The Impact of New Digital Media on Globalization

Introduction
Advanced computational and communications technologies play a definitive role in today's global
economic, social, cultural, political, and even ecological orders. Evidence of this exists in technologies
used to implement the internationalization of management, in globally shifting labor pools, in
transnational banking, and in other such signs of economic globalization. It lives as well in social,
political, and cultural manifestations of globalization such as WikiLeaks and the social media-fueled Arab
uprisings.
It would be naive to believe that there exists no direct link between the accelerated pace of globalization,
and the spread of digital technology and Internet connectivity, over the past few decades.
The rapid development and diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as the
Internet, are central aspects of globalization. The Internet is a network of networks that creates a global
communication platform enabling new forms of economic ties and social networking, which in turn
creates incentives for the continuing development of improved communication infrastructures. The
declining cost and greater ease of electronic communication, as with travel, has created unprecedented
opportunities for people to connect with others around the world. All these innovations in digital media,
or so-called new media, have changed and continue to change the way we think, act, and live.
New media is also the main force accelerating the trend of globalization in human society. The
globalization trend has led to the transformation of almost all aspects of human society. For instance,
socially and culturally, globalization has changed the perception of what a community is, redefined the
meaning of cultural identity and civic society, and demanded a new way of intercultural interaction.
Economically, global competition has enormously intensified. In order to succeed in global business, a
company is required to not only understand the local markets in order to meet their global clients' needs,
but they must also seek out open markets globally, and foster effective management in global business
transactions. In sum, due to the thrust of new media, the global trend creates new social networks and
activities, redefines political, cultural, economic, geographical and other boundaries of human society,
expands and stretches social relations, intensifies and accelerates social exchanges, and involves both the
micro-structures of personhood and macro-structures of community.

Defining Globalization
Globalization: From an economic perspective, globalization refers to the increasing unification of the
worlds economic order through reduction of such barriers to international trade as tariffs, export fees,
and import quotas, as well as the the integration of national economies through trade, foreign direct
investment, capital flows, migration, the spread of technology and military presence. But it can also refer
to social integration through the exchange of ideas, language and popular culture.

Five Attributes of Globalization

The powerful impact of globalization is revealed in its dynamic, pervasive, interconnected, hybridized,
and individually powerful attributes
1. First, globalization is a dialectically dynamic process, which is caused by the pushing and pulling
between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or between localization and
universalization.
2. Second, globalization is universally pervasive. It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of
human society and influences the way we live, think, and behave.
3. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. It builds a huge matrix in which all
components are interconnected with networks.
4. Fourth, globalization represents a culturally hybridized state, which allows cultural transmission
via new media to take place at a very rapid rate by permeating and dissolving human boundaries.
5. Finally, globalization increases individual power in the new media society, which pluralizes the
world by recognizing the ability and importance of individual components.

Three Forms of Globalization

1. Economic Globalization: Economic globalization is the increasing economic interdependence of

national economies across the world through a rapid increase in cross-border movement of goods,
service, technology, and capital. Whereas globalization is centered around the rapid development
of science and technology and increasing cross-border division of labor, economic globalization
is propelled by the rapid growing significance of information in all types of productive activities
and marketization, and the advance of science and technologies. Economic globalization
comprises the globalization of production, markets, competition, technology, and corporations
and industries
2. Cultural Globalization: Cultural globalization refers to the transmission of ideas, meanings and
values across national borders. This process is marked by the common consumption of cultures
that have been diffused by the Internet, popular culture, and international travel. The circulation
of cultures enables individuals to partake in extended social relations outside the borders. The
creation and expansion of such social relations is not merely observed on a material level.
Cultural globalization involves the formation of shared norms and knowledge with which people
associate their individual and collective cultural identities, and increasing interconnectedness
among different populations and cultures.
3. Political Globalization: This refers to the efforts that have been long made on to bring the whole
world under one government. The League of Nations and the UN have been the efforts in that
direction. It is believed that the world under one government will be safer and freer from
conflicts: The UN has belied expectations, but a number of regional organizations like European
Union, ASEAN, APEC and SAARC, and multicultural economic organizations such as WTO
have come up. The member-states remain sovereign, but through their obligations and
commitments, they have, to some extent, integrated themselves to the concerned international
organizations and groupings.

