurately the world around us within our own cultural context, imagine its effect on Indigenous people and people of other cultures. In the homes of the Inuit or the people of Sub-Saharan Africa or an island in the Pacific, they not only see a warped version of North American life, but they do not see their own cultures represented.

  • Universalization of pop culture: As the people of the world are more exposed to the narrow "reality" that is presented in the media, they take on many aspects of the identity of the culture they see. That includes not only clothing, food, music, and the other outward aspects of culture but the beliefs and values of the dominant culture. This is a challenge, not only to those who lose their cultural identities, but to the whole world because we all suffer when diversity is lost. 

  • Digital Divide: The easy and immediate ability to communicate with people around the world is not equally shared. Although you in Canada may be able to complete your high school diploma and even study for a university degree online, others still do not have access to a textbook or a pencil. Although you can text your medical clinic for your latest lab results, others still cannot get to a doctor. The
    digital divide
    the gap between those with access to digital technology and those without access
    digital divide limits millions of people.