Thus far, the communications revolution has been largely limited to the merely technological feat of converging telecommunications with personal computing. But does it hold a truly higher promise—to transform communication as a human act of sharing meaning about values, attitudes, and experiences? Or will it simply allow capitalism to pursue ever-greater economic efficiencies among the wealthy nations of the world, while ignoring the persistent and growing gap between rich and poor? The contributors to this volume consider these central questions, among others, from a wide variety of perspectives.
The contributors argue that to create sustainable futures, ways must be found to make communication inclusive, participatory, and mindful of future generations. It must also emerge authentically from humanity's diverse cultures, be more concerned with the quality of information shared than with the sheer volume of email in the world, and be transformed from its technocratic bias in order to move toward a truly global conversation of civilization. This book will be of interest to scholars in a variety of fields concerned with issues of communications, culture, and globalization.