Internet and culture Essay

Introduction Technology affects culture in various ways. As the industrial revolution made its impact in Europe in the nineteenth century, the factory mode of production and assembly line operations had a significant impact on family structures. In the twentieth century the popularity of radio and television gave way to large scale broadcasting media that reached out to a large population. The post second world war era saw a proliferation of mass media shaped by new age advertising that attempted to create new markets, sometimes by determining people’s needs and sometimes by shaping their wants. This has been seen by many as a culture shaping mechanism that attempts to harmonize the entire world. One of the first models that studied this phenomenon is the Frankfurt School, which analyzed the processes of cultural production and political economy, the politics of cultural texts, and audience reception and use of cultural artifacts (Kellner 1989 and 1995). The Frankfurt school studied this trend in both the US and in Germany and was witness to the rise of modern media and a culture that evolved around the cinema, popular music, radio, television, and other forms of mass culture (Wiggershaus 1994). The Internet Revolution However the internet revolution that came on the heels of the collapse of the Berlin wall and the dismantling of the Soviet system, putting an end to the cold war unleashed other forces that would counter the unifying theme of global corporate controlled media. The Internet allowed people to access specific information, it made it possible for the ordinary person, cutting across digital divides to upload his or her won thought and through various websites, blogs and contributed material enabled a large amount of personalized information to be shared and debated. The forces of globalization coupled with individual thought and attitude made the internet a forum that could counter the uniformity that mass media was prone to develop. The future of the internet is one where larger communities develop of like minded individuals or of individuals who debate and discuss issues of their concern. The digital divide, thanks to cheaper broadband, is already dwindling and larger communities across the globe getting connected. The web, with its search engines and portals that carry loads of information, already is a seamless source of information that is easy to access and offers information for free. Email that developed along with the web is now something everyone uses and has brought back people in touch with each other without having to send slow snail mail or spend money in calling their contacts over the phone; Email will continue to be one of the most important tools on the web used by large populations for easy communication. Search engines have already developed to a large extent and the contribution of encyclopedia like Wikipedia to those wanting to share information and learn new things is already well documented. As Zittrain (2006) argues, â€Å"The most plausible path along which the Internet might develop is one that finds greater stability by imposing greater constraint on, if not outright elimination of, the capacity of upstart innovators to demonstrate and deploy their genius to large audiences. Financial transactions over such an Internet will be more trustworthy, but the range of its users’ business models will be narrow. † Conclusion However, what is yet uncertain is how this new technology shapes the future of culture in an international setting. Will it cause further stress as more people use the technology to spread terror, child abuse, sell spurious drugs over the net and indulge in petty financial fraud? Will it be an invasion of privacy as more and more personal information is stored in web pages across the net? Would it lose its current free flowing inclusive character and get regulated by various governments worried about the nature of the Internet that allows everyone to be the author and the reader at the same time? The future will answer these questions, but till then as we surf the web getting more and unique information, individual thoughts and insights, send email and blog, the power of this new technology captivates those of us who now spend hours on the net. REFERENCES †¢ Kellner, D (1989) Critical Theory, Marxism, and Modernity. Cambridge and Baltimore: Polity and John Hopkins University Press. †¢ Kellner, D. (1995) Media Culture. Cultural Studies, Identity, and Politics, Between the Modern and the Postmodern. London and New York: Routledge. †¢ Wiggershaus, R (1994), The Frankfurt School. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. †¢ Zittrain, J. L. (2006) â€Å"The Generative Internet†. Harvard Law Review, Vol. 119. pp 1974 -2040. At http://www. harvardlawreview. org/issues/119/may06/zittrain. pdf. Last Accessed May 1, 2007.