More on Communication

After reading a journal about how globalisation has developed because of communication I came across some staggering facts.

"90% of internet users are Westerners; in 2004, in the USA, there were 195 million internet servers, in Europe 22 million, whereas in Africa only 300,000; the city of New York alone has more phone channels than the entire continent of Africa. Such unequal opportunity has lead to the exclusion of 3 billion people from scientific knowledge and process."

As the word globalisation would suggest to incorporate the whole world it is clear from the facts that it doesn't. This is because for countries to join in the globalisation process they have to contribute a minimum level of means and infrastructure required to become connected with the rest of the world on a global scale. The ever growing scale of globalisation has therefore left an unequal divide between the countries who have greatly benefited from it and those who haven't.

However this divide isn't totally accurate as communication through means like the internet has broken down barriers between groups of people and their different cultures. This has seen a hugh rise in immigration leading to more people holding multiple citizenships. Everyone now has the freedom to live where they wish because of the growing relationships between countries.

As McLuhan stated "the evolution of the means of communication has reduced the importance of the physical presence in the favour of the way we live the experience of the people and events...as a result, the place you are in is less important than what you know or live."

Luminita and Soproni (2011) Introduction. The Globalisation of Communication, Eurolimes.

-Ruth