01 July 2011
The Global Internet Through a Local Lens
The internet landscape remains unevenly dominated by the cultural and economic powerhouses. But Internet access should firstly be a portal to a domestic network that gives access to local content, empowering local communities and developing local economy.
Developing Content for the Indigenous Internet
One of the many attractions of the Internet is that it offers so much, to so many. The global system of interconnected computer networks now serves over a billion users across the planet. However, for the vast majority of those users, the technology enabling the Internet is invisible and irrelevant. This is exactly as it should be. For the millions who connect every day, the value of the Internet lies in the content and services it makes globally accessible.
The Internet and in particular the World Wide Web, can be viewed in terms of content producers and content consumers. We can think of content producers as those individuals, groups or organisations that post or publish material online. That material, or content, can take the form of text, multimedia (audio or video), photographs, software applications and services. Content consumers, on the other hand, are those who access material or services available online. Of course on the Internet there are far more content consumers than content producers. Still, the beauty of the Internet is the unprecedented efficiency with which it serves the appetites of content consumers across the world.
However, even though any individual can now potentially reach a global audience, the internet landscape remains unevenly dominated by the cultural and economic powerhouses of the world. A scan of the top most visited websites underscores this point. The websites in the top 1000 speak to the reality of generic human interests that stand alongside a range of diverse cultural preferences. We see news, research and business ranking beside social networking, entertainment and shopping. This tells us that the Internet, ultimately, is a delivery mechanism that facilitates the fulfillment of universal human needs — the need for knowledge, entertainment, service, information, social interaction, and empowerment.
As the Internet grows, those countries and societies with mature systems of content development, innovation and entrepreneurism will continue to be better positioned to meet these needs. At the same time, such countries are also better positioned to take advantage of the efficiency, and capacity of the Internet to amplify and extend their cultural reach and economic capacity. The implication of this amplification and extension of cultural reach and economic capacity from developed markets, is that it can drown out indigenous content and restrict local economic opportunities in developing and under-developed markets.
This imbalance of content (like an imbalance in trade) can come at a heavy and deleterious socio-economic price to affected countries and regions. It changes appetites, it adjusts expectations, it affects values, and ultimately it modifies behavior in a manner that is often not in the best interest of national development or cultural preservation and can disrupt tradition indigenous social norms.
The Internet: Local is Global
As more countries in the developing world implement strategies to get their populations online, we must now raise the questions 'whose Internet will these new users be connecting to?'and 'into whose Cloud will they be Computing?'
Will the next billion Internet users be able to access indigenous literature, art or news? Will they find perspectives and values that are familiar? Will they be able to access services, to easily buy and sell goods — in their currency, fulfilled by their financial institutions, covered by their laws?
Many countries are now realising that they do not have satisfactory responses to these questions. They are also recognizing that urgent action is needed to address this issue.
From Cloud Consumers to Cloud Producers
The concept that local access to the internet gives users global reach is well understood. This consumer paradigm is in fact most prevalent, as users routinely go to the internet to get something from a foreign source. The notion that satisfying 'local' needs can create global opportunities is, however, less prevalent. The producer paradigm, where users in a jurisdiction leverage the Internet as a platform for publishing content and deploying services, needs to become more reflexive. Content contributed from as many sources and on as many subjects as possible is a necessary approach if the Internet to be truly reflective of the many cultures and societies it touches.
For local users Internet access should firstly be a portal to a domestic network that gives access to local content, enabling local transactions, reinforcing local values, empowering local communities and developing the local economy. This is something Internet users in the developed world take for granted.
A user in New York expects to easily find a list of the best coffee shops in his neighbourhood. A user in London expects to be able to go online to get the latest bus schedule. A user in Berlin expects to go online to get near real-time news on what's happening in the city. In each case the user expects to go on the global internet to satisfy a local need. This should be no different for users in the developing world. In other words, the global Internet can be viewed as an aggregation of local networks.
