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March 16, 2007 at 2:51 am
projektheterologia
You’ve made a good point there. In the place where I lives (Bandung – Indonesia), the internet is surelly had some effect in social change. During the political turmoil back in 1998, the mailing list ‘apa kabar’ was one of the most active list that enggages democratic activist and build resistance & student network.
It seems that after the turmoil everything happens very fast. I can even regard Bandung as one of the fastest growing city in Indonesia. Perhaps it’s not really connected with the rise of new media, but more close to it’s new economic and political situation. But for me it’s even worse. Some people got problem when they reailized that their city is growing faster than their body. So much to keep up, but we have limited ability to addapt with the new situation.
In the context of new media, I think you are right that the speed of new media are moving so fast, so our society somehow got some lag to adjust. As you wrote it, “either accelerate the adaptation of our social institutions to “Internet time” or slow the rate of change of the Net itself to let society catch up”, i think it is still problematic for us in Indonesia. Here internet user are less than 10% of its population. We need internet so badly because we know that it has the ability to spread information & knowledge very easy and cheap. But to think the social/economic/political impact of such accessible information and knowledge somehow makes me worried. Especially if we realized that there are potential of social conflict on this matter. Information & knowledge could develop new understanding of our realities. It can also creates differences. In our country, sometimes differences means trouble.
Best,
-Gustaff
March 16, 2007 at 2:58 am
projekt-heterologia
[...] MapKit.display(); The Pace of New Media Friday March 16th 2007, 2:58 am Filed under: Articles (from http://web1979.wordpress.com/2007/03/10/the-pace-of-new-media/) [...]
March 16, 2007 at 3:56 am
matbalez
Gustaff,
What a fascinating perspective you bring to this discussion. To be honest, when thinking about these issues I’d not considered what this could mean for developing nations — but you are right, the dangers associated with a gap in media awareness/ubiquity & the rest of society are much more acute where conflict is a real possibility.
What can be done though? Introduce “new media” classes in schools as quickly as possible? Have ‘digital literacy’ initiatives for the rest of the adult population? Push more and more businesses on the web? I’m not sure… are these types of things feasible, as the Internet starts to penetrate deeper and deeper into your country? Do you have other ideas?
Thanks again for sharing.
August 3, 2008 at 12:54 am
Salirolla
It’s amazing