Page 11 - Culture Technology Communication

x Foreword

communication technologies in each of these domains, we must first
understand how they work in the broadest possible spectrum of cul-
tural contexts.
Still, the question remains: positive outcomes for whom? This
book is written in English, by scholars trained in Western academic
practices, who by-and-large are optimistic regarding the new tech-
nologies and the ultimate effects of their spread. The voices of the
poor, the uneducated, the conservative Muslim or Hindu, the na-
tionalistic Frenchman, the Luddite, or even the “average user” are
not represented, and thus the overall picture that emerges is neither
complete nor culturally unbiased. Nonetheless, much credit is due
the editors for broaching this vital and sensitive topic, thereby open-
ing the door to further discussion and debate.
In short, the globalization of the Internet raises intellectual and
social challenges concerning cultural bias in CMC, mechanisms of
technology diffusion, and barriers to equitable access. As such, it has
practical implications for e-commerce, distance education, law, lan-
guage policy and planning, cultural preservation efforts, politics,
and international security, as well as for computer system and soft-
ware design. Indeed, as the Internet and the World Wide Web con-
tinue to spread to ever more remote corners of the world and to
diverse subgroups within individual nations, globalization is ar-
guably the single most important issue confronting scholars and
users of computer-mediated communication today. The present vol-
ume invites us to consider the effects of computer networking from a
global perspective, and to evaluate for ourselves whether they are
likely to lead to desirable or undesirable outcomes for humankind.

Susan C. Herring

References

Global Reach. 2000. Global Internet statistics. <http://glreach.com/
globstats.html>
Yates, Simeon. 1996. “English in Cyberspace.” In Redesigning English: New
Texts, New Identities, eds. S. Goodman and D. Graddol, 106–140. Lon-
don: Routledge.