Page 43 - Culture Technology Communication

28 Charles Ess

ways, a distinctively Western vision of the electronic global village
and its collateral assumptions concerning a universal human
nature, the central role of communication and communication
technologies in founding and sustaining democratic polities, the
neutrality (in both cultural and communicative terms) of CMC
technologies, and so forth. These collisions help make explicit fun-
damental differences among diverse cultural values and communi-
cation styles, and they give us a much better understanding of the
power and limits of contemporary CMC technologies. Perhaps most
importantly, these papers also develop a trajectory towards a dis-
tinctive and hopeful model for the future of a global Internet, one
which cuts between the usual dichotomies between utopia and
dystopia, and between global (and potentially imperialistic) and
local (and potentially isolated) cultures. In this middle ground may
emerge a pluralistic humanity—dual citizens and polybrids at home
in both distinctive (“thick”) local cultures and a global (but “thin”)
on-line culture.
In David Kolb’s (1998) helpful image, perhaps the fiber optics
and other network technologies will become an electronic Silk Road,
whose trading cities house peoples of diverse traditions and beliefs
living in relative harmony with one another. The tools of CMC will
allow for certain kinds of communication, but (in the short run) not
all—and thus remain only one set among many of “communications
suites,” i.e., ways and means of communicating that individuals and
groups can invoke as befits specific goals and contexts. And, contrary
to the American presumptions, it seems unlikely that communica-
tion alone, no matter how facilitated by CMC technologies, will erase
all conflicts between individuals and peoples. Communication here
will not always be clear, either between individuals within a shared
culture or cross-culturally; but, as anyone who has learned another
language and lived in a different culture knows, we learn from our
mistakes, especially in an environment of good will and patience
with one another.
Out of this middle ground of a plurality of cultural systems and
their collusions and collisions, moreover, will emerge not only “pid-
gins”—e.g., the sterilized airport music and the thin English often
found in Internet communications—but also new and rich compos-
ites such as those noted here. But again, such composites and cul-
tural plurality will require first of all intercultural persons, dual
citizens who proceed carefully and demonstrate a deep understand-
ing and strong respect for diverse values, traditions, customs, and
beliefs. Even under these circumstances, cultural collisions are in-