Defining New Media

New Digital Media: New media refers to on-demand access to content anytime, anywhere, on any digital
device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation. Another aspect of new media is the
real-time generation of new, unregulated content. Most technologies described as new media are digital,
often having characteristics of being manipulated, networkable, dense, compressible, and interactive.
Some examples may be the Internet, websites, computer multimedia, video games, CD-ROMS, and
DVDs. New media does not include television programs, feature films, magazines, books, or paper-based
publications unless they contain technologies that enable digital interactivity.
There are several characteristics of new media.

It is based on digital technology.

Different types of media content, e.g. music, images and e-mails are often combined or
converged into a single delivery system, e.g. television, lap-tops and mobile phones.

It is interactive and lets users select the stories that they want to watch, in the order that they
want to watch them. Users can also mix and match the information they want. Users can
engage in online discussions or play on-line live games with each other. They can interact
with each other through social networking sites such as Facebook. Users may produce their
own films and music and post it on sites such as YouTube and MySpace. User-generated
content and information sites, such as Wikipedia and IMDB, are a popular source of
knowledge.

It is demand led as consumers are no longer restrained by television schedules. Sky+,

Freeview and the BBC IPlayer are good examples of how consumers of new media are
encouraged to take an active role in the construction of their own television schedules. Live
television can now be paused and watched again later.

Impact of New Digital Media on Globalization

Globalization and Its Five Attributes

As mentioned above, the rapid development of new media has been the main force accelerating the trend
of globalization in human society during the last few decades. With its distinctive and unique nature, new
media has brought human interaction and society to a highly interconnected and complex level. New
media enjoys five distinctive characteristics: digitality, convergency, interactivity, hypertextuality, and
virtuality.

First, digitalization is the most prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media
dematerializes media text by converting data from analog into digital form, which allows all kind of
mathematical operations. New media also makes it possible for a large amount of information to be
retrieved, manipulated, and stored in a very limited space.
Second, new media converges the forms and functions of information, media, electronic communication,
and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media can be easily demonstrated by the
emergence of the Internet in terms of its powerful function embedded in computer information
technologies and broadband communication networks. This also leads to the industry convergence
displayed by the constant merger of big media companies and the product and service convergence
evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media's material, product, and service in the
media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media, i.e., between users and the system regarding the use of
information resources, provides users a great freedom in producing and reproducing the content and form
of the information during the interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new media makes the interaction
among different networks and the retrieving of information through different operational systems, both
available and convenient. The freedom in controlling the information endows new media a great power in
the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media brings forth a global network center in which information can
freely move around and spontaneously interconnect. This global network phenomenon has begun to
rebuild a new life experience for human beings, which in turn will lead the transformation of economic
activities, cultural patterns, interactional styles, and other aspects of human society.
Finally, the cyberspace formed by new media allows people to generate virtual experience and reality.
The invisible cyberspace not only induces a gap between reality and virtuality, but also effectuates the
free alternation of one's gender, personality, appearance, and occupation. The formation of virtual
community that crosses all the boundaries of human society definitely will challenge the way we perceive
reality and have traditionally defined identity.
With these distinct features new media pushes the trend of globalization to its highest level in human
history. Globalization refers to the expansion and intensification of social relations and consciousness
across world-time and world-space. In other words, globalization is a social process in which the
constraints of geography on social and cultural arrangements recede and people become increasingly
aware that they are receding.
Together, the dialectically dynamic, universally pervasive, holistically interconnected, culturally
hybridized, and individually powerful characteristics of globalization enhanced and deepened by the
stimulus and push of the emergence of new media has led to revolutionary changes in people's thinking
and behaviors redefined the sense of community, and restructured human society.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into five precise effects,
namely, a shrinking world, the compression of time and space, close interaction in different aspects of
society, global connectivity, and accelerated local/global competition/cooperation. In other words,
boundaries of human societies in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession,

value, and beliefs are swiftly changing and transforming into a new pattern of similarities and
interconnectedness.

