When beginning to delve into the world of web design and internet technologies and software, it is important to get a foundation of knowledge about the theories and concepts related to this vast subject. These two concepts will be the reasoning and background for creating my website.
The Global Village
The Global Village is a term that is associated with the theorist Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980). He developed this idea as a term to describe the shift from individual, private media, to new, fast, group, electronic media. He described this as 'Tribal' as people are becoming more closely connected and involved instead of the individual 'Literary Man' which was a metaphor for the sole use and reliance of the book. Put simply the shift was from the physical BOOK, an assembly LINE process of using one media at a time, as an INDIVIDUAL process to a NEW MEDIA, more like a FIELD assembly, where everything is happening ALL AT ONCE.
The Global Village is a massive concept that can be applied to all contemporary technologies and is something that other media theorists like David Gauntlett (Making is Connecting) and Dan Gilmor (We The Media) have produced similar work in. This concept is not fixed and is something that is going to expand as technology and media further develops.
These two videos are good examples of what I am describing:
Marshall McLuhan - The World is a Global Village (CBC TV)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeDnPP6ntic&feature=player_embedded
Herbert Marshall McLuhan- Conversation
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/marshall-mcluhan
The Digital Divide
The Digital Divide is a second term that relates to the Global village in a different an interesting way. The term is associated with a inequality through the division of digital technologies. This is usually created from economic inequality, which can be seen on a small scale between individuals/households or on a massive global scales between countries. The reason why this concept is so relevant at this current time is due to the huge developments in technology, software and devices that unfortunately tends to get taken for granted. Many poverty stricken countries or geographic areas with low demographics and financial availability do not have access to even basic technologies, and because of this do not belong to the 'Global Village' nor do they have access to the thousands of opportunities and knowledge created from these developments. This is an important concept that will play a part in the designing of my website as I want to make others aware of this issue.
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