Many
websites aim to serve a local community, and the information they provide
is geographically and temporally bounded.
For example, the local newspaper for Norman, Oklahoma contains local
news, local links, local information, as does the website for one of the
primary radio / news outlets in Bishkek, Kyrgystan. They also carry international news, primarily
gleaned from easily accessible sources – CNN and AP/Reuters (accessible via
abcnews – now affiliated with Disney).
Needless to say, there is a replication of information, which can be
faulty from the source – if not deliberate disinformation, it can be
incomplete, misleading, and/or even incorrect. This is an interesting phenomenon – the virtual colonization
of virtual outposts, who promulgate the official “facts” and
statistics. While this has definite
benefits in making connections between the village and the city, it also
results in a uniformity of perceived fact, and reduces the quality and
quantity of questioning that can occur.
It diminishes the critical thinking (and interrogating) abilities of
the readers as well. Return to English Language
Hegemony on the Internet home.
Global Urban Sprawl instead of the Global Village
© susan smith nash, 2002