These local networks focus on delivering information and services that are primarily focused on serving local needs and demands. This is not an unfamiliar concept. It can be observed with radio stations and local television channels and local press. These services focus on meeting local content demands while also connecting to and giving access to larger external networks.
A radio station, for example, may play music or syndicated content from around the world. However, its news, advertisements and public service announcements will always be tailored to the local market it serves. The same model applies to local television stations. This gives domestic users a resource that connects them to their immediate (local) world, while also give them access to an external (global) world.
This model scales perfectly to the internet, with the added advantage that the web, as a content delivery platform, is also interactive and transactional. Still, this advantage has to be transformed from potential into reality. It is this transformation that seems to elude many developing countries. In the race to connect communities to the Internet, it seems many proceed without the benefit of a roadmap.
Any structured plan to produce local content will require coordination, but not necessarily centralization. This is where creative local resources produce relevant local content, riding on local infrastructure, governed by local legislative and regulatory frameworks to meet local needs.
This is the 'Local Internet'. This builds the global Internet.
This extract from a Paper by Bevil Wooding on the topic "Developing Indigenous Content — The Global Internet Through A Local Lens” was first published on Bevil Wooding’s Circle ID blog. Bevil Wooding is a member of the Executive Core of Congress WBN, an Internet Strategist and the Caribbean Outreach Manager for Packet Clearing House. He works closely with organizations in the public and private sector to leverage the power of ICTs and is a strong advocate in developing countries for the adoption of Internet and internet-based technologies as a tool for corporate, economic and social transformation.
Comments (9)
Bevil Wooding has provided a roadmap and design of how we should view and use the internet most especially in the developing countries. well done and thank you God bless you.Abuja Nigeria
After reading this article, there was one statement that came to mind; “In order to know where you are going, you must first know from where you came”. Very often it is easier to do research on an external figure in comparison to one of significance to ‘you’ and/or ‘your’ country. This can be viewed in two ways: either the external bodies provide more accessible information due to the fact that they believe that the figures deserve such exposure or it could be that the study of ‘local’ topics, issues, individuals etc can be underestimated by those native to an area. The documentation of significant events, persons and other things will always be in demand whether it is local, or foreign. The idea given to improve this internet ‘flaw’ should really be taken into consideration.
This is a very informative article and it gave me a better understanding for the need of the development of “local internet” and its contribution to the “Global Internet”. Today the internet provides an unprecedented efficiency which serves the appetites of content consumers across the world. The top producers of content in the internet are dominated by the cultural and economic powerhouses and they satisfy generic human interests that stand alongside a range of diverse cultural preferences and needs such as knowledge, entertainment, social interaction etc. Furthermore, developing countries who possess the adequate infrastructure geared for content development find this advantageous as they may seek to amplify and extend their cultural reach and economic capacity. However this may be disadvantageous to underdeveloped markets, where it may drown out indigenous content and restrict local economic opportunities. As the rate of technology increases, our perception of relevant information shifts as well. Thus, many internet users take for granted that there isn’t enough focus on the needs of local users such as access to local content, reinforcing local values, empowering local communities and developing the local economy. A scenario in which I may require a local service would be, if I am in need for a taxi or the nearest car park I can go on the internet and access the nearest possible one form my current location. There we should be a greater need for the development giant local networks for local users. Networks focused on delivering information and services that are primarily focused on serving local needs and demands. Such a task requires proper coordination, creative local resources that produce relevant local content, that are governed by local legislative and regulatory frameworks to meet local needs.
I believe this article raised some crucial points in that we need for our local content to be available through the internet to assist us in our daily local lives, and as a result develop the global internet. This idea of globalizing local material in underdeveloped countries can only transpire if leaders with a suitable hegemon structure focus on developing their countries, advertising and empowering their nations to be content producers. Once there is sufficient advertising and quantity of content producers locally, the mature systems and power houses won’t pose a major threat in preventing under developed markets from thriving.
