Exercise 2.2
Is the cyberspace the most persuasive signifier of globalisation today? What other engineerings can be considered planetary? Is the World Wide Web truly global or planetary? Or is it widening the spread between the information rich persons and poor persons, known in the cyberspace age as the ‘digital divide ‘ ?
The development of the World Wide Web has turned the Internet into the ‘fastest growing-tool of communicating ‘ and ‘global medium ‘ ( Thussu 2006, p.208 ) . Statisticss revealed that the figure of Internet users has significantly propelled to more than three times from 2000 to 2009, making out to more than 1.7 billion users worldwide. The manifestation is chiefly attributed by the cheaper and rapid connectivity as a consequence of the ageless developments of calculating and communicating engineerings. The patterned advance now offers a huge dimension of instantaneous planetary information resources, and virtually broadens and evolves the amusement kingdom and services ( Thussu 2006, p.208-211 ) .
In the twenty-first century, the prevalence of the Internet has made it easier for people to link with one another. As information can be shared without any boundary, it enables an person, authorities or concerns to be assimilated or exposed to the economical, cultural and societal facets of merely about anything, runing from a state, service or merchandise.
The local Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained that globalisation is inevitable to advance international growing, and how the United Nations ( UN ) had benefited through the Internet. The Internet facilitated electronic entree to official paperss of the UN and their alleviation web. Amalgamate parts were made to the human-centered alleviation attempts, where so Minister for Foreign Affairs mentioned ‘the Internet – has tied all of us together, really much like a planetary household ‘ ( S. Jayakumar, 1998 ) .
Apart from functioning as an intermediary between persons to the find of cultural and social differences and positions within their limited horizon, the Internet besides opens up another avenue for companies and authorities organic structures to raise consciousness of their several docket globally. To maintain abreast with the goaded force of globalisation, the Singapore Tourism Board ( STB ) leverages on the practical portal by manner of its ain web site to advance the local touristry industry worldwide amongst other selling and promotion agencies. This sways beyond the confined boundaries of pre-Internet age as it reaches out at a wider group of audience more quickly than other media and communicating agencies ( Thussu 2006, p.208 ) .
Disputatiously, the Internet can be considered the most persuasive technological tool, in peculiar in developed states. This is premised on its seamlessness of connectivity and the broad scope of information that is prevailing in the universe provided on the Internet.
Conversely, the Internet phenomenon may non be the most efficient platform in distribution of information. Albeit taking a longer period to set up an audience of 50 million as compared to the Internet ( Thussu 2006, p. 208 ) , the telecasting and is an alternate planetary communicating platform ( Sreberny 2000, p. 97 ) to make out to those in backwoods.
Notwithstanding the rapid information communicating engineering developments, there is still a broad group of people who are still non able to read or compose, therefore, organizing a decentralized information and beginning spread. The telecasting, as Saddar described as ‘the height of information engineering ‘ ( 2002, p. 81 ) , serves as a medium to bridge the spreads through the airing of imagination and vocal information. This broadcast engineering translates to the simpleness of information outreach to both the literate and nonreader groups internationally as images surpass the lingual barriers ( Thussu 2006, p. 113 ) .
Individually, telecasting channels can be aired worldwide, and with the planetary addition in families having a telecasting set ( Sreberny 2000, p.97 ) , it can be argued that the telecasting is a successful media tool to meet cultural and lifestyle values between different states. Hall ( 1991, p. 27 ) hailed the telecasting the ‘global mass civilization ‘ , which could function to propagate to bring on and determine the mode people behave or respond. The Americanized televised programmes, such as ‘American Idol ‘ , have attracted states to host similar amusement programmes. Singapore hosted the ‘Singapore Idol ‘ for three successful seasons and besides emulated the Chinese and Tamil versions titled ‘Project Superstar ‘ and ‘Vasantha Star ‘ severally to provide to the different lingual groups. On the other manus, Nipponese and Korean play series besides permeate the involvement of our local viewing audiences by storm through televised broadcast in early 2000, where they get infused about the cultural and values facets of these two states.
The Godhead of the Worldwide Web ( WWW ) , Tim Berners Lee, named the system undertaking ‘worldwide ‘ to internationalise it universally and let users to voyage and entree to boundless information at any parts of the universe. Notwithstanding the purpose to develop the web worldwide, web sites were written and managed in English or Latin characters, curtailing agencies for hypertext transportation protocol. Therefore, there is no precise measuring to find the web is really world-wide or planetary, given its parturiency to the use of the linguistic communication characters.
ICANN agreed to let states to use for their names on the sphere and utilizing its ain characters on 16 November 2009, giving birth to the ‘global web ‘ . It opens up another platform to convey in huge touchable and intangible chances on the web. The liberalisation in linguistic communication characters besides facilitates an enlargement in cross boundary line trades and investings, opening up of concern markets and new users as it brings an individuality integrating and assimilation in planetary context. International companies, such as Hass, have besides started to term the web as a planetary tool to make out to the universe. These farther support the statement that WWW has gone planetary.
On the flipside, the digitalisation on the WWW has triggered the inequality and disproportionate in information distribution and entree, taking to the digital divide between the rich and hapless population. This would hold been precipitated by the restriction or deficiency in physical entree in facets of the package and hardware handiness, fiscal capablenesss to construct substructures and its ensued package care, and institutional of the literacy criterions, in peculiar to those in backwoods.
To further augment my contention, on-line media policies regulated by different authoritiess besides play a portion in digital divide. Internet suppliers are state-run in many states, leting the authorities to set in topographic point gateway control mechanism to forbid entree to certain sites and proctor email communicating ( Thussu 2006, p. 239 ) . For case, the Persian authorities restricts the usage of high velocity cyberspace to control the proliferation of the western civilization influences, such as music and telecasting, to its people ( Tait 2006 ) .
For optimisation of the Internet, the spreads have to be abridged significantly, but it would non be an easy effort with the different economic statures and sets of media communicating regulations and ordinances of each state.
Reference List
- Statement by Singapore Foreign Minister, Prof S Jayakumar to the 53rd United Nations General Assembly in New York, 28 Sep 1998
- hypertext transfer protocol: //app.mfa.gov.sg/2006/press/view_press.asp? post_id=212
- The world-wide web merely went planetary, Andy Atkins-Kruger, Search Engine Watch, 4 Nov 2009
- hypertext transfer protocol: //searchenginewatch.com/3635562
- Hass web site reflects planetary presence
- hypertext transfer protocol: //web.ebscohost.com.ezlibproxy.unisa.edu.au/ehost/pdf? vid=3 & A ; hid=6 & A ; sid=66d3a3cb-4ada-43b8-9c59-7ada6eb0f789 % 40sessionmgr11
- Iran prohibitions fast cyberspace to cut West ‘s influence, Robert Taits, The Guardian, 18 Oct 2006
- hypertext transfer protocol: //www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2006/oct/18/news.iran
