Page 32 - Culture Technology Communication

Introduction: What’s Culture Got to Do with It? 17

wake as possessing their own autonomous power, one that cannot be
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resisted or turned by individual or collective decisions. The hope of
proponents is that the introduction of CMC technologies will in-
evitably change cultural values for their own good. These technolo-
gies will convey and reinforce preferences for, say, free speech and
individualism, particularly in the case of the Internet and the Web,
as centralized control of information conveyed through these tech-
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nologies is very difficult. In the inverse dystopian image, captured
powerfully in the images of the Borg in Star Trek, technology is like-
wise an unstoppable force; once infected by the Borg implants, all
humanity (meaning specifically such qualities as individuality, com-
passion, and choice) is lost as one becomes seamlessly integrated
into the single-minded machinery of the Collective. Such science-
fiction portrayals nicely capture the real-world fears of those who
see CMC technologies as central engines in the global but homoge-
nous McWorld that will override and eliminate local choice and dis-
tinctive cultural values.
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But consonant with philosophical critiques, such (hard) tech-
nological determinism is clearly belied by these studies, beginning
with Jones’ analysis of the limits of any on-line community. Such a
“compunity,” to use his term, is more likely to emerge as a micropo-
lis rather than the cosmopolis of a single global culture. And as Yoon
makes clear in her analysis, the habitus of cultural practices and at-
titudes surrounding computing exercises a kind of cultural power
that can be both shaped and resisted by individuals. This suggests
that both individuals and countries can make choices regarding how
the implementation of CMC technologies will shape their political
and cultural futures. Most powerfully, Hongladarom’s example of
“thin” Internet culture/“thick” local cultures stands as a concrete al-
ternative to such Manichean dualisms—one instantiated in praxis
in the Thai case. 17 Negatively, these analyses and examples thus
contradict the assumption of (hard) technological determinism and
with it, the Manichean dualities that rest upon this assumption.
Positively, they identify middle grounds between a McWorld that
steamrolls local cultures and the Jihad that such imperialism and
homogenization may evoke. 18

From Philosophy to Interdisciplinary Dialogue: Cultural
Attitudes towards Technology and Communication

Technological determinism is not the only assumption underlying
the prevailing icons of what Keniston identifies as the Anglo-Saxon