1)In today's society connecting with different peoples of different cultures around the world has never been easier

Subject:CommunicationsPrice: Bought3

Share With

1)In today's society connecting with different peoples of different cultures around the world has never been easier. It has created a blur between east and west in some aspects allowing for better communications between individuals that would never have occurred without new media technologies that have been discovered and growing in the last decade. While there are many benefits to this new era of communication and globalization there are, just as there is with anything else, some downfalls. 

Today more than ever before the differences between peoples are more apparent because of the varying levels of acmes that different peoples have to technology and information. Some believe that those with less access to information technology are viewed as less superior to those who have daily access. Chen and Sarasota described it as 'information elitism', it is a growing issue in today's society. Technology has advanced over the years but this does not mean everyone has been able to benefit from these advances. 

In the class resource 3A (Interculturalism, globalization, and cultural identity). It states that one of the four ways that the notions of globalization is used in today's society is on a governmental and political front, and to meet these goals of global access we must also recognize that we must face two factors that hinder the equal distribution of media technologies on a global scale. 

"one toward technology development and diffusion, the other toward governmental and institutional controls over international interconnectivity" 

 

What this means is there are certain things set in place in different countries of the world that severely limit certain cultures' access to new information technology and even the ability to form connections outside of a local realm. For example, as discussed in Irvine's Global Cyberculture text, he uses the Kurdish people trying to broadcast and promote their ethnic movement in turkey but the Turkish government has banned these broadcast signals and made them illegal. People who liven the US and have free access to information may see this a medical in a sense and will look down on the people of Turkey because they are allowing for the government to control them so openly when in fact they might be unaware of this, or perhaps it does not seem to be as big of a deal to the Turkish people as it might to an outsider. 

 

 This goes against everything that globalization is moving towards and hinders it from pressing even further. This difference in access to information can cause a gap to form between different cultures because they are unable to see similarities only the differences between them. 

 

 

2)Technology has presented new ways for people to communicate with one another and opens up an audience to various different forms of culture and communication. This pandemic could be seen as a great example of how technology can influence our communication methods and vice versa. All of a sudden we find ourselves completely relying on technology in order to continue our regular communication. I believe that today we are seeing more examples of how new media and developing technologies can impact intercultural communication.

When considering international relationships between different countries it would seem that intercultural communication would be the thing that connects all of these different communities. For example, international non-profit organizations rely heavily on the relationships made with other global audiences. Technologies allow these audiences to connect and virtually network with 'like minded other' all while spreading the message about their particular issue of importance (Yang, 2013). Technology greatly influenced the intercultural communication of these organizations by creating a bridge of common interest between people who are physically in different places all over the world. When we can utilize technology in order to create these relationships, then we have the opportunity to engage in intercultural communication and learn about cultural identities that we might not have had access to without technology being present. In business practices many companies that work with international markets will utilize email as a platform to build relationships for negotiations (Paulson, Naquin, 2004). International business markets require intercultural communication in order to further the developments of their organization; a form of new media, such as email, allows for these developments to happen in a convenient way. These intercultural interactions that occur on a global scale are heavily dependent on access to new media and how individuals involved perceive these elements of media (Chen 2012). Without new media and technology we would not be able to expand upon intercultural communication in such extreme way.

Chen, G. M. (2012). The impact of new media on intercultural communication in global context. China Media Research, 8(2), 1-10.

Paulson, G. D., & Naquin, C. E. (2004). Establishing Trust via Technology: Long Distance Practices and Pitfalls. International Negotiation, 9(2), 229-244. https://doi-org.uri.idm.oclc.org/10.1163/1571806042403027

Yang, A. (2013). Building global strategic alliances in the virtual space: a structural analysis of international nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations' transnational relationship networks. Journal of Public Affairs (14723891), 13(3), 239-250. https://doi-org.uri.idm.oclc.org/10.1002/pa.1463

 

As we all know, technology has opened up many doors for humankind and continues to do so. Technology itself has given us ways to communicate with one another across the globe and has opened up doors to new understandings of cultures different from our own. New media has become a major gateway for intercultural communication and ultimately has a substantial impact on our perceptions. In terms of information we receive through media platforms like television, not all regions of the world experience or have access to the same information that we may have access to in the U.S. With this being said, choices can become limited in terms of where people get their news and what news and information they are able to access. Chen and Starosta discuss in Communication in Global Society, that "European and U.S. domination of international communication shifts control of technology, media, and their messages from individual countries to transnational corporate entities which determine access to and content of information." Because we are able to manipulate the information that is being transmitted to other regions this can have a major impact on the influence of how people perceive certain information and cultures. 

Another example of how new media impacts intercultural communication is President Jiang's televised visit to the U.S and how it was portrayed to U.S citizens. An interview was released where Jiang stated "what impressed me most was that wherever I went, I was received in a very friendly manner by the American people. And I was given a very warm reception by the U.S. government and the various non-governmental organizations. And I was able to have very sincere and candid conversations with people from various walks of life including government officials" (Jiang, 1998, p. 27). This right here is an example of how Jiang used media to "modify perceptions on both sides" (Chen, 2000). In the wise words of Bakhtin, "All languages of heteroglossia. . . are specific points of view on the world, forms for conceptualizing the world in words, specific world views, each characterized by its own objects, meanings and values" (Bakhtin, 1981). What I took from this statement is that every culture has a unique view on the world and therefore have different perceptions of other cultures and ways of life. New media is a growing link between intercultural communication and has the ability to impact different cultures in different ways and that depends on what information is being communicated and who has access to it.