The title you see is the description of the presentation I will be delivering during Thursday’s class, except that I will talk about the stifling and growth that is taking place.
The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, as found in dictionary.com, says that multiculturalism is, “The view that the various cultures in a society merit equal respect and scholarly interest. As time history tells us, this definition is not always met. Equality continues still today, however the aspect of it that we will examine is that concerning the Internet.
First, let’s look at multiculturalism from a broad perspective. It would seem as though the Internet is very multicultural. Most people are given this impression by MMO’s, and Dell. When you ask Dell for technical support, you speak or IM with someone in India, not Ohio. When you play an MMO like WoW, you don’t play just with/against people from the United States. You play with gamers from Sweden, Spain, Korea, Japan, etc. Korea, for example, is famous for its powerhouses of servers. Hundreds of rooms full of nothing but servers provide fiber optic LAN access to the world; they also have gaming cafes where everyone appears to be drugged because they’ve been living off of peanuts and coke for four days straight while playing Counter-Strike.
When you think about it, though, aren’t most of the people you’ve played with from Europe, and western Asia? When was the last time you played against a farmer from India, or a postal worker from Ghana? Sure, there are people in developing countries that play online games, and who use the Internet, but there are not very many of them.
This brings us to a more micro approach to the subject. 14 months ago I visited India, and while I was staying in a small town (maybe 20,000 inhabitants), I found an Internet café. I sat down to use this Pentium I machine, at 10 cents per minute, and… the dial-up wouldn’t work. I was then informed that the town only had one data line coming into it, and that, if the dial-up didn’t work, then no other Internet café, or person with a computer, in the town could use it either. I was amazed at this, but this is when multiculturalism online becomes most clear. Multiculturalism on the Internet spreads and spreads- through developed countries with free-market economies and money (i.e. resources to support massive online infrastructures). Where this spread to the “haves” ceases, a lack of diversity occurs with the “have-nots.”
The third world is left behind, essentially, as the times move on. In this way, they are unable to contribute to the growth of online multiculturalism. Unfortunately, this leaves out billions of people in our world, who are too impoverished to afford access to the Internet. Of course there are firms in Delhi and Ho Chi Minh that offer traditional Indian and Vietnamese goods for sale through the Internet, but the farmers and laborers from the countryside that actually produce those products, have no concept whatsoever of how their goods are “mysteriously” sold. They do not know about the internet, and how it connects people and allows instantaneous communication across tens of thousands of miles.
Multiculturalism online, therefore, is divided simply between the “haves” and “have-nots.” Multiculturalism grows because the “haves” use it, and it is stifled because the “have-nots” can not and/or do not use it.
This link is to an article that is an excellent supplement to my post, and elaborates a little further the concept I explore here of "haves" and "have-nots": http://wordswork.com/samples/etc/multicultural-internet.html.
This link is for a YouTube video that reflects somewhat upon the issues I have explored here. Keep in mind, though, that although it speaks of "a few villages" or "one place over there," the problem of multiculturalism being stifled by poverty still affects billions of people more than it helps. It even talks about Intel's goal of "connecting the next 1 billion people to internet." Intel- you've got a ways to go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgIimMEronA.
Works Cited for the definition of "Multiculturalism": "multiculturalism." The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. 20 Feb. 2007.
9 comments:
The internet is multiculture in a very limited sense. There is an array of cultures of the internet, but mostly an array of upper class culture (esp. in the case of third world nations) so while most common people are left in the dark the upper class in many countries still connects.
While I agree with everything you have said, I feel as if a huge chunk of your topic has been left out of discussion. There is always a difference in culture between those who have the internet and those who do not. However, there is a distinct culture of these "haves" specifically. The internet is a conglomerate of people from cultures all over the world. When each person comes online and offers input or surfs the web for information, they are adding a bit of their culture to the web. In essence, the web is just a mix of all cultures. However, each person that goes online will be able to slowly assimilate different cultures into their own, unknowingly. This could be an interesting topic to cover for thursdays presentation, barring time of course.
I also agree with the points you made in this write-up. It's no secret that many of the underprivleged people in these third world countries don't have access to the Internet, much less other necessities of living a successful life (food, shelter, education). I don't know how likely it will be for Intel to achieve it's goal of 1 Billion new Internet users, but I think it's a good idea.
Technology can be the one thing that these poor people in developing countries use to get a better education so they can rise up out of their poverty and onto the plateau of success. Then they can use that education and come back to their towns and villages and make them better as well (like Dikembe Mutumbo who built a brand new hospital in his home village after making lots of money from the NBA). The Internet does indeed connect people from all around the world, but that's not to say that all people around the world connect to the Internet. Hopefully, we see more companies take the initiative like Intel and try to help third world countries while also helping themselves (1 billion new computer users=1 billion future customers of all computer related merchandise; it's a really smart investment by Intel).
I completley agree. Multiculturalism seems to find its limit in regards to the internet. People in thrid world countries a lot of time help enhance the internet experience of those in the first world. As you said we some times speak to people in India for technical assistace or other questions. They, however, are unable to be contribute to or experience the perks of the "world wide web".
As I read along, I couldn’t help but think about the ways I use the internet in my everyday life and the degree to which I rely on it being consistently available for me. The techniques and customs of the education system in our society has been transformed to utilize the internet and all technology to its fullest degree (a luxury that we have the pleasure of taking advantage of). So when I think about people in third-world countries who don’t have these tools for their education, I can’t help but see a widening gap between us and them.
If anything, I hope Intel’s program will at least bring some publicity to the topic of multiculturalism online. Maybe they’ll even be able to create change in areas that will make a difference. Nice job on the post, Jeff.
The way we use the internet, I can only imagine how aweful it would be to have only ONE data line coming into campus or into dc, the AU internet is already slow enough, I can't imagine Dial-Up with all of the computers here! Nice work
As i commented in class, there will always be subdivisions of culture, so to really check for multiculturalism you gotta slice one of those layers out and examine it inparticular. If you want national culture, start there and end there. Local culture? start local, end local. If you mix the different areas of cultural measurement you will always find multiculture. It is really sad though that the "first world" doesnt help too many "third world" nations in their pursiut of connectivity, and then they wonder why they cant advance.
Not having the internet would definitely make our lives much harder. I think that bringing it to the third world to promote modernity and progress can be a good thing, but we also need to remember that the most developed countries today took hundreds of years to move from agrarian societies to post-industrial capitalist ones. I see the possibility for benefit and for harm. Benefit in this sense meaning we allow them to plug into our society - the merits of which can be argued. Harm in that we have no idea what this "jump start" could do to these developing cultures.
The internet has become so embedded in our culture that it has moved from something unique to something mundane and average like the telephone.
While I was overseas I noticed that while not everyone had access to the internet, nearly eveyrone had a cellphone.
I feel that in good time, eventually the internet will reach everyone, just as television and the telephone have nearly reached every edge of the globe.
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