Economy

Digital connectivity and in effect new digital media is extremely important for emerging and developed
economies. In 1776, Scottish economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith published his seminal work,
The Wealth of Nations. It was the dawn of the Industrial Revolution and he argued the benefits of free
market economies to their societies. Fast forward to the present, where globalization and digitization have
redefined which side of the globe holds the balance of economic power. A recent article that reflected the
modern musings on The Wealth of Nations stated trends that are reshaping the developing world:
While the West has been trading with Asian countries for centuries, in the new Digital Economy,
countries like India, China and the Philippines have emerged as outsourcing hubs; helping companies in
developed countries with menial tasks, so they can shift their focus almost entirely to innovation and
expansion. But even the emerging countries have benefited, as their economies have begun to grow. With
their economies growing, their domestic consumption has risen, fuelling further growth in these
countries.
A study by the World Bank found that any increase in telecommunications penetration fixed or mobile
telephone service, or Internet connectivity results in a greater gain in economic growth in low and
middle income countries than in high-income countries. It is the emerging economies of the developing
world that are benefitting the most from the growth in telecommunications, thanks largely to increased
broadband Internet penetration. The digital explosion in emerging markets is creating strong growth
opportunities for multinational corporations looking to diversify their operations beyond their traditional
markets, thus giving developed economies a new route to excel further.

Culture

The received view about the globalization of culture is one where the entire world has been molded in the
image of Western, mainly American, culture. In popular and professional discourses alike, the popularity
of Big Macs, Baywatch, and MTV are touted as unmistakable signs of the fulfillment of Marshall
McLuhan's prophecy of the Global Village. The globalization of culture is often chiefly imputed to
international mass media. After all, contemporary media technologies such as satellite television and the
Internet have created a steady flow of transnational images that connect audiences worldwide. Without
global media, according to the conventional wisdom, how would teenagers in India, Turkey, and
Argentina embrace a Western lifestyle of Nike shoes, Coca-Cola, and rock music? Hence, the putatively
strong influence of the mass media on the globalization of culture.
Media has also changed and shaped our consumption patterns by making us more aware of the diversity
of choices that exist in the post-modern world, e.g. many people now feel that they no longer belong to
real communities. The proto-communities of Internet chat-rooms, blogging and on-line fantasy gaming,
such as Second Life, and the imagined communities of television soap operas, are increasingly replacing
the role of neighbors and extended kin in our lives.

The globalization of media too means that we now have more globalized cultural influences available to
us in terms of lifestyle choices and consumption.
Post-modernists see the global media as beneficial because it is primarily responsible for diffusing
different cultural styles around the world and creating new global hybrid styles in fashion, music,
consumption and lifestyle. It is argued that, in the post-modern global world, this cultural diversity and
pluralism will become the global norm.
However, Marxists argue that globalization restricts choice because transnational media companies and
their owners have too much power. Marxists are particularly concerned that local media and cultures may
be replaced by a global culture. They suggest that this global media culture is about sameness and that it
erases individuality, specificity and difference. However, counter arguments do exist suggesting that
cultural pessimists under-estimate the strength of local cultures they note that people do not generally
abandon their cultural traditions, family duties, religious beliefs and national identities because they listen
to Madonna or watch a Disney film. Rather, they appropriate elements of global culture, and mix and
match with elements of local culture.