The internet has universal coverage meaning that anyone can access anything from the internet from any part of the world. So therefore seeing the internet as a local lens is something that have started many years ago and continuing each day. We are all becoming more empowered each day, and many and, not if all governmnets make some kind of investment in technology each year. We are all part of forming the global village. If somethig happens in one country, it is just a matter of seconds till it reaches another part of the world. Many of us in third world countries may not be able to access the internet, so therefore we may be limited by the amount of resourced available to us but basically the internet can be used for good and even promoting our culture or it can be used for bad, it just depends on the user and how they use it.
I think that this article touched on ever aspect of the internet. One of the main point being a greater need for the population to be more online. There is surly a clear need for more local input from mainly third world countries. The culture and information from the first world counties has dominated the internet because of their technological advantages and their demand. While it is good to obtain information about other countries and cultures, we must be mindful not to lose our identity and who we are. The media is a very strong influencer and men such as Edward Bernays have used it to these advantage. The internet also allows us to bridge the gap between countries as events can be seem hundreds of miles away instantaneously as they occur. It is truly one of the greatest inventions in the twentieth century.
Points and ideas expressed throughout this article are viable. Exposure to more societies through advancement of local services around the world is beneficial in the betterment of the global internet. In our developing market positives and deficiencies can be easily identified, for example online GPS applications are available but its efficiency and accuracy is questionable. Information and access to global powerhouses' markets can also have negative affect on so called third world countries where so much of their culture is absorbed and unfortunately adopted by lesser nations resulting in extinction of some unique customs of those nations. Despite this, the existence of more thriving local networks would allow for worldwide education and a more informed, connected global society. Once the local network is improved, leaders can have influence internationally which can benefit both local and foreign entities.
This article was well written and provided excellent points. Although the Internet is a global community emphasis must be placed on its development as a network of local communities rather than just a few connected powerhouses. However, in defence of the Internet and those who regulate its operations, I have been seeing this for quite some time now. I remember clearly the days when my browsing experience felt like I took a trip to the US; nothing was local about it. Now it feels a lot more like it ought to feel; me at home looking through a window at the rest of the world. Advertisements are now IP specific so the ads I see on websites are local, as is the case with television programming – the shows are global but the advertisements are local. Also, when I use the Google search engine the first few results are local. But although I agree with Mr. Wooding that the Internet is dominated by the global powerhouses, I do not think it is because they squeeze out the smaller markets or that the playing field will ever become level because the pioneers of the Internet would have gotten a head start where development is concerned and for many smaller nations with very limited resources an Internet presence is not a major concern. As pointed out in this Ethics and Profession course, vision is important and sometimes seems to be lacking in underdeveloped nations. Few small nations and businesses saw the value of the Internet and didn’t pay much attention on capitalising on providing online services. Again, I really enjoyed this article and I advise businesses, which are the backbone of every nation, to set aside a part of their budget however small to acquire an Internet presence because this is clearly where the world is going. Besides, it continues to get cheaper by the day to accomplish this.
While the internet is used by billions of users, both locally and internationally, the author of the article, Mr. Bevil Wooding has clearly demonstrated that there is a need for more usage and recognition of the local internet. Good breakthroughs have already been made via the media, radio and television in this respect. I would suggest that local governments seriously consider setting aside funds for projects that could expedite the recognition of the local internet. Another suggestion is that the University of Trinidad and Tobago could do a pilot project in which students could do research and present their recommendations on ways in which the local internet could be improved and can be sustainable and at the same time incorporated within the global internet.
I have made good use of the internet, as a student in this course of ethics having used it to do intense research. My research skills have been sharpened. I must note that a great advantage of this particular assignment is that comments are posted on-line for locals as well as foreigners to see- so this course has actually succeeded in capitalizing on the use of the internet for the benefit of the locals.