03 Section A, Key question 1 - Digital communication and social capital (part 2)

The digital revolution and the global village

Digital technologies change how quickly, widely and interactively people can communicate.

The digital revolution is the major social and technological change associated with the spread of digital computing and communication. Digital systems represent information as discrete data, enabling text, sound and images to be stored, copied, processed and transmitted using compatible technologies. Networked computers and mobile devices make communication possible across distances without people travelling together. It is an ongoing transformation with uneven adoption, rather than a single invention that instantly changed everyone's life. The International Telecommunication Union describes the historical merging of computing and telecommunications as both moved towards digital systems. ITU account of ICT development

Three changes matter sociologically. Speed allows people in distant places to coordinate in close to real time. Reach allows messages to cross national borders and potentially contact large audiences. Participation allows users to reply, create and redistribute material, although many people still mainly watch or read. A message can also be stored and answered later, so communication need not require everyone to be present at the same time. These possibilities can sustain relationships and collective activity that would be harder to maintain through occasional letters or physical meetings.

Globalisation means increasing connections and interdependence across societies. Digital communication can contribute to it when relationships, organisations and cultural exchanges cross borders. A message sent to someone in the same room is digital communication, but does not by itself demonstrate globalisation.

The global village describes a consequence of communication, whereas the digital revolution describes a wider transformation in technologies and their social use. McLuhan developed his argument before present-day social media; electronic broadcasting as well as digital networks can create this sense of immediacy. The metaphor does not mean that everyone knows everyone else or shares the same culture. In his 1969 interview, McLuhan explicitly allowed division and disagreement within the global village. It is a theoretical account of media's effects, not a survey proving universal friendship. McLuhan's interview, edited teaching transcript, especially PDF page 15

Consider an original illustration: friends in different countries watch a live music performance and discuss it while it happens. The technology helps overcome distance and creates a shared occasion. However, different languages, interpretations and access costs may prevent a shared response. Global awareness is therefore compatible with inequality and disagreement.

A networked global society

Communication networks can connect institutions and organise social activity across the world.

A network consists of connected actors, such as people or organisations, and the relationships between them. A networked global society is one in which important economic, political and cultural activities are organised through networks extending across borders. This is more than an increase in personal messaging: workplaces, financial organisations, campaign groups and media producers can coordinate activity through flows of information.

Manuel Castells's network-society argument explains why digital communication matters to social organisation. Networks are not new, but digital systems allow them to combine flexibility with coordination on a much larger scale. Actors can communicate and adjust activities across dispersed locations. Castells also stresses selective inclusion: a person or place can be disconnected from a powerful network when its organisers no longer consider it useful. His 2000 article is a theoretical synthesis, rather than a representative survey of all Internet users. Castells, “Toward a Sociology of the Network Society”

An original illustration makes the mechanism clearer. A relief organisation connects a local volunteer team, an overseas supplier and donors in several countries. Volunteers send information about shortages, the supplier changes its delivery plan and donors receive updates. The network allows decisions to respond to local information without bringing everyone to one office. Communication helps organise the supply of goods; it is not just conversation about the goods.

However, connection does not give each participant the same authority. The supplier may control essential stock, administrators may decide which requests become visible, and donors may set funding conditions. A volunteer with Internet access still cannot command those resources. This follows from the distinction between being able to communicate and being able to control what others do.

The global-village metaphor draws attention to immediacy and involvement. The networked-global-society concept draws attention to the organisation of relationships and flows, including who connects, controls or excludes. Both can describe aspects of the same event. Neither requires local institutions, face-to-face contact or national governments to disappear.

Media convergence and social media

Digital communication can bring previously separate media together and make audiences participants in circulation.

Media convergence is the coming together of media technologies, content, industries and audience practices. Technological convergence allows a device to perform functions once associated with separate equipment, such as taking photographs, receiving broadcasts and sending messages. Content convergence occurs when a story, performance or campaign moves between formats and platforms. Organisations may coordinate these movements, while audiences also share, comment on and adapt material.

Henry Jenkins argues that convergence involves the circulation of content and the activities of producers and audiences, rather than merely putting several functions into one gadget. His account of participatory culture draws attention to users contributing to circulation and meaning. This is a cultural argument, not proof that all audiences participate equally or that commercial organisations lose control. Jenkins, “Welcome to Convergence Culture” (2006)

Social media are digital services through which users can create or share content and interact with others. They include uses centred on videos, images, public posts or discussion. Unlike a simple one-way broadcast, users may respond and redistribute material, so the boundary between producer and audience becomes less fixed. This does not make every user a producer: silent reading is also a possible use.

In an original example, a community organisation records an interview, publishes an audio version and a written summary, then shares short clips through a social platform. Viewers discuss the clips and circulate them to contacts abroad. The movement of the same material across formats demonstrates convergence; the user contributions demonstrate social-media participation. Neither term alone tells us whether those viewers form lasting relationships.

Participation can widen who contributes to public discussion, but visibility remains selective. In the example, the organisation edits the interview and the platform orders which posts people see. Users may share only familiar voices. Technical ability to publish is therefore different from having an audience, credibility or control over distribution. Convergence and social media provide possibilities whose social consequences depend on how they are organised and used.

Virtual communities and digital social networks

Online contact becomes a community when sustained interaction creates relationships and a sense of belonging.

A digital social network is a pattern of social connections maintained, formed or made visible through digital communication. The ties may link family members, friends, acquaintances or people who have never met face to face. A social network site is a service that helps users display and navigate connections. In their 2007 definition, danah boyd and Nicole Ellison identify user profiles, recorded connections and the ability to inspect those connections as important features. Their article reviews and defines a type of service; it does not claim that a listed “friend” is necessarily an intimate friend. boyd and Ellison, “Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship”

The distinction is useful: social media describes services and practices of content sharing and interaction, whereas a digital social network describes the relationships between actors. A video may circulate widely without its viewers developing relationships with one another. Conversely, a small group may use digital messages to maintain existing relationships without publishing public content.