What is the nature of the new super-highways we – and so many other developed and developing nations – are now building and utilising? Are they indeed super-highways or super-hypeways?
...he possibility of a global village to emerge, where technologies can enable greater communication across borders promote heightened inter-cultural awareness and communication, and a resistance to wars between societies on the basis of their perceived ‘difference’” (Flew, 2002, p. 28). Even though McLuhan and Fiore may have their critics where loss of culture and identity issues are raised, this is an early concept of the interactivity that occurs today on the Internet through chat groups, online communities, selling, email, niche and subculture groups. Shapiro (2000) takes it one step further when he comments, “we are in the middle of not just a communications revolution or an information revolution, but a “control” revolution. Using the Net and other new media, individuals can take back power from large institutions including government, corporations and the media” (World Media Forum, Online). From personalising home pages and information retrieval to political involvement with grassroots activists, there is more individual opportunity and control over individuals’ own lives, including what news and entertainment they are exposed to. With the control revolution comes freedom of speech and a decentralized democracy among users in the developed world. However users other than in the West in countries such as Vietnam and China operate with many restrictions, with policed access to Western and radical political websites. Chat sessions are monitored closely, with some topics (such as the current government in China) warranted forbidden over others. This can work against these nations and create a larger divide and monopoly of the United States, “if developing countries can remove the political and economic barriers to the growth of the Internet, the economic opportunities for growth will be huge” (TechWeb News, Online). A conference was held late 2003 aimed at advancing the management and worldwide use of the Internet (with global regulation through the UN), especially in meeting needs such as health and education in developing nations. The problems faced by developing countries in building and utilizing mass Internet technologies are numerous, including the limitations of third world countries. Intermittent electricity supply, outdated equipment, illiteracy, widespread poverty, government restrictions and resource allocation priorities all hinder access to the Internet. Creating localized content and cheap communication tools, such as the Simputer can help some of the problems faced, “The Simputer has a special role in the third world because it ensures that illiteracy is no longer a barrier to handling a computer.” (Simputer.org, Online). Economic growth has a high correlation with communication and information and through the Internet developing nations have been building on education where individuals can learn at their own pace, have cheap access, health in remote areas and agriculture with real time weather forcasting. Governments can offer a direct channel to higher officials, provide information on government aid and policies can help in reducing poverty (Media Lab Asia, Online). With over 900 million people, India is taking advantage of technology “Exports rose from $114 million in 1990 to $351 million in 1994.” (UNESCO, Online). By the time the Internet was considered “important news” in the media, the initial ‘new’ technology hype had come and gone. In 1994 the US government picked it up again and pitched the Internet to the masses, heavily backed by businesses and media. Al Gore spoke of the “superhighway”, and a public relations campaign was launched; the dream to have every man woman and child connected to the Internet. Hype tends to move in a cycle that moves in a bell shaped curve, quickly up and down. Propelled by the initial promotion through the US Government to hop on the superhighway, the dot.com boom and subsequent bust was waiting to happen. Businesses taking advantage of the emerging technology and attempting to catch the wave over their competitors before completing a good business model, signified disaster for many dot.com startups. “For every successful Internet startup, lots of others fell by the wayside due to poor business planning and profligate spending.” (Thomson Financial Inc. Online) Money and job loss were the major fallouts from the bust in developed and developing countries. “Ask Jeeves has trimmed its payroll from 850 employees in 2000 to 350 workers today. MarketWatch pruned its annual expenses from $70 million in 2000 to $38.5 million in 2002” (USA Today Online). Today, jobs and professions are undergoing deep changes affecting every single area of the workplace. Concentrating jobs in services rather than industry means that individuals may be employed around the clock, the middleman is no longer required, online retailers have reduced employment in conventional industries. “Real-time auction system on a 24-7 rotation requires that the site be operational, available and fully functional for the entire 24-7 time period” (Dann, 2001, p. 45). However, despite the dot.com bust, it isn’t all doom and gloom as there is new business to be conducted and money to be made. “In breakthroughs that show the promise of e-commerce wasn't all smoke and mirrors, four dot.coms recently reported their first quarterly profits” (USA Today Online). The potential for consumers with e-commerce is endless with increased choice of product and services, price comparisons, customer reviews of products, all operating 24 hours a day. Items purchased on the net can “vary considerably across countries with apparently more ‘high-touch’ commoditites such as food, clothes, and furniture featuring in the list of items most purchased in some countries” (Flew, 2002, p. 142) Even though there are companies starting to show some profit, businesses and their employees are still cautious and understand that stocks are risky. Consumers are concerned about very real issues such as privacy, security, and regulation for online transactions, hindering the growth of the online economy. Transaction safeguards, decoding messages and security measures such as digital signatures are necessary to enable building of a more secure online environment for purchasing goods. However, how can we know if this is trustworthy? Interestingly an ISP thought it wasn’t when it asked an The Age journalist if she could fax them a form with her signature, “so why not set up a Web form where I can do all these sorts of niggling administrative tasks, and I have to input a user name and password to verify myself?” (Bersten, 2002, p 14). To discourage credit card fraud banks are now monitoring transactions and contacting customers if a transaction looks to be suspicious. This protects the customer and the bank from potential theft. Spam and virus’s are another insidious ramification of being connected to the global network. Hoax emails set up to trick money out of people and spam sells anything from weight loss schemes to cyberporn. Filtering software helps but 100% filtering is near impossible. Authorities have recently tried to crack down on spammers, “While penalties of $1.1 million a day will be reserved for prolific spammers, most complaints about spamming will be treated with a simple phone call, according to the Australian Communications Authority.” (Turner, 2004, p 1). Blocking and burying unsolicited emails is one of the main...