ECREA Symposium

Wednesday, October 10th, 2007

The Myth of the Global Internet

Unequal Infrastructures, Invisible Controles, Multiple Cultures

The Internet is often heralded as an open infrastructure spanning the entire globe. It allows for people of all nations to communicate over borders, to consume the growing amount of information and entertainment available, to participate in the multiple participatory platforms and web 2.0 applications. The Internet is often identified as the key driving force in all processes of globalization. The aftermath of 9/11 seems to have considerably undermined the older myth of the media induced 'global village'. However, when it comes to the Internet the 'Myth of the Global Internet' seems to be more resilient. There are however many issues and processes which might question the 'globalness' of the Internet. Access and speeds of networks differ considerably resulting in different uses worldwide, localization techniques and DRM systems construct new borders resulting in different Internet experiences, different governments hold different opinions on Internet governance, government firewalls keep large parts of the globe locked in filtered worlds, local uses of the Internet grow considerably faster than International uses, languages and cultures are barriers for genuine global debate.

This Symposium aims to critically reflect on the Internet as a global medium. It has brought together scholars who reflect critically on the idea of the global Internet from different perspectives.

This One-Day Symposium preceeds the ECREA Symposium 'Equal Opportunities and Communication Rights: Representation, Participation and the European Democratic Deficit' which also takes place in Brussels on 11 and 12 October 2007. The Symposium is organised by the ECREA section on International and Intercultural Communication and in the framework of the IBBT project Video-q-sac.