Politics

New media technologies may offer opportunities for people to acquire the education and information
required to play an active role in democratic societies and to make politicians more accountable to the
people. Some media sociologists have suggested that the Internet can revitalize democracy because it
gives a voice to those who would otherwise go unheard. It allows like-minded people to join together and
take action which may lead to social change.
New digital media is reshaping how we perceive, interact and influence our world. A compelling example
for instance came during the Arab Spring protests in early 2011, which saw a number of dictators in
Northern Africa and the Middle East swept from power by civil unrest.
The University of Washingtons Project on Information Technology and Political Islam recently analyzed
over three million tweets, many gigabytes of YouTube content and thousands of blog posts to understand
how the proliferation of digital devices and social media helped to shape the events and outcome of the
Arab Spring.
Our evidence suggests that social media carried a cascade of messages about freedom and democracy
across North Africa and the Middle East, and helped raise expectations for the success of political
uprising, associate professor Philip Howard said in a media interview. People who shared interest in
democracy built extensive social networks and organized political action. Social media became a critical
part of the toolkit for greater freedom.
It is ironic that while a substantial portion of the Chinese economy is based on feeding the global demand
for connected digital devices, Chinas authoritarian regime is restricting access to the digital world. The
government continues to aggressively censor Internet access, block platforms such as Facebook, Twitter
and YouTube, and slow connection speeds to a crawl with filtering and monitoring tools. Critics say

Chinas refusal to open up the flow of information between its citizens and businesses and the rest of the
world is short-sighted and could cripple the nations economic growth.
Chinas censorship efforts are being challenged by the growing popularity of the Internet and homegrown social media clones, such as Sina Weibo, which mimics Twitter. Recently, the government issued
new regulations which require journalists to first verify any information taken from the Internet or a
mobile phone before publication. The Chinese governments General Administration of Press and
Publications all but admitted how Internet access and social media are undermining its control of the press
when it announced the new measures:
Unverified reports are on an upward trend, and to a certain extent that has undermined the governments
image, disrupted the information order, reduced the credibility of the media and brought a strong social
response.
But even in Western democracies, where freedom of speech and access to information are considered
basic rights, digital technology has also served to put political and business leaders on guard by exposing
sensitive government and personal information to the public. There are of course the political scandals,
where one ill-thought Tweet, digital photo or raunchy email creates a public relations nightmare for a
prominent politician. But these pale before the power of an entity such as WikiLeaks to embarrass entire
governments and complicate diplomatic relations between nations.

Criticisms on New Digital Media and Globalization

There are some criticisms that undermine the revolution in new media technology and its impact on
globalization. These arguments often focus on the negatives that digital media has brought along. These
group of people are known as cultural pessimists and their reasoning are as follows:
Cornford and Robins (1999) argue that new media are not so new and that the media today is an
accommodation between old and new because to use a game console, a television is required, while to
connect to the Internet, a telephone line is still needed. They suggest, further, that interactivity is not
something new because people have written to newspapers and phoned in to radio and television for many
years. The only thing that is new about new media is its speed information, news and entertainment can
be accessed in real time.
Cultural pessimists criticize the idea that new media are increasing the potential for ordinary people to
participate more fully in the democratic process and cultural life. The Internet is actually dominated by a
small number of media corporations. Over three-quarters of the 31 most visited news and entertainment
websites are affiliated with the largest media corporations, according to Curran.
There are some negative effects associated with the commercialization of the Internet, e.g. many
companies that sell products and services on the Internet engage in consumer surveillance. New
technologies, e.g. in the form of cookies, can monitor and process the data generated by interactive media
usage so they can segment and target potential future audiences and thus enhance profits.

Cultural pessimists argue that increased choice of media delivery systems and particularly the
digitalization of television, has led to a decline in the quality of popular culture. Harvey suggests that
digital television may have dramatically increased the number of channels for viewers to choose from, but
this has led to a dumbing down of popular culture as television companies fill these channels with cheap
imported material, films, repeats, sport, reality television shows and gambling. Harvey argues that,
increasingly, television culture transmits a candy floss culture that speaks to everyone in general and no
one in particular.
Some sociologists, politicians and cultural commentators argue that new media, particularly the Internet,
is in need of state regulation. All points of view are represented on the Internet, but it is argued that easy
access to pornography, and homophobic, racist and terrorism-inciting sites is taking free speech too far.

Conclusion
The impact of new digital media on globalization has been the source of much healthy contesting.
Although negatives do exist, the benefits brought about by new digital media and its influence on
globalization far exceeds the cons. Ultimately, it is the new digital media that are seen today as playing a
key role in enhancing globalization, facilitating culture exchange and multiple flows of information and
image between countries.

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