Technology and Globalization
Internet diffusion, at the highest level, significantly reduces the digital divide within and between countries. Globalization presents an ongoing challenge for domestic and international communication, spurring the need for technical innovations as accessible solutions. Technology enhances user abilities to communicate with others locally and around the world. Therefore, scholars examine technology implementation as a method of extracting facts regarding humanity. Technology usage conveys who engages in communication, between which distances, and how frequently such connections endure. Today’s technical landscape impacts several components of globalization: political and economic activities, an expansion in trade and commerce, development of transport and communication systems, and an increase in global interactions.
Technology usage amassed data collection in the 2008 presidential election, as then Senator Obama’s campaign prioritized specific values for each prospective voter. A marker for each registered voter in the United States existed in a data field based on the probability of casting a ballot, and supporting the Senator (MIT Technology Review). The campaign made predictions based on the data and re-oriented strategy to submit phone calls and electronic communication to indecisive voters. Many scholars suggest the campaign’s technology usage provided an edge in the primary and general elections.
In result, much of contemporary discourse takes place through some form of technology, from simple internet blogs to the multitude of social media outlets. Once seen as a place for communication strictly among young, frequent internet users, social media now represents the greatest technical tool for current and prospective politicians. Nearly every member of the three branches of government either hold a Facebook or Twitter profile page, or belong to social media groups for their respective departments and districts.